What is Active Cities?
The Active Cities project is designed to tackle the environmental and policy, or systems barriers to population physical activity to enable active living.
It is funded under the Dormant Accounts Active Cities Fund, developed by Sport Ireland, and delivered through eight Local Sports Partnerships (LSPs) in the five major cities, including the four local authority areas in Dublin, over the next four years. All cities have funding for a staff member and equipment/infrastructure. We were approved for €70,000 in year 1, €90,000 in year 2, and hopefully will get around €150,000 in year 3.
Only 34% of adults do the recommended 30 mins of physical activity five days per week, and this is even lower among children and teenagers (19% and 12%), those from disadvantaged areas and those with a disability. However, most say that they would like to be more physically active (Healthy Ireland Report, 2019). While many people, groups and agencies already recognise the importance of daily physical activity, they do not have the power to actually change the environment and systems that prioritise car-based living, and result in organised sport and gyms being the only physical activity options for most people.
The Active Cities project therefore, is about supporting and enabling key stakeholders and decision makers to make Waterford a place where people can be more active in their daily lives, through walking or cycling for transport or recreation, through active play, or through informal sport. This has a proven positive impact on community cohesion and anti-social behaviour.
