Kickoff for the Local Urban Movement Laboratory (“Siegener Bewegungslabor”)
Researchers at the University of Siegen together with actors from sports, dance, arts and the city of Siegen work to bring the joy of movement into the city with the use of digital applications on site.
How can we encourage more enjoyment of movement, especially in the city? And how can digital tools help – whether alone or with others, at home or in the office or outside? To answer these questions about sports and exercise in urban space, experts from the University of Siegen are collaborating with relevant local stakeholders. Among them are dance school owners, initiators of the “Rudelturnen” initiative and artists. Representatives from the offices of sports, urban development and digitization of the city of Siegen, the “Kreissportbund Siegen” and the university sports of the University of Siegen were also on site to offer their insights.
“We would like to discuss creative ideas with all participants and other interested parties at regular intervals and study how the joy of movement in urban spaces can be promoted locally with digital applications”, explained Prof. Dr. Claudia Müller, junior professor in the field of “Business Informatics / IT for the Aging Society”. Interested associations, dance studios and initiatives that wish to participate in the Siegener Bewegungslabor can contact project coordinator David Struzek.
The goal is to develop opportunities for movement that work across generations. In addition, existing opportunities for movement and activity are going to be complemented through technology. For example, an established exercise trail could be promoted by setting up commercial promotions throughout the city that are connected to an individual’s or a team’s activity on the trail. Through campaigns the researchers together with the practical actors want to promote the already existing offers in urban areas and bring attention to joint sports – as soon as the corona regulations allow this again. Citizens should be able to participate in the creation of ideas in the future through online questionnaires. Struzek explained: “Together we would like to set up the Siegen movement laboratory and help present campaigns to combine their potential and research urban digitization to implement local solutions to promote physical activity”.
According to the motto “Siegen moves digitally (aswell)” project manager Prof. Dr. Claudia Müller and the project coordinator David Struzek organized a first coming together of different local stakeholders from the fields of dance, movement and urban development.
“A particularly interesting approach is the performance of public dances, which play a special role in the project”, said photographer and artist Thomas Kellner, who for years has been involved in setting up a public dance stage in Siegen. “Dancing outside is not only fun, it also beautifies the general cityscape.”
Above all, attention should be paid to ensure that digitization does not amplify isolation, but rather complement joint activity, the head of the city’s sports department, Martin Wagner, emphasized: “Sport lives through community”.
Stefan Fuckert, initiator of the “Rudelturnen” campaign, would therefore like to “put more opportunities and promotion for sports in the pedestrian zones”. Technology could offer an interesting additional service here and help people to find their way around. But it would be equally important to promote the joy of common movement inside the home in these times.
The initiative is part of the international project “Active City Innovation” as a sub-project of the International Sports Innovation Network SINN-i (www.sinn.international/ ). The network, which is financed by the Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF) would like to encourage through socio-technical innovations, and positively influence public health by promoting the joy of movement.
For further questions or interest in the Movement Laboratory, please contact the project coordinator David Struzek.
Participants:
Christina Eckstein (City of Siegen), Carolin Borromeo Ferri (AkzepTanz dance school), Stefan Fuckert (FU-Sports and Consulting), Christian Janusch (Kreissportbund Siegen-Wittgenstein e.V.), Thomas Kellner (Thomas Kellner DGPh), Guido Menn (City of Siegen), Max Patisson (Patisson dance workshop), Martin Wagner (City of Siegen), Dr. Marcus Wegener (University Sports University of Siegen), Johannes Werthenbach (City of Siegen)
University of Siegen:
Prof. Dr. Claudia Müller, David Struzek, Lars Müller, Dominik Korzcak, Jana Butorac
Contact
Project Coordinator:
David Struzek
University of Siegen
Mail: david.struzek@uni-siegen.de
For further information: