Klaipeda, Lithuanian city with over 180,000 residents, is among the newcomers in Healthy Cities. City of Klaipeda is applying to become a member of the Phase V of the movement. For this occasion the University of Klaipeda organized a Conference ‘’Klaipeda – Healthy City’’ which took place in March. Baltic Region Healthy Cities Association was among invited guests and keynote speakers.

Conference was a forum, where the benefits as well as responsibilities of becoming a Healthy Cities were discussed. Moreover the researchers from Klaipeda, Vilnius and Kaunas presented their studies on urban health related issues. One of them was Gintaras Stauskis from Vilnus Gediminas Technical University Department of Urban Design who gave a presentation ‘’Planning of sustainable recreation as a way to develop alternative urban mobility network in Vilnius City’’.

The fifth Annual City Conference of the “Healthy Cities” project and Russian National Network meeting “Healthy cities, areas and settlements” was held on 14-15 April 2010 in Cherepovets, Russia.

Many of the Healthy Cities include promotion of physical activity in their Phase V actions of Healthy Living subtheme and regard it important in tackling public health challenges like obesity. To support this work, there are several international and national actors, like WHO HEPA network and publications from Healthy Cities, as well as organisations working on the local level to assist cities in their efforts.

Nine coordinators representing Croatia, Czech Republic, Denmark, Finland, Israel, Norway, Portugal, Russian Federation and Sweden participated in the seminar of the Healthy Cities National Network coordinators at 17-20 March 2010 in Herzlyia, Israel.