European Outdoor Cities
Work with the published results
Research, reports and practical resources documenting the journey from the first evidence base to the final European Outdoor Cities Standards and their application.
Knowledge Exchange 4 · Sweden 2025
Sundsvall and Västernorrland
Access for all, friluftsliv and the initiatives that make outdoor recreation part of everyday life across a whole region. The most recent of the five Knowledge Exchanges to be documented on film.
Reports and resources
Everything the project published
Eight documents, from the final framework back to the first research. The framework is also available as a browsable page — explore the Standards online.
Final framework · June 2026
Set of Clear Standards for an Outdoor City
The common European framework for assessing, planning and developing outdoor sports and recreation as part of local development — twelve categories carrying sixty-five indicators, written to work across different European governance systems, geographies and outdoor cultures.
Implementation guidance · June 2026
Resources Associated with the Standards
The companion volume. How to organise a collaborative Self-Assessment, involve the right people across departments, interpret each indicator and turn the findings into local priorities.
Project report · June 2026
Carbon Impact and Sustainable Mobility Model
The environmental cost of working as a European partnership, measured, with recommendations for lower-carbon cooperation in future projects.
Interactive report · June 2026
STANDOUT Exchanges Learnings
Innovative approaches to outdoor-friendly cities from the five exchange activities, and how local experience fed back into the final framework. Built to be navigated by map rather than read front to back.
Interactive resource · June 2026
Stakeholder Ecosystem
Who should be engaged when developing an outdoor-friendly city — the roles of municipalities, civil society, business and institutions around the outdoor participant.
Research report · 2025
What Makes an Outdoor City?
The evidence base behind the Standards: the benefits of outdoor sport in urban areas, the drivers and barriers that shape it, and practice collected across Europe.
Project report · July 2025
Mid-Way Progress Report
The first eighteen months of the project: research, Knowledge Exchanges and co-creation, and how the framework began to take shape.
Development report · July 2025
First Draft of the Standard Concept
The first structured version of categories and indicators, before pilot testing and refinement with the partner municipalities.
News
Latest from the project
Reports from the Knowledge Exchanges, project milestones and what comes next — published as the project went along.
From Local Practice to European Standards: the fifth and final STANDOUT Knowledge Exchange brought project partners together in Munich and Benediktbeuern in May 2026.
From co-creation to impact: how 2025 shaped the STANDOUT journey — and what comes next.
By embracing the spirit of friluftsliv and the principle of Allemansrätten in Västernorrland, the STANDOUT project continues its journey to shape European cities into Outdoor Cities for All.
Knowledge Exchanges
More from the exchanges
Five exchange activities brought municipalities, experts and local stakeholders together — Silkeborg, Lecco, Viana do Castelo, Sundsvall and Munich. Two more of them are documented on film. The videos open on YouTube.
Knowledge Exchange 2 · 2024
Lecco, Italy
Volunteering, digital tools and community partnerships for outdoor sport in an urban environment between lake and mountains.
Knowledge Exchange 1 · 2024
Silkeborg, Denmark
Outdoor policy, spatial planning and accessible nature in a self-proclaimed Outdoor Capital — experienced by bike and canoe.
Where does your city stand?
Take the Quick Check to identify your municipality’s strengths and its opportunities for further development — no contact details required.
See the Standards in practice
Explore the twelve categories online, or find examples from cities across Europe that are already working this way.
Project consortium
Built by ten organisations in eight countries
The European Outdoor Cities Standards are the result of an Erasmus+ Sport partnership of municipalities, universities, public authorities and outdoor organisations, coordinated by the European Network of Outdoor Sports.
