Sport and the City

With over 84 percent of the UK population residing in cities, the urban environment plays a pivotal role in nurturing and inspiring physical activity.

In London, nearly 38 percent of the population does not participate in the recommended amount of physical activity.

In the face of challenges such as the climate crisis, urban density, funding cuts and rising inactivity levels, our cities need a modern, innovative and holistic model for integrating sport into the city.

To address this, Art-Invest Real Estate, British Land, Future Places Studio and Ryder Architecture have published the first of a two part research report, ‘Sport and the City’, investigating the everyday role of sport in our cities.

A framework for change.

Sport and the City advocates for an approach that empowers local actors to implement a place based framework for embedding sport into our cities in a creative and sustainable way.

Part One explores how urban locations can generate greater social value through improved integration and access of everyday sport into the urban environment, and provides insight into how sport is playing a key role in the evolving Canada Water masterplan in London.

The community impact of any regeneration project is its positive effect on the social fabric of a place. In supporting the development of this blueprint for sport in cities, we’re keen to see more pioneering projects, such as Canada Water, creating long term benefits through innovative, sustainable and inclusive access to everyday sport. Having worked with our global alliance partners to deliver projects that provide sports facilities in the very heart of communities, we’ve seen the positive impact first hand.”

Jonathan Seebacher

Partner at Ryder Architecture

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Photography: Future Places Studio