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Belfast Healthy Cities

Our vision is that Belfast is recognised globally
as a healthy, equitable and sustainable city

Healthy Cities 21st Century

News Stories

Belfast Healthy Cities is offering an annual bursary throughout WHO European Healthy Cities Phase VI (2014-2019). It will allow individuals working in the field of health and wellbeing, including healthy urban planning and design, to visit another WHO European Healthy City or National Network to study their approach to addressing a key issue relating to health inequalities.

The bursary is open to applicants living or working in Belfast from all sectors including community, voluntary, public and business sectors.

Culture Minister Carál Ní Chuilín opened the latest capacity building seminar from Belfast Healthy Cities at The MAC in Belfast.

Belfast Healthy Cities invited Finnish colleagues from the city of Turku, a member of the WHO European Healthy Cities Network to share their experiences of embedding cultural activities for health and wellbeing in the city, while local examples were also used to demonstrate how cultural activities have contributed to positively energising communities, contributing to good health and wellbeing.

The 2015 bursary proved a popular and competitive process. Reflecting the quality of proposals submitted, it was awarded jointly to Stephanie Thompson, South Belfast Partnership, who studied drug and alcohol policy in Glasgow and Jelena Buick, Belfast City Council who travelled to Barcelona to examine innovative approaches to addressing food and fuel poverty. Both award holders presented their findings at the Belfast Healthy Cities Annual General Meeting in February 2015.

The Belfast Healthy Cities' Annual General Meeting will be held on

Monday 15 February at 14:00

The Mac

10 Exchange Street West

Belfast

Please RSVP to Carol Scott or telephone 028 9032 8811

Culture Minister Carál Ní Chuilín welcomed participants to Shaping Places for Healthy Lives , which examined how the places we live in shape our lives, our health and our wellbeing. Other speakers included, Leo Kosonen, former Chief Planner of Kuopio (Finland), Sandy Robinson, Principal Architect of the Scottish Government and Phil Williams, Director of Planning and Place, Belfast City Council. Presentations from the seminar, which was organised in partnership with the Ministerial Advisory Group (MAG) are now available.

The WHO Belfast Healthy City Awards were presented in Belfast by Deputy Lord Mayor, Cllr. Guy Spence.

The winners were
Healthy Living Award, Studio 5 CIC NI
Promoting Health Equity Award, Shopmobility Belfast Ltd
Healthy Places Award , College Park Avenue Residents Association
Engaging for Change, CLARE CIC

Booking is now open for Shaping Places for Healthy Lives on Wednesday 16 December

This free seminar is an opportunity to explore how place making can effectively support health and wellbeing, and how urban design can help create healthy places. It is is targeted at policy and decision makers in sectors including local government, health and regeneration, but will also be of interest to architects and designers across sectors.

How our neighbourhoods are planned plays a major role for people’s everyday lives, and through that their health and wellbeing. Local communities have first hand experience and expertise of how the built environment shapes their health, which can inform and support the development of planning policy and practice.

This event was designed for community sector professionals and provided an opportunity to explore how planning influences health, and explore the role of the community sector in influencing healthy urban environments.

A teaching resource on place and the built environment for Key Stage 2 (Primary 5-7 year groups) has been developed in collaboration with the Education Authority. The resource will be piloted with 13 Primary Schools  from across Belfast.

Ciclovia Event in Botanic Park

The Belfast Healthy Cities KidsSpace initiative provided some well-earned fun for the younger participants of the Ciclovia event in Botanic Park on Sunday 4 October. Cyclists were given the opportunity to ride through a traffic free zone of the city from the Botanic Park to Belfast City Hall in a scheme designed to give public ownership of the city and to encourage family participation in healthier lifestyles.

View a short video of the day’s proceedings >

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