In 2018, ISCA is awarding alliances who have reimagined and transformed urban spaces into active spaces. We call these spaces MOVEment Spaces because they enable citizens to enjoy their human right to MOVE. Our expert jury has selected 12 nominees for the awards, which are alliances of different stakeholders that have taken a coordinated approach to delivering physical activity opportunities in three categories of urban spaces: Green spaces (parks and other green areas); Black spaces (paved and asphalt spaces, including squares and roads); and Blue spaces (anywhere there is water, such as lakes, rivers or harbours). The combination of stakeholders can be from a variety of sectors including sport, health, leisure, education, transport, urban planning, architecture, local authorities, business and community groups. Applications were open until 10 September 2018. The jury will select winners from the 3 categories and the fourth award will be selected by a People's Choice vote.

1. Award Nominees 2018

2. Title
BG Be Active - The Spot
Providing people of all ages with safe places to play and exercise, while also allowing for a
range of leisure activities to take place around that area, and also bringing people closer
together and fostering a strong sense of community is easier said than done. When this is
put in the context of small, underfunded villages the challenge becomes even more
difficult. However, BG Be Active and their partners InFormal, Trudolyubtsi and Miletia have
come together and pooled their resources and expertise to do just that. The villages of
Zlatitsa and Trudovets had suffered from decaying civic areas that have been neglected by
local authorities, and have proven impractical to repair and renovate. This, coupled with
their distance from major towns and cities, has meant that people in these areas have had
extremely limited options to be active in their local area, and has also meant a level of
disenfranchisement amongst citizens. To tackle both of these issues at once, the project is
founded on the principle of place making. By physically restoring the “spots” such as parks
and leisure areas this not only provides residents with more, varied, free, opportunities to
be active, but also helps foster a sense of community that is lacking. Engaging volunteers to
help restore the areas, and providing local people with an informal education in this
regards helps do just that, and the installation of varied facilities such as chess-boards,
playing fields, table tennis tables, children’s playgrounds and benches means that people
from all walks of society can live healthier more active lives.

3. Title
Bogota District Recreation and Sports Institute -
Ciclovía Bogota
Modern cities are getting busier than ever. More traffic, more pollution, and more people
with hectic daily schedules means that opportunities to be active in your own way of
choice, in a communal area alongside fellow citizens, has grown to be increasingly
difficult. That is why the District Institute of Recreation and Sports in Bogota, Columbia,
alongside their partners The Secretary of Education and The District Department of
Mobility, have come together to ensure that residents of the capital city have regularly
opportunities to exercise in the heart of their city en masse! Every single Sunday of the
year, and on all public holidays the main roads of the city – connected in a 120km circuit –
are closed to traffic from 7am until 2pm. This means that every single area of the city is
covered and connected. But it is not just closing off the streets that gets people active and
promotes community cohesion. There are a range of different sections open for different
physical activities so that everyone from children to the elderly can be involved, guided
cycle tours taking place, locations for extreme sports practice, and places to buy food and
water, as well as free public toilets, so that people can stay for the duration of the
Ciclovía. Not many schemes to get people physically active can boast about ensuring that
1.5 million people a week are getting moving… but that is the average for each event in
Bogota.

4. Title
By & Havn/CPH City & Port development - P-hus
Lüders - Konditaget Lüders
Multi-storey carparks are not the first thing that you think of when you think
about places made for people to move. But in North Copenhagen By & Havn
(Copenhagen City & Port Development), alongside their partners DGI (one of
the largest sports organisations in Denmark), the Danish Foundation for
Culture and Sports Facilities, and local sports association Nordhavn IF, are
looking to challenge that perception. To do this they have created, 24 metres
above the shoreline of the Baltic Sea, a unique 24,000m public space has been
designed for exercise and play. The land has been reclaimed as part of the re-
generation of the old port area, and the overarching aim of the project has
been to enable residents of all ages, visitors, nurseries, schools and local
associations the chance to move and play more, by giving everyone a space
designed just for that purpose. Residents themselves were involved in the
process of establishing the space, giving the partners a direct insight into what
they wanted and needed to ensure the area would be used regularly. Regular
sports activities are organised within the space, and it caters for everyone,
from high-end athletes, to the elderly, to children, giving people a space to
move and meet in a densely populated urban area where such activities
otherwise might not be possible. Different surfaces are in place to allow a
range of activities, and there are a range of sports apparatus in place so
everyone can be active!

5. Title
City of Copenhagen, Culture and Leisure
Department - Bathing Zones
Access to areas where you can bathe and swim outdoors in a safe
environment are difficult to come by, especially in large, busy cities.
Such opportunities in clean water, with a range of facilities such as
different sizes and depths of pools are even rarer. That is why what
Copenhagen Cities Culture and Leisure department, alongside partners
Copenhagen Harbour Authority and local landowners have done is so
special. They have created several bathing zones right in the Danish
capitals city centre, and are accessible to all. Ramps down to the water
with platforms attached mean that there are no access issues for
anyone, regardless of their age or level of mobility, and the pools are
marked out with lane ropes to show both passing boats and people
using the pools where they can swim. The facility possesses one 50m
pool, especially for swimming, which swimming clubs utilise and
swimming lessons take place, and a smaller pool that is more suitable
for families and playing around. There is also access to the pools all year
round, which makes it far easier and safer for winter bathers to go for a
dip or a swim outside of the summer months as long as they can brave
the cold Baltic seawater! Citizen input into where the bathing zones
were placed was also taken into account in the planning process, so
that the facilities would be able to be functionally used by as many
people as possible.

