Urban Health = Green Urban

The formula for revitalizing cities was discussed at the latest Green Urban meeting.

On June 21, an Urban Talk session titled “Time to Revitalize the City” was held, moderated by Yuliya Yakupbayeva, Chair of the Green Urban community.

Formulas for an active lifestyle, football for everyone, and festivals became the anchor themes of the discussion.

“It has been shown that the more a person moves, the more interesting their surrounding environment is, and the more actively engaged they are, the better their quality of life. An active environment reduces the risk of physical inactivity, heart disease, and diabetes.

How to create such an environment and ‘revitalize the city’ is a formula that should be worked out not only by the city administration (akimat) but also by the expert community,” noted Yuliya Yakupbayeva.

Andrei Dudin, Secretary General of the Kazakhstan Football Federation, shared the results of a study (conducted for FIFA), according to which there are more than 146,000 amateur players in Kazakhstan. Football’s direct contribution to the country’s economy exceeds EUR 272 million, while its indirect contribution (through healthcare savings) amounts to EUR 34 million.

In this regard, the federation is actively promoting projects for the renovation of football fields and support for amateur football in the regions.

Alexander Razinkov, President and Founder of the Republican Football League of Private Football Clubs and Academies (JKFL), spoke about the development of the children’s and corporate sports ecosystem and emphasized the importance of developing mass sport and sports infrastructure for urban development.

“The development of JKFL projects, along with the corporate and yard football leagues, will give new impetus to maintaining a healthy lifestyle among city residents, caring for employees’ health, and increasing mass participation in sport,” noted Alexander Razinkov.

Veronika Nurpeisova, Chair of the Self-Regulating Organization of Public Catering of the Republic of Kazakhstan, shared useful information about current trends in the restaurant industry and her vision for introducing green menus and healthy eating in public catering.

Vadim Tebaikin, founder of the international agency SLON event & video stories, spoke about the role of major urban events and festivals as hubs for transmitting values and information — about festival formats and how large-scale projects “energize” the economy.

As part of the Urban Talk session, a Memorandum on the creation and promotion of the ESG League was signed between Vista Sports Club and GPI Group.

“By signing this memorandum, GPI Group will assist in finding partners for impact financing of the JKFL children’s football league. Together with Vista Sports Club, we are also creating a major project — a corporate ESG football league whose participants will be large corporate companies from Astana and Almaty. We then plan to scale it to other regions. Good luck to us!” noted Rustam Yakupbayev, partner at GPI Group.

Guests of the event discussed how the city and residents’ behavior change when accessible mass sport, urban festivals, and green menus in cafes and restaurants become available — and what social and financial effects the city’s “revitalization” produces. People want engaging leisure activities and want good health and to live in a clean, safe city.

Urban Health is moving from being a trendy phrase to a necessary reality. We were pleased to hear the question: “When will Green Urban come to the regions?”

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