Open spaces provide a platform for community activities, social interaction, physical activity and recreation, as well as reducing social isolation, improving community cohesion and positively affecting the wider determinants of health, which is why it’s so important to get children and young people into the habit of appreciating outdoor recreation.
Reconomics Plus is an online resource to help sport and recreation organisations demonstrate the impact of their work on the economy, our health and local communities in outdoor recreation. The Sport + Recreation Alliance urge organisations working across the sport and recreation sector to use the data and materials within Reconomics Plus to support their work. A full list of all available materials can be found in the toolkit section here.
The Alliance has partnered with Manchester Metropolitan University (MMU) who provided an in-depth academic insight into the benefits of outdoor recreation. MMU used the evidence they collected from this exercise to suggest recommendations which fell into three key areas:
- the need to utilise ecotherapy as an economic, upstream intervention;
- the need to reframe outdoor exercise as ‘restorative recreation’;
- the idea that ‘free play is free’: that the true value of nature as a free and effective resource should be utilised far more effectively.
Greater investment in nature and outdoor-based interventions is recommended for all, but particularly for hard-to-reach and at-risk groups, in order that adherence to exercise across the sociodemographic spectrum is maximised.
To find out more click here; http://www.sportandrecreation.org.uk/pages/reconomics-plus
By: Brian
