Integrating Sports Enthusiasm into Urban Life City | Events | Life
Author: Zhao Jianing
On the field of the Universiade, athletes show their youthful vigor, and the enthusiasm for sports outside the field is also hot. The crowded basketball court under the elevated bridge, the table tennis matches that can be played at any time in the community, and the cycling traffic on the green road around the city... Being in Chengdu, one can always encounter sports unexpectedly on the streets and alleys, making people clearly feel the pulse of sports surging in this city.
Holding large-scale sports events provides a valuable opportunity to convey the spirit of sports and lead the trend of national fitness. With the goal of building a "world-renowned city for sports events", Chengdu has adhered to the principles of benefiting the people through venues, sports, culture, and environment during the preparation process for the Universiade. By fully leveraging the spillover effects of events, the construction of park cities has been combined with leisure sports. The Universiade venues have been opened for free or at a low price, actively utilizing the "golden corners and silver edges" of cities such as bridges, roofs, and streets to open up new sports spaces. A series of urban characteristic mass sports activities have been planned and carried out, truly extending the sports craze from event venues to every corner of the city. In Chengdu, the urban life scene of "going out is like a sports field, enjoying health in parks and greenways" is gradually becoming a beautiful reality.
Nowadays, creating a friendly sports environment has become an important part of building a happy and livable city. With the continuous improvement of living standards and the deepening implementation of the national fitness strategy, the awareness of sports and health in the whole society has significantly increased. Skateboarding, paddleboarding, frisbee and other trendy sports are booming, and new formats such as online sports and sports live streaming are booming. The popularity of national fitness remains high. For people living in cities, in addition to physical fitness, sports activities themselves also have strong leisure and social attributes. Regularly participating in sports and fitness during leisure time, while enjoying happiness and releasing stress, is a popular way of life for many people, especially young people, to make friends with like-minded friends through exercise.
From the perspective of cities, the trend of sports and fitness is also injecting new momentum into urban development, increasingly becoming an important focus in driving industrial consumption, expanding urban influence, and creating a city's brand name card that cannot be ignored. Taking "sports+" as the core, integrating cultural and tourism related industries, creating a composite consumption scenario, fully releasing consumption demand related to sports and health, and helping to promote the formation of new growth points in the urban economy. In the first half of this year, marathon events have started in various regions, directly driving the "horse racing economy" including sports equipment, tourism, accommodation, catering, etc. Thanks to the popularization of sports life, the sports industry in Chengdu has shown a rapid growth trend in recent years. In 2022, the total scale of sports consumption in Chengdu reached 57.86 billion yuan, an increase of 44.5% compared to 2018. The total output value of the sports industry in the city reached 100.5 billion yuan, and the added value reached 38.5 billion yuan, an increase of 59% and 79% respectively compared to 2018. The "New Ironman Triathlon" in Chengdu, consisting of cycling along the greenway around the city, watching the sunrise at Longquan Mountain, and camping in the park, continues to attract residents and tourists to compete for check-in, reflecting the fresh vitality brought by the integrated development of urban sports.
Better integration of sports enthusiasm into urban life cannot be achieved without the support of urban public services. In the process of preparing for the Universiade and promoting the development of urban sports, Chengdu has made great efforts to promote the increment and improvement of urban sports infrastructure through micro updates and refinement, lowering the threshold for participating in fitness activities, enriching the soil of sports culture, and driving more people to join the ranks of national health. This also inspires us to further improve the public service system for national fitness and sports. We should focus on practical needs, pay attention to the quality connotation, and effectively transform sports initiatives that benefit the people into a sense of gain and happiness for the people.
From the comfortable and comfortable "slow life" to the vibrant "sports fever", Chengdu has shown us different cross-sections of urban quality life. Promoting the development of urban sports towards a more lifestyle oriented, convenient, and diversified direction will definitely better meet people's aspirations for a better life, making cities more suitable for business, living, entertainment, and tourism.
Guangming Daily
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