Get moving!

According to WHO/HEPA, 2/3 of the adult population in the EU, are not even close to being as physically active as they should. With 1 out of 5 Europeans labeled as “inactive”, the result is shocking. That’s 600,000 deaths every year in the EU, as the result of lacking exercise. That equals 5,3 million years that are wasted.

A waste of many good years that the people behind Streetmovement are set to change.
Streetmovement is a group of entusiasts, that are working towards spreading, what they refer to as, a benign movement epidemic. They educate young people, consult in design of new urban spaces so they encourage exercise and they participate in research projects on training, body- and movement philosophy.

On Friday February 12th, Streetmovement arranged a conference at Carlsberg in Copenhagen on urban planning, movement and public health. It is also here at the old brewery site in Valby, that Carlsberg has let Streemovement use one of their old warehouses, Halmlageret, to design an indoor Parkour and Freerunning course. This will hopefully attract more users during the cold Danish winter.

Reclaim the city

Architect and PhD Shelley Smith, from Aalborg University, lectured about the potentials for an active use of public space. Urban public spaces are often characterized by control, rules and regulations whose programming conducts our behavior and movement. Shelley explains that, with Parkour and Freerunning, you explore new connections of the city and by so, create an ownership and identity to the urban environment. You experience the changes in urban scale and moves toward a greater freedom from predetermined rules that dictate the use of the city. The potential of the city will, again and again, realize itself.

Architect Anne Nørgaard, strategic planner at Carlsberg, contemplated on the question on what makes a city vibrant and alive. Anne thinks that it is very important to be open to other people’s ideas. It takes 20-25 years to create a new city and the transition phases are important as activity creating events. These events can be found within, for example art, music or innovative physical use of urban space. Carlsberg wants a rich urban life now and not wait 20 years as it sends an immensely important message of what to expect in the future.

Afterwards the Parkour and Freerunning discipline was explained by Stephane Vigroux from Paris og Dan Edwardes from London both Parkour veterans and popular profiles within the sport. The movement is over 20 years old and has achieved an important social aspect with youth programs, educational programs and a massive international network. Dan says that Freerunning takes you back to your cro-magnon roots and I believe he is right.

The goal of the conference was to discuss how to start a benign movement epidemic, how to get people out of their chairs and out into the city to explore new physical possibilities. I am looking forward to follow Streetmovement in their battle to increase the public health.

Other lectures were:
Finn Berggren, WHO/HEPA, architect Mikkel Ruggard, Jeppe Skovgaard, project leader at Halmlageret, Streetmovements new hang out at Carlsberg and Martin Kallesøe from Streetmovement:CPH.