Sport and Smart Communities. Assessing the Sporting Attractiveness and Community Perceptions of Cagliari (Sardinia, Italy)

Abstract

Sport has always played a very important role in civil society, becoming a clear expression of different cultures and lifestyles throughout history. Nowadays, it is considered an essential enabler in pursuing sustainable development of our cities and regions. A prerequisite for improvement of sporting attractiveness of our contemporary cities is to integrate sport into broader urban transformation and regeneration processes. As a matter of fact, more and more people prefer to play sport in different places and at different times, understanding the city as an ideal palimpsest for sports activities. In this regard, the Smart Community has gradually become an extraordinary source of information useful for policy makers. A wide range of ICT tools allows to develop Community Maps which reveal needs and aspirations of people, thus informing sports policies and a community-based participatory planning. The study aims to assess the sporting attraction of Cagliari through the analysis of different evidences drawn from the community perception of sports activities and initiatives. It focused on material and immaterial actions carried out to promote sport in the city, smart community sport behaviours, community perceptions on benefits that sport provides for human well-being and for city development through the administration of a questionnaire. The outcome highlights the role of Smart community in understanding sport behaviours of local people and in defining shared strategies to strengthen the sport-city link in the sustainable development of Cagliari.