Active Cities partner Lunds Kommun is proud to announce an exciting new campaign, launching on 8th March to coincide with International Women's Day. Running for a duration of two weeks, the initiative is designed to encourage older women to walk, and will feature a celebratory final event.
Campaign Objective and Target Audience
The campaign is specifically designed for women aged 65 and older, a demographic that is statistically over-represented in pedestrian traffic accident data, particularly in single-use incidents. Although the underlying cause of this remains unclear, members of the Lunds Kommun team believe it may be linked to the fact that women tend to walk more than men and, in general, have more fragile bone structures.
Some of the primary objectives of the Active Cities project include to encouraging more women to walk, ensuring they continue to walk, and ultimately do so safely, resulting in a reduction in the number of accidents. By promoting walking as a safe and healthy activity, partners such as Lunds Kommun aim to address existing concerns amongst women, and improve overall well-being.
Engaging Challenges and Activities
To ensure the campaign is both interactive and enjoyable, Lunds Kommun has enlisted the help of two university students to support the initiative. With one studying physiotherapy , and the other studying social anthropology, the students are well positioned to assist with the design of the campaign.
During the two week timeframe, the participating women will take part in a series of challenges, including:
- Walking 5,000 steps a day
- Walking to a new street they haven't visited before
- Inviting a friend to join them for a walk up a hill in the park
- Visiting the botanical garden and learning the names of three different flowers
A total of 50 local women will participate, meeting on International Women's Day to receive their starter kits, which will include a bingo tray, pedometer, rain poncho, and t-shirt.
While most of the activities will be done on an individual basis, there will be two special group events:
- A workshop with the local judo club, where participants will learn falling techniques to prevent injuries.
- The final event on 22nd March, where participants will follow a mapped-out route featuring various activity stops. One of the stops will feature a lesson in Tantparkour (Old Lady Parkour), led by the woman who coined the term.
How Have Local Women Responded?
Initially, Lunds Kommun were hoping to fill all 50 participant spots. However, the response to the campaign has been fantastic, and there are now over 300 local women signed up.
While the team are delighted with the response, they realised that not all interested women would be able to participate as members of the 50-person group. Therefore, it has been decided to offer a more general challenge. Women who are unable to join the specific challenge will still be able to participate by collecting a bingo tray from their local library. While they won't have access to the workshops and special events, they will still be able to take part in the campaign through the various activities found on the bingo tray.