Spatial Potential and Governance Conditions for Joint Use of School Sports Facilities—Stakeholder Conflicts and Evidence from Nanjing, China

In high-density cities, limited land availability constrains the expansion of new public sports facilities, increasing the importance of activating existing spatial resources. School sports facilities, which are widely distributed across urban residential areas, may provide supplementary opportunities for community physical activity during non-teaching periods. Using Nanjing, China, as a case study, this study adopts a four-phase research design comprising spatial assessment, stakeholder salience analysis, empirical investigation, and governance strategy development. First, GIS-based analysis was used to examine the spatial distribution of non-school sports facilities and school campuses and to compare 15-min walking accessibility under a baseline scenario and a hypothetical school-sharing scenario. Modeled population coverage increased from 62.93% to 71.67%, while approximately 147.37 km2 and 605,700 residents were additionally covered, indicating substantial potential for spatial supplementation. Second, six stakeholder groups were assessed using the Mitchell Salience Model based on power, legitimacy, and urgency. Third, 32 semi-structured interviews and a resident questionnaire survey (N = 216) were used to examine stakeholder concerns, residents’ perceived needs and attitudes, and major implementation conflicts. The findings indicate that the principal barriers to joint use are concentrated around safety responsibility, cost sharing, and use priorities. Based on these findings, four governance strategies are proposed: spatio-temporal decoupling, risk hedging, embedded negotiation, and digital supervision. Overall, school sports facilities show considerable potential to supplement existing urban sports provision, but their effective joint use depends on appropriate arrangements for stakeholder coordination, risk management, and operational implementation.