Park(ing) Day for Fitness Webinar to share key takeaways

On the occasion of World Cities Day on 31 October, Park(ing) Day for Fitness Webinar gathered more than 60 grassroots sport and urban activists to discuss alternative means of using the public spaces in the cities.

The webinar started with the presentation of the project and concept by Laska Nenova (BG Be Active) and the original idea behind it. Anna Louise Bradley from Placemaking Europe carried on with the potential of the concept and how it is integrated into the practice of grassroots sports and urban organizations. She also referred to the research on the link between physical activity and urban spaces (conducted within Placemaking for Active Recreation Kit – another led by  BG Be Active  Erasmus+ Sport project).

The second part of the webinar was devoted to the advocacy potential of the Park(ing) Day for Fitness concept, key takeaways, learnings, and the concept’s potential based on the partner countries.

Dusan Pjevac (Azur Sport Sante / France) spoke about the importance of localized activities based on the needs of communities. Mihai Androhovici (AJSPT Suceava / Romania) shared their experience using non-conventional public spaces to promote physical activity (churches, bus stations) and engaging schools. Following his presentation, Maya Tsaneva (Sofia Safe Playgrounds / Bulgaria) highlighted that kids are important to engage in planning public spaces for physical activity and presented her ideas on working with municipalities.

Jakub Kalinowski (V4Sport / Poland) further developed the idea of public space provocations to interact with the residents and to create pop-up interventions. He also stressed the invaluable asset of Park(ing) Day for Fitness concept as a way to promote low-cost, low risk and highly inclusive physical activity. Yilmaz Vurucu (XsentrikArts / Austria) marked the need to plan persistent, follow-up action programs to sustain the spaces through fitness and culture. Finally, Todor Kesarovski (Tooltest Day Crew / |In|Formal Association) shared the peer-to-peer learning tool as a means to accumulate knowledge, experience, and tools.

Park(ing) Day for Fitness builds on the existing practices and guidelines provided by Rebar, where BG Be Active and the project consortium are adding an element of a multi-sport day event to offer activities that promote active lifestyles and engage the public. For more information, please check our website - https://parkingdayforfitness.bgbeactive.org/

Park(ing) Day for Fitness is funded by the European Union. The project coordinator is BG Be Active, and the other partner organizations are Placemaking Europe, Association Sport for all Suceava (AJSPT Suceava), V4 SPORT FOUNDATION, Azur Sport Sante, and XsentrikArts.