Equalizer: breaking down the barriers at informal outdoor sport and recreational spaces

Abstract

ABSTRACT A popular strategy for activating the urban population physically is to provide informal outdoor sport and recreational spaces. However, building an infrastructure does not assure physical activity among the wider population. For instance, girls tend to be underrepresented at public sport places. To create more equal physical activity opportunities in public space, we need to uncover and interpret the barriers. Therefore, outdoor sport and recreational spaces are interesting to examine, as they provide a possibility to understand gender in relation to norms, activity, and public space. The project Equalizer – a tool for equal and inclusive activity places deals with the perspectives of gender, place, and physical activity to create changes in the use of public informal outdoor sport and recreational spaces. This paper aims to discuss the experience-based, participatory method of disturbances used in the Equalizer project and some of the central findings and solutions. The findings indicate that the barriers for engaging in physical activity at informal outdoor sport and recreational spaces are multi-faceted, as are the possible solutions to overcome the barriers and open up the places to more people. We identified four types of solutions based on the identified barriers: spatial/physical, organisational/support-related, activity-related, and norm/representation-related.