The Healthy Cities Movement
Healthy Cities is a global movement that engages local authorities and their partners in health development through a process of political commitment, institutional change, capacity-building, partnership-based planning and innovative projects. Healthy Cities emerged out of a Toronto working conference held in 1984, emphasising the importance of a place-based approach reflecting a holistic system-based model. Healthy Cities seek to apply principles such as equity, empowerment, intersectoral collaboration and community participation through local action in urban settings. Its primary goal is to put health high on the social, economic and political agenda of local government: health is the business of all sectors and local authorities are in a unique leadership position, with power to protect and promote their citizens’ health and well-being. Within Europe there are over 90 Healthy Cities and 30 National Healthy Cities Networks with designated status from WHO Europe.
History
Healthy Cities emerged in the mid-1980s, articulating a vision of a healthy city as one:
“that is continually creating and improving those physical and social environments and expanding those community resources which enable people to mutually support each other in performing all the functions of life and in developing to their maximum potential” (Hancock and Duhl, 1988, cited in Tsouros, 1991: 20).
Healthy Cities was initiated by WHO as a smallscale European project that aimed “to put health on the agenda of decision-makers in the cities of Europe” (Tsouros, 1995: 133). Its first five year implementation phase sought to translate the rhetoric of Health for All and the Ottawa Charter into tangible action. Informed by modern management theory and practice, the project was explicit in stating that a healthy city is defined by a process and not an outcome, and recognised from the start that success requires experimentation, learning, adaptation and change. It thus aimed to realise the vision of the healthy city through combining political leadership, visibility for health, institutional change and innovative action for health – supported by partnership working, networking, evaluation and dissemination.
The approach quickly fired the imagination of professionals, politicians and citizens worldwide. By the early 1990s, Healthy Cities was fast becoming a major global movement for the new public health, having not only expanded within Europe but having taken root within other parts of the developed world such as Australia, Canada, Japan, New Zealand and the United States of America.
Within Europe, Healthy Cities is now in its sixth five year phase. At the start of each new phase, a set of criteria are issued, and European cities and towns have the opportunity to apply to become a WHO designated city. The application involves cities demonstrating competence and commitment against the range of process-focused requirements – showing that that they are committed to partnership working, capacity-building, networking and evaluation, and have in place:
- multi-sectoral support for Healthy Cities Phase VI principles and goals
- an identified co-ordinator
- a high level steering group
- a city health profile
- integrated strategic planning mechanisms
Membership is open to Towns, Cities, District and Borough Councils and Local Authorities including those that are two tier.
Click on green dots to find out more about cities
Leeds
Lisa Gibson
Health Improvement Specialist Local Government
The Leeds Initiative
Leeds City Council
Nottingham
Sharan Jones
Health and Wellbeing Manager
Nottingham City Council
Bristol
Stephen Hewitt
Healthy Urban Team
Bristol City Council/NHS Bristol
Belfast
Jonna Monaghan
Senior Health Development Officer
Belfast Health Cities
Glasgow
Russell Jones
Public Health Programme Manager
Glasgow Centre for Population Health
Sheffield
Natalie Pugh
Healthy Cities Partnership Team
Sheffield First Health & Wellbeing Partnership
Brighton and Hove
Annie Alexander
Public Health Programme Manager
NHS Brighton and Hove
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East Lancashire Health and Wellbeing Partnership
Hira Miah
Public Health Co-ordinator
Lancashire County Council
Public Health, Adult Services, Health & Wellbeing
Liverpool
Sandra Davies
Associate Director of Public Health
Liverpool City Council
Sunderland
Karen Graham
Assistant Policy Lead for Health
Sunderland City Council
Carlisle
Darren Crossley
Deputy Chief Executive
Carlisle City Council
Newcastle
Helen Wilding
Wellbeing for Life Development Lead
Newcastle City Council
Swansea
Nina Williams
Consultant in Public Health Medicine
Swansea and Bridgend - Public Health Wales
Portsmouth
Rimple Poonia
Senior Manager, Health Improvement
& Development Service
Portsmouth City Council
Warrington
Dr Muna Abdel Aziz
Consultant in Public Health Medicine
Warrington Borough Council
Norwich
Jonathon Fagge
Deputy Chief Officer /
Director of Operations & Clinical Transformation
Norwich City Council
Chorley
Simon Clark
Head of Health Environment and Neighbourhoods
Chorley Borough Council
Cumbria
Colin Cox
Assistant Director, Health and Wellbeing/
Director of Public Health
Cumbria County Council
Chelmsford
Paul Brookes
Public Health & Protection Services Manager
Chelmsford City Council
Wakefield
John Wilcox
Health Improvement Specialist – Engagement and Capacity Building
Wakefield Council
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