Action Plan Active City

Knowledge and Awareness about the status, importance and benefits of physical activity is a prerequisite for the development of Active City initiatives. It is about ensuring that public servants, and policy- and decision-makers recognise the necessity to take action, and also for citizens to understand the positive impact physical activity can have on their lives.

Increasing the visibility and profile of active lifestyles and physical activity among politicians, decision-makers, administrators and citizens must be considered as an on-going priority for municipalities. Politicians and civil servants need to understand and recognise the benefits of being active, alongside the central ideas of an active lifestyle, which will increase the provision of resources and ensure the issue is put on the agenda for political decision-making.

Finally, without sufficient understanding of drivers and outcomes, there is little – to no – motivation for citizens to increase their activity.

Build your Action Plan!

The below elements have been identified by the PACTE project as key in building an Active City strategy; these elements have been evidence-based in cities across Europe.

So, how do they relate to your municipality?
Select the elements that you would like to prioritise and implement in your hometown and start building your own personalised action plan! This will be summarised in an overall action plan at …
Note : you can chose do work on all settings or just a selection of them. Not all sections are mandatory.

Knowledge & Awareness about the benefits of being physically active are not sufficient to transform inactive citizens into active ones. It is crucial to provide fun, inspirational and powerful experiences to create a lifelong interest of physical activity.

A key factor to achieve this is the maintenance and development of access to a wide range of enjoyable activity opportunities that encourage participation and enable citizens to choose an active lifestyle, as well as address wishes and expectations expressed by the citizens.

Programmes & Events are interventions that municipalities can deliver themselves, support or encourage through other structures as well as stakeholders acting on their territory (e.g. schools, clubs, NGOs, etc.). They can be:

• Single or multiple day events;
• Short- or long-term programmes;
• Targeted to the entire population of the city;
• Targeted to a selected group (e.g. children, schools, youth, women, persons with a disability, elderly adults, etc.) for more specific results;
• Etc.

And don’t forget, positive experiences from successful physical activity programmes and events can inspire participants to remain – or become – active in their daily life. You should consider your target group(s) (age, levels of ability etc.), focus on fun and motivation, ensure safety and an environment free from physical and emotional threats, choose experienced leaders and instructors and provide social opportunities! All programmes and events should consider long-term engagement in physical activity with the help of partners and stakeholders.

Build your Action Plan!
The below elements have been identified by the PACTE project as key in building an Active City strategy; these elements have been evidence-based in cities across Europe.

How does this relate to your municipality? Select those elements that you prioritise and may want to implement in your city to build your own action plan!

Active Cities built social environments that support physical activity through the provision of open spaces, leisure areas, sporting facilities, housing and transport facilities and services.
An attractive, active, accessible, safe and healthy environment makes a municipality a welcoming place. It invites people to play, walk and cycle, to stop and talk, watch and learn. Municipalities are alive when they can offer flexible traffic management, easily accessible and safe public spaces as well as areas that facilitate play, movement, physical activity and social interaction.

The construction and maintenance of an effective network of physical activity facilities is not an impossible challenge for municipalities when working in partnership with sports organisations and the private sector. However, the challenge is to integrate these infrastructures in the daily lives of the citizens and communities.

Factors enabling a physically active lifestyle in an urban infrastructure include, but are not limited to:

• Open-access sports pitches or activity parks (e.g. skate parks)
• Traffic management
• Designated cycling and walking tracks (safe and if possible illuminated)
• Public access to parks, green areas, playgrounds, and outdoor equipment
• Easily accessible natural areas (countryside, rivers, forests, lakes, sea, mountains…)
• Land use planning processes
• Environmental solutions encouraging physical activity
• Solutions that encourage use of stairs
• etc.

It is imperative to consider physical activity facilities not as insular areas dedicated to sport only, but to integrate them in the vision of your municipality and the everyday lives of your citizens and communities!

Build your Action Plan!
The below elements have been identified by the PACTE project as key in building an Active City strategy; these elements have been evidence-based in cities across Europe.

No one can solve the issue of physical inactivity alone. Municipalities are in the privileged position to be the closest level of government to citizens; they are in direct contact with their citizens, as well as home to a rich landscape of stakeholders. The key to success is to develop a coordinated approach in the delivery of physical activity opportunities through cooperation with all sectors, including health, leisure, sport, education, transport, urban planning, etc.

You should consider collaborations with other departments within the municipality, but also community organisations to create a strong cross-sectorial cooperation to build together physical activity opportunities for your citizens.

An effective way to identify partners is to look at the typical lifespan of your citizens: during their life, an individual encounters various structures – communities, organisations and institutions – that are present in the municipality setting and have a strong impact on their lifestyle and relationship to physical activity. Individuals pass from one structure to the other as they get older. A typical pathway of a citizen involves kindergarten, school, the workplace, and maybe retirement homes, and all of these environments will contribute to lifestyle choices and their attitude towards physical activity – ultimately enhancing citizens’ life balance.

So, we recommend bringing everyone together, encourage discussions, share common actions and reap the increased benefits of working with each other!

Build your Action Plan!
The below elements have been identified by the PACTE project as key in building an Active City strategy; these elements have been evidence-based in cities across Europe.

How does this relate to your municipality? Select those elements that you prioritise and may want to implement in your city to build your own action plan!

Every successful Active City initiative includes an effective planning, monitoring and evaluation of the work undertaken to increase participation in physical activity.

The design of a strategy, as well as monitoring and evaluation systems based on the various key success areas (Knowledge & Awareness, Programmes & Events, Spaces & Places, Cooperation & Partnerships) is a first step that will ensure a sustainable approach and long-term results for the municipality and its citizens.
This helps to increase the perceived value of the physical activity interventions as citizens can see the results which will maintain motivation and inspiration. Monitoring and evaluation are also imperative to reduce wasted efforts and fully concentrate on evidence-based solutions that have been proven to work.

Build your Action Plan!
The below elements have been identified by the PACTE project as key in building an Active City strategy; these elements have been evidence-based in cities across Europe.