Walk More towards Active Leisure, Tourism, Culture, and Education

Abstract

Background: This article addresses the following question: why don’t primary and secondary school students perform urban walks or hikes during cultural and tourist visits of the cities they live in, when engaging in physical activity (PA)? The aim is to demonstrate that exploring cities on foot is a different, important, and necessary way to perform PA, that leads to improving social relations and exposing individuals to culture; in particular, teachers would be trained for this. Methods: qualitative methodology based on exploratory observation; state-of-the-art literature review; design of a didactic proposal in the form of an Urban Walk. Results: existence of publications on related activities in many countries including Spain; development and implementation of the Urban Walk; opinions of its future teachers and their knowledge of the possibilities and advantages of this proposal and its relationship with different knowledge subjects. Conclusions: the Urban Walk facilitates future teacher knowledge of cities and provides a new approach to PA; physical-cultural activities that complement the proposal need to be designed.

1. Introduction

Humanity has come a long way ever since man stood up and started walking. Man moved about to get food, to flee from animals, to survive. Legs were the only means of transport. Nowadays, we move to burn excess calories we ingest, to compensate our use of motor vehicles to get around, to have fun, or to maintain our health put at risk by our society’s sedentary lifestyle that diminishes our quality of life when adopted at an early age [1]. One of the most relevant aspects of physical activity (PA) practice is its close relationship with health and the lower possibility of death, in addition to a higher quality of life [2]. There are numerous studies that analyze this relationship, which have given PA great relevance in people’s daily lives [3].

The object of this work is to propose PA as a means of moving around a city for university teaching students (future teachers), using urban walks to access cultural areas. Walks and runs can also be carried out as physical-cultural activities themselves and, at times, recreational forms of physical exercise, such as gymkhanas. These activities are a set of dexterity or ingenuity tests performed by teams along a course, normally developed in outdoors and recreational purposes [4]. It can also be developed in nearby rural or beach contexts and be organised by schools.

The significance of urban walks lies in making PA attractive and economical, and in making the population aware of the many advantages of performing journeys on foot.

With this approach, legs recover their traditional transport role, able to take us anywhere. Common PAs are rediscovered: walking, running, and jumping, in the urban, rural, and beach areas. These activities, having been abandoned, seem innovative once they are reintroduced. Walks can be complemented with running, racing, jumping, skating, using skateboards, cycling, and, in some cases, dancing [5].

This study is structured in two sections. The first section includes an extensive and systematic literature review of the state-of-the-art, in which we reflect on the innovative possibilities of these activities, highlighting the importance and current social impact of PA in going from one point to another and discovering cities. The second section describes our didactic proposal: the design of an urban walk in the city of Jaén (Spain), as a didactic innovation project, implemented by the Faculty of Humanities and Education Sciences of the University of Jaén, as part of Primary Education teacher training (a subject of Didactics of Physical Education (PE)) and of Secondary Education (a subject belonging to the Learning of PE I in the Secondary Teaching Master’s Degree).

Educational innovation implies changes in professional practice and the development of new ways of learning. Thus, innovation is directly linked to interdisciplinarity or the joint learning of several subjects. In this sense, to stroll or to move while walking or running around cities entails a different notion of exercise and approach to culture. It also leads to reducing motor vehicle pollution.

In the same way, visiting rural areas on foot, walking or running, enables to approach a traditional exercise, such as hiking or cross-country jogging, as an innovative activity. In addition, in Spain, beaches that stretch along kilometres of coastline coupled with a mild Mediterranean climate create an ideal environment for PA at any age.

This study, in contrast to previous research, shows how future teachers show a strong predilection for activities in the natural environment. The novelty resides in what is a teaching innovation project that applies at the university of Jaén with the future primary and secondary education teachers. It gives university students another perspective of how to access the physical activity of walking through the cities.

The general aim of this work was to demonstrate that travelling through cities on foot is a different, important, and necessary way to engage in PA, allowing individuals to approach the city’s cultural life and improve their social relations. The specific aims were:

• To carry out a systematic review of literature recovering any studies on Urban Walks and related activities.
• To motivate Teaching Degree and Postgraduate Degree students, as well as those enrolled in the Secondary Teaching Master’s Degree specialised in Arts and Sports, to learn about PA related to education, culture, and tourism, while collecting their opinions on the subject.
• To design an Urban Walk allowing future Primary and Secondary teachers to approach culture and leisure on foot.

2. Materials and Methods

2.1. Design

The research design was flexible and inspired by educational innovation given that the researchers were future teacher trainers. The methodology was qualitative. The initial question qA: why don’t primary and secondary students engage in walks and urban hikes in their cultural and touristic visits of the towns in which they live or visit? This question led to a long period of exploratory observation complemented by a first phase of state-of-the-art documentary research that was completed with the design of a didactic proposal of an Urban Walk.

2.2. Population and Sample

The population was composed of a total of 1920 university students in PE II Didactics, in their second year of their six-year Primary Education Teaching degree. The sample was 60 students per academic year (there were 360 students taking part in the degree) over the six academic years (2011–2017), selected according to the researchers’ interest. In addition, Master’s degree students in the broad subject of Arts and Sports, which brings together PE and Arts university students, also participated. In total, 70 students, who all took part in the two-year Arts and Sports specialized course (2015–2017) participated.

The study was divided into two phases. The first phase consisted of primary data collection, based on the observation and selection of opinions of the participating subjects (social research, carried out before the start and at the end of the walk), and secondary data collection (documentary research), based on PRISMA (Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic reviews and Meta-Analyses) literature review [6,7,8] between 2016 and 2017. The second phase of the study focused on designing an Urban Walk, performed over two stages: getting to know the city in a general way and accessing its urban centre, ending with a visit of a school.

2.3. Procedure and Instruments

The interview was conducted on the basis of a semi-structured interview. Through it, the researchers asked the participants about the sightseeing tours, cultural tourism, and recreation. The semi-structured interview was chosen with the intention of investigating the thoughts of the subjects without repressing their free manifestations.

The bibliography search was carried out during 2016 and 2017, using the Web of Science (WOS) website as the main database. In addition, support repositories such as SCOPUS, PubMed, R + D + i 2016–18 on urban vulnerability, Ministries of Development and Housing, and Higher Council of Sports were used. The following keywords were used: ‘Physical activity’, ‘marches and urban races’, ‘culture’ and ‘teacher training’. Boolean operators such as ‘and’ and ‘or’ were also used. Other instruments included the Urban Walk Project and the initial observation sheet, both prepared for this study. Semi-structured interviews were used, with open questions to gather information on students’ thoughts about the activity, which could be transmitted to schools when future teachers joined them. In the case of the Secondary Teaching Master’s Degree, students were asked for a report on the activity to collect their reflections.

When determining the study population, the literacy research sample was selected based on the following inclusion criteria: (1) Scientific articles that develop a program to promote physical activity or walking in the city, or both; (2) Studies that promote culture through movement; (3) Research that has been published in impact journals; (4) Articles published in peer-reviewed journals from 2007 to December 2017. In order to meet the first criterion, a first reading of the title and the abstract was made.

Subsequently, a detailed reading of the full text of the studies was carried out to apply the remaining inclusion criteria. In this way, after applying these concepts, the literary basis of the study was obtained.

3. Development

3.1. Phase 1: State-of-the-Art

Urban and environmental policies capable of converting surroundings into favourable spaces for physical exercise, as well as individual education and community culture, have an enormous potential to increase PA in the population [9].

The idea of using physical activities arose when learning that the Spanish child population was ranked 3rd in Europe in the obesity index. According to the author of [10], 34% of children in Spain are obese. According to the World Health Organization (WHO) [11], physical exercise and appropriate nutrition have become a priority to solve this problem. However, up to 80% of school age children only take part in PA at school, according to the Eurydice report of the European Commission [12]. Families, by supporting proper nutrition and exercise, together with governments and schools, respectively by increasing hours of PE class and ensuring their adequate implementation at school ages, have become responsible for solving the problem [13].

Moreover, culture, traditionally expected to be taught at school, can be the object of an innovative and interdisciplinary perspective based on teacher training, integrating journeys on foot or even using bicycles or skates. These situations are occurring more and more in adulthood, so the aim of this proposal is to link urban PA to culture. This PA, in addition to providing an opportunity to spend energy, fosters ecological, simple, and cheap tourism that improves schoolchildren’s knowledge of cities from cultural, environmental, and health perspectives. Furthermore, the concept is distinct from that targeted by so-called tourism-phobia [14]. As an example, the urban walk through Jaén is an accompanied route, and such walks can be adapted to any city.

Currently [15], movements in our cities consist of the physical and virtual movements of people, goods, knowledge, and information associated to a diversity of interests. In this line, virtual displacements seriously harm movements that ought to be carried out on foot to maintain subjects’ health and the ecological balance of cities.

The main objective of mobility, in general, is to access the resources of the territory (public services, businesses, or knowledge). Mobility is fundamental to build awareness of world diversity and to get access to its resources. Without being able to circulate, people are excluded from collective life and exchanges with others. In this way, the Institute de la Ville en Movement (a non-profit association, http://ciudadenmovimiento.org/quienes-somos/) [16], believes that mobility is more than a matter of transport, it is a project of society. For this reason, to innovate, it is necessary to take the collective into account. It raises the notion of a right to mobility [17]:

The evolution of cities should be carried out through a subtle balance, continually setting readjustments between movement and non-movement, between the places in which we stay and those through which we pass. If this balance is destroyed, the city no longer fulfils its role of creating the relationship between people and what they are looking for ...without knowing it sometimes. A city is the result of a permanent dialectic between the mobile and the immobile.

Considerable importance is currently attributed to entrepreneurship and sustainability to analyse the effects of urban proximity on economic structures. Some authors use concepts that have emerged over the last decade around creative cities, knowledge economies or smart cities, i.e., cities where sustainable, innovative, and efficient spaces are designed, that are green, integrate more technology, and are walkable [18]. Other authors [19] have, however, already shown that the chances of unpredictable relationships emerging (entering a store or stopping in a cafe) are much higher during a walk, than when using any other mode of transport.

In the same way, a research of Uribe-Mallarino and Pardo-Pérez [20] described moving patterns in Bogotá and suggested that moves within the city were related to social mobility, as people seek to improve their conditions of residence. The study does not focus on the use of cities to perform PA, but rather analyses relevant factors influencing social and spatial mobility.

Also worthy of mention are the risks associated to an excessive use of cars. According to a study [21], the Amsterdam conference (1994) led to the launch of a network of cities called the Car Free Cities Club: its objective was to promote sustainable urban mobility by supporting the most environment-friendly modes of transport (walking or cycling). This popular outcry led to the birth of the Carfree Cities Association (http://www.carfree.com/).

Rationalizing city transport in the city constitutes a major and complex battle. In this context, car-free residential areas (Autofrei Stadquartiere) are emerging, based on the notion that the use of cars should cease to be widespread and rather become exceptional.

Our proposal to walk to any location in a city plays here a major role, especially if walking habits are shaped from a very young age. Sustainable mobility is based on mobility that pollutes the less and consumes the less energy, such as walking and cycling [22]. Walking, if learned and internalised at the earliest age, turns into an essential activity over time.

The International Conferences on Learning Cities, organized by UNESCO (Beijing, 2013, Mexico City, 2015; Cork, Ireland, 2017) also address concerns regarding different types of learning in our localities. The objective of these conferences is to “ensure inclusive and equitable quality education and promote lifelong learning opportunities for all”. In their conclusions, they praise proposals towards economic and cultural prosperity as well as sustainable development.

Considering how important these initiatives are, direct intervention in these events by sports technicians and faculty as well as those involved in tourism and culture can be considered all the more essential to achieve innovative and active mobility, as proposed by Carlsen (2015). Lifelong learning (LL) is becoming increasingly prominent in today’s world and is a fundamental part of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development [23].

This article is supported by a series of authors and works describing the benefits or disadvantages of such urban initiatives, covering general to educational ones. The main ones are detailed below.

