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Symposium "City and sport"

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Across France, cities are taking into account the impact that sport can have on urban development. Actions include Local Sports Projects (PSLs), large-scale sports events organized by municipalities, the implementation of neighbourhood sports-based inclusion and integration measures, support for high-level sports clubs through, for example, the French Sports for All Federation, and the consideration of sport in urban renovation projects. If the renewal of sports services’ structures and objectives, the setting up of complementary support systems by the French national sports movement and even the use of sport as a symbolic tool for regional development are anything to go by, then it can be safely said that sport is sweeping across cities.

The objective of this first international symposium organized by the Interdisciplinary Research Group on Sport (GRITS) is to examine the close and complex ties that unite cities and sport. At a time when territorial rescaling (metropolization, regionalization, etc.) is taking place at the national, European and global level, such questioning seems to be just as crucial for the municipal services in charge of socio-cultural, educational and sports affairs as it is for the local stakeholders involved in the sports movement.

Today, how do cities understand sport and what sports policies are being developed? Do cities see themselves as a regulator of sporting activities, a guide for sports stakeholders or as leaders of innovative services? What importance do municipalities give to sport in the city’s layout and urban planning? Are the educational, social, economic and tourism strategies developed by municipalities in line with sport and are they explicit, coherent, and well thought-out over the long term? As regards the diversity of cities, do large municipalities develop a sports ideology that is different from medium- and small-sized ones?

This symposium will take stock of the research carried out to date on this list of questions, which is by no means exhaustive. It aims to provide an overview and comparison of the work conducted in different French and European cities, as well as cities in other continents.