Uppsala Health Summit 2019 Healthy Urban Childhoods
| Reference number | |
| Coordinator | Uppsala universitet - Avdelningen för kommunikation och externa Relationer |
| Funding from Vinnova | SEK 100 000 |
| Project duration | January 2019 - December 2019 |
| Status | Completed |
Important results from the project
Uppsala Health Summit 2019, Healthy Urban Childhoods” took place at Uppsala Castle on October 8-9 and focused on how we can strengthen the child perspective in urban development and how this can promote children’s physical and mental health and wellbeing.186 experts and decision-makers from 24 different countries, working in academia, industy, public sector and civil society, participated. In workshops and plenary sessions, strategies were discussed around how to increase children´s access to free mobility, green spaces for rest and play and their participation in planning.
Expected long term effects
A recurrent theme in the discusions was how to break the trend of sedentary living indoors, shrinking school yards, social segregation and mental ill-health through i.a. children´s participation in building and restructuring processes, and through cross-sectional interventions. Qualities of the outdoor space were discussed and how these can be transformed into qualitative and quantitative indicators to create incentives for action. Plans for action were drafted which are summarized in a post-conference report, distributed to participants and a network of stakeholders.
Approach and implementation
In nine different workshops and four plenary sessions, the participants discussed interdisciplinary solutions to improve the planning and management of cities for healthier, safer and more inclusive childhoods. In plenary, speakers from i.a. three UN organizations; Unicef, WHO and UN Habitat, contributed with the larger policy framework. The participants participated in two workshops, one per day, where practical solutions and the role of different actors were discussed. Inspirational speakers from different fields and geographies kick-started the workshop dialogue.