A healthy city is one that continually improves the physical and social environments to enable people to support each other and develop to their full potential. The World Health Organization's Healthy Cities program aims to promote local strategies for health, quality of life, basic sanitation, hygiene, and healthcare access. Thousands of cities worldwide are part of this network, with programs tailored to individual cities while following the basic idea of involving community members and stakeholders to achieve widespread support and efficiency. Evaluation of programs looks at factors like intersectoral partnerships, community commitment, and institutionalization of policies and processes.
3. What is a Healthy City?
• A healthy city is one • A healthy city is an
that is continually active city
creating and improving A healthy city is not one that
those physical and social has achieved a particular
environments and health status. Rather, it is a
city that is conscious of health
expanding those and striving to improve it
community resources
which enable people to
mutually support each
other in performing all
the functions of life and
developing to their
maximum potential.
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4. The Healthy Cities Program
• A long-term international
development initiative
• Place health high on the agendas
of decision makers
• To promote comprehensive local
strategies for health protection
and sustainable development
A Healthy City aims to:
• create a health-supportive
environment,
• achieve a good quality of life,
• provide basic sanitation &
hygiene needs,
• supply access to health care.
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5. Examples of Implementation
• Starting in 1986, the first Healthy
Cities programs were launched in
developed countries (i.e.
Canada, USA, Australia, many
European nations).
• Around 1994, developing countries
used the resources and
implementation strategies of initial
successes to begin their own
programs.
• Implementation strategies are quite
individual by city, though they follow
the basic idea of involving many
community members, various
stakeholders, and commitments of
municipal officials to achieve
widespread mobilization and
efficiency.
• Today, thousands of cities worldwide
are part of the Healthy Cities
network and exist in all WHO
regions in more than 1,000 cities
worldwide.
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6. Evaluation
• increasing understanding of
health and environment linkages
• creation of intersectoral
partnerships to ensure a
sustainable, widespread program
• the commitment of local
community members;
• a clear vision;
• the ownership of policies;
• a wide array of stakeholders;
• a process for institutionalizing
the program.
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7. Some key findings from an
analysis of active living in cities
• active living as an important
issue for urban planning
• improving visual appeal
• creating a more sustainable
transport system
• reducing inequality in public
health
• promote walking and cycling
• prevent obesity among adults
and children
• initiate disease prevention
programs
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8. Public Health Engineers
• Engineers need to understand the political, social and economic
context of the countries in which they work to deliver public health
infrastructure successfully.
• Urban sanitation infrastructure needs to be prioritized, particularly for
informal settlements.
• Decentralized sanitation facilities which do not require central
government funds can improve the local public health involvement.
• Public health engineers should monitor air, water and land pollution
caused by improper waste disposal.
• Engineers will need to develop innovations to respond to increasing
water reuse and sustain the water infrastructure.
• Public health infrastructure needs to be resilient to the consequences
of climate change.
• Planning and policy decisions for different public health sectors need
to be coordinated rather than operating separately.
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9. Challenges of 21st Century
1. Making public health engineering work
globally
2.6 billion people do not have access to „improved
sanitation‟
2. Delivering public health infrastructure to
informal settlements
This sanitation infrastructure challenge is at its
breaking point, with the number of people living in
these settlements likely to rise from one-sixth of
the world‟s population currently to one-third by 2030
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11. Challenges of 21st Century
3. Changing the perception of human waste
disposal from individual responsibility to
public health policy
„On-site‟ toilet facilities are seen by city authorities as an
individual responsibility
installing pay-to-use toilets
4. Facing the diverse hazards in the
environment
assess hazards and pollutants in all environmental
compartments, air, water and land
alert for these new hazards
monitoring programs and new technology to safeguard the
quality of the environment
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12. Challenges of 21st Century
5. Sustaining public health infrastructure
and water resources
develop innovations to respond to increasing water reuse
6. Preparing for climate change
Rising sea levels, flooding, extreme weather, drought and
many other climate incidents can have devastating effects in even
the most developed countries
7. Coordinating public health engineering
tasks and sectors as a coherent
environmental system
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14. Milan‟s Bosco Verticale
• Milan is one of the most polluted
cities in Europe
• Bosco Verticale (Vertical
Forest)
• metropolitan reforestation
• two residential towers of 110
and 76 meters height
• host 900 trees (each measuring
3, 6 or 9 m tall)
• On flat land, each Bosco
Verticale equals, in amount of
trees, an area equal to 10.000
sqm of forest.