• Studies on daily or required mobility, developed in Mexico [24] defined as the set of trips to and from a place of usual overnight stay, on the same day.
• In this sense, the town of Vitoria-Gasteiz (Spain), European Green Capital 2012, offers conditions that greatly favor pedestrians, bicycles, and public transport in citizens’ daily mobility. Its Sustainable Mobility and Public Space Plan aims at reducing private car travel and makes it easier for pedestrians as well as cyclists providing spaces for people. In the same line, a “superblock” i.e., a more humanized urban living cell was designed [25].
• The Calles Abiertas (Open Streets) programme in the city of Santiago, Chile is also worthy of mention. It consists in providing a 2 km stretch of traffic-free public space, so people can freely engage in activities such as running, cycling, skating, and skateboarding.
• New York City (NYC) offers hundreds of parks, athletic fields, and recreation centers along with thousands of miles of green routes, walking paths, and bicycle lanes. Politicians try to attract citizens to PA because almost 30% of residents in NYC admit that they do not perform any exercise; physical inactivity kills 6300 New Yorkers each year. To achieve this, a free or very cheap programme called BeFitNYC (www.nyc.gov) was designed to offer more than 180 weekly PA classes. These classes approach exercise in a fun and motivating way, and friends can be invited via Facebook. In addition, there are other activities such as the Make NYC Your Gym campaign (walk or bike to work or school, use public transport and get off one stop or two before your destination to walk the rest of the way) and WalkNYC walking clubs, after-work groups of runners and fitness classes such as Shape Up NYC (including aerobics, yoga, pilates, and zumba, where music is incorporated into the PA).
• Closer to the educational field, the Camino Escolar (School Walk) is a PA developed in Zaragoza (Spain), https://www.zaragoza.es/ciudad/caminoescolar/que.htm, offering a safe route for children on their way to and from school. A research [26] elaborated an implementation guide, which was subsequently used in other cities such as Barcelona, Huelva, Córdoba, or San Sebastián.
• Likewise, in Santander (Spain), didactic itineraries are an effective tool to get to know the history of the city in an entertaining and relaxed way. They were set up by the City Council for 3rd to 6th grade students in 2012 and serve as a regular route through the historic center of the city. http://www.20minutos.es/noticia/1245657/0/#xtor=AD-15&xts=467263.
• In this line, a programme for child mobility was established in the town of Pontevedra (Spain), devised according a study [27] by the city’s Police Commissioner, based on the one designed by the Italian pedagogue Francesco Tonucci. It aims at recovering space taken over by motor vehicles and handing it back to pedestrians, increasing pedestrian areas, and limiting speed to 30 km/h. The idea is to foster children’s personal autonomy by offering them their own space, establishing alternative models of sustainable mobility from childhood, promoting healthy habits, improving traffic flow and road safety, and above all, encouraging social cohesion based on the fact that children are part of the community and of the city, and that the city takes care of them.
• The itineraries mentioned above coincide with walking routes in the cities and their surroundings, attracting visitors to monuments or parks. They include races, marathons, and half marathons of different lengths and duration in many cities; for example, the famous San Antón race in Jaén (Spain) held in January of each year, and which held its 35th edition in 2018. https://carrerasanantonjaen.com/.
• PE Street Day in many Spanish cities, aimed at supporting the proposal by the Spanish Ministry of Health, the European Parliament and the WHO to include more PE hours in young people’s educational programmes (http://www.marca.com/blogs/espanasemueve/2015/04/20/nueva-edicion-del-dia-de-la-educacion.html).
• The España se Mueve (Spain Moves) programme promoted by the Superior Sports Board, which has progressively integrated the General Board of Nursing and City Councils such as that of Madrid (Madrid se mueve or Muévete).
• The City of Segovia also made a diagnosis of the current sports situation at school age and developed a regular and healthy PA programme [28] coordinated by the PE teaching staff based on an agreement between the City Council and the University of Valladolid.
• Other itineraries in major Spanish cities are worth mentioning, such as in Granada, Seville, Malaga, and Cordoba (http://www.andalucia-web.net/cordoba.htm). The report “la cara bonita de Andalucía” (the pretty face of Andalusia) (Ministry of Tourism and Commerce of the Regional Governement of Andalusia) analyzes cities from their cultural and touristic viewpoints.
• In other cities such as Martos (Jaén), a street sports programme was organised, known as “Martos city of alternative sports” [29]. This programme sets people of all ages in motion, generating personal, touristic, and economic benefits (http://www.ideal.es/deportes/jaen/martos-consolida-ciudad-20170727001750-ntvo.html). The sports notably included the following: Kin-Ball, Kubb, Tchouckball, and Goalball, in addition to tennis and cross-country walking or cycling.
• Similarly, non-architectural cultural aspects also include literature. Poems referring to social or historical aspects help to learn about other aspects of the cities. For example, an anonymous poem ”Tres morillas enamoran en Jaén“, from the Cancionero de Palacio (a 15th–16th century Palace songbook), tells about the Arab origins of the city. Some itineraries have also completed using traditional songs that introduce students to other perspectives [30].
• Urban Walk projects have also been carried out in some Andalusian cities, among which a project in Córdoba [31], presented at the Second International Conference on Research and PE Didactics at the University of Granada was particularly applauded. Another project is that presented [32] at the 4th International Creative Cities Congress of the Faculty of Information Sciences at the Complutense University of Madrid, and the ICONO14 Scientific Association [33], also held in high regard.
• Other school walks have developed overseas, in many South American countries, requiring small, moderate physical efforts, involving adaptation to musical rhythm and perfection of movement.
• Urban routes for cycling can also be found, used on a customary basis or for recreational–cultural use, which then give rise to cycling tourism.
• Lastly, the activity sequence “paseo” was designed by a researcher [34]: it took place over several academic years with different autistic children in Majadahonda (Madrid), for whom 30 or 40 minutes of walking a day reduces stress and prevents heart disease.

