Final meeting of the European project “Healthy Cities” took place in Quarteira

Loulé participated in this project with nine other European cities

The meeting that marked the closing of the “Healthy Cities” project took place last week in Quarteira, bringing together Loulé and the other European partners.

“Healthy Cities” was born with the aim of bringing solutions that aim to improve the health of citizens in their experience in urban space.

«The idea of ​​continuing the work carried out with the “Vital Cities”, through the conversations held with the Spanish city of Vic, during the URBACT Festival, four years ago, led to the proposal to establish this network. On the other hand, the experience acquired by Loulé makes it a reference and an example of good practices for European partners, thus deserving the recognition of its peers», emphasizes the Municipality in a statement.

Green spaces, mobility, lifestyle and urban planning as a tool for health promotion were the central points of all actions undertaken by the nine cities: Vic (Spain), Pärnu (Estonia), Farkadona (Greece), Anyksciai (Lithuania). ), Malta (Malta), Alphen aan den Rijn (Holland), Bradford (England) and, of course, Loulé (Portugal), having in the meantime abandoned the Falerna project (Italy).

During two days, in addition to debriefing meetings in which cities took a look back at their projects and lessons learned, they also heard some suggestions from partners and talked about future prospects and the path ahead.

There was also time for the “Healthy Cities Quiz” where participants could test their knowledge about the project, as well as the attribution of the “Healthy Cities Awards”.

In the program of this meeting, the representatives of the cities visited the Historic Zone of Loulé where they got to know the recently inaugurated Islamic Baths “Hammam” and its history.

In the end, Tiago Guadalupe, the local coordinator, highlighted the importance of these projects for networking.

«It is always an asset to get out of our bubble and contact other realities, other countries, other cities with their own contexts, cultures and ideas, but in which everything is connected in the same vision - that the health of the population can be improved through of informal sport", he said.

Sebastian van Herk, lead expert of the project, he praised what he saw in Loulé throughout this process: «It is an example of two things: how to combine investment in infrastructure with social and sports activities, making people really use the spaces. It is also an example of the unique way in which a municipality works with all its associations and clubs. I've been working on urban projects for 20 years and I've never seen any city work like this”.



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