The International Healthy Cities Foundation

The International Healthy Cities Foundation (IHCF) was created by Dr. Led Duhl as an organization dedicated to advancing the healthy cities movement throughout the world. IHCF is a siter organization to the Healthy Communities Institute

What is the Healthy Cities Movement?

The term Healthy Cities was coined in 1985. It was the title of a speech given at an international meeting in Canada. The theme - health is the result of much more than medical care; people are healthy when they live in nurturing environments and are involved in the life of their community, when they live in Healthy Cities.

This presentation offered a new view of the interactions that affect people's lives. It took into consideration the influence of the context - the place, surroundings, relationships and opportunities on the individual.

It began to highlight the interconnections among what seem to be diverse elements and problems in society. And finally, it suggested the solutions to both community and quality of life problems also may be interwoven.

The World Health Organization (WHO) soon opened a Healthy Cities Project office in Europe. Cities were encouraged to target and solve local problems and get people from many parts of the community involved in the Healthy Cities process. Whether the primary reason people convene involves children, environmental concerns, homelessness, safety, education or other issues, the approach is always the same: a collaboration is organized among citizens and people from business, government and other sectors of society who recognize their interconnection can be used to impact the well-being of the entire community.

WHO then invited practitioners to come together and share strategies, resources and success stories. People from the local community level on up through government representatives were very enthusiastic about the results of their efforts. This in tern stimulated many more projects. Very similar activities and meetings were also taking place in the U.S., Canada, Latin America, Africa and Asia. While not always calling themselves Healthy Cities, the same approach - organizing people from diverse sectors to solve problems together - was being used. Both local and global gatherings continued to provide platforms for the exchange of Healthy Cities ideas and the Healthy Cities movement was born.

The Healthy Cities movement now includes projects in well over 1000 cities and more are starting all the time. Each project defines different goals and activities but all bring a wide variety of people into the community improvement work at hand. While in the past, people often divided into disciplines, sectors or interest groups to solve problems, when a Healthy Cities project is organized, everyone participates together.

In December 1993, the first global conference on Healthy Cities and Communities was held in California, USA. More than 1400 participants from communities in over 50 countries came together to share Healthy Cities strategies and build upon each other's experience. An evaluation and needs assessment followed the conference and provided critical detail about the ongoing Healthy Cities support mechanisms needed. Participants asked for a clearinghouse of project descriptions and contacts, more ways to communicate with each other, publications including guides and case studies, training tools (i.e. videos, workbooks and kits), a speakers bureau, an International Healthy Cities Magazine, an electronic network, meetings and training.

Why Create the International Healthy Cities Foundation?

The International Healthy Cities Foundation was created to assist people and groups from many different sectors. The mission of the IHCF is to facilitate linkages among people, issues and resources in order to support the development of Healthy Cities initiatives. The IHCF will both link people, organizations, and networks currently working to advance Healthy City goals and provide linkages with others dealing with significant and related areas of work. All aspects of health planning, promotion and prevention activities are needed for a balanced health system and will be included. All issues of community organization and governance will be involved. And finally, special interests, often regarded as separate areas of concern will be integrated into the ongoing work and goals of the IHCF.

The IHCF can be visualized as a broad, and sharing network of interrelated groups with similar concerns and values on health and community issues. Rather than being an institution, the IHCF is an inter-connected group of people and organizations, all partners and facilitators. Each assists the other, shares materials and ideas, and helps realize the goals of both improving communities and cities and improving the health of populations worldwide.

The IHCF will have a small staff and work in collaboration with many individuals and groups committed to healthy community concerns. When an organization or resource is available to provide assistance, the IHCF will make a referral. When no assistance is available or accessible, the IHCF will perform a needs assessment and, in collaboration with IHCF partners, propose the development of appropriate materials, training or other tools. The IHCF will develop infrastructure tools in three Program Areas -

Communications Resources Tools Training and Advisory Services

Each area will be guided by an active advisory committee of people contributing diverse experience and expertise to the program review and development tasks.

Communications

The communications and ongoing service functions of the IHCF will be coordinated through the Healthy Cities Commons. The Healthy Cities Commons will be a nucleus, a clearinghouse of resources and ideas generated by many projects, individuals and professional groups and a place to form collaborative alliances. The IHCF Commons will provide access to basic guidelines, link communities and disseminate innovative ideas to foster new patterns of dialogue and organization.

