Inspiration in Quality of Housing and Built Environment at the Healthy Cities General Assembly on 19 April 2016

The Healthy Cities General Assembly, which took place on 19 April 2016 at Prague City Hall, was preceded by an inspirational discussion meeting held by the Czech Healthy Cities Network in cooperation with the Faculty of Architecture, Housing Quality Centre and with the attendance of the Czech Chamber of Architects. The encounter entitled “Quality of Housing and Built Environment” brought together 80 participants interested in this issue.

David Tichy from the Faculty of Architecture attempted to answer the question of how to design senior housing so that the environment is truly stimulating and thus delays possible assistance in the form of home care or even prevents seniors from leaving for specialised care facilities. One of the objectives of his presentation was to show the links/interconnection between social sustainability, economic adequacy and energy efficiency of senior housing. He presented model projects of senior rental houses and its/their model parameters which are both economically adequate in terms of investment and operational costs and allow for an affordable rent. Detailed information about the topic can be found on: http://seniorskebydleni.sfrb.cz/ (in Czech).

This very interesting lecture was followed by Filip Tittl and his presentation of an implemented project called “Housing estates. And what then?”. The presentation, which was interspersed with practical solutions relevant to the situations of particular housing estates, showed the participants the long-term vision of these places, how to approach them conceptually and how to launch the process of their transformation into a functioning and attractive part of urban culture. The presentation also included practical examples of the proposed long-term changes to/in the housing estate of Cities of Steti or Jilemnice. The discussion also covered the theme of the great need for community planning in urbanism, which forms a natural part in a functioning of Healthy Cities. Further information about the project is available on: www.sidlistejakdal.cz (in Czech).

The morning session was concluded by Milan Svoboda from the Czech Chamber of Architects who presented the examples of use of architectural contests in public procurement for cities. He outlined the advantages of such contests – one of them is the possibility to assess the parameters of construction and operation, transparency or the possibility of choice based on the quality of solution from various designs. From a legal perspective, he advised the participants on setting up the contests or what to avoid. Furthermore, he offered the participants the possibility of free consultations and legal advice of the Czech Chamber of Architects. For more information about this topic see: https://www.cka.cz/cs/souteze (in Czech).

The discussion meeting was met with a very positive response showing that these themes are highly topical, necessary and useful not only in Healthy Cities. The presentations and photos from the event on: www.zdravamesta.cz/kvalitni-bydleni.

The information meeting was followed up by the Healthy Cities General Assembly. One of the most important items on the agenda was the introduction of new members of the association: Municipal Districts of Prague 12 and Prague 8, towns of Havlickuv Brod, Benesov, Marianske lazne, Rokytnice nad Jizerou, Rosice, Sazava, Ustek, Valasské Klobouky, Tynec nad Sazavou and municipalities of Krhova and Vyzlovka. To this day, the association has 130 members with a regional influence over 2105 towns and municipalities accounting for 52 % of the inhabitants of the Czech Republic. The general assembly also debated all financial documents including the Annual Report of the association for 2015.

Participatory Budgeting – How to Go About it in Healthy Cities and LA21

Participatory budgeting or involvement of local residents in decision-making process concerning the use of part of the budget to implement specific projects has become very popular in the last two years in the Czech Republic. Considerable funds are spent for this purpose in a number of towns and municipal districts. However, an important criterion for Healthy Cities and LA21 is that year-long systematic cooperation of the town hall with the public is not mistaken for a glossy one-off promise of financial support for attractive projects.

The procedure of Healthy Cities is exceptional in that the participatory budgeting is becoming another component which fits the systemic year-long cooperation – the long-term community planning process whose culmination is a Healthy City public forum on sustainable development. The public forum offers an opportunity for a broad discussion and consensus on priorities for dealing with a variety of suggestions for the coming year.

Healthy Cities learn from each other and share know-how of their local authorities to be able to carry out participatory budgeting well and systematically and so that these steps are connected with implemented activities. This enables to preserve the “bottom-up” system of suggestions and their comparison with an expert opinion and financial possibilities of a particular town or region. And so it excludes the necessity to turn to costly external suppliers or to allocate a large sum divided within the framework of participatory budgeting.

The Healthy City of Litomerice illustrates that when participatory budgeting is taken seriously, it benefits both the local authorities and the citizens. The Healthy City of Litomerice participated in last year´s summer forum which brought together more than 200 active people and where the participatory budgeting was also discussed. The participants of the forum selected one of the projects which was then submitted to the municipal authority for implementation and which was also described as beneficial by the residents themselves. Moreover, the cost of implementation was not allowed to exceed 5,500 EUR. The projects were presented by the authors themselves. Therefore, the town hall of Litomerice actively implemented another way of public involvement in decision-making process regarding urban development. The example of how to involve primary school pupils in participatory budgeting can be found in the Healthy Municipal District of Prague 20.

Evaluation of Sustainable Development of Cities in Switzerland and Czech Republic – Sharing Experiences

In March 2015, the Czech Healthy Cities representatives held a meeting with their long-term Swiss partners from the organisation of Equiterre, including a representative from the canton of Geneva. The three-day encounter was devoted to sharing experiences in monitoring of sustainable development indicators at local and national levels and to practical impact assessment of municipal projects on sustainable development. Apart from the Czech National Network of Healthy Cities Office, there were also representatives from the Environment Center of Charles University and the Healthy City of Litomerice.

The Swiss association of Equiterre is an organisation with more than 30 year´s history. It unites municipalities, towns, cities, regions, non-governmental organisations and private organisations interested in implementation of sustainable development. The canton of Geneva is a pioneer in a variety of sustainable development topics and cooperates closely with Equiterre.

The programme of the first day of the meeting addressed the impact assessment of municipal projects on sustainable development. Our Swiss partners presented some of their tools used in practice. There was also a discussion about their benefits and potential challenges. For the Czech Republic, the topic was presented by Antonin Tym from Litomerice who acquainted the participants with the practice of his town. The Swiss partner puts more emphasis on monitoring detailed indicators. Assessment is carried out mostly in the form of a chart/table or in database where the particular project manager answers particular questions and makes a subjective assessment of the way a project idea impacts a particular area of sustainable development – e.g. air quality, quality of soil, but also employment, economic benefits etc. The Healthy City of Litomerice puts more emphasis on discussion within the local authority and political representation. Projects are assessed too when it comes to impacts on environment, economy and social sphere. Both partners concluded that both models were inspirational and agreed on an optimal solution based on the merits of both models.

The theme of the following days was indicators and their monitoring. The discussion covered mainly the Swiss sets of indicators called “CERCLE” and “MONET” and the possibility of their use in the Czech Republic. The Czech Healthy Cities Network, Equiterre and the canton of Geneva agreed on further cooperation and regular sharing of experiences concerning this theme and many other topics.

World Health Day – This Year´s Topic is Diabetes Prevention and Treatment, 7 April

World Health Day is celebrated annually on 7 April. The theme of this year´s campaign was increasingly pressing prevention and treatment of diabetes. One of the chief objectives of World Health Day is raising awareness about the rise in diabetes and its staggering burden and consequences, in particular in low-and middle-income countries. It is desirable to trigger a set of specific, effective and affordable measures to tackle the disease. These measures will include steps to prevent diabetes and diagnose, treat and care for people with diabetes. The target of the campaign is to launch the first Global report on diabetes which will describe the burden and consequences of diabetes and will advocate for stronger health systems to ensure improved surveillance, enhanced prevention and more effective management of diabetes.

To beat diabetes, many sectors of society have a role to play, including governments, employers, educators, manufacturers, civil society, private sector, the media and individuals themselves.

More information on World Health Day campaign can be found here: http://www.who.int/campaigns/world-health-day/2016/en/