Characteristics of the Spatial Location of Sports Facilities in the Northern Great Plain Region of Hungary

Abstract

Sports facilities play a very important role in educating people about the benefits of a healthy lifestyle, and the examination of their spatial distribution is one of the important research areas of sport geography, a field of study becoming increasingly important in recent times. In this spirit, the aim of this paper is to present the spatial distribution of sports facilities in a specific Hungarian sample area, the Észak-Alföld (Northern Great Plain) region, to point out the differences between settlements, as well as the reasons behind these differences. Data received from the local authorities and state administration bodies were used for the preparation of the study, which included the different sports facilities at the settlement level in addition to information found on the Internet. The following conclusions were drawn based on the research. First of all, it was found that the settlement size significantly influences the spatial distribution of sports facilities, inter alia, larger settlements with larger populations boast increased demand and higher purchasing power and also have more enhanced and more diverse sports infrastructure. Secondly, in the case of competitive sports, the size of settlements is less relevant; there are only insignificant differences between the settlements of different sizes. This can be explained by the fact that almost all settlements have their own football pitch. Thirdly, the administrative role of the settlements was also found to be significant since settlements being on higher levels of the hierarchy (district centres, county seats) always have better facilities.

A study of the influence of sports venues on the intra-city population layout based on multi-source data—Taking Xi’an city and Zhengzhou city as examples

“…Therefore, as a carrier of residents’ leisure and sports activities, sports venues not only have the function of leisure and entertainment but also have certain social symbolic functions. Additionally, studies have proven that the distribution of sports venues is closely related to the size of the population [ 24 , 28 , 29 ]. To explore the influence of the density of the stadium distribution on the intra-city population distribution in Xi’an and Zhengzhou cities, scatter plots were created based on normalized data from Xi’an and Zhengzhou cities using Stata 16 and Origin 2018 software ( Fig 6 ).…”

“…Studies based on big data and new technologies are worth further exploration and experimentation. Second, most current research data on urban populations are based on administrative perspectives such as provinces and cities [ 28 , 29 ], the population layout within cities urgently needs to be studied, and the impact of sports and leisure activities on the population distribution from a micro perspective is becoming increasingly obvious. Based on this research, the distribution of sports venues was characterized using reclassified POI data, and population raster data from the WorldPop database were used to visualize the distribution of the intra-city population.…”

Sports resources utilization efficiency, productivity change, and regional production technology heterogeneity in Chinese Provinces: DEA-SBM and Malmquist Index Approaches

“…Sports networks, conferences, and knowledge sharing allow proven strategies for efficiency and productivity to be shared. These initiatives will assist players, supporters, and Chinese sports development authorities [82][83][84].…”