Issue link: https://maltatoday.uberflip.com/i/1474118
10 COMMERCIAL 21.7.2022 THE highly successful 'Healthy Cities' project, which is part of the EU's UR- BACT programme has recently drawn to an end with participating partners, including the Planning Authority (PA) having shared, learnt and identified good practices which will serve to improve urban policies in relation to health. e partner cities in this project led by the Municipality of Vic (Spain) in- cluded Pärnu (Estonia), Farkadona (Greece), Anyksciai (Lithuania), Al- phen aan den Rijn (Holland), Bradford (England) and Loulé (Portugal) and the Planning Authority (Malta). Set up 3 years ago, this Action Plan- ning network came together to explore and discuss the relationship between health and the urban environment and identify planning actions that focus on improving the population's health. e largest challenge faced by the net- work was, unsurprisingly, COVID-19. Although restrictions on movement and social activity slowed progress down in all kinds of work across the globe, the challenge was even greater when the type of work the network was focused on related to collaboration and stakeholder engagement. e silver lining is that the pandem- ic brought health into conversations across the board. As the world emerges from this crisis, support for health in- itiatives is stronger than before. When one is locked down in a city, they feel the impact of their urban environment far more strongly. Lacking nearby amenities and green spaces and being unable to cycle or go for a walk due to surrounding infrastructure makes the issue of urban planning for health far more tangible and personal for many people, building support for the kind of work pursued by Healthy Cities. rough this project, the Planning Authority (PA) in collaboration with the Senglea Local Council and the Ministry for Health and Local Govern- ment Division launched a smartphone app - Healthy Cities Malta, which com- bines the need for physical activity and a healthier lifestyle with interesting and important landmarks within the city. e Healthy Cities Malta app, which can be downloaded free of charge from the Play Store, provides the user with options of different walking routes, each with different levels of difficulty, within the city and recommends ad- ditional physical exercises that can be carried out at certain spots along the route. So when the user is close to one of the city's many stepped-streets, they are encouraged to carry out a short work-out of 'step lunges'; while when in the Gardjola Garden 'press-ups' against one of the benches are recom- mended. All workout exercises come with instructions on posture and safe- ty. e app also gives the user the num- ber of calories they lost after following a particular route. In their concluding meeting, held in the Portuguese City of Loulé, the partners looked back at their projects and cited lessons learnt and also heard suggestions from partners and talked about the future prospects and the paths lying ahead. Lead expert on the project, Sebastiaan van Herk, praised what he saw in Loulé "It is an example of two things: how to combine investment in infrastructure with social and sports activities, mak- ing people really use the spaces. It is also an example of the unique way in which a municipality works with all its associations and clubs. I've been work- ing on urban projects for 20 years and I've never seen any city work like this," he underlined. Clémentine Gravier, from URBACT, confided that many of the network's partners have already expressed an interest in continuing and building on past URBACT projects. "Although the project has now come to an end, it will be useful to continue to prioritise health through sports and I, for one, will encourage partners to work on a similar networks to initiate further and new collaborations, where new oppor- tunities can be explored and best prac- tices shared with other countries." she said. Healthy Cities project draws to an end… but with new beginnings HEALTHY CITIES PROJECT DRAWS TO AN END….BUT WITH NEW BEGINNINGS The highly successful 'Healthy Cities' project, which is part of the EU's URBACT programme has recently drawn to an end with participating partners, including the Planning Authority (PA) having shared, learnt and identified good practices which will serve to improve urban policies in relation to health. The partner cities in this project led by the Municipality of Vic (Spain) included Pärnu (Estonia), Farkadona (Greece), Anyksciai (Lithuania), Alphen aan den Rijn (Holland), Bradford (England) and Loulé (Portugal) and the Planning Authority (Malta). Set up 3 years ago, this Action Planning network came together to explore and discuss the relationship between health and the urban environment and identify planning actions that focus on improving the population's health. The largest challenge faced by the network was, unsurprisingly, COVID-19. Although restrictions on movement and social activity slowed progress down in all kinds of work across the globe, the challenge was even greater when the type of work the network was focused on related to collaboration and stakeholder engagement. The silver lining is that the pandemic brought health into conversations across the board. As the world emerges from this crisis, support for health initiatives is stronger than before. When one is locked down in a city, they feel the impact of their urban environment far more strongly. Lacking nearby amenities and green spaces and being unable to cycle or go for a walk due to surrounding infrastructure makes the issue of urban planning for health far more tangible and personal for many people, building support for the kind of work pursued by Healthy Cities. Through this project, the Planning Authority (PA) in collaboration with the Senglea Local Council and the Ministry for Health and Local Government Division launched a smartphone app - Healthy Cities Malta, which combines the need for physical activity and a healthier lifestyle with interesting and important landmarks within the city. The Healthy Cities Malta app, which can be downloaded free of charge from the Play Store, provides the user with options of different walking routes, each with different levels of difficulty, within the city and recommends additional physical exercises that can be carried out at certain spots along the route. So when the user is close to one of the city's many stepped-streets, they are encouraged to carry out a short work-out of 'step lunges'; while when in the Gardjola Garden 'press-ups' against one of the benches are recommended. All workout exercises come with instructions on posture and safety. The app also gives the user the number of calories they lost after following a particular route. In their concluding meeting, held in the Portuguese City of Loulé, the partners looked back at their projects and cited lessons learnt and also heard suggestions from partners and talked about the future prospects and the paths lying ahead. Lead expert on the project, Sebastiaan van Herk, praised what he saw in Loulé "It is an example of two things: how to combine investment in infrastructure with social and sports activities, making people really use the spaces. It is also an example of the unique way in which a municipality works with all its associations and clubs. I've been working on urban projects for 20 years and I've never seen any city work like this," he underlined. Clémentine Gravier, from URBACT, confided that many of the network's partners have already expressed an interest in continuing and building on past URBACT projects. "Although the project has now come to an end, it will be useful to continue to prioritise health through sports and I, for one, will encourage partners to work on a similar networks to initiate further and new collaborations, where new opportunities can be explored and best practices shared with other countries." she concluded.