Green and leisure spaces benefited with fitness equipment and basketball hoops

These are real outdoor gyms. Spread all over the city, inviting people to exercise. Porto City Hall has invested around 640 thousand euros in fitness equipment, to which were added 100 thousand more in the requalification and placement of 15 basketball hoops in sports venues for this purpose.

This morning, the fitness equipment in the new sports park in Castelo do Queijo was full. The weather helped physical practice, and some young people took the opportunity to play basketball.

The sports parks are the result of a municipal work involving the areas of environment, health, and sports, aligned and discussed with the Burroughs councils and unions. They are real mini outdoor gyms, as the Mayor of Porto highlighted.

“It is important from the point of view of health and leisure. Everything we can do in the post-pandemic period so that everyone can better enjoy the public space, which is great in the city, is a fully justified investment”, highlighted Rui Moreira, after visiting the new Castelo do Queijo sports park, escorted by the vice-president, Filipe Araújo, responsible for Environment and Climate Transition, the councilwoman for Education, Youth and Sports, Catarina Araújo, and the councilman for Urbanism and Public Space, Pedro Baganha, as well as administrators of the municipal companies GO Porto – Gestão e Obras do Porto and Ágora – Cultura e Desporto do Porto.

“The pandemic had very difficult contexts, but it also allowed people to realize that being outdoors is good for everyone”, the Mayor added.

With this investment, Porto City Hall aims to contribute to the promotion of healthy lifestyles, to motivate the regular practice of physical activity, to enhance active ageing and mitigate the effects of social exclusion phenomena.

The more than 100 fitness equipment and circuits for free enjoyment by the population were installed at the following locations:

- Castelo do Queijo (Union of Burroughs of Aldoar, Foz do Douro and Nevogilde);
- Jardim do Calém (Union of Burroughs of Lordelo do Ouro and Massarelos);
- Parque da Pasteleira (Union of Burroughs of Lordelo do Ouro and Massarelos);
- Palácio de Cristal (Union of Burroughs of Lordelo do Ouro and Massarelos);
- Jardim Machado de Assis (Foco, Burrough of Ramalde);
- Praça dos Álamos (Burrough of Ramalde);
- Jardim Sarah Afonso (Burrough of Ramalde);
- Jardim de Ezequiel Campos (Burrough of Ramalde);
- Jardim Paulo Vallada (Burrough of Bonfim);
- Jardim do Conhecimento/Alameda Eça de Queirós (Burrough of Bonfim);
- Jardim de Arca D’água (Burrough of Paranhos);
- Parque Infantil da Areosa (Burrough of Paranhos);
- Jardim de Belém (Burrough of Campanhã);
- Parque de São Roque (Burrough of Campanhã);
- Praça da Corujeira (Burrough of Campanhã);
- Avenida da Cidade de Xangai (Burrough of Ramalde);
- Parque Infantil de Cervantes (Union of Burroughs of Cedofeita, Santo Ildefonso, Sé, Miragaia, São Nicolau e Vitória);
- Parque do Covelo (Burrough of Paranhos).

The joining of some of these sports parks to playgrounds seeks to combine the fun of the younger section of the population with the practice of sports, as well as to encourage some intergenerational dynamics that promote physical activity at multiple ages. The contract was carried out by the municipal company GO Porto - Gestão e Obras do Porto.

Encouraging the practice of basketball

At the same time that this work is completed, the Municipality, through the municipal company Ágora – Cultura e Desporto do Porto, also concludes the requalification and placement of 15 basketball hoops in sports spaces intended for this purpose, an investment of about 100 thousand euros,

To widen and diversify the offer of sports and leisure equipment in the city, with easy and free access – reiterating, once again, the promotion of health lifestyles and behaviors – the municipality gave special attention to basketball, a sport that is in growing demand and that can be played individually or collectively.

The municipal investment contemplated the creation and requalification of the following spaces destined for informal sports practice in the city:

- Rua Coronel Helder Ribeiro (Burrough of Campanhã);
- Quinta do Covelo (Burrough of Paranhos);
- Santa Luzia (Rua Escultor Barata Feyo - Burrough of Paranhos);
- Fontaínhas (Burrough of Bonfim);
- Bairro de Ramalde do Meio (Burrough of Ramalde);
- Jardim de Belém (Burrough of Campanhã);
- Jardim Paulo Vallada (Burrough of Bonfim);
- Associação Recreativa e Social do Viso (Burrough of Ramalde);
- Bairro do Viso (Burrough of Ramalde);
- Rua Professor Carlos Teixeira (Burrough of Ramalde);
- Jardim do Cálem (Union of Burroughs of Lordelo do Ouro and Massarelos);
- Largo de Miragaia (Union of Burroughs of Cedofeita, Santo Ildefonso, Sé, Miragaia, São Nicolau and Vitória);
- Edifício Transparente (Union of Burroughs of Aldoar, Foz do Douro and Nevogilde);
- Parque da Cidade (Union of Burroughs of Aldoar, Foz do Douro and Nevogilde);
- Bairro da Previdência (Union of Burroughs of Aldoar, Foz do Douro and Nevogilde).