Healthy urban planning in European cities.

This article describes the WHO 'healthy urban planning' (HUP) initiative as it has developed through the laboratory of the Healthy Cities movement and evaluates the degree to which applicant cities successfully developed plans for HUP. The paper provides a brief historical perspective on the relationship of health and planning and an overview of the ways in which urban spatial development affects health. It then turns to the WHO European Healthy Cities Network (WHO-EHCN) and explains the evolution of the HUP programme through Phase III (1998-2002) of the Healthy Cities Project, showing how the programme has grown from experimental beginnings to being 'mainstreamed' in Phase IV (2003-2008). Each city wishing to join the WHO-EHCN in this latter phase produced a programme for further development of HUP, and these were assessed by the Bristol Collaborating Centre. The paper presents the overall results, concluding that a significant progress has been made and the most advanced cities have much to offer municipalities everywhere in the best practice for integrating health into urban planning.

Healthy urban planning in practice: experience of European cities: report of the WHO City Action Group on Healthy Urban Planning

Healthy urban planning means planning for people. This book describes the efforts of a group of cities in the WHO European Healthy Cities Network to introduce health in their urban planning practices. Six city case studies covering a wide range of approaches are presented and analysed. Some are at an early stage in linking planning and health, while others have many years of experience. Some focus on specific policy areas or projects, while others focus on the process of making plans. The analysis draws not only on the written material from each city but also on in-depth interviews with key protagonists and seminar discussions within the wider group of cities that participated in this work. The book summarizes the conclusions and lessons learned, and makes recommendations for taking healthy urban planning practices forward on a larger scale.