The quality of the physical environment of outdoor academies

Abstract

Outdoor gyms (AAL's) are contemporary urban infrastructures designed to encourage physical exercise in open spaces, whether public or private. They exert an influence on the urban environment and provide a broad field of research, especially related to the impact on people's quality of life. This impact requires academies endowed with a quality physical environment, be it in its base, border and surroundings. In this context, this paper shows a method to evaluate the quality of the AAL's base, applied in 10 academies in Bauru-SP, Brazil. The results highlight aspects related to the themes Accessibility, Comfort, Uses and Activities and Sociability, which favor and/or compromise the quality of the physical environment, and show that the proposed method is an effective tool for: 1. Use in interventions in the AAL's evaluated; 2. Planning of similar spaces and 3. Comparison between different AAL's.