Other Interest Concepts

Having described major urban routes, other innovative actions can be found to foster exercise, for example: low cost PA aimed at people of more advanced ages, (the Champs Elysées in Paris or the Paseo de la Castellana in Madrid, where exercise pathways crossing the city are provided, allowing to enjoy the views or take pictures at the same time), or major walking routes in iconic cities (National Institute on Aging, NIA, https://www.nia.nih.gov/).

If we leave urban areas and address the availability of green spaces in cities to engage in PA, according to studies in Canada and the USA, walking through parks has positive effects on the population as a whole and on those suffering from depression in particular, but more research is needed to understand why (A Walk in the Park Gives Mental Boost to People with Depression). http://www.sciencenewsline.com/articles/2012051510200006.html.

Urban parks therefore constitute another social and cultural environment for walking routes. Very big parks such as the Retiro in Madrid, the Güell park in Barcelona or the Maria Luisa park in Seville offer large distances for walking and running. In smaller cities, urban spaces removed from cars allow engaging in other types of walking tours, even if only to reach them and walk through them. Near the sea, possible beach itineraries can also be accessed via urban routes. They offer all kinds of recreational sports activities, especially in the sand, such as volleyball or running.

It is useful to know about and implement all emerging activities in the field, given the large number of overweight and obese children in Spain (30% of young people and 50% of persons over 50 are overweight) and given that PA is the best medicine to improve health indicators (Royal Decree 126 of 28 February 2014) [34]. For these reasons, the Ministry of Health stated the need to introduce five hours per week of PE in schools, in conformity with the guidelines of the WHO and the European Parliament, which, since 2007, urges “Member States to make physical education compulsory in primary and secondary schools, and to accept the principle that the timetable should guarantee at least three physical education lessons per week, while schools should be encouraged to exceed this prescribed minimum as far as possible” [9].

According to the WHO [35], physical inactivity is ranked third, together with hyperglycemia, in global mortality risk factors (6%) behind hypertension (13%) and tobacco use (9%). Effects on health are beyond the scope of this study, though child health would undoubtedly benefit from the application of our proposal.

This study is based on the innovative relationship between four concepts: PA, education, culture, and tourism, originating in new healthy lifestyle trends. These fashions combine a healthy diet—inspired by our ancestors’ diet—with PA: from the “paleodiet” to outdoor running. This desire to return to the basics has led more and more people to walk and run in cities. There have been many publications in recent years on running, relating this sport to the primitive man (who was born to run), and seeking to compensate current sedentary activities.

Access to culture on foot is part of education, and it should be taken into account in the education system. Leisure activities increasingly influence social development and people’s lifestyles [36]. A study [37] found that sports and travel were the activities that respondents highlighted the most when illustrating their idea of leisure.

Tourism, which affects the sustainable economy, as well as habitual, natural, urban, social, cultural, and personal environments, constitutes, according to the World Tourism Organization (UNWTO) a social, cultural, and economic phenomenon which entails the movement of people to countries or places outside their usual environment (http://media.unwto.org/es/content/entender-el-turismo-glosario-basico). Turning the obligation of travel to work or school into leisure and the opportunity to perform different activities would be a great educational achievement, in terms of innovation and transmission of values.

