Activating Architecture in Urban Spaces

10
Activating Architecture in
Urban Spaces
The city is more than just a place to live. It is also a
place for experience and activity, a place in which we
spend much of our time. We move between our various
daily destinations, we go for a run along the water or we
play ball in the park. The healthy city provides a setting
for our working day and our spare time, and we have
developed ways of using the existing setting for a range of
different recreational and active pursuits.
At the same time, participation in organised sports has
declined, particularly for the younger population that is
turning away from the traditional sports clubs in favour
of other forms of activity 1 . The traditional sports club
is losing ground, not because of declining interest in
physical activity but rather due to different needs and
wants concerning physical exercise. Studies show that
the Danes want to be physically active, but in a flexible
and casual way 2 . This indicates that exercise and
sports need to be easily accessible, convenient and fun.
Consequently the city should be as conducive as possible
to varied expression and physical activity.
As the demand and need for more and novel sports
and exercise activities is on the rise, methods must be
developed for structuring and managing sports facilities
at municipal and local levels. We need to develop even
better urban spaces, in order for them to meet the
demands of inhabitants when it comes to physical activity.
The built environment can be perceived as a stage for
physical activity. Here, architecture and urban spaces
become elements of sports and movement, thereby
creating the setting for the active city. Opportunities for
physical activity in urban spaces have a socially cohesive
effect. Unplanned meetings take place, self-confidence
increases, and the area is brought to life.
1. Tendenser i danskernes idræts- og motionsvaner og idrætsforeningernes
forhold til den selvorganiserede idræt, Department
of Exercise and Sport Sciences, University of Copenhagen,
2005
2. Danskernes motions- og sportsvaner 2007, Danish Institute
for Sports Studies, 2008
Everyday Activity Areas
The first step toward accommodating this new trend
and getting people to walk or run is to create welcoming
surroundings that people enjoy and want to use for
physical expression. This presupposes that the urban
spaces, places and facilities that we navigate in our
daily lives are appealing and inviting enough for urban
residents to want to use them and exercise in them. This
can be achieved, for example, by paying attention to the
possibilities for pause in the area, to access to green
spaces and activity areas and to the places we navigate
daily, trying to develop these based on some basic
settings for physical activity.
Bicycle use in everyday life is increasing, and activities
like hiking and jogging are among the most popular
with adults 3 . For children and older people, there is a
rising tendency primarily to engage in outdoor activities
and play within the local community, and proximity is a
significant factor in the choice of physical activity 4 . By
seeking to accommodate these forms of movement and
expression within the local community and by securing
good settings and conditions for regular movement and
activity, urban spaces can become a natural and secure
setting for such activity and can additionally contribute to
raising the level of activity.
Sports and physical activity can be more easily
incorporated in our everyday lives because the demand
and need for more new sports activities and movement
opportunities is increasing. Consequently methods need
to be developed to structure and handle these facilities at
the local and municipal levels. One way to accommodate
this is to focus on ease of access to and between the daily
facilities that support pleasurable activities in the local
community.
3. Voksnes sports- og motionsaktiviteter efter kulturaktivitet og
køn (procentdel af voksne), Statistics Denmark, 2004
Tendenser i danskernes idræts- og motionsvaner og idrætsforeningernes
forhold til den selvorganiserede idræt, Department
of Exercise and Sport Sciences, University of Copenhagen,
2005
4. Danskernes motions- og sportsvaner 2007, Danish Institute
for Sports Studies, 2008
11-15-åriges livsstil og sundhedsvaner 2004 – og udviklingen
siden 1997, National Board of Health, Denmark, 2006