The project SPAcE has won the best presentation award at the ICPAHW 2017: 19th International Conference on Physical Activity, Health and Wellness in Rome on 17th and 18th July 2017.
The conference was organised by the World Academy of Science, Engineering and Technology (WASET) and was the premier interdisciplinary forum for the presentation of new advances and research results in the fields of Physical Activity, Health and Wellness. The conference brought together leading academic scientists, researchers, scholars and practitioners from around the world including Italy, Turkey, Taiwan, Korea, Chile, Australia, France, Ivory Coast, Georgia, Poland, Lithuania and Egypt, to present and discuss the most recent innovations, trends, and concerns as well as practical challenges encountered and solutions adopted in the fields of Physical Activity, Health and Wellness.
CESIE as partner in SPAcE, which brings together local government, non-profit and academic partners from 8 EU countries presented the main results of the project which was first submitted by CESIE as a paper abstract, “Promoting Physical Activity through Urban Active Environments: Learning from Practice and Policy Implementation in the EU Space Project”.
CESIE exchanged and shared the project methodology, research results and main conclusions to conference participants which to date have been the production of a report, “Environments for physical activity in Europe a review of evidence and examples of practice“, following a review of good practice including 24 case studies from across the EU and project partner countries focused on the implementation and challenges for developing active environments. This process has led to the development of 5 Urban Active Environments (UActivE) Action Plans with actions and specific goals to address low levels of physical activity and to promote physical activity-friendly environments in 5 European cities/towns: Trikala (Greece), Castilla-La Mancha (Spain), Palermo (Italy), Brasov (Romania) and Tukums (Latvia). UActivE Plans are aimed at influencing policy and practice for increasing the physical activity level of the involved communities primarily through the use of walking and cycling and to raise awareness of the importance of health-enhancing physical activity through enhancing and promoting sustainable urban active environments. The Plans will be made available on the project website together with the final products at the end of 2017.
CESIE’s main role in SPAcE has been to lead the development of the UActivE Action for the city of Palermo collaborating with local communities well as local government, which will focus on addressing child overweight and obesity and the school environment through the development of programmes to increase physical activity in and out of school.
The SPAcE project has captured both the challenges and solutions for increasing population physical activity levels, health and wellness in urban spaces and translating evidence into policy and practice ensuring innovation at policy level.
For more information about the ICPAHW 2017: 19th International Conference on Physical Activity, Health and Wellness in Rome click here
To read the SPAcE report “Environments for physical activity in Europe a review of evidence and examples of practice” click here.