Health as a Driver for Metropolitan Development

In 2021, METREX established an Expert Group to explore the links between health and metropolitan development.

Please check our list of activities for future meetings.

In this unprecedented era of a worldwide Pandemic, increasing urbanization, and in the context of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, the Paris Agreement, the Urban Agenda, the Leipzig charter, and other global developments, we have reached a critical point in understanding that metropolitan areas can be the source of solutions to, rather than the cause of, the challenges that our world is facing today.

One of these challenges is Health and Wellbeing for all (core of SDG3) and Health and Wellbeing Equity and Justice (part of SDG 11).

The Covid-19 pandemic has highlighted (again) that social and financial inequalities in our Western societies are still quite significant. It highlights that health and wellbeing are not defined by the absence of disease or suffering, nor by the quality of healthcare-systems or social-care organizations.

During the Finnish EU Presidency, a ‘Health in all Policies’ (HiaP) approach has started to be implemented in all EU Member states. This concept states that HiaP is essential to meet the future challenges in Europe, be it economic, demographic, socioeconomic, agricultural (food safety and availability) or equal access to (healthcare) support systems. And concretely, during our conference in Nürnberg, the virtual excursion to the Medical Valley development showed an exemplar integrated approach in bringing together science, business, citizens and authorities.

Following our kick-off meeting on Health as Driver for Metropolitan Development, which took place at end of last year, we have developed an outline two-year Expert Group programme. This programme is to be discussed in the first Expert Group meeting, for which we hereby would like to invite you!

During this two-year period, the Expert Group will discover, discuss and develop practical knowledge on Health in all Policies, and how it fits in the work of developing the Metropolis.

In the first year we will discover and discuss (1) how Health and Wellbeing are central to the development of human habitation (2) who else is deeply involved in the realization of good Health and Wellbeing for all, and how they are natural partners for Metropolitan Development and (3) how this helps embrace and further develop a Holistic approach to the work we do.

In the second year we will (4) discover and discuss ways to execute acquired knowledge into action, (5) how action demands (collective) learning and adaptation so we can (6) celebrate our impact through collective evaluation and further goal setting.

Please let us know if you would like to join this Expert Group, so we can schedule with you the dates for the first meeting. Or please by all means get in touch with any questions you might have.
 


Key contact

Group Leader

Joshua van Rooij, Health Expert

Contact

Stephen Gallagher
Head of Secretariat, METREX
stephen.gallagher@eurometrex.org

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