WHO Healhy Cities Project is a long-term international development project that aims to place health high on the agenda of decision-makers in the cities of Europe and to promote comprehensive local strategies for health and sustainable development based on the principles and objectives of the strategy for Health for All for the twenty-first century and Local Agenda 21. Ultimately, the Healthy Cities project seeks to enhance the physical, mental, social and environmental wellbeing of the people who live and work in cities.

The WHO Healthy Cities project started in 1987. Two phases of implementation of the project have now been completed. The first phase of the project, from 1987 to 1992, emphasized advocacy and, by tackling the political and institutional barriers to change, laid the foundation for successful work towards health for all. The strategic objectives of the second phase (1993- 1998) include speeding the adoption of policy at city level, strengthening national and subnational support systems and building strategic links with other sectors and organizations that influence urban development. Phase III, which will run from 1998 to 2002, has just started.

The Healthy Cities project in the European Region has shown the value of a holistic approach to such problems as poverty, violence, social exclusion, pollution, substandard housing, the unmet needs of elderly and young people, homeless people and migrants, unhealthy spatial planning, the lack of participatory practices and the need to seriously address inequality and sustainable development. It is an effective and popular mechanism for promoting policies and programmes based on health for all at the local level through a process that involves explicit political commitment, institutional changes and intersectoral partnerships, innovative actions addressing all aspects of health and living conditions and extensive networking between cities across Europe and beyond.

Approximately 1100 cities and towns are linked with 26 national and several regional and thematic (multi-city action plans) healthy cities networks in Europe. Cities participating in the WHO European network have developed and implemented a wide range of programmes and products including city health profiles and city health strategies based on intersectoral cooperation, community development initiatives and programmes that address the needs of vulnerable groups, lifestyles, environmental health and Agenda 21.

The Healthy Cities project is useful for tackling the complex problems that shape health in cities. The cities have developed new models of collaborative working within organizations and between organizations and communities.

The Healthy Cities project requires cities to have a project office, staff and budget. These organizational foundations allow project staff to build and develop the range of projects and collaborative exercises that enable the development of truly collaborative city- wide health promotion.