Hanna Vehmas

University of Helsinki | HY · Department of Culture and Communication

Global migration (both forced and voluntary) has intensified the interaction between existing and emerging cultures. Sport has gained recognition as an effective tool for enhancing migrants' overall wellbeing, active participation, and social integration. However, a growing number of studies have shown that migrant women have the lowest rate of spo...

The main purposes of this article are to find out: how and why the popularity of fitness has evolved over the years in Finland and what kind of business activities in fitness nowadays exist. Fitness industry has grown strongly in the recent years in Finland, both in terms of the amount of companies and member rates. The growth can be explained by a...

This book has outlined the significance of the fitness industryFitnessindustry in fifteen European countries, including FlandersFlanders in Belgium and England in the United Kingdom. All of these countries and regions follow nowadays the basic principles of the liberal marketMarket economy, where the legal and political restrictions for the sport b...

This book provides an overview of perspectives and approaches to the cultural meaning of sport volunteering in different countries. The main objective is to reflect on the diversity of meanings with regard to volunteering in different cultures and societies. Additionally, this book will shed light on volunteering practices and the impact of volunte...

The voluntary sports sector is the core of the sports system in Finland. Typically sports volunteers are coaches and active parents in sports clubs or volunteers in sports events. The importance of nonprofit sports clubs dates back to the mid-1800s when the first sports clubs were founded in Finland. The foundation of the strong voluntary civic sec...

Contemporary sport is organized and developed around public, voluntary and private sectors. Especially public and voluntary sport sectors have been approached in recent publications in Europe, where sport has traditionally been formed around state involvement and non-profit sport clubs. Private sport sector has received less attention in research b...

This book outlined the private sport sector of the 18 European countries by using the Statistical classification of economic activities in the European Community (NACE Rev. 2, 2008) as a basic statistical framework. According on the country chapters European sport is divided into public, voluntary and private sectors. Depending on how strongly and...

A demand exists for the increasing understanding of consumers' motives and habits related to exercising and the influence of sport and wellness technology on everyday lives. This study aims to shred light to the different types of users of sport and wellness technology by examining the influential aspects of sport and wellness technology and gamifi...

The Finnish sport system consists of three major elements: voluntarism in sport clubs; the public sector with state subsidies for municipalities’ sport budgets; and the private sector’s offering of sport-related services and products. Participation in sport by Finns has traditionally been based on the combination of a strong civic sector and state...

This book outlines the private sport sector in different European countries. Sport in the European countries is organized in three distinct sectors. These are the state/public sector, which provides financial and political support for sport infrastructure; the civic/non-profit sector, which provides sport activities and services for citizens, usual...

The aim of this article is to increase the understanding of the global and local contexts in football by finding out what social, cultural and economic dimensions seem to characterize ‘periphery’ football. This study applies figurational sociological perspective, which is applicable to the research on globalization processes and sport. The sources...

Running and jogging are popular forms of physical activities in Finland. Historically, the roots of participation in running can be traced back to the Olympic success of Finnish long-distance runners in the early decades of the twentieth century. Finnish athletes, among them Hannes Kolehmainen, Paavo Nurmi and Ville Ritola, have had an unquestionab...

This chapter introduces the current state of the Finnish sport clubs. The article aims to highlight firstly, how sport and physical culture in Finland are historically based on the civil society and volunteer activities; secondly what are the characteristics of sport clubs in Finland; and finally what kind of challenges sport clubs are facing at th...

This chapter deals with the structure, organization, policy, and participation of sport in Finland. It aims to highlight how sport and physical culture in Finland are historically based on the civil society and volunteer activities. Public sector has also been an important actor in the physical culture in Finland. Importance of physical education t...

The construction of a new underground casino, excavated below houses dating back to the beginning of the 20 th century, has formed a major part of a recent project to convert the "Fennia" block, in Kaisaniemi, in the heart of Helsinki, into a large shopping and entertainment centre. The underground pit housing the casino is situated beneath the fiv...