The Rhine-Ruhr 2025 FISU World University Games strive to leave a positive legacy. Legacy means creating long-term added value that lasts beyond the event. In addition to the lasting memories of the participants and visitors, the focus is on transporting sustainable future values and impulses into society, from which the international guests and the sports culture will benefit. The aim is to set new standards for the holistic and future-orientated management of major sporting events.
Legacy can be both visible and immaterial in nature. In order to not only explain legacy, but also to manage it, five so-called fields of impact were defined in which the radiance of Rhine-Ruhr 2025 unfolds. Futurologist Anja Kirig explains these areas of impact in terms of sub-trends and megatrends, which also highlight areas of opportunity and inspire people to participate in shaping a sustainable future.
1. Environment
Climate change and the other multiple ecological crises are a global phenomenon that affects all areas of our lives. While sustainability measures often focus on short-term, measurable results, such as the CO2 footprint or waste avoidance, a legacy can be created by making the Rhine-Ruhr 2025 FISU Games a multiplier of ecologically sustainable action and thinking. This could be material or immaterial results, a permanent conversion of the energy supply of sports facilities or a sustainability strategy that can be used as a blueprint for other major sporting events.
2. Economy
The discussion about a different way of doing business and working has reached the centre of our society worldwide. The "Next Economy" offers different approaches, but is united by the realisation that current practices are no longer sustainable for the planet and its more than 8 billion inhabitants. A major event like the Rhine-Ruhr 2025 FISU Games has the potential to catalyse a turnaround by providing a platform for companies and innovations.
3. Society
We can observe transformations wherever there are emotional discussions about values and norms in society, where culture and social structures are being dissolved and reinvented. These socio-cultural, non-linear trends are crucial when it comes to the impact of measures on society and therefore our future. Social transformations offer the opportunity to help shape a future worth living. This is precisely where the Rhine-Ruhr 2025 FISU Games measures focus, by starting to generate positive future value.
4. Health
Health is a global need, but its understanding is changing in correlation with changing values and social transformations. Health is viewed in a multidimensional way. It begins with individual biological conditions, depends on lifestyle and is influenced by social, economic, political and ecological aspects. Demographic change is triggering a shift in focus from individual health and performance to a systemic and holistic understanding of health that pursues the common goal of quality of life. The Rhine-Ruhr 2025 FISU Games can already generate legacy here through their role model function as representatives of an active lifestyle and the organisation of the 2025 FISU World Conference.
5. Culture
The Rhine-Ruhr 2025 FISU Games combine sport, science and culture. They combine local strengths with global togetherness. This combination of international diversity and regional innovation is the basis for future-orientated thinking. It is important to take characteristics, diversity and identities into account without sacrificing the power of togetherness and cosmopolitanism - this is precisely where the FISU Games come in with measures and promote diversity. It is essential to allow critical discourse in order to leave a legacy in thought and action.
