A territorial approach to physical exercise and sports in children in Córdoba, Argentina

Abstract

The spatial category of epidemiology has been simplified to its minimum expression by modern epidemiology. The proposal is to lend meaning to the spatial category and analyze it based on the recreational conditions for children living within the city limits of Córdoba, Argentina. The study aimed to analyze the perceptions of different actors associated with the lives of municipal schoolchildren concerning the possibilities for physical exercise and sports in a neighborhood territory. A qualitative approach was taken to the analysis of data produced in sub-studies under a framework project, retrieving the discourses of mothers, fathers, teachers, school administrators, health teams, and authorities from the Municipal Department of Education, drawing on the theoretical and analytical categories that allowed conceiving our object of study. The concepts and meanings concerning physical exercise and sports expressed the predominance of the biomedical discourse centered on the “fit” and “healthy”, an institutionalization of the “healthy and active lifestyle”, an idea of a causal and linear relationship between sports/ physical activity and health, an essentialist view lacking a subject in this practice. At the neighborhood level, there are scarce opportunities for recreation, deficient quality and quantity of public spaces and services, and a strong feeling of insecurity. Finally, the structural level underlines a state that is remiss in the definition of an integrated policy for physical exercise and sports for children and for the improvement of public spaces.