Healthy Cities / Healthy Communities

1. Healthy Cities / Healthy Communities

2. Healthy Cities / Healthy Communities • A theoretical framework for a process by which citizens can create healthy communities. • Communities where all systems work well and together and where all citizens enjoy a good quality of life. • Loosely-defined strategy that involves all community members addressing issues that are important to them.

3. Two Premises of Healthy Cities/Healthy Communities • A comprehensive view of health. • A commitment to healthy promotion.

4. Prerequisites for Health in Communities • Peace • Shelter • Education • Food • Income • Stable ecosystem • Social justice • Equity • Sustainable resources

5. How to Promote Community Health • Build public policy. • Create supportive environments. • Strengthen community action. • Develop personal skills. • Re-orient services.

6. Community Environments • Natural • Economic • Leisure • Political • Work • Built • Social

7. Why use Healthy Cities/Healthy Communities? • Community perspective. • Participatory planning and community ownership. • Range of ideas. • Knowledge of the community. • Community-wide ties. • Achievable and measurable goals • Identification and use of community assets and resources. • Community self-image. • Community commitment to the long-term process.

8. Who should participate? • Elected and appointed officials. • Those most affected by the issue. • People who will carry out the initiative or those whose lives will be affected by it. • Agencies and groups involved in implementing the effort. • Community opinion leaders.

9. Components of Healthy Cities/Healthy Communities • Create a compelling vision based on shared values. • Embrace a broad definition of health and well-being. • Address quality-of-life for everyone. • Engage diverse citizen participation and be citizen-driven. • Seek multi-sectoral membership in widespread community ownership. • Acknowledge the social determinants of health and the interrelationship of health and other issues. • Address issues through collaborative problem-solving. • Focus on system change. • Build capacity using local assets and resources. • Measure and benchmark progress and outcomes.

10. Three Social Determinants of Health • Socio-economic equality. • Social connectedness. • Sense of personal efficacy.

11. Potential Local Assets and Resources • Impassioned individuals with talent, skills, and leadership. • Those with material resources: money, space, etc. • Institutions (libraries, schools, houses of worship…) that can be resources. • Organizations whose mission is to work for a better community. • Official government support along with legal and regulatory powers. • human resources—skills and work ethic. • Natural and other environmental resources. • The potential for these parts to coordinate.

12. Steps to Implement a Healthy Community Strategy • Assemble a diverse and inclusive group. • Generate a vision. • Assess the assets and resources in the community that can help you realize your vision, and the issues that act as barriers to it. • Choose a first issue to focus on. • Develop a community-wide strategy, incorporating as many organizations, levels, and sectors as possible. • Implement the plan.

13. Steps to Implement a Healthy Community Strategy (cont.) • Monitor and adjust your initiative or intervention. • Establish new systems that will maintain and build on the gains you’ve made. • Celebrate benchmarks and successes. • Tackle the next issues.