Physical Activity Program
Page content in brief
It focuses on encouraging everyday, utilitarian and health-enhancing physical activity, while developing services and environments that make moving easier and more accessible.
Tampere has drawn up its first citywide mobility program, which aims to promote an active lifestyle and physical fitness among city residents. The program will guide the work of the city’s service groups from 2026 to 2030 and brings together both current and future measures to increase physical activity. The program is based on the principle that promoting physical activity is a shared responsibility of the entire city organization.
Preparation of the Physical Activity Program began in the spring of 2025. The work was led by a cross-administrative physical activity working group established in 2024, which includes specialists from various sectors. North Sport Consulting provided expert support. In the fall of 2025, more than 650 Tampere residents responded to a physical activity survey conducted as part of the preparation process.
The Physical Activity Program examines the city’s services, support functions, and physical activity environments that influence residents’ opportunities to engage in physical activity independently. The program does not include planning for the construction of exercise and sports facilities, as these are addressed separately in Tampere’s Service Network Plan 2026–2040. Instead, the program focuses specifically on promoting everyday, functional, and health-related physical activity, as well as strengthening practices that support physical activity.
Strengths of the Current Situation
Tampere has a strong foundation for promoting physical activity. The city offers a diverse range of physical activity services, complemented by active club activities and private service providers. There are plenty of opportunities for local physical activity, nature is easily accessible, and conditions for walking and cycling are good.
The city’s various departments recognize the importance of physical activity and possess both the expertise and motivation to promote it. To increase physical activity, projects and pilot programs are regularly implemented with the aim of lowering the barrier to participation. There is also extensive collaboration with various associations, clubs, and other stakeholders.
Four themes guide the development work
The measures in the physical activity program are divided into four themes:
- Services for Children and Youth
- Services for working-age adults and older adults
- Physical activity environments and facilities
- Management, network collaboration, and communication for promoting physical activity
For each theme, objectives, measures, responsible parties, and indicators have been defined to monitor the achievement of the objectives. Since a large portion of the measures involve ongoing development work, the program does not specify separate implementation schedules.
Low-threshold activities should be further strengthened, and communication targeted at different groups should be increased. Efforts to identify and remove barriers to physical activity, as well as to promote everyday and functional physical activity, must be further developed. Support for workplace physical activity and active commuting also needs to be strengthened. In physical activity environments, there is room for improvement in areas such as regional availability and the need to increase the presence of nature, particularly in children’s developmental environments.
Efforts to promote physical activity have largely relied on project funding, which has fragmented activities and made it difficult to form a comprehensive picture. Development needs have also been identified in the utilization of existing data, in building a comprehensive communication strategy for promoting physical activity, in deepening cooperation with the wellbeing services county, and in clarifying the roles of various stakeholders.
The Future of the Physical Activity Program
During the fall of 2026, a “physical activity tracker” will be created to track, in real time, concrete actions taken in line with the goals and measures established to promote physical activity. Progress toward these goals will be monitored annually by a cross-administrative physical activity working group.