The city of Viana do Castelo will host the first annual integrated business and technical Conference of the WHO European Healthy Cities Network and of the National Healthy Cities Networks in Phase V. The dates of the conference are from 18-20 June. The WHO European Network will have approximately 90 cities either designated or in the process of being designated by June 2009. In addition, 30 national Healthy Cities networks in Europe have more than 1400 cities and towns as members.

The meetings of the WHO Healthy Cities Networks are mainly political and strategic and always include a strong political presence from the participating cities and networks. The programme of the Viana do Castelo Conference will be developed around the following four thematic strands relating to the Phase V goals:

1. Addressing the Phase V Themes: Several sessions will be devoted to discussing implications for action and expected outcomes for each of the Phase V themes: namely the overarching goal of Phase V; health and health equity in all local policies and the three core themes; caring and supportive environments; healthy living; and healthy urban environment and design. Position papers and draft action plans on all the themes will be circulated to the participating cities and networks before the meeting. A special focus of the meeting will be on translating the recommendations of the Global Commission Report on the Social Determinants of Health into action at the local level.

2. Ways of working: WHO Network and National Networks: There is a wide range of well established mechanisms for collective decision making, political and technical interaction and engagement, conceptual development and experimentation, learning and experience sharing as well as action at local, national and international levels. Furthermore networking offers excellent opportunities for mentoring, cooperation and public health advocacy across the European Region and beyond. There will be presentations and discussions on ways of working within the WHO Network and the National Networks, including the use of thematic sub-networks.

3. Managing change: Preconditions for success and lessons learnt from the past: The Healthy Cities movement in its twenty years history in Europe has accumulated extensive experience in some of the most challenging areas of public health action including inter-sectoral cooperation and integrated planning for health and sustainable development. The Viana meeting will address management, capacity, coordination and partnership issues that are crucial for successful outcomes. It is envisaged that during the meeting there will be teach-in learning sessions on managing healthy cities projects; advocacy; social marketing; and health literacy.

4. Connecting to international public health and urban health agendas: Healthy Cities annual meetings offer the opportunity to promote awareness and stimulate debate on emerging topical issues that have significant implications for public health and local action. This year the two topics that were selected for discussion are: (1) the global financial crisis: implications for public health and what city leaders can do and (2) the contribution of the European Healthy Cities Movement to the 2010 World Health Day Theme on Healthy Urbanization.