Despite the high density of visitor attractions in the Netherlands, many are not (fully) accessible. Where attention is paid to accessibility, the focus is often on technical and operational aspects, and hardly on the experience. This is surprising, as experience is often regarded as leisure’s ‘core product’. While universal design principles can enhance attractions, adapting well-established ones with long-existing facilities is not immediately straightforward. We therefore suggest working with evidence-based (re)developments on the basis of experience measurements that consider all types of visitors to effectively inform design interventions. However, experience measurements have been developed mainly by, for and on people without disabilities. In a research project co-funded by CELTH and leisure industry partners, we aimed to study how these measurement tools can be redeveloped to validly capture the experience of everyone, regardless of the challenges they might have.

The positive impact that leisure can have on people’s lives has been studied extensively. This usually concerns such things as having fun, finding meaning, innovation, identity formation, talent development, physical and mental health, social cohesion, diversity and inclusion. These are also the factors that are often mentioned when the value of street culture and sports are discussed. And that is the impact that policymakers hope to achieve by investing in street culture and sports facilities in their city or municipality.

Can you name a medium that has completely disappeared in the last 300 years?  This is the question we often begin with in our presentations. It is harder to answer than you might expect, because while new media emerge constantly, old media rarely vanish entirely. Instead, they evolve. This perspective is central to our work in the professorship of Digital Media Concepts (DMC).

The tourism industry has long been a driver of economic growth and cultural exchange. However, it is also one of the fastest-growing contributors to global carbon emissions. As the climate crisis reaches existential tipping points, the tourism sector continues to lag behind in its transition towards sustainability. Despite growing awareness, no country has successfully reduced its tourism-related emissions, raising urgent questions about how the industry can evolve while staying within planetary boundaries. Traditionally, sustainable tourism has been framed through a destination-focused lens, emphasising eco-friendly accommodation and local activities while largely ignoring the role of mobility. But the increasing travel distances and reliance on high-carbon transport - particularly aviation and private cars - are the real drivers of the sector’s growing emissions. While road and rail transport offer viable decarbonisation pathways, aviation remains one of the hardest sectors to transition to low-carbon alternatives. Long-haul travel has an outsized impact: just 20% of all tourism trips contribute to 80% of the sector’s emissions. This raises critical questions about the future of tourism. If the sector is to become truly sustainable, there is a need to fundamentally rethink how and where people go while travelling on holidays.

The Creative and Entertainment Games professorship is about creating knowledge and insights related to commercial and artistic video games. Some might see these as trivial, but “53% of Europeans enjoy playing video games, including 46.7% of women and girls” and the average player age is 32 (Ipsos.com, 2024). This is not a niche hobby, and it deserves to be taken seriously.

We all have an innate desire to lead lives that are rich with meaning and fulfilment. As Eagleton (2007) beautifully puts it, the essence of life is its meaning, suggesting that our lives gain significance through their inherent purpose. Cottingham (2003) echoes this sentiment, describing a meaningful life as one filled with genuinely worthwhile activities that foster a sense of flourishing. Often, we think of leisure as simply a break from our busy schedules - to relax and unwind. But leisure can and should be so much more than that. It can play a crucial role in shaping our experiences and overall well-being. This article explores the concept of ‘meaningful leisure’ diving into various facets and examining how leisure impacts resilience and diversity within specific contexts. The aim of this article is to provide an understanding of how leisure activities can promote personal growth, social cohesion, and overall well-being.