Park(ing) Day for Fitness to kick off in Europe today!
Today marks a crucial day with the start of the Park(ing) Day initiatives around the globe. Our team is launching Park(ing) Day for Fitness interventions that will continue throughout this week until 22 September (Car-Free Days) and even further. 6 countries are joining their efforts to reveal the opportunities the parking spaces have to offer for physical activities, despite the unfortunate weather conditions in some locations. Here are some highlights from the flagship events:
In Bulgaria, the first city to host Park(ing) Day for Fitness is Plovdiv on the 16th of September 2022. Several parking spots in the central part of the city are turned into all-day Park(ing) Day for Fitness installations each serving a unique purpose. A gamified flagship event will also take place in the evening: the teams will go on a City Quest-Quiz, solving riddles and challenges around Plovdiv. The Park(ing) Day for Fitness activities in Bulgaria will continue with several large-scale events in Sofia, Burgas, and Varna.
France’s flagship event will be held on the 16th and the 17th September on the Parking du Phare in the beautiful Port of Nice area. The event will be organized in partnership with the City of Nice, as well as some local associations like Azur Skateboard and Accrobarz. Urban activities like breakdance, skateboard and street workout will be promoted, but all categories of the population will be concerned as some games (Move game and Street Racket) as well as activities for elderly (Zumba, HEPA sessions) will be organized in what will be the most original sport event in France in 2022.
Amsterdam will host the Dutch flagship event in Amsterdam Noord adjacent to the Overhoeks Square. The team will to take back parking spots for a variety of fitness activities - be that silent disco, obstacle course, badminton, petanque, functional fitness and FUN. Throughout the days, they will programme activities at the indicated spots at specific moments, and will also have more passive options that motivate passersby and participants to engage with the neighbourhood, move and explore.
In Austria, the flagship event will take place in Vienna. The team will occupy streets together with the organization space and place in Vienna, which has already focused on placemaking in streets in the last few years, and will offer activities with a broad spectrum from parkour to boxing to yoga.
Suceava will see the flagship event in Romania to take place between September 17-18 under the umbrella of the Citadel Marathon, an event organized in partnership with the Save the Children Suceava organization. The location chosen for the development is in the area of Suceava Fortress, a historical monument from the 15th century.
The city of Wroclaw will host the Polish flagship event that will take place on September 17th – 18th weekend from 12:00AM – 5:00PM. On Saturday V4Sport team will take over a large part the parking lot in front of the Decathlon “Bielany Wroclawskie” supermarket and will invite the public to participate and try different sports and activities. On Sunday they will meet at the parking lot near “Wzgórze Słowiańskie” to gather different trainers and active lifestyle promoters from Wroclaw and to promote active participation. The Sunday event will also include gamified elements.
You still have the time to join us! Join the European Park(ing) Day for Fitness campaign by organising your intervention and registering your event! Learn how to do it here.
The mission of the Park(ing) Day for Fitness events is to draw attention to the many (untapped) opportunities our cities offer for physical activity, the need for more outdoor spaces where people can exercise safely, and to provoke public debate on how to adapt in times of crisis and improve the quality of the urban environment. The project also aims to highlight the urban features of public spaces in modern cities, specifically parking spaces, and how they can contribute to promoting physical activity.
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. Views and opinions expressed are however those of the author(s) only and do not necessarily reflect those of the European Union or EACEA. Neither the European Union nor the granting authority can be held responsible for them.