International Active Cities Association

International Active Cities Association (Uluslararası Aktif Şehirler Derneği), founded in Istanbul in July 2020, is a non-profit civil society organisation working to promote sport for all and participation in physical activity for everyone, regardless of age, gender, language, religion, geography, or background. Our mission is to increase the quality of life in society by integrating sports culture with urban life and spreading physical activity to large masses. We work at the intersection of sport, health, and urban living: we provide guidance to local authorities and legal entities on physical activity and healthy living, develop projects that improve the wellbeing of our beneficiaries, and organise national and international events, trainings, workshops, and awareness activities on active life, sports for all, and sustainable health management. We also aim to strengthen the R&D and innovation capacity of the sport-for-all field through cross-sector cooperation. The Association holds a 2025 Erasmus+ Youth Accreditation (2025-1-TR01-KA150-YOU-) and an ESC50 Quality Label as a Supporting Organization (2025-1-TR01-ESC50-QLA-). Since 2020, we have implemented a wide portfolio of EU-funded projects as coordinator and partner, including Erasmus+ Sport projects such as Protechild (ERASMUS-SPORT-2025-SSCP) and Mobility for an Active and Green Future, the ESC30 solidarity project Circle of Solidarity: Volunteer Hands in Sports, and numerous Erasmus+ Youth projects addressing gender equality in sport (Through a Gender Lens: Young Women in Sports), at-risk and NEET youth (NO-NEET, Empowering At-Risk Youth Through the Power of Theatre), youth participation in local policy-making (Youth View of Active City Policies, Virtual Projection), digital campaigning, and nature-based competence development. Our team combines senior expertise in sports management, project management (PMI/PMP standards, ISO lead auditing), sports sciences, physiotherapy, psychology, and academic research, with strong professional backgrounds in municipal sports organisations, sports federations, and large-scale event coordination such as marathons and international sports events. Through our projects, we prioritise social inclusion, gender equality, youth participation, healthy lifestyles, and community-based development, and we actively seek international partnerships to co-create innovative solutions that make cities — and their citizens — more active.