Antwerp, active city

How can you be a city as active as Antwerp?

Active leisure

• Develop an extensive sporting offer:
  “Sporting A wants to get Antwerp residents moving, with activities and events, but also with inspiration for a life full of movement. Because exercise is much more than sports, it is also walking with friends or playing with (grand)children. Exercise is healthy, but above all it is also a lot of fun.” To achieve its goal, the department put forward many activities on the city website, from running to aqua Zumba group classes[2] and “tailored-made exercise plans”[3] made by a referral personal coach.

• Create an ‘A card’:
  To access the city sports halls, swimming pools, or classes, people only have to buy an ‘A card’ and recharge it at will. This initiative was successful, as “two out of three Antwerpers practise sport regularly, ranging from running or cycling to swimming and many other activities”[4], according to the Olympic cities’ website.

• Organise sporting events:
  Antwerp also hosts sporting events of different scales. It is a long-lasting tradition, as it held the 1920 Summer Olympics[5]. A 5-10 kilometres race will take place in May 2024 (with an adapted course for children)[6], but it will also welcome the Belgian Women’s basketball team, that will play their Olympic Games Qualifiers game against world champions United States, Senegal, and Nigeria in the Sportpaleis[7]. To promote the practice of sailing, Antwerp will also offer the opportunity to try out this activity to its residents during the Water Sports Day, on May 5^th. But the city is innovative in the events it holds. For instance, the Urban Youth Games will took place in Antwerp for the first time on May 2^nd and 3^rd: it is organised for fifth and sixth grade pupils, to introduce as many of them as possible to different sports. Overall, it is a very active town sports-wise, whether it be in football, cycling, tennis, handball, rugby, or even roller derby.

• Establish partnerships:
  The sports department of the municipality has been associated to a virtual club, with its own anthem and clothing line in partnership with a local business, to try and mobilise the population to be more active[8].

• Know when to rebrand:
  To target people that spend from little to no time practicing physical activities, the city redefined its communication strategy to highlight the emotions linked to sport.

Active mobility

Antwerp is well-known for being a bike friendly city. It is an activity that has historically been widespread in Flanders, but Antwerp takes the lead in pro-cycling policies. In 2021, as a Physical Activity through Sustainable Transport Approaches case study city, its policy environment for cycling was rated as the most supportive of the study[20]. The quality of infrastructures and travel was also noted multiple times in the Copenhagenize index, that rates cities according to their friendliness towards bicycle users. Indeed, Antwerp has been part of the top-20 cities of Copenhagenize since 2013[21], and is in fourth place in 2024.

Develop alternative modes of transport, such as cycle paths and slow roads

• Cycle paths: the municipality is developing a plan to asphalt its bicycle paths and more than 30 kilometres of them will thus be resurfaced, to better both the comfort and the safety of its users. In 2023, Antwerp also added more than 4 kilometres of cycle path, and they plan to add even more to the 576 existing kilometres[22]. If you ever visit, you can download the Antwerp cycling map or use the Smart ways to Antwerp’s route planner and select your mode of transportation (including shared mobility) to see the cycle paths, but also every other mode of transport [23].

• Slow roads: Aside from just cycling, ‘Sporting A’ 2020-2025 Policy Plan includes the development of ‘slow roads’, to promote so-called ‘slow’ modes of transport, such as walking. They are “roads with little or no motorised traffic”[24]. More than 700 kilometres of them are being or have been developed, with the goal of discouraging the use of cars[25]. The city then laid the ‘Routeplan 2030’ regional mobility plan, in a shift toward sustainable transportation that also contributes to more active mobility[26].