Mapping of Sports Facilities
The Council of Europe's Enlarged Partial Agreement on Sport (EPAS) and the Mulier Instituut have organised four online meetings on the Mapping of Sports Facilities.
Each meeting revolved around a different topic and brought together experts in the field, including sports organisations, NGOs, academics and representatives of the European Union and the Council of Europe.
These meetings aimed to enrich the work of EPAS on the topics in question by gathering different ideas and points of view from the sports world and beyond.
Meeting 4 - Social sustainability and sports facilities
12 September 2025
Hybrid format (Strasbourg, France/Online)
The 2025 Mulier Institute/Council of Europe White Paper on Social Sustainability and Sports Facilities states that:
“The social sustainability of sports facilities is about facilitating social relations, bringing all groups in society to the facilities. Sports facilities should also support the capacity of current and future generations to create healthy and liveable communities. This requires access to sports facilities and use of sports facilities by all groups in society. Furthermore, sustainable funding models for sports facilities are essential to make them affordable and financially sustainable for the future. In addition, attention should be paid to the more topical areas to which social sustainability is often linked: sustainability itself (e.g. the climate).”
However, to date no extensive work has been done mapping the situation of social sustainability and sports facilities across EPAS/Council of Europe member states and there is no uniform over-arching policy in this area. Insight into different ways of ensuring social sustainability of sport facilities is therefore of vital relevance.
Objectives
The 4th meeting on the Mapping of Sports Facilities aimed to:
- share information on the policy relevance of sport facilities and its contribution to social sustainability;
- gain insights into what mapping work is currently being carried out in relation to social sustainability and sports facilities and find out what key indicators already exist in this area;
- find out more about the different practices pertaining to social sustainability and sports facilities;
- bring together researchers and national level policy-making experts to identify solutions to keep sport facilities affordable for all groups in society and thus more inclusive.
Concept note and draft programme
Speakers' biographies and presentations
Meeting 3 - Insights into financing of sports facilities
In most countries the funding of sports facilities takes up most of the sport budget. Insight into different ways of financing sports facilities is therefore of vital relevance. The question as to how to fund and run sports facilities in a cost-effective manner is becoming even more prominent with rising costs (e.g. due to the energy crisis).
In this context, EPAS and the Mulier Instituut hosted on 13 December 2022 a third meeting on the mapping of sports facilities directly pertaining to this issue of the financing of sport facilities.
Objectives:
- Gain insights into different ways of financing sport facilities;
- Gain insights into different modes of operations for sport facilities and its relation with the costs to run a sport facility;
- Gain insights into the social return on investment or societal value of sport facilities;
- Bring together researchers and national level policy-making experts to identify solutions to keep sport facilities affordable for all groups in society.
Meeting 2 - Sustainability
Sustainability is a key area flagged up in the revised European Sports Charter and falls under “sports ethics”, which includes respect for human rights and sustainability (Article 7). Article 9 of the Charter sets forth the wide parameter covered by sustainability.
The second meeting on the mapping of sports facilities focused on sustainability in a wide sense, but with a particular focus on environmental sustainability in relation to sports facilities.
The meeting took place on 5 July 2022.
Objectives:
- Gain insights into current sustainability measures in sports facilities;
- Bring together researchers and national level policy-making experts to identify solutions to explore how to maximise sustainability measures in or related to sports facilities across Europe and at national level.
EPAS reports on "Social sustainability of major sports events"
Meeting 1 - Insights into changing patterns in facility use during the COVID-19 pandemic
The COVID-19 pandemic has negatively impacted the use of sports facilities across Europe, as attested by a study commissioned by EPAS amongst others.
The ripple effects of this continue to be felt by sports facilities across Europe. In this context, EPAS and the Mulier Instituut hosted a first online meeting on the issue on 14 December 2021.
Objectives:
- Gain insights into changing patterns in facility use during the COVID-19 pandemic;
- Bring together researchers and national level policymaking experts to identify solutions to minimise the negative impact in behavioural patterns by identifying the barriers to a return to normality and proposing strategies to ensure that such a situation does not occur in the same manner again.