If a touristic outing is carried out on foot within one’s city of residence, it turns into a stroll, a walk, or an urban run or, as mentioned, an opportunity for skating or cycling. It can then adopt a cultural, mobile (PA), or educational character. In this way, Seville has become the 5th European capital in urban bicycle use.

Cities can be experienced from different standpoints, and we can highlight the role of PA in most of them, for example: security, mobility and freedom, tourism, culture, and education. Different types of users must be taken into account. Depending on age, one type and intensity or another of PA is required. Children and young people of school age (6–18 years) should engage in at least one hour a day of moderate or vigorous PA, although unfortunately they move even less. Young people and adults should complete, as long as they can, at least two and a half hours of moderate exercise a week, distributed over alternate days, or less time but every day.

3.2. Phase 2: Proposal of an Urban Walk through Jaén in Two Phases

The second part of this work describes a proposal of Urban Walk through the city of Jaén with the aim of making Teaching Degree students and students enrolled in the Teaching Master’s Degree specialised in PE and the Arts familiar with PA related to education, culture, and tourism. The project is an educational innovation. It helps to develop cultural knowledge, management, orientation, and mainstreaming (road safety education), and above all it highlights the importance of walking through cities [9], turning PA into a mobile means of access to culture.

The activity is carried out in practical classes, having established that its application and results were of great importance for the training of future teachers, and that it had considerable academic and interdisciplinary value [38,39,40]. In fact, an educational innovation two-year project was being implemented at the University of Jaén (UJA) with the students mentioned above. Very interesting results had hitherto been obtained [39].

The chosen context was the city of Jaén. Despite its hilly topography, urban walks and runs play a major role so the town constituted a favourable location to implement the project with future teachers. The activities proposed are described in the sections below.

Two urban walks were organised over two days in consecutive weeks: the first had a physical and documentary nature, to become familiar with the surroundings, the distances, the orientation of the city, and the location of the major monuments and schools, ending with a visit to one of them. A second urban walk took place to reach the major museums and buildings of the city, which aimed at developing key social and civic competence, as well as the transversal competence of creativity.

Day 1: Departure at 9 a.m., at the end of the Bulevar park, north of the city, near the university campus. From there, walk to the train station, a point that has traditionally marked the beginning of the city (2 km). At this stage, Jaén’s orientation and layout were explained, i.e., three main roads, a central one (Pº de la Estación), another to the east (Avenida de Madrid and Avenida de Granada), and a third to the west (Avda. De Andalucía). We continued uphill in the Pº de la Estación, towards the Jabalcuz road, where the city ends on the South side. The location of the Provincial Museum, in a major school area, was indicated as well as that of the Cathedral (2 km). Continuing via the green route, built at this exit, we continued up, and then had a short run on the way down (2km). Having joined up with the urban route again, the walk led us to the old quarter, passing through the Arab Baths, an important rehabilitated monument, arriving at the Ruiz Jiménez School (Pre-school, Primary, and Compulsory Secondary), next to the Infanta Leonor Theatre. We visited the school, having previously organized this tour with the school’s management (1 km). From there, we continued downhill to end up again at the train station (1 km) at approximately 2 p.m. In total 8 km were covered, of which 2 km was a run, with stops for explanations and the school visit.

Day 2: Departure at 9 a.m. in the morning from the train station and direct walk up to the Íbero Museum (exhibition of the sculptures of Porcuna, from the Iberian period; its most emblematic group of sculptures originates from the Cerrillo Blanco archaeological site) and then to the Provincial Museum (visit to the Fine Arts and Archaeology sections).

Following the visit to both museums, we headed to the Cathedral of the Assumption, a visit that had also been previously organised. Built over the centuries on an Arab mosque from 1368 to 1801, it is the second largest in Spain. Andrés de Vandelvira and his successors were its most famous architects. The walk continued towards the old quarter to visit the Arab Baths and the Museum of Popular Arts and Traditions that is houses in the same building. The distance covered on Day 2 was 5 km, and it covered the city’s major monuments.

4. Results

The initial observations sheet provided the data to intervene with the Urban March Model in two phases designed for that purpose, which has facilitated its application, as verified by researchers and participating teachers.

The analysis of Master’s degree student reflections indicated that 90% were enthusiastic, interested in, as well as motivated by these outings, and gained knowledge about the effects of PA in tourism and culture.

