YOUR FORUM FOR PLAY, SPORTS UND LEISURE AREAS
After a two-year hiatus, the latest edition of the Osnabrücker Sportplatztage conference took place on 12 and 13 February 2020. The event's organisers - Osnabrück University of Applied Sciences, the German Research Association for Landscape Development (Forschungsgesellschaft Landschaftsentwicklung Landschaftsbau e.V.), the Federal Institute for Sports Sciences and Playground + Landscape Verlag – arranged a two-day programme centred on the requirements, planning and maintenance of sports facilities. The overarching theme of the presentations on the first day was "Sport requires sports facilities - inclusive, informal, professional" while the theme for the second day was "Sport requires synthetic turf - environment-friendly, healthy, sustainable". The programme was well attended, with 140 participants on the first day and 160 on the second taking the opportunity to inform themselves. The Osnabrücker Sportplatztage conference was staged as usual at Osnabrück University of Applied Sciences.
The event initially focused on the demands and needs of informal sport. The still all too seldom addressed topic of "inclusive sports facilities" illustrated that this does not just mean barrier-free or wheelchair-accessible but that everyone should be able to both visit and use existing sports facilities. Next on the agenda was a profound insight into the practice of sports facility planning entitled "The functional award process for complex facilities". The first day was rounded off with a contribution from the sporting director of the VfL Osnabrück multi-sports club, who looked at the conditions and organisation of professional sport in the public sphere from the club's own perspective.
The second day of the event was dedicated to the debate which has also taken place in the public realm recently about the environmental sustainability of synthetic turf pitches.
At the end, all the participants could look back on a successful event which participants rated very positively in the evaluation carried out. The sports facility conference was rounded off with a small specialist exhibition featuring twelve companies. The organisers would like to thank all the speakers, exhibitors and participants for taking part in and supporting the event. The next Osnabrücker Sportplatztage conference is scheduled for 2022.
TT
