Learning City: A Sports Model of Outdoor Education

This article examines an urban educational model capable of transforming the city into an extended, distributed, and inclusive learning space within the framework of Learning Cities. The analysis is grounded in the field of Outdoor Education, an evolving pedagogical approach that moves beyond traditional educational models by emphasizing direct experience, bodily engagement, and the relationship with the environment, in response to the challenges of a rapidly changing society (Chen et al., 2020). Within this perspective, physical activity acquires a central educational role. Urban and outdoor spaces are reimagined as contexts for distributed learning, contributing to the transformation of the city into an educational ecosystem oriented toward lifelong and inclusive learning, in line with the vision of Learning Cities (UNESCO, 2025). In this context, bocce emerges as a replicable urban model of inclusive and intergenerational educational practice. Its Paralympic dimension further enhances its pedagogical potential by fostering the participation of people with disabilities and supporting processes of individual and collective empowerment (Darcy et al., 2021). Additionally, bocce can be considered a low–environmental-impact activity, contributing to sustainability and ecological awareness. Overall, the analysis highlights how motor activities of this kind can serve as strategic tools for designing resilient and inclusive cities oriented toward lifelong learning, in accordance with the principles of Learning Cities (UNESCO, 2025).