From the semi-structured interview that was carried out with Primary Teacher Degree students, 37% generally indicated that what they had learned was important to transmit to future students in the educational field [40]. A total of 53% commented that PA had the potential to achieve different aims, for example, access on foot to different parts of the city, contributing to reducing pollution and facilitating alternative urban routes. The rest of the participants (10%) agreed with both statements.

Likewise, the subjects interviewed show a clear tendency towards the practice of PA in the urban context. They think gymkhana is an excellent resource for promoting PA, socialization, and fun. In this regard, it is worth noting that the review of the literature that has been carried out highlights the importance of motivation towards sports practice.

In the studies analyzed, we can highlight how there are no intervention programs. All of the studies reviewed show that the programs were implemented without a prior study, although the results show a clear improvement among the subjects.

The urban route implies knowledge of the urban context of the city in which it is carried out. It is also a practical resource for the teaching of different subjects by means of sports practice from a playful point of view.

5. Discussion

This study is considered as more recreational and cultural oriented than those conducted in the field of health. However, other types of daily mobility trips required to get to work on a daily basis, which are not in the same line of study, have been found [24]. The idea of Escudero Achiaga [25], is similar, although by facilitating spaces for pedestrians and cyclists, mobility is easier to put into practice.

Official itineraries exist in major Spanish cities, such as Granada, Seville, Malaga, and Córdoba, and in smaller cities such as Martos (Jaén). They enable approaching cities from cultural and touristic viewpoints, and the routes can serve the intentions of this work. In addition, there are specific Urban Walks projects in Córdoba and Jaén [31,32] that are more adapted to educational contexts.

The Calles Abiertas programme in Santiago, Chile, including activities such as running, cycling, skating, and skateboarding, could be applied to implement this proposal. School routes and educational itineraries that have emerged in different cities [26] or the mobility programmes in the town of Pontevedra for children [27] can be found to be even more inspirational. These itineraries correspond to walking routes in cities and surrounding areas, leading visitors to monuments or parks and schoolchildren to monuments via PA.

Other types of PAs stand out, such as popular races, e.g., the San Antón run in Jaén, or the street PE day proposed by the Spanish Ministry of Health, the European Parliament, and the WHO in an attempt to include more PE hours in educational schemes, or the programme España se mueve promoted by the Superior Sports Board, although both are beyond the scope of this study as they concern the field of health. Moreover, the recreational-sports nature of the project is mainly based on the current situation of school-age sport, where regular and healthy PA programmes starts to develop [28].

We can find similar PA and recreation ideas in main city parks such as in NYC Central Park. Others provide, in a complementary way, low-cost PA in iconic European city parks. Most of them focus on ecological and landscape culture.

Beyond urban contexts, walks in green or beach areas seek to reproduce the recreational–positive nature of strolling and the opportunity to take up specific sports. This leads to further benefits, such as lowering rates of excess weight and obesity [36].

The Urban Walk is based on four concepts that underlie this work: PA, education, culture, and tourism, compatible with the results of a study by García-Ferrando [36], who found that sports and travel were the main activities referred to by respondents when asked about their idea of leisure. This type of trip can be on foot and across the city, improving conditions for a sustainable economy, as well as the conditions of customary, natural, urban, social, cultural, and personal environments, according to the WHO.

Urban travel by foot allows the city to be experienced by users from a PA perspective (security, mobility, freedom, tourism, culture, and education).

6. Conclusions

Walking around cities is a different, important, and necessary way to perform PA. When travelling on foot, individuals are more closely exposed to culture and social relations are stimulated.

Different types of activities take place in cities (related to health, services, culture, recreation) and efforts are being undertaken to enable their access on foot or using motor less vehicles.

In the literature reviewed relating to this study, we have observed a fusion between the analysis and development of smart cities and that of the people’s mobility. There is a tendency is to make cities ever more liveable, making journeys on foot less dangerous and more necessary, usual, and fun. In the educational field, ecological, cultural, recreational, and health habits can be formed this way.

Undergraduate and graduate students became aware of the interesting and innovative nature of the walking activity, the importance of travelling on foot to teach their future students about culture and leisure, and the development of LL competence in their training.

The Urban Walk was designed over two stages in order to ensure broader coverage of the city.

As the main limitations of this study, after reviewing the literature we have found that there are no interventions about the variable analyzed. In addition, for future studies, we consider adding a quantitative part to give more consistency to the study.