A platform for European cities on a common European sports development

Cities for Sports supports municipalities in their interchange on cross-sectoral approaches in order to learn about successful measures. With the help of the  online database municipalities are able to get to know the best ideas in Europe and to participate in the exchange. The more cities join, the more fruitful the interchange on practical experiences and ideas will be.

It ensures that existing and proven projects and programmes in the individual partner cities are brought together and that the concepts and measures for the transfer of knowledge and practice are made available to local authorities. The concepts for successful approaches are made completely available via the network. New programmes are initiated by local networking. Recommendations on a European sport promotion are elaborated together.

The network’s database is fully available to all members. This is seen as the (communication) platform to facilitate the effective exchange and presentation of examples of best practice, problems and solutions, and curren developments and findings.

Background

The Lisbon Treaty made sport a policy area of the European Union. The first exclusive section "sport" within a programme for the promotion of sport is expected in 2014. EU funds were allocated directly to sport for the first time in 2009. There was an opportunity to submit projects in response to the European Commission call for proposals on “Preparatory Actions in the Field of Sport”.

Together with their partners from the cities of Athens, Innsbruck, Copenhagen and Rotterdam, the state capital Stuttgart was awarded funding for its “You need exercise!” project, designed to promote physical activity among children, which it implemented in 2010. The “You need exercise!” project came up with concrete recommendations for how the promotion of exercise among children can be implemented within a local authority. The practical guidelines on the “Promotion of an exercise culture among children” define 28 relevant fields.

The project showed how useful it is to exchange ideas on approaches, particularly among European local authorities. Specifially the exchange of concepts and their implementation as well as the mutual advice are valuable. For this purpose the developed platform of the EU project “You need exercise!” was extended to the network “Cities for Sports“. The state capital, Stuttgart, would like to use the “Cities for Sports” network to promote these exchanges and invites all interested cities to become involved.