Placemaking and Sport
A European project that aims to enable sport organisations to rethink their sport and physical activity offers through placemaking.
Innovative solutions to the big facility challenge
The challenge to find new facilities for sport and physical activity often compels cities and sports bodies to reach for the “start building or renovating” button. But what if they resisted the urge to push this button and chose instead to utilise the public spaces around them as venues for their sporting activities? Can it be done? With a creative approach and the right permissions, it can.
Rethinking sport and physical activity through placemaking
An 18-month Erasmus+ project that is enabling sport organisations to rethink their sport and physical activity offers through placemaking. Five sports organisations are pairing up with five European cities to pilot their ideas for active placemaking initiatives in public spaces, guided by experts in the field Gehl and BG Be Active. We’ll showcase the results and further inspiration right here on our project hub.
Project objectives
The city as an open air venue
Using squares, plazas, parks, paths around lakes or even open streets for physical activity and sport accommodates a modern need for citizens to be active on their doorstep. It also meets the growing demand for outdoor activities in urban areas.
A demand-driven approach
Placemaking as an approach entails designing simple, innovative, and cost-effective solutions for the way a public space looks (the hardware) as well as the activities that take place in the space (the software). ISCA’s 18-month Placemaking and Sport project will therefore explore these solutions at a European level, including a demand-driven approach in which citizens’ needs are listened to and acted upon.
Five pilots in five cities
In 2024 the project will test and demonstrate the value of placemaking for sport by conducting five pilot actions in Denmark, France, Italy, Malta and Spain, by developing and compiling inspirational resources, and by building the capacities of sport organisations and cities to take up placemaking approaches.
Key project facts
Project name: Placemaking and Sport Innovative European Solutions
Project period: August 2023-January 2025
Co-funded by: European Commission under the Pilot Projects & Preparation Actions (PPPA), PPPA-SPORT-2022 GRASSROOTS-INNOVATION Programme.
Grant amount: €400,000
Project lead: ISCA
Expert stakeholders: Gehl, Denmark, and BG Be Active, Bulgaria
Pilot organisations: DGI and Copenhagen, Denmark; Azur Sport Sante and Nice, France; Unione Italiana Sport Per Tutti (UISP) and Matera, Italy; MOVE Malta and Zejtun, Malta; DES and Valencia, Spain.
Partners
"Project is funded by the European Union. Views and opinions expressed are however those of the author(s) only and do not necessarily reflect those of the European Union or the European Education and Culture Executive Agency (EACEA). Neither the European Union nor EACEA can be held responsible for them."