Physical Activity and Community Resilience

The COVID-19 pandemic had profound implications for our social and leisure lives. This chapter illustrates the important role that outdoor recreation, in this case Walking for Health groups, can play in creating and supporting community resilience during unprecedented social catastrophes. The research draws upon the community capitals framework to illustrate how physical activity can be developed and delivered with sustainability and community-resilience in mind. The research demonstrates how access to community capitals-as-resources enabled continued social and sporting participation even during COVID-19 lockdowns. Findings provide insight into the lived experience of participants’ negotiation of health and social catastrophes, whilst also indicating how future place-based physical activity provision could be developed ways that are conducive to community resilience.

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