News Stories

Learning from the wider WHO European Healthy Cities Network is a key aspect of being a healthy city. Many cities have developed expertise in addressing particular themes that can be used to inform approaches in Belfast.

On Wednesday 16 June 2015 the second event in the ‘Beyond Bricks and Mortar: How Spatial Planning Can Improve Public Health’, a seminar series for public health professionals was held at The Mac, Belfast.

Creating the conditions for health is a key theme within the Northern Ireland public health strategy Making Life Better. The strategy also emphasises the role of place in improving local health and wellbeing. Key issues within this include healthy lifestyles, active travel, healthy ageing and better outcomes for children. 

Reminder: The 2015 Belfast Healthy City Explorer Bursary is open for entries until Tuesday 7 April 2015

The Bursary was launched in 2013 in recognition of 25 years of Belfast as a designated WHO Healthy City. This is a unique opportunity for someone working in health and wellbeing or healthy urban planning in Belfast to visit another European Healthy City or National Network to study their approach to addressing a key issue relating to health inequalities.

KidsSpace events took place on Friday 20 and Saturday 21 February at both Victoria Square and CastleCourt The events transformed areas of the centres into colourful, fun filled, family friendly places engaging hundreds of children. It is an initiative that has demonstrated the positive effects of making the city centre more open to children and their families over the past four years. It is part of wider work led by Belfast Healthy Cities, under the auspices of the World Health Organization, and involving interagency collaboration to develop a Child Friendly Strategy for Belfast.

The next Kids Space event will take place on Saturday 21 March at CastleCourt.