|
|
|
|
 Time has come to take stock and adapt.
|
|
As lockdown easing measures have begun to be implemented in some countries, as sports are slowly awaking from their two-month break, as sports practitioners of all kinds attempt to tame the space, nobody knows what tomorrow will bring. However, it is obvious that a new norm will have to be invented and designed. When looking at these days' photos of sports events, questions are raised: how will mass gathering be adapted to the new situation? How will fans be kept mobilised and connected with their teams and favorite players? How will broadcasters explore this new territory? Is e-sport going to be seen as an alternative?
Beyond the striking images of empty stadia and masked players, the ease of the lockdown progressively reveals fragilities, cracks, and challenges to face in this (post-)Covid era. Public health is at stake: how much will global health and collective efforts to promote physical activity be affected on the longer term? How many people will be mentally and physical affected by such a hardship?
The pandemic has also highlighted a wide range of geographical, financial, social and digital inequalities not only between countries or regions but also within communities.
Today, Cities are at the forefront to reduce such inequalities and support all their population in keeping active as well as in recreating the social fabric and human contacts differently. The Union calls for projects and invites you to share new visions, best practices, resilient responses and creative ways of reshaping the international and local sport landscape.
|
|
 Stay Tuned with the Union
|
|
 On-Going Projects
|
|
2020 ANNUAL EVENT
With optimism and hope, we are preparing the 2020 Smart Cities & Sport Summit. This year, innovation and adaptation are required! In order to guarantee your active participation, whatever the sanitary conditions will be, the Summit will be available both on-site and online. The Smart Cities & Sport Summit will be held from October 26 to October 28 in Lausanne and will be followed by the Annual Meeting of the World Union of Olympic Cities on October 29. The opportunity to organise an additional trip will be confirmed later. The dedicated Smart Cities & Sport Newsletter is available here and the registration platform will be launched in June. Stay tuned!
|
|
|
|
The year 2020 will remain exceptional in many ways. It is currently upsetting our traditional points of reference and will undoubtedly contribute to reshaping the international and local sport landscape. As Cities are at the forefront fighting against the pandemic, the Union's team would be very interested in collecting your experiences, initiatives and future projects in facing Covid-19 and how sport and the sport community are an asset in this situation. Do not hesitate to contact us and tell us your story(ies).
|
|
|
MEMBERS' PAGE PRESENTATION
We are currently updating our main communication tool: the Union's website. Your contribution is most welcome and you have been or will be shortly contacted to update your Member page as well as the cases in the toolkit, should you have any. Mostly, we ask you to provide new pictures as well as to update texts related to your city. In advance, we thank you very much for helping us in this renewal process!
This relatively "quiet" period is also an opportunity to continue working on the Olympic Legacy Toolkit and the Celebration Toolkit. Should you have new projects to present, celebrations to highlight and/or best practices to share, do not hesitate to contact us - if we don't contact you first - to make your case.
|
|
|
 Keep an Eye on Olympic Cities
|
|
 What’s going on in your cities?
TOKYO Tokyo 2020 has released its Sustainability Pre-Games Report. The document shows details of how it plans to deliver Sustainable Games. The report also highlights progress on 2019 initiatives. It includes projects on renewable electric energy, hydrogen energy, reduction of CO2 emissions and promotion of the 3Rs concept - "Reduce, Reuse, Recycle".
BEIJING The Beijing Organising Committee for the Olympic and Paralympic Winter Games 2022 (Beijing 2022) has released the official Beijing 2022 Olympic and Paralympic Winter Games Sustainability Plan. It reflects the Beijing 2022 mission of being “green, open, inclusive and clean”, and the reforms introduced through Olympic Agenda 2020. It is also aligned with the United Nations 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development.
DAKAR As all sports activities are suspended, the Senegalese Football Federation is mobilised to fight against the Covid-19 pandemic. Club officers, players and coaches gave multiple awareness-raising messages. The Federation's donation to the "Force Covid-19" fund amounted to nearly 300,000 €.
ORF The Olympic Refuge Foundation highlighted how sport can help build resilience and boost the mental health of forcibly displaced young people, especially during the COVID‐19 pandemic. On 19 May, the ORF Board agreed on a number of initiatives to boost protection of forcibly displaced young people and help improve their mental health through sport. As an example, the ORF is launching a pilot project in Uganda, using sport to improve the mental health and psychosocial well-being of more than 10,000 refugees and host community young people.
UNITED NATIONS The UN released a policy brief that highlights the challenges COVID-19 has posed to both the sporting world and to physical activity and well-being, including for marginalized or vulnerable groups. It further provides recommendations for governments and other stakeholders, to support the safe reopening of sporting events, as well as to support physical activity during the pandemic and beyond.
RETURN TO PLAY In order to advise people who want to exercise and return to play in a manner that minimizes the prospect of contracting or transmitting the virus, the Aspen Institute has designed, with the support of medical experts, a an assessment tool to help people of all ages assess risk in a variety of common sport and recreational activities.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
