Sports Infrastructure: Ideas and Proposals Toward a Healthy and Productive Sports Society

Written by Dr. Hamada Alantably

Infrastructure plays a fundamental role in regular sports participation, especially for individuals who are not currently active and are looking for a suitable, well-equipped place to exercise. The availability of good infrastructure serves as a primary incentive in supporting the state’s vision toward the concept of a “healthy and productive sports society.” It is crucial that the design of sports facilities and infrastructure guarantees safety, security, and ease of use, making them inviting to all age groups and demographics seeking to engage in sports. Consequently, urban planning for various cities and villages across the country must incorporate the creation of open spaces for general sports practice, alongside the construction of highly efficient and effective sports facilities through public-private partnerships. These can serve as the foundation for grooming elite sports champions across various disciplines.

Multi-Service Sports Facilities

The state’s approach to establishing new sports facilities—or even upgrading the efficiency of existing ones—should focus on making them multi-service facilities. In addition to being sports venues where athletic games are played, spaces within these facilities can be allocated to provide government services to local residents. This creates a sense of familiarity and routine, encouraging locals to frequent the sports facility and increasing their engagement with it, which in turn motivates them to take up sports. This reinforces the aforementioned goal of broadening the base of sports participants across all demographics and age groups.

Multi-Facility Sports Venues

It is also important for sports facilities to feature multiple amenities that serve the surrounding neighborhood or district. These venues should be multi-facility complexes capable of hosting a wide array of sports. This approach is backed by two main perspectives:

Economic: Vertical expansion in facilities is less costly than horizontal expansion because it requires less spending on infrastructure and foundational groundwork.

Spatial: Addressing the geographical constraints of various cities, particularly older ones that lack the space to build numerous separate facilities. Incorporating multiple amenities within a single structure provides greater room for athletic activities, catering to the desires of different groups and age groups.

Accordingly, urban planners must ensure that new sports facilities are multi-purpose and accommodate diverse sports, while also upgrading existing facilities by adding structures within their available footprints to achieve the required variety.

Centering Sports Facilities Around Beneficiaries’ Needs

The needs of beneficiaries must always be the starting point when planning and delivering new sports infrastructure. These facilities are built to serve users of all age groups and backgrounds, and therefore they must fulfill their desires for equitable sports participation. This must be monitored through surveys of local residents and demographic studies in the areas where facilities are to be built, thereby improving the quality of sports services provided through the infrastructure.

Outdoor Sports Infrastructure

Exercising outdoors is one of the strongest catalysts for engaging people in sports. In many large cities, public parks or even public corniche roadways are utilized by individuals of all age groups and genders to practice sports such as walking, jogging, and cycling. This highlights the importance of the state building designated paths along main and secondary roads for low-cost, accessible sports like walking, running, and cycling. This can encourage many people to leave their cars behind and use bicycles for commuting, which helps reduce traffic congestion and improves the environment. It also instills a new value and behavior among Egyptians, ultimately elevating the health and physical condition of the population across all social strata and age groups.

Utilizing School and University Facilities

Existing assets in schools and universities must be maximized to make the educational sector a productive contributor to the sports field wherever possible. Schools and universities possess sports facilities that are often underutilized, as they are mostly restricted to educational purposes or extracurricular school activities. This strongly points to the necessity of making these facilities accessible to individuals, youth groups, and sports organizations outside of school hours. Doing so enhances the economic value of these assets while yielding social benefits by promoting sports participation. Such a measure should be mandatory for all schools and universities through government decrees, helping expand the sports infrastructure available to the Egyptian people.

Private Sector Participation

It is vital to promote and expand private sector participation in sports infrastructure projects. This can be achieved by engaging the private sector in developing, upgrading, and managing existing sports facilities to maximize their efficiency, while maintaining a government role to ensure equitable access to sports across all segments of Egyptian society. Furthermore, a strong private sector presence is essential in taking the lead to establish new sports facilities in various Egyptian cities and villages. This will strengthen Egypt’s sports infrastructure, make it a catalyst for exercise, help build generations of athletes who form the nucleus of future champions, and enhance Egypt’s capability to host global sports tournaments and events.

By Dr. Hamada Alantably