Our initiative to enhance urban green spaces, improving air quality, and promoting physical activity and mental well-being among city residents.
Click the Green Health Maps at the bottom of this page to view.
Green spaces improve our health, wellbeing and quality of life. They help create cleaner air, cooler neighbourhoods, stronger communities and a more resilient city.
Through the Greening the City programme, Belfast Healthy Cities works with partners across Belfast to protect, enhance and expand our natural environment, helping to make Belfast a healthier, happier and more sustainable place for everyone.
Green spaces play a vital role in creating healthier, happier and more sustainable cities. From improving physical and mental wellbeing to supporting biodiversity and bringing communities together, urban greening benefits everyone.
Green spaces encourage physical activity, reduce stress and support mental wellbeing, helping people of all ages lead healthier, happier and more active lives.
Trees, parks and green spaces help improve air quality, support biodiversity, reduce flood risk and create more attractive, sustainable places for everyone across Belfast.
Accessible green spaces bring people together, encourage social interaction and reduce isolation, helping to build stronger, more connected and inclusive neighbourhoods.
Investing in greener urban spaces helps tackle climate change, strengthen environmental resilience and create a more sustainable Belfast for future generations.
The Greening the City Advisory Group, coordinated by Belfast Healthy Cities, brings together partners to promote green and blue spaces for health, wellbeing and sustainability across Belfast. The group connects councils, health agencies, academics and community organisations to develop strategies and initiatives. Projects include the Belfast Urban Garden, a pop-up green space and wellbeing hub demonstrating how underused urban areas can become vibrant public spaces. The group has also contributed to Green Health Maps, supported school greening projects and promoted health equity in environmental planning.
We work in partnership with local communities, organisations and agencies to deliver practical projects that bring more nature into Belfast and improve health and wellbeing.
A community gardening initiative bringing people together through growing, learning and connecting with nature, while encouraging healthier lifestyles and greener urban spaces for everyone to enjoy throughout the year.
Bringing together organisations and stakeholders to share expertise, encourage collaboration and support initiatives that make Belfast a greener, healthier and more sustainable city.
Helping communities discover and explore Belfast’s green spaces, encouraging outdoor activity, improving access to nature and supporting better physical and mental wellbeing for people of all ages and abilities.
Our Green Health Maps for Belfast bring together key messages linked to greening and health, and encourage people to use their local green spaces. Â The Green Health Map supports individuals and communities to be a) more informed on the health and wellbeing benefits of using green spaces, b) more informed on local green spaces and walking routes and c) encouraged to walk to and use local green spaces.
Pictured: Charlene Brooks, Jacqueline O’Hagan and Olivia Robinson from BHC alongside Prof Ruth Lowry and David Woods from UU with student Dylan Vaughan. Belfast Healthy Cities is launching a new Green Health Map for the Ulster University Belfast campus area to coincide with World Mental
by Charlene Brooks, CEO at Belfast Healthy Cities Recently I had the pleasure of attending the Designing Healthier Cities summit organised and led by the GroundsWell team at Queen’s University Belfast that brought together an impressive range of speakers and presentations. We were delighted at Belfast Healthy Cities to support the event,
Following the completion of the Healthy Places Healthy Children programme during 2024-2025, eight schools across Belfast went on to introduce a range of improvements designed to create greener, healthier and more engaging environments for pupils. Projects delivered by schools included planting bulbs, trees and fruit,
Explore our other programmes and discover how Belfast Healthy Cities is creating healthier, greener and more inclusive communities, tackling health inequalities, supporting wellbeing and improving quality of life across Belfast.
Discover how our Greening the City programme at Belfast Healthy Cities creates healthier, greener spaces and more sustainable communities across Belfast.
Read how this programme seeks to redesign urban mobility, reducing pollution and making Belfast city safer and more accessible for all.
Learn how we provide training and resources to individuals & organisations, equipping them with the tools to implement health-promoting practices.Â
Discover how over the last 35 years, the WHO European Healthy Cities Network has been a platform for inspiration and learning for European cities.
Latest news, insights, events and updates from our work.
People, communities and partners creating a healthier, more equitable and sustainable Belfast. Through collaboration, shared knowledge and action, we’re helping to improve health, reduce inequalities and create positive change across the city. Together, we’re building a Belfast where everyone has the opportunity to live well.
