Theme cities for health: are they the superior Healthy Cities?

Since the early 1980s we have witnessed a proliferation of 'Theme Cities' with the WHO 'Healthy Cities' networks a very early adopter, together with local government initiatives that focused on environmental health and sustainability. These days such networks range very broadly, from Citta Slow and Child-Friendly Cities to sustainable, resilient, festival, happy, garden, winter, safe, inclusive and many more theme-centered international networks of local governments and communities. We undertook a political analysis of the extent to which these networks formally recognise and address the drivers of inequity in societies around the world, and to which extent they are ready to act truly glocally. We found that 'Sustainable Cities' rank highly, with WHO/EURO and PAHO style 'Healthy Cities' a close second. 'Transition Towns and Communities' are in a category of their own and can be considered a potentially important political voice for glocal health equity. Key messages Healthy Cities are Theme Cities - but not all do well to promote health equity. Sustainability and health (as per the SDGs) have enormous glocal health potential.

Healthy cities

In this chapter the origins of the WHO Healthy Cities Project are described, beginning with the project group meeting in Copenhagen. The early days of the project are reported together with an account of how the project developed from small beginnings to become a global movement with political leadership from the city level. The achievements of the project are reported together with issues raised in creating a new dynamic for urban health. The chapter concludes with the latest phase of the project beginning in 2018, which saw Healthy Cities aligned to the pursuit of the 17 United Nations Sustainable Development Goals for 2030.

Urban planning as a tool to enhance the health of city inhabitants

Urban planning significantly impacts the health of inhabitants of the cities. Living environment affects if people exercise or not, if they decide to commute to work by bike or on foot, if they feel safe and finally if they enjoy the wellbeing. The responsibility for urban planning is in the hands of the local governments. This paper presents examples from the European WHO Healthy Cities, particularly from Turku, Finland about innovative and healthy solutions in urban planning.

ABOUT EXPERIENCE OF PRODUCING CITY HEALTH PROFILE AS A PART OF THE INTERNATIONAL WHO HEALTHY CITIES PROJECT

The article presents information about the international project «Healthy cities», knowledge about principles and axioms of the project. The authors have analyzed the experience of producing the «City Health Profile» under the project WHO «Healthy cities». The authors believe that the «Health Profile» of each individual city varies depending on specific conditions, both physical (the size of the territory, the state of the environment, its location) and political, and socio-economic. However, the formation of the «City Health Profile» is universally, regardless of geographical location or structure. It was noted that the «City Health Profile» has reflected all aspects of the life of the city, facilitates or barriers the promotion of inhabitants’ health and their well-being. For producing of «City Health Profile» additional data are needed: survey, sociological polls of the city population (self-assessment of their health status, lifestyle and quality of life). The advantage of these researches, carried out in the framework of the project «Healthy Cities», is implementation of complex sociological survey with a focused multi-purpose monitoring, covering all spheres of life in the city, to present a versatile, complete and objective evidences to illustrate the city as a territory of health and make up the holistic picture and the centre of which is the citizen and his/her health according to the WHO recommendations.