Urban Sport - A Primer
How to: Urban Sport
In the heart of London, right next to Borough Market, I’ve found a great starting point for anyone interested in Urban Sport.
First of all – what is Urban Sport or Urban Activity?
Simply, the world is becoming more urban. In fact in just a few short years the vast majority of humans will be living in built up urban environments. Lots of concrete, not much green space!
We know that we need to be active to be healthy, but in increasingly urban environments that’s becoming harder and harder to do through traditional ways – i.e. those sports you’d associate with parks and fields. We also know it’s better for people to be outside and social, so even gyms aren’t fantastic.
A great solution is the emerging field of Urban Activity into which several organisations who focus on Urban Sport sit.
In Marlborough Sports Gardens you’re seeing several organisations come together to try to activate the grey space through interactive sport. From Wallball to Urban Table Tennis. Beach Volleyball to Basketball.
But just putting equipment up isn’t enough really. How do we strive towards success?
1. Engage the community. That’s key. Co-design to fill a space with something that the community not only want but also feel like they own. UK Wallball, for example, often ask the local community to design their courts with street-art that’s relevant to the people who will be using the facilities.
2. Locally led. Ensure there are local leaders on site to both act as role models and to take the area forward in a community-centred way. Organisations coming in from the outside just don’t have his kind of reach.
3. Be exciting and innovate. We often talk about the ‘grey’ space, but the space doesn’t need to be grey. Fill it with colour and street-art. Use technology – augmented reality, interactive equipment, easy social sharing, etc. to activate the space in a really enticing way.
4. Let people get active on their own terms. Prescribing the way activity should be done isn’t right as most people don’t respond well to be told what to do in an informal space. For adults this is a big barrier. So let the space speak for itself. Let people access facilities how they want to. And where you can, remove the need for a coach. If you’re introducing a new activity find ways to educate people about it without having to be there on site. QR codes, posters, interactive videos, etc.
5. Finally….TRAILBLAZE. Do it differently and you’ll gain attention.
Things kick off properly in the Sport Garden once Covid restrictions lift in a few weeks, so head down there and get stuck in.
Check out my video here: