From 18-21 March, Paris hosted the 2025 Partnership for Healthy Cities (PHC) Summit. It gathered representatives from over 60 cities worldwide to discuss the prevention of non-communicable diseases (NCDs) and injuries, which account for nearly 80% of global mortality.
The event, co-hosted by Bloomberg Philanthropies, the World Health Organization, Vital Strategies and the City of Paris, provided a platform for city leaders to exchange best practices and innovative solutions aimed at fostering healthier urban environments.
DCC Committed to Promoting Active Travel through Partnership for Healthy Cities
Dublin City Council (DCC) participated in the summit, marking its commitment to promoting active travel as a means to improve public health through improved infrastructure planning, road safety and sustainable and active mobility.
In March 2024, DCC’s Active Travel Programme Office (AcTPrO) and Smart City Team launched the PHC-supported ‘Data Insights for Active Travel’ project to pilot new cutting-edge technologies for evaluating and measuring the impact of the city’s active travel investments (walking, wheeling and cycling). Christopher Manzira (Deputy Director for the Active Travel Programme), Zaira Rivera (Communications and Research Officer at Active Travel Network), and Jack Lehane (Smart D8 Ecosystem Manager and ADAPT Research Fellow) contributed to the summit on behalf of the project team; highlighting how advanced technologies and data visualisation techniques are being integrated to set new standards for active travel infrastructure.
The Data Insights for Active Travel project exemplifies how public sector initiatives can leverage technology and data to address urban challenges; representing a significant step towards integrating data-driven decision-making in urban planning. By engaging, connecting and analysing data on active travel patterns, behaviours and experiences, DCC aims to inform policy-making and infrastructure development that prioritises public health, safety, and environmental impacts.
Alongside the City of Paris, Dublin engaged multiple cities at the summit through roundtables, break-out sessions and peer-to-peer learning around urban health capacity building and realising meaningful community engagement. Invited cities included Barcelona (Spain), Boston (USA), Cape Town (South Africa), Colombo (Sri Lanka), London (UK), Melbourne (Australia), Philadelphia (USA), Toronto (Canada), Vancouver (Canada) and Warsaw (Poland). A key feature of the summit was the recognition of three cities as public health exemplars, with PHC award recipients: Córdoba, Argentina for food policy; Fortaleza, Brazil for air quality surveillance; and Greater Manchester, UK for smoke-free spaces.
For more information, see the project webpage here.