6. Title
Deutscher Turner-Bund (DTB - German
Gymnastics Federation) – Fitness-Locations
The DTB (The German Gymnastics Federation) “Fitness-Locations” project
aims to change the green urban settings into a new fitness centre,
accessible to all citizens and, in this way, to provide a nationwide
coverage of cities with professionally designed public outdoor training
facilities, motivating the population to be physically active just by their
doorsteps. The main concept of the “Fitness-Locations” is that they are
installed in green areas close to residential spaces, so the easy access to
them by the neighbours is part of it attractiveness. By having permanent,
free of charge and quality equipment available, the only requirement for
the people is to put on their sport shoes, get fresh air and move. Seven
german cities (Berlin, Postdam, Leipzig, Gießen, Frankfurt, Karlsruhe and
Schwäbisch Gmünd) took part in the project during the pilot phase (2016
- 2017), and in 2018 six more cities participate (Bremen,
Ummern/Wessendorf, Wolfenbüttel, Osnabrück, Frielendorf and
Muldestausee). The general coordination and management of the project
is conducted by the DTB, which brings together different stakeholders,
from different sectors, to work together reshaping public spaces into
active spaces.

7. Title
GAME Lebanon - Looking for a Place to Dream
The organisation GAME Lebanon with the innovative campaign “Looking for a
Place to Dream” pursues the goal to provide children and youth in Lebanon
the access to more public space to do sports because in Beirut for example the
public space makes up only 0.5% of the city and free access to sport facilities is
almost not existing. In partnership between GAME’s young volunteers
(Playmakers) and a private advertising agency JCP a scale promo campaign for
the project was created, which includes the development of a smartphone app
(“GAME Dream”). The app allows the youth to design their own dream “black
space” by taking pictures of empty plots in the city and adding cool sports
emojis to illustrate the opportunity of turning the space into a public
playground. These designs are being uploaded to the campaign page to create
awareness for both politicians and the general population about the issue of
lack of public spaces to play sports. In the beginning of 2018, a photo of an
abandoned school yard, which hadn’t been used since the civil war lead to a
partnership with the Municipality of Tripoli (North Lebanon) and a renovation
of the place to a new place to offer free basketball practices for children in the
neighbourhood. The place is now open to the public and GAME offers free
basketball practices every Saturday with up to 100 children participating every
week.

8. Title
Healthy Ireland - Healthy Cities and Counties -
Swim Distance Markers in Galway Bay
To promote sea swimming, to encourage people to be active and last but not least
to promote the social benefits of meeting and swimming together, five swim
buoys at the following distances - 100m, 250m, 500m, 750m and 1000m have
been reinstalled in the sea in Galway city, Salthill beach. The range of swim
distance buoys also promotes progression with the aim to increase the distance.
This is the first initiative of its kind in Ireland and it got very positive feedback
from the population. The initiative was realized by Healthy Galway City as a part
of a Healthy Ireland – Healthy Cities and Counties network (the national
framework for action to improve the health and wellbeing) in collaboration with
the Ryan Institute, National University of Ireland Galway, Health Service
Executive, Galway City Council, Galway Sports Partnership and local sports
clubs. The main strategic goals of the project are: to promote and encourage sea
swimming in Galway Bay, to increase the number of people swimming in Galway
Bay, to provide incentive to progress and improve sea swimming, to increase
cooperation and maximise resources between relevant sports clubs. The fact that
the initiative is connected to National Policy Framework (Healthy Ireland) and
local structure (Healthy Galway City) ensures sustainability and access to repeat
funding for the project. Furthermore, successful implementation of this project is
a good example for the other cities and countries, which are part of the Healthy
Cities and Counties network.

9. Title
MOVE Malta - Shake It!
The island nation of Malta has for many years been amongst the least
active countries in Europe. An innovative project from MOVE Malta
and their cross-sectoral partners is helping to change that! They have
teamed up with Valetta’s local council and Malta College of Arts,
Science and Technology, as well as the Valetta 2018 foundation,
Breaking limits and Street elements to ensure they have the expertise
and experience across a number of different areas to successfully get
more people active. The foundation of the initiative is public squares
and parking spaces being transformed into places where people can
move and play. This youth-led project builds on these sports activities
within the revitalised public spaces to engage the community and get
them involved and active. To do this a range of sport and exercises are
organised by young volunteers, from soccer to silent discos, with the
main aim of increasing physical activity levels in the community by
reaching 5000 marginalised and non-active youth. These activities are
always ran in a friendly and inclusive manner, where anyone can get
involved, with migrants, refugees, and those with disabilities all playing
an active role. As a result it does not just get more people moving, but
also helps bring people together. This encourages healthy social
interaction, empowers young people to be active citizens to shape the
future of their nation, and shows that youth culture is not something
that is anti-social, but can help incorporate fun, non-formal learning
into public spaces and people’s everyday lives.

