Sport facilities are instrumental in keeping the population fit and healthy. Governments worldwide are thus engaged in devising policies, programs and projects for building such facilities, with the aim of providing citizens with opportunities for a healthy lifestyle. This feature is prominent in the Nordic countries, which have incorporated sport, leisure and physical activity into their universal welfare models. Understanding policies and politics for building sports facilities has therefore become a cornerstone in the understanding of conditions for sport and physical activity for all. In this paper, we investigate and compare the national structures for building and managing sports facilities in the Nordic countries, in order to add to the understanding of how policies and politics for building sport facilities can add to or hamper the sport-for-all ambitions salient in most of today's western societies.
The purpose of the article is to analyse the impact of three forms of involvement in organised civil society -as 'participant', as 'member' and as 'volunteer' -on self-assessed quality of life when checking for coherence between the three forms of participation. The article is inspired by both Lim and Putnam's claim that close social networks around meaningful and identity-bearing activities increase self-assessed quality of life and Stebbins' claim that life satisfaction is an essential byproduct of 'serious leisure'. This article utilises data from a digital survey study conducted among adult citizens in Denmark, which 2,514 citizens answered. The questionnaire contained a broad range of questions regarding participation in leisure activities, membership in associations, engagement in voluntary work, subjective life-satisfaction, self-assessed health and social background of the respondents. The statistical regression analysis shows a correlation between volunteering in general and self-assessed quality of life, but the correlation is relatively weak.However, the analysis does not show a significant correlation between quality of life and membership in an association and participation in 'serious leisure'. Of the other variables included, self-assessed health in particular contributes to explaining the variation in self-assessed quality of life.
Sport facilities are instrumental in keeping the population fit and healthy. Governments worldwide are thus engaged in devising policies, programs and projects for building such facilities, with the aim of providing citizens with opportunities for a healthy lifestyle. This feature is prominent in the Nordic countries, which have incorporated sport, leisure and physical activity into their universal welfare models. Understanding policies and politics for building sports facilities has therefore become a cornerstone in the understanding of conditions for sport and physical activity for all. In this paper, we investigate and compare the national structures for building and managing sports facilities in the Nordic countries, in order to add to the understanding of how policies and politics for building sport facilities can add to or hamper the sport-for-all ambitions salient in most of today's western societies.
Despite a rich literature on organizational capacity (OC) in voluntary sports clubs (VSCs), few studies have examined OC building and its long-term sustainability. Against this background, the authors identified changes in OC among VSCs that participated in a club development program and examined the sustainability of these changes. The authors collected survey data 9 months after participation comparing the participating VSCs (n = 62) with similar nonparticipating VSCs (n = 64). A selection of the participating VSCs was then contacted 3–4 years later for a follow-up survey (n = 48) and focus group interviews (n = 5). The results show that (a) significant differences in human resource capacity, planning and development capacity, and infrastructure and process capacity were visible between the participating and nonparticipating VSCs, and that (b) certain changes in OC remain in the clubs 3–4 years after participation. A sustainable change was that core volunteers related differently to the work in their respective VSCs.
Background The impact of the physical environment on physical activity is not equal for all citizens. According to the socioecological theory, moderators of the association can for example be income, education, age, ethnicity and gender. These moderating conditions are important for practice in order to plan and initiate the best solutions for different population groups. Methods Based on a systematic review process 1464 studies were screened. After title, abstract and full text reading 41 studies remained and constitute the basis for this presentation. Results Citizens with different sociodemographic backgrounds are often geographically divided within cities. Looking at the overall characteristics of urban areas, studies show that citizens with lower incomes and shorter education often live in areas with higher population density and generally shorter distances to daily destinations. Conversely, citizens with higher incomes and longer education often have better access to trails, sidewalks and sports facilities. Several of the included studies find that access to facilities is inferior for low-income citizens, but other studies indicate that social and personal factors also play a role in the use of the areas. Adding to this, some evidence possits a lower adoption of for example new bike trails for citizens with shorter education. This leads many of the studies to recommend holistic efforts where improvements in the built environment are initiated simultaneously with other types of efforts that strengthen information, skills and motivation for physical activity. For example, combine cheaper or free access to sports facilities or gyms with marketing and beginners' courses. Another important finding from the equity review is a focus on safety from crime and traffic, which more often is a problem in low income areas, and at the same time a larger perceived barrier for women and elderly people. Conclusion The interplay between sociodemographic characteristic and the physical environment is complex, but the review points to some important findings.
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