Active Communities

A European Research Framework for Physical Activity and Social Connection.

A methodology, not a platform.

Pahuma Group AS · Research framework · Concept stage

01 — The Challenge

The Challenge

Physical inactivity, loneliness and fragmented local ecosystems are routinely treated as three separate policy problems, each with its own budget line, indicator set and professional community. Read together, they behave less like three problems and more like three expressions of one systemic gap: people are not reliably brought into regular, shared, local activity.

Facilities exist and are underused. Clubs exist and cannot reach beyond their existing members. Municipal programmes exist and rarely survive the end of a funding cycle. What is missing is not supply and not motivation, but the connective layer that turns available capacity into recurring participation — and the measurement that would show whether it worked.

Framing the gap as one problem changes what an intervention must do. It has to act on health, on social connection and on local coordination at the same time, and it has to be observable across contexts rather than described anecdotally in one.

Physical inactivityLonelinessFragmented ecosystemsOne systemic gap

02 — Evidence Base

Evidence Base

45%

of Europeans never exercise or play sportSource: Eurobarometer 2022

38%

exercise at least weeklySource: Eurobarometer 2022

13%

of EU citizens feel lonely most or all of the timeSource: EU Loneliness Survey 2022

35%

feel lonely at least sometimesSource: EU Loneliness Survey 2022

Figures above are drawn from named EU sources — the Eurobarometer on sport and physical activity and the EU Loneliness Survey — and are cited rather than asserted.

03 — Policy Alignment

Policy Alignment

EU Work Plan for Sport 2024–2027
Grassroots participation and evidence-based sport policy.
Council Recommendation on HEPA
Health-enhancing physical activity across sectors.
European Health Union
Prevention of non-communicable disease at population level.
Erasmus+ Sport priorities
Capacity building and transnational cooperation.
European Pillar of Social Rights
Social inclusion and equal access to community life.
UN SDG 3
Good health and wellbeing.
UN SDG 11
Sustainable, inclusive communities.

04 — The Methodology

The Methodology

  1. 01

    Community Mapping

    Document existing facilities, groups and unmet local demand.

  2. 02

    Ecosystem Activation

    Convene municipality, clubs, schools and civil society around shared capacity.

  3. 03

    Participation Support

    Lower the threshold to a first session and to returning.

  4. 04

    Continuous Measurement

    Track participation, retention and self-reported connection over time.

  5. 05

    Knowledge Transfer

    Codify what transfers between contexts and publish it openly.

Digital tools support each component — mapping, scheduling, reminders, measurement — but they are instrumentation, not the innovation. The contribution of this framework is the method by which a local ecosystem is mapped, activated, supported and evaluated.

05 — European Added Value

European Added Value

A single-country project can demonstrate that a method worked once. It cannot separate the method from the setting. Nordic and Southern European municipalities differ in climate and seasonality, in urban form and walkability, in the role of clubs versus schools, in welfare provision and in baseline activity and loneliness levels.

Running the same five components across deliberately contrasting municipal contexts makes those differences analytically useful: what holds in both is a candidate for transfer, what holds in one is a context effect worth naming. That distinction is the knowledge municipalities actually need before adopting anything.

Comparison also disciplines measurement. Shared instruments, shared definitions and a shared reporting cadence are only enforceable when more than one site is bound by them.

06 — Building the Partnership

Building the Partnership

The framework is at concept stage. Partnership status is shown explicitly below; nothing beyond the initiating organisation is committed, and no specific city, university or organisation is confirmed as a pilot or partner.

  • Confirmed
  • Candidate / in discussion
  • Open / to be recruited

Confirmed

Pahuma Group AS

Initiating organisation — framework development and coordination.

Candidate / in discussion

Candidate pilot city — Nordic context

Municipal implementation site. City not yet fixed; discussions exploratory.

Candidate / in discussion

Candidate pilot city — Southern European context

Comparative implementation site. City not yet fixed; discussions exploratory.

Candidate / in discussion

Independent academic evaluation partner

External evaluation design and analysis. Candidate, under discussion.

Candidate / in discussion

European sport-sector network

Cross-country coordination and dissemination. Candidate, under discussion.

Open / to be recruited

National sports federation

Open role — to be recruited.

Open / to be recruited

School or education authority

Open role — to be recruited.

Open / to be recruited

Inclusion-focused NGO

Open role — to be recruited.

07 — Invitation

Invitation

We are looking for municipalities, universities and sport-sector organisations willing to shape this methodology while it is still open — to challenge the components, the indicators and the assumption that these three problems are one.

If that is of interest, a short note about your context is enough to begin a conversation.