Department of Health, Taipei City Government

The community-driven initive focused on enhancing citizens' health and well-being. by fostening collaboration between government departments and community members. The project aims to create a supportive environment that promotes health living, innovation, and civic engagement.

In 1984, WHO proposed the concept of health promotion as a process of increasing people's ability of controlling and promoting health, and its principles of paying attention to improving community environment, to cultivating people's ability and empowerment, to inspiring community participation and effective investment, and to maintain and promote community health. Hancock and Duhl (1986) have made a definition of Healthy City, believing that Healthy City means: residents with consensus and willingness to change health-related environment, not just the health level of individual, up to the standard.

Therefore in the Ottawa Charter for Health Promotion by WHO in 1986, 5 strategies of health promotion were outlined including:

(1) Formulate a healthy public policy, (2) form a supportive environment, (3) strengthen the action of community, (4) develop individual ability and (5) adjust the orientation of healthy service.

Also in the Lisbon conference (1986), the characteristics of health are made even more clear: 1. Health is a social affair, not only a medical affair. 2. Health is the responsibility of all the sectors in a city. 3. Health should be under the supervision of professional staffs from natural science, society, aesthetics and environment. 4. Health is the manifestation of community residents' participation and cooperation of public and private sectors; in the conference the resolution of jointly developing city health and starting Healthy City Project in 1986 was also made, officially starting health promotion activities in 11 cities in Europe. Now there are over 4,000 cities in the world implementing the Healthy City Project.

 WHO believes that the ideal Healthy City should have 11 functions as follows:

1. Clean, safe, and high-quality living environment; 2. Stable and sustainable developing ecosystem; 3. strong and mutually supportive community; 4. Community with high participation in decisions affecting life and welfare; 5. Able to meet the basic demands of city residents; 6. Accessibility to various experiences and resources through multiple channels; 7. Diverse urban economic activities with vitality and innovation; 8. Ability to preserve historic places and respect native cultures; 9. A unique city with long-term development plans; 10. Provide healthy and medical service of quality to residents; 11. Residents with good health condition.

According to the data from WHO, it's expected that 61% of global population will live in the urban areas by 2025. However, high levels of urban development may bring many social, healthy and ecological problems; the required responsibility and ability will be beyond the burden of health departments. Therefore, to resolve the health problems of urban residents effectively, it's necessary to integrate various departments. To assist building the measurable Healthy City Indicators for the world, WHO made 32 indicators which can allow basic measures for Healthy City quantitative.