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Conference Agenda

Overview and details of the sessions of this conference. Please select a date or location to show only sessions at that day or location. Please select a single session for detailed view (with abstracts and downloads if available).

Daily Overview

Session

WR2_1_3: Abstract presentations: Active Schools, Healthy Children: Creating Environments for Physical Activity and Health
Location: White room 2
Session Chair: Josefine Björkqvist

Presentation 1

3:10pm - 3:20pm

Towards an activity-friendly urban environment: insights from a participatory approach aligning youth’ needs and local facilities

Anass Arrogi¹, Sheila Gopie¹, Nivard Creton¹, Jasmijn Holla^1,2

1: Faculty of Health, Sports and Social Work, Inholland University of Applied Sciences, Haarlem, the Netherlands; 2: Centre of Expertise Prevention in Health and Wellbeing, Inholland University of Applied Sciences, Haarlem, the Netherlands

Purpose: This study explores the relationship between the physical activity (PA) needs of children, adolescents and young adults (aged 6–34) and PA opportunities in a mid-sized city in the western Netherlands, with the overarching aim of supporting the structural development of a PA-friendly public environment.

Methods: Multiple participatory and qualitative methods were used, including dot-voting among children (aged 6-12), interviews with adolescents (aged 12-18), young adults (aged 18-34) and local sports providers, as well as co-creation sessions involving young people (aged 14-20) and PA professionals. The PA-friendly environment model guided the study, focusing on the physical environment (hardware), provision of activities (software), and organisational structure (orgware).

Results: PA and sports participation was high among children (83%) but declined markedly after age twelve, particularly among teenage girls. Young adults preferred flexible, informal activities over organised sports. Key barriers included financial and time constraints, concerns about social safety, and inadequate facilities. Regarding the physical environment (hardware), an urban park was identified by young people and professionals as a key location to stimulate PA participation. However, its potential is currently limited by inadequate lighting and insufficient shelter. Professionals emphasised that physical modifications should be accompanied by clear agreements on activity programming (software) and organisational infrastructure (orgware).

Conclusions: Enhancing health-promoting PA requires practical and policy initiatives, including redesigning activity-supportive environments like urban parks alongside actively involving local communities. PA policy professionals play an important role in linking organised and informal sports settings, particularly to support the retention of teenage girls and young adults.