These streets are made for walking!
At this year’s MOVE Congress, one of the main tracks will focus on MOVEment Spaces. Gathering specialists from all around Europe, the sessions will focus on how urban spaces can be reframed as active spaces – even in densely populated cities.
In the discussions, cities will get recoloured by the experts: we will look at “green” (parks and green spaces), “black” (paved and asphalt spaces) and “blue” (water) settings that can offer solutions to the perceived lack of MOVEment Spaces in our cities.
The “Creating walking cities” initiative is a good example of how paved and asphalt spaces could be taken back from moving vehicles. The UK initiative is fighting back and aiming to repopulate the streets with moving pedestrians and create walking cities across the country.
The idea is led by Living Streets, a charity for everyday walking, which is the easiest way for most people to get more active and give their physical and mental health a positive boost. With only seven steps, they claim to restructure urban spaces to walking cities:
Read “Creating walking cities – A blueprint for change”
Next to that, in MOVE Congress’ host city Birmingham, an initiative called Active Streets aims to transform the local roads into safe and vibrant community spaces for a few hours at a time. Challenging the idea that streets are only highways for moving vehicles, the project gathers good practices on how to turn the streets to social spaces for everyone.
Turning the city space around
However, as urban spaces are not only made out of asphalt, it’s important to make parks, green spaces, and even water settings more accessible too. All around Europe, cities are putting more effort into making their city spaces more people-friendly. Some Nordic countries and the Netherlands are already famous for their their cycling infrastructures, but change will not necessarily happen with an added line that separates cars, cyclists and pedestrians.
Join the MOVE Congress in Birmingham to share your own experience!
Blueprints such as these and the “Creating walking cities” initiative are taking us step-by-step towards sustainable change.
Do you want to become a change-maker, too? Get your MOVE Congress ticket now and join one of the most dynamic sport-for-all conferences this October in Birmingham, UK.
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