A new design for this beachfront park along Lake Michigan preserves sightlines along the lakeshore, along with the ecology of the site, while providing visitors access to the beach.

From nutrition counseling and education to farmers markets and community gardens, parks and other organizations have found myriad ways to try to improve the health of the communities they serve.

Given that 80 percent of illness-causing germs are spread through touch, cleaning and disinfection is a critical step toward preventing illness and outbreak. Here are some tips to help prevent the spread of flu and other winter germs in your facility.

When you want to ensure inclusive opportunities for all potential patrons, turn to sports that allow participants to compete against themselves, rather than each other.

It's no simple task, keeping an aquatic facility up and running, whether you've got a single pool for lap swimmers or a complex arrangement of pools, slides, splash play and more, making up an aquatic park on a much grander scale. From the design of your facility to the programming that attracts swimmers and aquatic adventurers, from your staff to your systems that keep swimmers safe and water clean, there are a lot of balls to keep in the air.

In recreation facilities nationwide, swimming pools can eat away a big bite of the budget. Finding ways to operate aquatic facilities more efficiently and effectively is critical.

Successful aquatic facilities require smart approaches to programming. While almost every pool should begin with the basics, there are plenty of ways to make the best use of pool time to grow attendance and revenues.

Swimming pools have come a long way from the expected rectangles of the past. Nowadays, aquatic designers take flexibility into account and design aquatic facilities that offer myriad options for programming, competition and recreation.

This past Saturday, after I finished up some housework, I spent some time sitting on the front porch with the dog. In a flannel shirt and jeans. Barefoot. In January. In Northern Illinois. And I'm not gonna lie—I kind of liked it. But only for the novelty. I'm probably one of the few people in a 100-mile radius who really wants it to snow and get properly cold.

Fitness trends come and go, and come and go, but there are ways to adapt so that you're always offering something that your members and visitors are looking for.