A city exists for its citizens.

To listen people’s views and opinions – also those who are vulnerable – in decision making, service production etc. promotes participation, increases empowerment and is regarded vital for the development of the city.

The category tells about health from the individual point of view. It explains how the citizens are consulted and what are their possibilities to participate at the local level. You also get information about the citizens’ personal views on their health.

Including citizens in decision making is a fundamental part of the functions of a healthy city. Community participation is a core element of the Healthy Cities movement and essentially important to achieve health and sustainable development at the local level. Supporting participation can be seen as a key characteristic of a successful Healthy Cities programme. Citizen participation is a necessary part of community development. It is important that the citizens are listened and can feel themselves involved.

The definition of the term ‘participation’ varies a lot and the meaning is often interpreted differently in different cultures. The WHO publication Community Participation in Local Health and Sustainable Development describes community participation as:
“A process by witch people are enabled to become actively and genuinely involved in defining the issues of concern to them, in making decisions about factors that affect their lives, in formulating and implementing policies, in planning, developing and delivering services and in taking action to achieve change.”

The following sub-categories open the citizen point of view on health:

Participation: tells about the possibilities to participate at the city level. The sub-category shares cities’ ideas about how the citizens are consulted, what programs and strategies the city has introduced to promote participation and how the participation of citizens is taken into consideration in legislation. 

What is health for me? shares individual citizen’s thoughts, ideas and viewpoints about health. The section includes interviews of citizens of different age, sex and life situation. The following questions are asked:

1. What does health mean to you?
2. What do you do to stay healthy?
3. How important is health for you?
4. Have your view of health changed over time?
5. Is there anything in particular that has affected your views on health?
6. Is there anything you would like to add, that you think is important about health?