Healthy cities: a guide to the literature

Abstract

This paper reviews the literature on “healthy cities” and, more specifically, the attempts by city governments, international agencies, NGOs and community organizations to improve health in cities within Healthy Cities programmes or projects. Such programmes are generally initiated by city authorities, but with a recognition that to be effective, first they must mobilize integrated action from citizen groups, NGOs and private enterprises and, secondly, they must involve coordinated action between many sectors. As such, this review reflects on the achievements of Healthy Cities programmes around the world and the future challenges they face. It also seeks to give some idea of the number of Healthy Cities initiatives underway, especially in Africa, Asia and Latin America, even though there is still relatively little published literature on them.