In Catalonia we spend about 5 and a half hours a day in sedentary behaviour, without moving, which represents a clear risk factor for the development of chronic diseases. The numbers confirm this, given that 2 out of 5 adults have this type of disease. This situation is aggravated by the lack of available outdoor spaces for physical exercise.
The +ACTIU project, which came to an end with the closing ceremony held on May 7th, wanted to have an impact on this problem. The initiative, promoted by IDIBELL and ICO, aimed to transform La Florida, in L’Hospitalet de Llobregat, into a more active neighbourhood. La Florida, with 83,000 inhabitants per square kilometer, is one of the most densely populated in Europe. However, it has only 2.5 m2 of green area per inhabitant, a quarter of what the WHO recommends. Considering that the urban environment has a decisive impact on physical and mental health, and that it is key to stimulating the practice of physical exercise in the inhabitants, it was necessary to look for ways to improve the community health of the people of L’Hospitalet through urban transformation.
“Becoming aware of the impact of the urban environment on the lifestyle and well-being of the inhabitants, we decided to create this project to promote the design of movement spaces that would encourage the practice of physical activity and thus reduce sedentary behaviours,” says Dr. Paula Jakszyn, principal investigator of the Nutrition and Cancer group of IDIBELL and ICO and leader of +ACTIU, a project in which the Blanquerna Faculty of Health Sciences and the start-up Healthy Cities have also actively participated, and which has been funded by Barcelona City Council and the La Caixa Foundation.
The active participation of citizens
To this end, a participatory methodology was used that included citizens as an essential member: after analysing the urban environment and identifying the barriers and facilitators that exist to carry out physical activity in the city, a Practical Community proposed a series of solutions to the problems detected. Following a process of co-creation of solutions with citizens, the Practical Community included health professionals, architects, urban planners, neighbourhood associations and local entities. In this way, it was possible to consider the plurality of voices and views that exist within L’Hospitalet and, specifically, within the neighborhood of La Florida.
The participation of citizens in +ACTIU was fundamental. As Dr. Jakszyn points out, “Thanks to the active collaboration of citizens, we discovered what we call corners of opportunity, places where at first it does not seem that you can exercise, but that, instead, the population identifies as movement spaces and, therefore, we can use to promote physical activity.” It was precisely in these “corners” that a pilot test was carried out with residents of the neighbourhood, all patients with chronic diseases, who followed a routine of simple activities for 8 weeks. Through small daily actions, such as walking around the neighbourhood, using urban elements to exercise or participating in the community garden, 80% of the participants were able to increase the amount of time they moved during the day: thus, it was confirmed that urban planning can generate health. And this pilot test is still alive: a group of participants continues to be active in the community urban garden, managed by the Contorno Urbano de L’Hospitalet foundation.
New recommendations: prescribe physical exercise
Now, in the final stretch of the project and in view of the results achieved, new objectives have been born that are already being implemented. New strategies are proposed to continue promoting the practice of physical activity and provide safe and motivating places to carry it out. An example is the “active prescription” strategy, which seeks to integrate the exercise prescription into medical recommendations. Thus, by preventively prescribing the practice of exercise, the risk of developing chronic diseases and the need for medication is reduced.
For more information about the +ACTIU project, its methodology and the activities they have developed, you can consult the project’s website.
The Bellvitge Biomedical Research Institute (IDIBELL) is a research center established in 2004 specialized in cancer, neuroscience, translational medicine, and regenerative medicine. It counts on a team of more than 1.500 professionals who, from 73 research groups, publish more than 1.400 scientific articles per year. IDIBELL is participated by the Bellvitge University Hospital and the Viladecans Hospital of the Catalan Institute of Health, the Catalan Institute of Oncology, the University of Barcelona, and the City Council of L’Hospitalet de Llobregat.
IDIBELL is a member of the Campus of International Excellence of the University of Barcelona HUBc and is part of the CERCA institution of the Generalitat de Catalunya. In 2009 it became one of the first five Spanish research centers accredited as a health research institute by the Carlos III Health Institute. In addition, it is part of the “HR Excellence in Research” program of the European Union and is a member of EATRIS and REGIC. Since 2018, IDIBELL has been an Accredited Center of the AECC Scientific Foundation (FCAECC).