For twenty years, typical outdoor lifestyle sports like rafting, snowboarding and rock climbing, which used to be exclusively practised in natural environments, are being offered in controlled artificial settings. This process can be described as 'the indoorisation of outdoor sports'. With this development, questions of authenticity arise. Are these new, commercial forms still authentic lifestyle sports? And can we consider the participants in these indoorised lifestyle sports as authentic? There has been a discussion about authenticity in lifestyle sports since its worldwide popularisation and it is worth to reconsider this discussion against the background of new, commercial versions of lifestyle sports. Therefore, in this paper a qualitative analysis is offered about the consumption of a constructed authenticity in a cultural context increasingly characterized by artificialization.
People are designed to movePhysical activity, including regular exercise, leisure-time physical activity, active transport and regular sports activity, is the best way of staying physically and mentally fit and healthy, helps to tackle weight and obesity issues. In contrast, too much sitting and being physical inactivity is unnatural behaviour and harmful to someone’s health in many ways: physically, socially and mentally. Despite this clear message, still a substantial part of the children and adolescents demonstrate physically inactive or even sedentary behaviour.Importance of sport sector in changing behaviourThe sport sector can play a positive and major role in stimulating children, youngsters and adolescents in raising awareness and changing behaviour into a more active and healthy lifestyle. Through sport professionals like physical education teachers and sport coaches many people can be reached. Being active in sport is beneficial for health but additional favourable effects occur when other forms of physical activity like walking, cycling, playing are promoted. To support the physical education teachers and sport coaches in their role of promotor of an active and healthy lifestyle, the SPEACH project was developed.SPEACH-projectGoal of SPEACH is to increase awareness and behavioural change in sport professionals and European citizens toward an active and healthy lifestyle. For that, five so called HEPA-modules were developed which can be offered by physical education teachers and sport coaches during their sport sessions with pupils. The modules focus on several important themes, target group, types of behaviour and generic competences which help sport professionals in promoting HEPA. On this website, further details of the following HEPA-modules are described:• Stimulate sport and physical activities for children with special needs towards a bright future;• Promoting HEPA among children and youth;• Healthy Lifestyle for the whole family!• Nutrition, digital technology and HEPA for adults;• Influencing & monitoring behaviour towards HEPA.
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The livability of the cities and attractiveness of our environment can be improved by smarter choices for mobility products and travel modes. A change from current car-dependent lifestyles towards the use of healthier and less polluted transport modes, such as cycling, is needed. With awareness campaigns, cycling facilities and cycle infrastructure, the use of the bicycle will be stimulated. But which campaigns are effective? Can we stimulate cycling by adding cycling facilities along the cycle path? How can we design the best cycle infrastructure for a region? And what impact does good cycle infrastructure have on the increase of cycling?To find answers for these questions and come up with a future approach to stimulate bicycle use, BUas is participating in the InterReg V NWE-project CHIPS; Cycle Highways Innovation for smarter People transport and Spatial planning. Together with the city of Tilburg and other partners from The Netherlands, Belgium, Germany and United Kingdom we explore and demonstrate infrastructural improvements and tackle crucial elements related to engaging users and successful promotion of cycle highways. BUas is responsible for the monitoring and evaluation of the project. To measure the impact and effectiveness of cycle highway innovations we use Cyclespex and Cycleprint.With Cyclespex a virtual living lab is created which we will use to test several readability and wayfinding measures for cycle infrastructure. Cyclespex gives us the opportunity to test different scenario’s in virtual reality that will help us to make decisions about the final solution that will be realized on the cycle highway. Cycleprint will be used to develop a monitoring dashboard where municipalities of cities can easily monitor and evaluate the local bicycle use.
Wheelchair users with a spinal cord injury (SCI) or amputation generally lead an inactive lifestyle, associated with reduced fitness and health. Digital interventions and sport and lifestyle applications (E-platforms) may be helpful in achieving a healthy lifestyle. Despite the potential positive effects of E-platforms in the general population, no studies are known investigating the effects for wheelchair users and existing E-platforms can not be used to the same extent and in the same manner by this population due to differences in physiology, body composition, exercise forms and responses, and risk injury. It is, therefore, our aim to adapt an existing E-platform (Virtuagym) within this project by using existing data collections and new data to be collected within the project. To reach this aim we intend to make several relevant databases from our network available for analysis, combine and reanalyze these existing databases to adapt the existing E-platform enabling wheelchair users to use it, evaluate and improve the use of the adapted E-platform, evaluate changes in healthy active lifestyle parameters, fitness, health and quality of life in users of the E-platform (both wheelchair users and general population) and identify determinants of these changes, identify factors affecting transitions from an inactive lifestyle, through an intermediate level, to an athlete level, comparing wheelchair users with the general population, and comparing Dutch with Brazilian individuals. The analysis of large datasets of exercise and fitness data from various types of individuals with and without disabilities, collected over the last years both in the Netherlands and Brazil, is an innovative and potentially fruitful approach. It is expected that the comparison of e.g. wheelchair users in Amsterdam vs. Sao Paulo or recreative athletes vs. elite athletes provides new insight in the factors determining a healthy and active lifestyle.
Wheelchair users with a spinal cord injury (SCI) or amputation generally lead an inactive lifestyle, associated with reduced fitness and health. Digital interventions and sport and lifestyle applications (E-platforms) may be helpful in achieving a healthy lifestyle. Despite the potential positive effects of E-platforms in the general population, no studies are known investigating the effects for wheelchair users and existing E-platforms can not be used to the same extent and in the same manner by this population due to differences in physiology, body composition, exercise forms and responses, and risk injury. It is, therefore, our aim to adapt an existing E-platform (Virtuagym) within this project by using existing data collections and new data to be collected within the project. To reach this aim we intend to make several relevant databases from our network available for analysis, combine and reanalyze these existing databases to adapt the existing E-platform enabling wheelchair users to use it, evaluate and improve the use of the adapted E-platform, evaluate changes in healthy active lifestyle parameters, fitness, health and quality of life in users of the E-platform (both wheelchair users and general population) and identify determinants of these changes, identify factors affecting transitions from an inactive lifestyle, through an intermediate level, to an athlete level, comparing wheelchair users with the general population, and comparing Dutch with Brazilian individuals. The analysis of large datasets of exercise and fitness data from various types of individuals with and without disabilities, collected over the last years both in the Netherlands and Brazil, is an innovative and potentially fruitful approach. It is expected that the comparison of e.g. wheelchair users in Amsterdam vs. Sao Paulo or recreative athletes vs. elite athletes provides new insight in the factors determining a healthy and active lifestyle.
