How New Technologies Can Promote an Active and Healthy City. Digital Platform to Identify Areas of Informal Sport Practice in the City of Malaga

Abstract

In recent years the urban public space has become the largest casual sports infrastructure in cities and suburbs. WHO establishes a direct relationship between the Active Healthy City, social cohesion of communities and public space. This approach provides a framework for research and work on the design of the city and urban space as support for this sport practice. Moreover, new technologies provide an opportunity to promote the sport in the city. “Malaga Activa” digital platform project is an initiative that wants to promote the informal sport practice on the urban public space (outside the regulated sports facilities) and healthy living in the neighborhoods of the city of Malaga. This paper presents the results of the first phase of the project identifying the active sport areas in the public space -those in which physical and casual sport activities take place-. It also includes a methodology for the analisys and promotion of public space as an activator of phsycal activity, which includes a performance test of the created digital platform, as well as an assessment of the experience and possible improvements to be incorporated in the successive phases of the project.

Keywords

• healthy city
• informal sport practice
• urban space
• new technologies
• digital platform