Moving for Health applied to the community setting
In this stop, we will explore how the principles of the Moving for Health (MfH) model can be effectively integrated into community settings to promote physical activity and enhance overall well-being. Communities play a crucial role in shaping health behaviours, and by leveraging the MfH model, we can create supportive environments that encourage active and healthy lifestyles for all members.
The integration of physical literacy (PL) and health literacy (HL) within community settings plays indeed a pivotal role in fostering a culture of health and well-being. These two literacies are interconnected, impacting various aspects of individual well-being and sustainable community development.
By the end of this module, you will be able to:
- Define what is meant by a community setting and identify different types of community environments.
- Understand and describe the critical elements of the MfH model and their application in community settings.
- Analyse a case study of good practice in applying the MfH model within a community setting.
- Access and utilise additional resources to further your understanding and complete assigned homework.
[Step 1] What we mean by community setting
A community setting refers to any location or environment where people live, work, and interact. These settings are characterised by their primary purpose being serving as places where individuals and groups engage in daily activities and social interactions.
Examples of community settings include:
- Neighborhoods: Residential areas where people live and interact with their neighbors.
- Workplaces: Locations where people are employed and engage in professional activities.
- Parks and Recreational Centers: Public spaces for leisure, exercise, and community events.
- Community Centers: Facilities that offer various programmes and services to local residents.
- Places of Worship: Religious institutions where people gather for spiritual activities.
- Libraries: Public institutions providing access to information, resources, and community programmes.
In the context of the MfH model, community settings are essential for implementing health promotion strategies and creating social contexts and physical environments that support holistic well-being and learning through positive movement experiences.
[Step 2] Critical elements of the MfH model to focus on in the community setting
Integrating PL and HL into community planning and programming is essential for building healthier, more active, and sustainable communities. By establishing a multi-sectoral collaboration, focusing on local context and culture, simultaneously developing people, places and programmes, inclusive design, and a guiding theory of change, we can create environments that support the well-being of all individuals.
These efforts require collaboration across sectors and the active involvement of community members to ensure that they are effective and sustainable in the long term. Such initiatives align with global goals for health, education, and sustainable development, offering a pathway to a more equitable and healthy future.
[Step 3] A case study of good practice in this setting
Presentation of the good practice:
- Title: The playful city
- Lead organisation and country: Örebro municipality, Sweden
Context: The Playful City (2021-2024), funded by Swedish innovation agency, aims to assess and document methods and results from the ambition and effort to develop better play spaces in the city of Örebro over recent years.
Key issues are how to build green playscapes and ”playotopes”, how to encourage joy of movement and physical literacy, how to build inclusive play spaces, and how to involve children in creative processes.Brief description: Örebro municipality has put the children in focus and explored the importance of play.
Instead of conventional playgrounds, the municipality's parks unit now invests in playgrounds where playground equipment is integrated into a green environment. It provides play environments that stimulate the imagination and promote good health.
With the concept of “playotopes”, they investigate how urban ecosystem services and places for play can coexist and how they can be planned and shaped.
The Playful City aims to inspire and help other organisations to develop green and multifunctional play spaces with high social values.
- Key deliverables and components:
- Documentation from good practice that serves as guidance. The playground in Stadsparken in Örebro has been rebuilt into an inspiring example of an inclusive environment with high play values.
- Research study of three so-called extended schoolyards, including a focus on increased gender equality.
- Evaluation of how the work on play contributes to the Sustainable Development Goals (Agenda 2030).
- A guide program to Örebro´s new play environments.
Analysis: Elements of the Moving for Health framework that were activated
| Generic principles | Community specific principles |
|---|---|
| Cross-sectoral collaboration | Community engagement |
| Local context and culture | Physical environmental design |
| Inclusive design | Risk and safety |
| Autonomy | |
| Assessment |
Key learnings: tips and tricks to facilitate the transfer:
Play is super-important:
We need to broaden our awareness of the meaning and value of play for children, it is an incredibly sophisticated tool that we all have built into us - a tool for learning. Play is a biological drive, and it has its own reward system that makes us feel good when we play.Children need more than ordinary playgrounds:
In the same way that children need a varied diet, they also need varied and rich play environments. Children need exciting and sensual places that they can explore and experience with their whole body. They need places where the imagination really has room and they need places that can be influenced, changed and made their own. Play is a constant interaction, both with the environment and with other people. Poor play environments limit play, while rich environments provide better conditions for more developing play.We can do more by less:
The innovative work in the city of Örebro illustrates clearly that rich play environments offer higher play values, lower installation costs, lower maintenance costs, better ecosystem services and a lot less climate footprint.- Listen to a podcast with the Mimmi Beckman, the project leader, about achievements and results:
Resources to go further & Homework
- Resource to go further: Looking for more inspiration? Discover other selected Moving for Health good practices from the community setting.
- Reflective exercise: Analyse how you could transfer in your own context the good practice presented (you can also pick one from the extra resources) in your practice, why, how? List the resources you will need, the elements you could keep and the ones you would need to add or adapt/delete as well as the stakeholders you need to convince.
