‘Sport that connects’, the first national initiative of widespread Sport Urbanism
Brand for the City, a company dedicated to the conception, design and implementation of Brand Urbanism projects and Fondazione SportCity – an independent think tank that aims to stimulate a cultural change in the vision of Italian sport, through urban sports projects – launch the initiative “Sport that connects”: the first national initiative of urban regeneration on the theme of sport.
The project aims to promote the urban redevelopment of public spaces outdoors to be used for free sports, for the benefit of all citizens and people of all ages: as a first step, Brand for the City and Fondazione SportCity will begin today a national mapping of places, spaces and outdoor sports facilities that (with the approval of local public administrations) could be subject to regeneration.
The second step will be to relaunch an invitation to participate to companies and brands who, caring about their territories and communities, wanted to adopt a specific Sport Urbanism project: as done by Agos which – active in Sport Urbanism since 2021 – will inaugurate its seventh regenerated sports space in Turin next September as part of its Parchi Agos Green & Smart project.
The initiative arises from the assumption that the right to sport is enshrined in Article 33 of the Constitution to which the following paragraphs have been added: “The Republic recognizes and promotes the right to practice sports and recreational activities”. Nonetheless, the latest studies and research see Italy among the last OECD countries for the availability of free sports spaces:
– According to data from the Sport Value Observatory (February 2024) drawn up by The European House Ambrosetti, the sports offer of a territory is one of the main determinants for being able to encourage the practice of sports of its citizens of all ages: but in Italy – among the sports facilities present and active in the territory that are 22% less than the European average – 44% are obsolete because they were built in the ’70s and ’80s and 8% (in the South up to 20%) are not actually usable. – The Observatory report also highlights the sedentary lifestyle of children, with respect to which Italy is positioned as the worst OECD country, with a rate of 94.5% of children between 11 and 15 years of age who do not reach an adequate level of physical activity (compared to an OECD average of 86.3%).
The fact that our country is among the last countries in Europe to guarantee an adequate level of accessibility to free outdoor sports facilities does not only have negative repercussions on public health (the health cost of a sedentary lifestyle is equivalent to 4.5 billion), but also on the opportunities and (non-digital) spaces for socialization that the younger generations need so much: the negative effects of the pandemic crisis on the ability of our young people to connect and relate empathetically (not only digitally) are there for all to see and regenerating spaces and places to dedicate to sport, as a valuable tool to foster relationships, socialization and “re-connection” between individuals, groups and communities in all the neighborhoods of Italy, is an opportunity that cannot be renounced.
For Claudio Bertona, CEO of Brand for the City, “it is time to give the opportunity to return to playing and doing sports outdoors, knowing that you will find, perhaps close to home, welcoming and safe places where you can reconnect with your community”. “When associations, institutions or foundations join forces with the private sector to create something useful, if not even necessary, for the well-being of citizens, the challenge is won from the start. The initiative we launched together with Brand for the City is as simple as it is innovative” says Fabio Pagliara, president of Fondazione SportCity, while for the Olympic champion and now long jump coach Fabrizio Donato “together, institutions, companies and athletes can make a difference”.
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