Physical Culture, Sport and Recreation in the Sustainable Transformation of a Post-Industrial City: Residents’ Expectations Towards the European City of Science Katowice 2024

Post-industrial cities increasingly present science, health and physical activity as engines of sustainable transformation, yet residents’ own expectations are rarely measured before programmes are designed. This study examined how the inhabitants of Katowice (Poland) and people functionally linked with the city view the sciences of physical culture as a resource for the sustainable transformation of a post-industrial city, and modelled their expectations in the fields of physical culture, sport and recreation in the run-up to the city’s designation as European City of Science 2024. A convergent mixed-methods design (November 2022) combined a non-probability, mixed-mode survey of 500 respondents (a broad and diverse, but not representative, sample) with focus groups involving 130 residents, sector representatives and elite athletes. Exploratory principal component analysis identified four dimensions explaining 58.2% of the variance (α = 0.85–0.90): perceived quality of the current offer, demand for development, valuation of physical-culture science and health, and institutional and ambassadorial visibility; a sensitivity analysis using polychoric correlations and oblique rotation reproduced the allocation of 29 of the 30 items, although the structure still requires confirmatory validation. Valuation of science and health was the highest-rated dimension (M = 4.20) and rose with education and age (ε2 = 0.13 for both). Self-rated physical activity was the only predictor significant across three of four dimensions in adjusted models, although the explained variance was modest (R2 = 0.06–0.17). Only 35.2% of respondents were satisfied with health-promoting classes, whereas 80.6–90.0% rated health-related knowledge and healthy ageing as important, suggesting a possible mismatch between priorities and perceived provision. The findings are translated into five context-specific pillars for health-oriented policy in Katowice and into conditional lessons for other post-industrial cities.