ANNUAL REPORT 2018: Czech Healthy Cities (not only) in facts and figures

105 "in-house" consultations - 51 public Fora with 3843 participants - 32 “Youth” and “School” fora - 9 City trainings and other nationwide events with 705 participants - 3 accredited courses - 9 webinars...

and much more can be found in our new Czech Healthy Cities Annual Report 2018. The report contains not only the figures but also a range of interesting information about the services provided to our members, news and events of Czech Healthy Cities, current projects or Czech Healthy Cities partners.

The Czech Healthy Cities Annual Report Summary 2018 available HERE.

We know the winner of the BEST Practice Voting for 2018!

The Healthy Town of Krizanky won the voting contest for the BEST Practice of Healthy Municipalities and Regions in Czechia selected from seventeen documented good practice examples of 2018.

How could a small town like Krizanky in the Vysocina Region get the most of the votes? The reason is not only the town´s excellent Municipal Social Housing topic, but also its wide experience with social networks, which is also central to the good work of cities and towns. You can learn more about the winning Krizanky best practice example in the Sustainable Development Gallery. (Czech version)

The voting contest for the “Healthy Cities Best Practice 2018” had been running for several months on the Healthy Cities facebook pages with nearly 16,000 followers. It was kicked off at the Autumn Healthy Cities School and closed early this year. The results were announced and the awards were handed over on 24 January 2019 at the national Healthy Cities conference called ”Vyšvihněte se s námi!” (Make it to the top with us!).

We would like to congratulate the Healthy Town of Krizanky and thank all the participants for promoting inspiring approaches to improving the places where we live!

Cities were not the only ones to have „made it to the top” at the conference Sustainability and Health in Cities

On 24 January 2019 the main part of the nationwide conference called “MAKE IT TO THE TOP!” with the headline “SUSTAINABLY AND HEALTHILY IN CITIES” took place in the Ambassador Hotel in Prague. The conference was held by the National Network of Healthy Cities of the Czech Republic and under the auspices of the First Deputy Prime Minister, the Minister of the Interior and the Minister for Regional Development. The event brought together not only the representatives of towns, cities and regions, but also the representatives of the Chamber of Deputies, the Senate, ministries, international institutions and organizations as well as universities.

The working section was opened by the representatives of three important ministries - Environment, Regional Development and Health. They expressed their appreciation for the cooperation with cities, towns and regions, and highlighted the role of their respective ministries. Furthermore, each of them emphasized, from their own perspective, key issues which significantly affect the quality of life in municipalities and regions. In the afternoon session, the participants were greeted by the Deputy Minister of the Interior and Srdan Matic, the director of the WHO Country Office of the Czech Republic.

The afternoon session focused on sharing good practices from everyday lives of cities and towns. The topics covered were: partnerships and public participation in general (City of ZNOJMO) as well as involvement of specific groups of citizens such as youth (City of DOBRIS), elderly (PRACHATICE) or entrepreneurs (ROZNOV p.Radh.), Fair Trade (TREBIC) or an example of partnerships in small towns (ZBYSLAVICE). In terms of strategies, issues such as management of local authorities (BRECLAV), climate protection and city greenery (OSTRAVA), health as a priority (VALASSKE MEZIRICI) were addressed. Other key issues included conservation of monuments and sights and urbanism (HAVLICKUV BROD), responsible behaviour of local authorities (TABOR) and promotion of cycling (NOVY JICIN). All the mentioned topics and issues are closely related to progress towards sustainable development. The above-stated cities, as well as other cities, towns and regions are actively involved in these initiatives, which bears fruit, among other things, in the procedure according to LA21.

Held in a beautiful setting the conference was followed by a festive award reception to acknowledge the cooperation with important partners of the association. “The Czech Healthy Cities Leapfrog 2018” awards were handed over and the results of the “Best Practice Contest 2018” were announced. The most qualified members – long-standing and successful “champions” of the association, who were able to participate, recounted stories from a 25-year-long history of Healthy Cities. During the moderated discussion, the representatives of Chrudim, Litomerice, Koprivnice, Hodonin, Vsetin, Krizanky and the Vysocina Region shared their experiences.

For further information click HERE.

The "Contracts between Cities and Developers: Possibilities and Risks" seminar took place

The National Network of Healthy Cities of the Czech Republic and Frank Bold Attorneys hosted together a discussion seminar on 25 January in Prague entitled “ TERRITORIAL PLANNING: Contracts between Cities and Developers, Possibilities and Risks”, which followed the next day the nationwide conference held under the aegis of the Ministry for Regional Development and the Ministry of the Interior.

The seminar focused on providing explanation and guidance on the practical use of planning agreements and agreements between towns or cities and developers. It reported on the changes resulting from the amended Building Act. The participants received practical information on the definition and use of planning agreements, infrastructure agreements and agreements with developers. A special focus was placed on the legal entities and the content of agreements, the relation of agreements to zoning plans, planning documents and planning procedure.

Additionally, the seminar also looked at the risks associated with concluding these contracts, in particular, the legal issue related to the limits for municipalities when concluding developer's contracts, i.e. what obligations a municipality may take on in relation to a developer. The practitioners – lawyers and representatives of municipalities stressed the possible risks associated with failure to perform these agreements.

For more information about the event (in Czech) click HERE.

Watch our webinars: Municipal public lighting / Czech subsidies for cities and towns for climate & energy

Two energy webinars took place on 9 January 2019 in partnership with Czech Healthy Cities and SEMMO (Association of Energy Managers of Towns and Cities) – the recordings of both webinars (in Czech) can be viewed any time.

The first webinar focused primarily on MUNICIPAL PUBLIC LIGHTING. The second webinar provided information of the Czech Ministry of the Environment regarding the forthcoming CALLS for subsidies of the Covenant of Mayors for Climate and Energy and introduced the Association of Cities and Towns´ Energy Managers. The webinars can be watched in Czech language on the YouTube channel of Healthy Cities of the Czech Republic, the recorded versions including presentations and other attachments can be found HERE.

The webinars were co-hosted by the National Network of Healthy Cities in partnership with SEMMO, with the support of Energy Cities/ and the European Covenant of Mayors for Climate & Energy.