CESIE as partner in the project SPAcE – Supporting Policy and Action for Active Environments was selected to present its final results at the IEREK international conference on Urban Transit and Sustainable Networks (UTSN) on 25th October – 27th October 2017 at the University of Palermo, Italy.
The conference was organised by IEREK – International Experts for Research Enrichment and Knowledge Exchange and aimed to help and provide solutions that will aid in Cities’ Transformation, define and reduce negative impacts on the city and its components, and discusses the social & economical approaches and solutions for better growth.
The conference brought together students, researchers, engineers, scholars and key experts from Universities and research organisations from across the world who submitted full academic papers in order to present and discuss all matters related to strategies of Urban Transit. A distinctive element of the Urban Transit and the Environment Series is the interaction between academic and practical perspectives where theories and ideas are debated and their practical applications rigorously tested.
With a specific focus on the city of Palermo, the conference was co-organised by the University of Palermo and had participation from regional public authorities and research institutions including, Palermo City Council, the Italian Institute of Town Planning – Sicily Delegation and Order of Architects, Planners, Landscape Architects and Conservative Architects of Palermo.
Discussing issues concerning logistical transportation, traffic, infrastructure, public participation and government support, CESIE presented the research and main results of the co-productive process to develop the Urban Active Environments (UActivE) Action Plan for the city of Palermo in order to promote physical activity-friendly environments targeting the school environment in order to reduce childhood obesity and overweight levels. The results of this work was submitted to the conference by CESIE as author of the academic paper, “Supporting mobility across European cities through physically active-friendly urban environments”.
The final 5 UActivE Action Plans with specific goals and actions to address low levels of physical activity and promote physical activity-friendly environments using walking and cycling for the ciites/towns of Trikala (Greece), Castilla-La Mancha (Spain), Palermo (Italy), Brasov (Romania) and Tukums (Latvia) will be available for download from the SPAcE project website at the end of 2017.
The final products of project, “How to create an Urban Active Environment (UActivE) Action Plan – Lessons learnt and case studies from five European cities from the SPAcE EU project” and “Measuring the value of an Urban Active Environment, using the WHO Health Economic Assessment Tool (HEAT)” are in their last phase of development and will also be available to download from the website at the end of 2017.
To read the SPAcE report “Environments for physical activity in Europe a review of evidence and examples of practice” click here.
For more information about the IEREK international conference on Urban Transit and Sustainable Networks (UTSN) held in Palermo please click here.
The SPAcE project is co-funded by Erasmus+ Sport: Support to Collaborative Partnerships programme aims to integrate active transport programmes (i.e. walking to school, cycle to work schemes etc.) into public policy across the European Union. The overall aim of the SPAcE project is to make the healthy choice the easy choice through creating sustainable urban active environments in cities and towns across the European Union.
Urban active environments (UActivE) are environments that prioritise walking, cycling and taking public transport where possible. These environments involve practices that aim to facilitate, promote and increase population (community) physical activity levels.
For more information about the SPAcE project please visit: activeenvironments.eu or contact: rosina.ndukwe@cesie.org.