In the context of our project "SINN-i: Active City Innovation", Lisa Herrmann, Franziska Sippel–two interns at our chair–and Christoph Mall visited Sheffield together with Eckehard Fozzy Moritz and Charlotte Meixner from Innovationsmanufaktur and Martin Soutschek from Outdooractive.
One goal of Sheffield–‘The Outdoor City’–is to increase the attractiveness of parks and open spaces for physical activity and therefore the wellbeing in and around the city.
Thus, the Sheffield Olympic Legacy Park was transformed into a multi-purpose fitness park. As part of the 10th anniversary of the Olympics, 1004 students and 600 individuals visited the park on the anniversary weekend 17-18 June. In partnership with Move More, a physical activity strategy in Sheffield, Sheffield Hallam University and the Advanced Wellbeing Research Centre (AWRC), the Olympic Legacy Park offered 32 different activities for young and old. These included a color run, a heptathlon where you received a medal if you successfully completed all disciplines, presentations on Active City Innovation, and gatherings to discuss more innovative ideas for activating cities to be more active. We were part of the VIP tour around the Olympic Legacy Park and had the chance to discuss various topics of Active City Innovation with e.g. Richard Carbon, former Sports Minister, and Councillor Sioned-Mair Richards as well as many people involved at the Olympic Legacy Park, the Move More campaign, the AWRC and other engaged local stakeholders.
During our trip, we furthermore explored the Peak District National Park–in close proximity to the City of Sheffield, it is one major spot for various outdoor activities and outdoor sports–as well as the residential area developments around Waverly.
We are happy about the insights gained and thank everyone who made this impression: Anna Lowe, Steve Haake, Claire Fretwell, Maxine Gregory, Nick Hamilton, Tom Hughes, Rachel Weston, Clair Parkinson, Rob Copeland and many, many more!