10. Title
Nike do Brasil - Rio 2016 Legacy – Olympic
Villages – Getting Kids Active in Rio
An Olympic games brings fantastic facilities to a city and a nation, however, it is
not always the case that such facilities benefit the local people once the closing
ceremony finishes. Nike Brazil are doing their best to ensure that the legacy of
the Olympics in Rio de Janeiro gets more people active around the nation going
forward. To do this they have partnered with the City of Rio’s local government,
as well as the UN Development program and the Instituto Esporte Educação.
Together they have ensured that the 22 Olympic villages around the city are
sports and recreation centres that serve around 25,000 children, with the goal
of doubling that figure by 2021, and also getting more girls involved. In order to
achieve this they have refurbished four of the villages, are continually training
almost 600 PE teachers who work in the villages so they can deliver lessons at a
high level, have donated 40,000 items of footwear and other equipment and
apparel, engaged numerous volunteers to help PE teachers deliver classes, and
organise numerous special events and elite athlete appearances to inspire the
children at the centres, and attract new participants. The partnership truly
shows that the Olympic spirit does not have to end when the games do, and
who knows, the project may well help produce the next generation of Brazilian
Olympians, while also getting more people active to combat inactivity in the
city!

11. Title
Polytechnic School - Regulating and marking
the section of the European Pedestrian Road E-
4 Horgoš Martonoš – Kanjiža - Novi –Kneževac
So many urban areas in our world have accessible green spaces within close
proximity to them, yet them simply being there is often not enough to
encourage people to use them regularly. Ease of access is often a problem, as
is functionality, for many people using such spaces is inconvenient and time-
consuming. But an initiative from the Polytechnic School in Subotica, Serbia,
alongside their partners Spartak Mountaineering Club, is aiming to change
this, and ensure that people can easily access green spaces, making more
opportunity for physical activity, while also protecting the local environment.
They are doing this by connecting urban areas by way of creating hiking
paths both in Serbia and Hungary, with the organisations based close to the
border. Marking, regulating and maintaining the hiking tracks, with young
people responsible for this aspect of the project, while also providing
extensive information along the routes and online as to places of historical
and cultural significance, and places to sleep and eat on the routes should
ensure that more people are aware of these green spaces, and use them,
both functionally and for leisure. There will also be regular activities taking
place along and around the routes. It is hoped that this will also ensure that
local young people help shape the future of the area, and encourage healthy
lifestyles, by making people realise the extensive possibilities to be active
that are right on their doorsteps!

12. Title
School of Sport and Recreation, Auckland
University of Technology - Beat Stress, Move
More. How to beat stress and get moving - the
restorative response potential of a sensory
garden
With all the pressures of modern living it can be difficult to find the time and
space to unwind and find time for yourself. To do this while also staying
physically active and mentally healthy is even more of a challenge. And to
provide such opportunities for people from all segments of society may seem
impossible. However, the School of Sport and Recreation at Auckland
University of Technology, alongside partners AUT estates and Greenstone
Design UK Ltd. have instigated a project that is doing just that! They designed
and developed a 900 square metre sensory garden on campus, that is open to
everyone, and helps to reduce peoples stress levels through providing
opportunities to be physically active. The garden features accessible zones
from passive to active, with paths that link them, flexible seating, raised
growing beds, an urban ‘beach’, a woodland walkway and an orchard-in-a-
meadow. There is also biodiverse planting and a range of surfaces in place to
attract as many people as possible. The effects of the garden were studied
with a sample of 240 people from across society, and showed a statistically
significant effect. Stress cortisol levels were reduced, activity went up after
time in the sensory garden, and people became more productive at work!
Local schools and retirement communities have visits to the garden, and it is
maintained by local citizens called “Friends of the Garden”.

13. Title
Vejle Kommune - Maria Park
People often take their local parks for granted, and it is increasingly
common to see once lush green spaces neglected, underused, and
unattractive places for people to go and be active. In Western Denmark
Vejle Municipality, alongside their partners The Danish Foundation for
Culture and Sports Facilities, and the Danish Government, have created a
space that will not only ensure people will want to use their nearby park,
but will have ample opportunities to use it in a way that will get them
healthy and moving! Maria Park is a newly created public facility that is
over 13,000 square kilometres, but it is not just any park, it specifically
focuses on physical activity. What was once a parking lot is now a thriving
green area that acts as a link between the west of the city and the centre,
allowing people to move easily around that part of the city in an active
manner in beautiful surroundings, getting them moving without it being a
chore. There are multiple sports playgrounds and public installations that
allow people to be active, such as a winter ice rink that in summer is an
area for roller-skating and ball games, active and urban zones, aesthetic
and sensual landscaping, small, private and enclosed areas as well as large
open spaces which ensure versatile use of the park all year round.
Numerous cultural and sporting events also regularly take place in the
park, and citizens are included in the programming and planning to ensure
citizen ownership of the space.