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| Here's a photo of people walking down a street, below is an enlargement of the upper right hand portion of the photo.... |
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| ...note the girl in red she is playing on some of the equipment embedded in the sidewalk of this street |
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more photos
Adding active recreation equipment to NYC sidewalks may be a new idea, but the idea of adding equipment to city sidewalks for play is an old concept, it has been done by private concerns in the past...
MAYOR GIULIANI SIGNS BILL REGARDING
PLACEMENT OF COIN OPERATED RIDES ON SIDEWALKS
Remarks by Mayor Rudolph W. Giuliani at Public Hearing on Local Laws
"The bill would amend the Administrative Code to permit fixed stand coin
operated rides, to be placed on particular streets or in particular
locations where sidewalk obstructions are otherwise prohibited. The
placement of coin operated rides still must comply with other
requirements, such as the requirement that no more than three fixed
stand coin operated rides may be placed in front of any commercial
establishment, no portion of the ride can extend further than five feet
from the building line and that a width of at least nine and one-half
feet shall be maintained on the sidewalk in front of such ride without
obstructing pedestrian movement".link
If NYC businesses can place Sandy and other coin operated children's active amusements rides on our sidewalk space without obstructing pedestrian movement, then I feel this sets precedent for the placing of active recreation equipment for adults on on our sidewalks should be allowed also.
and if this don't work we can always follow Los Angeles lead and place them on the streets!
Los Angeles installs the nations first Active Recreation Micropark
More Outdoor exercise equipment
We first “discovered” outdoor exercise equipment such as that in the
photo above in Santiago, Chile. My kids were immediately hooked on what
they refer to as big kid playground stuff. We’ve seen it in parks,
playgrounds and on streets in Chile, Peru, Argentina, Thailand and now,
in China.We were walking back to our hostel in Chengdu when we came upon this set of bars and steppers. BigB and CAM (who had just been complaining about walking) dashed over and jumped on the steppers. As they pumped furiously, the little Chinese lady who’d been doing a quiet, calm and gentle work-out looked around as if seeking help from these raucous baboons.
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BEIJING: Public exercise equipment
By Megan Hall // 39 Comments
Spacing correspondent Megan Hall is in Beijing this summer. Over the next few weeks, she will be sharing her observations of China's capital as it prepares to welcome the world to the 2008 Olympic games in August.
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BEIJING -- Beijing's parks must be some of the busiest in the world. They range in size from small corners of housing complexes to large, immaculately landscaped gardens. At any hour of the day they are packed with groups playing Chinese chess or cards, or elderly people sitting while their birds sing in cages on nearby tree branches.
A reasonably new feature of many of these public spaces is public exercise equipment. As well used as the benches and ping-pong tables, brightly coloured manual machines huddle on the edges of many parks, each designed to provide a slight workout to a specific part of the body. Despite the lack of instructions, Beijingers seem to have learned how each machine works, and although Beijing's parks seem to be used mostly by the elderly population, the machines attract all age groups.
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Beijing: Exercise opportunities for all
With their bright colors, Beijing’s public exercise facilities resemble playgrounds. Courtesy of Alex Balfour, London
Case
Since 1998, the Chinese government has
created approximately 4,000 outdoor gyms in Beijing. Available to
residents and visitors alike, these facilities can be found throughout
the city’s parks, streets, and other public areas. The national and
municipal governments have promoted these facilities through public
events such as the annual National Fitness Day and Beijing Olympic City
Sports Culture Festival.
Would-be gym-goers often site accessibility and affordability as two of the most significant barriers to regular physical activity, so the outdoor gyms are noteworthy for compelling more people to exercise more often. The outdoor exercise facilities include both machines that stretch and strengthen various muscle groups and machines that improve cardiovascular endurance, so they provide the same work-out available at a private gym. But since these machines are free to use, they appeal to the vast majority of the Beijing population for whom the high cost of joining a private fitness club is prohibitive.
For other Beijing residents, using the public exercise equipment
represents a transitional stage between not exercising regularly and
joining a fitness club. Above all, these facilities are intended to
improve the health of city residents by helping individuals to
incorporate physical activity into their daily routines.
The outdoor gyms also afford a number of secondary social benefits. Helping to animate the urban landscape, these machines represent yet another way for people to enjoy Beijing’s public spaces. Outdoor exercise has helped youths and elderly in particular to connect with others and to create communities within their city.
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Would-be gym-goers often site accessibility and affordability as two of the most significant barriers to regular physical activity, so the outdoor gyms are noteworthy for compelling more people to exercise more often. The outdoor exercise facilities include both machines that stretch and strengthen various muscle groups and machines that improve cardiovascular endurance, so they provide the same work-out available at a private gym. But since these machines are free to use, they appeal to the vast majority of the Beijing population for whom the high cost of joining a private fitness club is prohibitive.
People of all ages use Beijing’s outdoor gyms. Photo by jacksonwood 4 November 2007, Flickr Creative Commons
The outdoor gyms also afford a number of secondary social benefits. Helping to animate the urban landscape, these machines represent yet another way for people to enjoy Beijing’s public spaces. Outdoor exercise has helped youths and elderly in particular to connect with others and to create communities within their city.
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Beijing Shining Star Sports Equipment
Outdoor fitness equipment have become more and more popular during the past several years. Before, you might notice a lot of grassland and trees in the parks which could provide us with fresh oxygen and beautiful scenery, but now when you wander along the street or path in the parks, you might notice more and more outdoor fitness equipment installed and more and more people doing exercises on them. This kind of product brings people a new lifestyle and enable people to do outdoor exercises while enjoying sunshine and fresh air outside of the room. An absolutely different feeling than with indoor gym exercise. What’s more, because this kind of product take little room, affordable for investors, free of maintenance, and easy to install, these products are popular and used in many parks, residential areas, schools, militaries, etc...
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see also:- Fitness trail
