Healthy Cities and Local Agenda 21: The UK experience - Challenges for the new millennium

Abstract

Healthy Cities and Local Agneda 21 both offer strategic frameworks for the development and implementation of theory and practice in the related fields of health promotion/public health and sustainable development. Whilst the close links between health and sustainable development are widely acknowledged, the two frameworks continue to operate largely in parallel. This paper reviews concepts of health and sustainable development, and relates the evolution of thinking that has taken place to the historical development of the Health for All (HFA) and Agneda 21 movements. It is argued that towns, cities and communities committed to promoting health and sustainability face two key challenges as they approach the new millennium: how to move from the margins to the mainstream; and how to integrate the frameworks. Discussions from a recent national 'round table' meeting are used to illustrate a range of key issues and highlight implications for people working at local, national and international levels.