The third partner-meeting of HORUS was held this week, this time in the Croatian city of Rijeka, with the attendance of the project manager at the European Health and Digital Executive Agency (HADEA), Nerea Aizpurua.

The project, which is now entering its second half, will carry out interventions in the participating cities of the project (Rotterdam, Valencia and Rijeka), the so-called pilots, to test strategies for approaching citizens to change behavior, with the aim of improving health through active and healthy lifestyle habits. These pilots will be carried out in the neighborhoods previously identified as vulnerable thanks to the joint work between the University of Valencia and the Healthy Cities team, which carried out the spatial characterization of the three cities through the analysis of the urban determinants of health, considering also the indicators of non-communicable diseases, to identify the most vulnerable areas of each one.

During the sessions held in Rijeka, strategic decisions were made for the implementation of the pilots and the results of the work packages already concluded were also shared. Healthy Cities shared the outcomes of the participatory sessions (focus groups and interviews) that were carried out in the different cities with the support of the local partners, which allowed to complete the technical analysis carried out previously, highlighting the value of citizen participation in the urban assessment processes, as well as raising awareness of the influence of the environment on our health.

With the experience of this and other participation processes, the Healthy Cities team has developed the citizen participation module, integrated in the Healthy Cities Generator, to facilitate the incorporation of qualitative evaluation in the plans or projects carried out by any entity.

Thanks to the MEDRI team (local partner in Rijeka) for the fantastic organization of the meeting, facilitating a very good atmosphere for learning, exchange and discussion.

If you want to know how the project is progressing, stay tuned to our publications!