Sustainable access to sports facilities in an urban context

Abstract
Accessibility to sports and recreation activities is an increasing challenge in relation to negative climate effects as well as urban inequalities. The location of sports facilities is argued to have implications on the possibilities for citizens to join and be active in sports activities. Moreover, the trips that sports activities generate every day and that use unsustainable modes of transportation are increasingly becoming an urgent problem with negative climate effects. This paper studies the location of, and the accessibility to sports facilities including their catchment area from a socioeconomic perspective to capture aspects of what is discussed as sustainable and equal accessibility.

A set of methods is tested with the aim of increasing the understanding of access to sports facilities in relation to municipal goals about climate effects and counteracting inequalities. The results show that the city of Uppsala in Sweden affords unequal accessibility to sports facilities as a result of their location in the urban context and a result of the design of the street network, of public space. The results contribute to better insights regarding how urban planning and accessibility relate to the possibilities of practicing a sport and potentially reaching sports locations using sustainable modes of transportation. The analysis further illustrates that the conditions for introducing sustainable travel modes vary as different sports are compared, calling for the development of analytical analyses and adapted strategies with the ability to take the local and specific conditions into account, rather than uniform and normative strategies.

Bio
Ann Legeby is Professor of Applied Urban Design at the School of Architecture, KTH Royal Institute of Technology, and is engaged in research and teaching. The research concerns society-space relations, focusing on the role of urban form in relation to social segregation and the conditions for everyday life. She has been practicing at Sweco Architects since 1998. Since 2018, she has led the research program Applied Urban Design at KTH.

In the research projects, urban analysis is central, and methodologies and theories are developed on how to analyze, model, and visualize urban form, defined by architecture and urban design, and how this relates to urban processes. Urban segregation and unequal living conditions are key topics in the research as well as to increase the understanding of the role of urban design for urban life. Several of the research projects are conducted in close collaboration with municipalities and other public actors, often in co-creation processes.

Examples of research projects: Mistra Sport & Outdoors, PLATS, SCALE, Cities in Collaboration, Kommunnätverk Stadsformsanalyser, MAPURBAN, Senseable Stockholm Lab, Decreasing Segregation Uppsala, Duvedmodellen, Jämlika livsvillkor, Stadsrums-analyser Stockholm, Hållbara Stationssamhällen, Interaktiv Plattform, Kommissionen för Socialt Hållbart Stockholm, Accessible Cities: Port Elisabeth, Stärkt Hållbarhet, Urban Utveckling/Dela[d]Stad.