The construction model of the role of sports on the sustainable development of Iran

Sport is very influential on human development in the form of different roles. The present article tries to present a short-range theory in constructing the sustainable development through sports by focusing on constructivism and using the constructivist approach of Grand Theory. The data of this qualitative research with an exploratory-fundamental nature, was collected through the targeted sampling with the snowball technique and based on in-depth semi-structured interviews with 19 experts in various sports fields who are familiar with development and sustainable development. The interpretative understanding of the coding determined that based on the specific roles, through developers such as government, regime, parliament, NGO’s, social media and social activists, and by using requirements such as types of literacy and various skills, different areas of sports can contribute greatly to human development firstly, and the sustainability of cities finally. As a result, the role of sports in achieving social growth, economic growth and effective protection of the environment or sustainable development was displayed in the form of a construction model. Trustees or developers can do their planning locally, and based on the current model, and use the extraordinary capacity of sports according to each ecosystem to achieve the sustainable development of that region.