A dynamic information system, the Healthy Cities Commons will organize resources and build in appropriate technology to make resources accessible to a wide and diverse audience. It will update an expanding information database and reach out to provide information to an ever increasing community of practitioners, networks and others including the media. A major goal of the clearinghouse will be to integrate resources from a variety of disciplines and sectors which can be useful to Healthy Cities activists.

The IHCF Commons clearinghouse will also include an evaluation system. The use and effectiveness of the clearinghouse will be recorded and areas of interest, activity, and involvement, as well as emergent needs and issues will be documented. This information will be reviewed for program planning purposes and be made available to donor groups, policy makers, resource developers and other interested parties.

Staff and interns working at the Healthy Cities Commons will be resource specialists and provide information and referral services. They will talk with practitioners to help communities assess and define their needs and access appropriate resources. Some of the information the Healthy Cities Commons clearinghouse will provide includes:

• Healthy City project descriptions, case studies, techniques and community members involved etc,
• bibliographies and guides,
• contacts, access to human resources for peer and technical support,
• a speaker's bureau of people actively involved in Healthy Cities projects,
• a calendar of opportunities including conferences, training, grants, awards, celebrations etc., and
• information about electronic Healthy Cities and other related networks.

Resources Tools of the Healthy Cities movement are many but often need to be organized, and extended to people who can make use of them. Many more will be developed as experience and research provides additional useful material. Practitioners are a rich untapped reservoir of information. People to people support has in fact been the fuel of the Healthy Cities movement when relationships across communities become tools to transfer successful social technologies.

The IHCF will help transform vital experiences of practitioners into pragmatic educational materials. As ideas and models emerge, methods and technologies to share them will be developed. For example:

• the production of video and multi-media training tools and a video documentation of the Commons project at the first international conference,
• developing basic guides, measurement tools, securing and distributing equipment and materials for communities with few resources,
• sponsoring workshops such as conflict resolution training, electronic town hall meeting manage-ment, economic literacy training etc.,
• launching an International Healthy Cities and Communities Magazine, and
• developing exhibitions for use in public spaces and at meetings, i.e. Healthy Cities kiosks, a traveling commons project.

Training and Advisory Services

Many projects will train current or future leaders in diverse fields. These will be designed to promote increased participation in the Healthy Cities movement and new patterns of collaboration as well as to leverage resources from many sectors and areas of expertise. Examples of planned programs include:

• internships and workstudy positions for students from diverse disciplines,
• live video seminars and conferences,
• academic curricula and practicums for emerging professions,
• an international social entrepreneur partnership program,
• regional exchange forums to showcase stories of achievements and provide in-service training,
• Healthy Cities kids activities to share kid's strategies for improving communities,
• visiting scholars and activists programs,
• international meetings to bring individuals together from different agencies and sectors,
• multi-sector problem solving roundtables, and
• an International Institute on Collaborative Meeting Management.

Who is Involved?

The International Healthy Cities Foundation partners are many. They bring expertise on many important issues:

• children and families
• housing
• business/labor
• jobs/employment
• arts
• education
• recreation
• population
• transportation
• disability
• environmental and occupational health resource allocation urban architecture
• public policy
• injury prevention
• volunteerism
• health delivery
• mental health
• public safety
• community architecture
• alcohol and drugs
• aging
• civil and human rights

They come with diverse experience:

• civic leaders
• planners
• educators
• community organizers
• business leaders
• architects
• researchers
• environmental professionals
• futurists
• advocates for special populations
• government representatives
• participating citizens
• religious leaders
• funding professionals
• care providers
• communications specialists
• social entrepreneurs
• youth

A diverse and creative community of individuals are proposing projects to support the work of the IHCF. These include the development of videos, multi-media education programs, international training activities, peer exchange programs and regional offices. Many proposals are completed and are being circulated, others are in the planning stages.

The International Healthy Cities Foundation evolved in response to new and changing needs. Guidance for the dynamic work required of the IHCF will be provided by the Board of Directors and International Council of Advisors (see attached list) In addition, opportunities for involvement will include service on the Program Area Committees, a Community Affiliate Program and a broad array of collaborative working arrangements.

Copyright © 2010 Healthy Communities Institute