Move Game: Rethinking Cities Through Play and Active Design

What if your local square became a playful space for movement and well-being? This is the vision of The Move Game—an interactive, life-sized board game that brings public spaces to life across Europe by promoting physical activity, health awareness, and social connection.

What is The Move Game?

The Move Game is a giant board game painted directly onto the ground of public spaces, where participants become the playing pieces. Using their smartphones, players roll a virtual dice, progress along a colourful path, complete physical activity challenges, and answer health-related questions. The game combines fun, movement, and education—inviting people of all ages and fitness levels to get active.

Each round of the game encourages players to move their bodies and engage their minds, making it a unique and inclusive tool for health promotion.

Active Design: Movement Built into Our Cities

The Move Game is built on the concept of Active Design—an urban planning approach that promotes daily physical activity through thoughtful use of public spaces.

Instead of constructing new facilities, the project revitalises existing urban areas using simple, creative tools like painted ground games or modular activity paths. This design philosophy encourages people to move more naturally, easily, and enjoyably, just by navigating their everyday environment.

🎨 A painted path becomes a place to play.
🚶 A walk to school becomes a daily health boost.

By rethinking how we use sidewalks, plazas, and parks, The Move Game turns ordinary places into platforms for well-being and social connection.

Eco-Friendly and Sustainable Implementation

Sustainability is at the heart of The Move Game. The installations use eco-friendly, durable materials and avoid the need for new construction. Whether through painted paths or specially designed floor coverings, the interventions are lightweight, scalable, and environmentally conscious.

These low-cost, high-impact methods allow cities and organisations to promote health and movement without heavy infrastructure or large investments.

A Proven Approach with European Roots

The Move Game is inspired by successful implementations in cities like Copenhagen, Paris, and Vienna, where similar active design concepts have shown how urban creativity can support public health.

Previously tested in projects like Placemaking and Sport, pilot versions of the game demonstrated how underutilised spaces could be transformed into engaging, inclusive activity zones.

Now, the project is expanding across Europe with support from the Erasmus+ Sport 2024 Programme, and will be adapted to local contexts in France, Greece, Malta, Bulgaria, and Serbia.

What’s Next?

The Move Game will continue to grow through 2025 and 2026, with each partner deploying two installations—at least one in a priority neighbourhood. These spaces will be co-designed with local residents and stakeholders, following placemaking principles that ensure long-term engagement and ownership.

The goal is not only to get people moving—but to transform how we think about movement, space, and community.

👉 Follow the journey and get inspired by a project that turns movement into play and cities into healthier, more connected places.

MOVE Game Project is funded by the European Union. Views and opinions expressed are however those of the author(s) only and do not necessarily reflect those of the European Union or the European Education and Culture Executive Agency (EACEA). Neither the European Union nor EACEA can be held responsible for them.

Posted on 23/05/2025 by Dusan Pjevac, Azur Sport Santé