Angela FREITAS, CEGOT - Centre of Studies in Geography and Spatial Planning, University of Coimbra, Portugal
Ricardo ALMENDRA, CEGOT - Centre of Studies in Geography and Spatial Planning, University of Coimbra, Portugal
Daniela SOITU, Department of Sociology and Social Work, Universitatea Alexandru Ioan Cuza, Romania
Paula SANTANA, CEGOT - Centre of Studies in Geography and Spatial Planning, University of Coimbra, Portugal
Promoting healthy communities is at the heart of what local government is about. This requires action on upstream determinants of health and good urban governance in the pursuit of collective goals. Governance is considered a key factor of urban health and can be used to foster healthy public policies at the local level. In addition to the local government, stakeholders across different sectors should be involved, among others, academia, healthcare and social sectors. In this field, Universities can play a pivotal role in providing evidence-based input on health issues and as catalysts of stakeholders’ mobilization to build local health alliances.
In the framework of the Virtual Institute for Good Health and Well-being, a knowledge transfer hub built under the European Campus of City-Universities Alliance (EC2U), a study on stakeholder engagement at the local level is being developed in seven cities (Salamanca, Pavia, Poitiers, Wien, Iasi, Coimbra, Turku). The aim is to generate knowledge informing guidelines for local authorities that can foster innovative partnerships to promote healthy environments and enhance opportunities for good health and well-being. As a first step of the stakeholder engagement process, a survey will be conducted involving around 100 stakeholders considering the following five target profiles: i) local government (city councillors, municipal departmental staff), ii) academia (researchers working in urban health topics), iii) healthcare sector (local health authority, healthcare providers), iv) third sector (e.g., voluntary and NGOs, private institutes) and v) community (local associations).
This survey will allow: i) to characterize stakeholders opinions about health in their cities and the potential of city policies to promote health equity, ii) assess University-Cities cooperation in health promotion, namely the level of knowledge transfer and exchange and iii) examine the potential of implementing a local innovation ecosystem in health.
Mots clés : Health promotion|Urban governance|Intersectoral action|Knowledge transfer|Stakeholder engagement
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