• Plant irrigation through the
filtering and reuse of the grey
waters produced by the building
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16. Mission
• To create a prototypical and sustainable
city where residents and commuters live
the highest quality of life with the
lowest environmental footprint
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17. Goals
• To be a benchmark for other cities
• To show people to live sustainably
• To show businesses how to operate
sustainably
• To attract innovation and investment
• To be a city where businesses want to
come and people want to live
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18. Sustainability Metrics
• Zero Carbon
• Zero Waste
• High Quality of Life
DESIGN PRINCIPLES
• Achieve one planet living principles
• Emulate traditional Arabic city designs
• Realize highest levels of resource efficiency
• Improve quality of life in a city (car
free, convenient, compact, safe)
• Maximize the benefits of sustainable technologies
through an integrated planning and design approach
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19. Key Features
Transportation Energy
• Deploy an integrated • Achieve Carbon Neutrality from
day one with a target of Zero
transportation system utilizing Carbon
personal rapid transit system • Exceed world class standards
which, together with pedestrian for energy efficiency
and public transit methods, will • Lead the World with the
move people, goods, and demonstration of technology to
emergency services in a multi- reduce energy consumption
level, barrier-free environment. • Supply 100% of energy needs
using state-of-the-art
• Build a city where people can live renewable energy technologies
and work without the need for (e.g., photovoltaics, concentratin
personal vehicle. g solar power, waste to energy)
• Supply renewable energy to the
• Create the World‟s first carbon- grid to provide regional carbon
neutral and emission-free large- reduction benefits.
scale transportation system.
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20. Key Features
Waste Water
• Provide an environment that enables • Reduce domestic water consumption
a zero waste lifestyle through the to 80 liters per capita per day
reduction, reuse, recycling, and compared to 120 to 180 liters per
recovery of waste materials capita per day for other high
• Promote behaviors that achieve a performing systems.
zero waste lifestyle • Utilize a broad array of water use
• Maximize the elimination of waste reduction technologies including high
with the ultimate goal of zero waste efficiency appliances, grey and black
to landfills water recycling, landscaping with low
• Stimulate local and regional markets water use native plants, seawater
for material reuse and the provision greenhouses, des catchers, and
of recycled feedstock for industry: rainwater recovery.
cradle-to-cradle flow of materials • Minimize the need for desalination
• Utilize organic and residual waste as a source of water
for energy production and compost • Maximize use of local water
• Target 90% waste diversion from resources
landfills during construction.
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21. Planning
Improve Microclimate using
• Well distributed green spaces
• Continuous garden arteries
• Maximized street shading
• Traditional wind towers
Enhance mobility and access using
• Personal Rapid Transit PRT system
• Future local and regional mass transportation system
connections
• Dynamic spine organization
Integrate services and functions (housing, retail, civic, educational
and workplace)
• Digital facilities and municipal services management
• Regional resource management (waste, water, energy and
transportation)
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23. Assignment No. 1
Ideas for creating a shared vision for
healthy active city
1. Look into the future 2. Describe what you see.
It is 20 years from now Observe the total scene.
our city has just won a national Check out modes of transport.
award for being a Draw what you see or write it
healthy, active city down in short descriptive
Or sentences.
Imagine you are in a hot-air 3. Look backwards.
balloon 15 years from now “If this were the future, and
Our city is known to be an ideal this vision has happened, what
place for active living by all was done?”
“How did we get this outcome?”
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