Summary

Well-being and healthy lifestyle should be important priorities for modern men and women. The presence of an urban environment that supports and encourages such healthy lifestyle can become a competitive advantage of a city. This is also in line with the “Sustainable Development Goal” to ensure healthy lives and promote well-being for all ages. The “Healthy Kazan” initiative is a complex project aimed at promoting sports and increasing the well-being of citizens.

Background and Objective

Before the project implementation the city of Kazan faced the following challenges: The healthy lifestyle was not effectively promoted among the citizens. Only one out of seven people (or 13.1% of the total population of Kazan) regularly participated in sports and recreational activities; Rapid and massive industrial development during the Soviet period left Kazan with many environmental problems. The city observed an increase in the number of diseases. The lack of places for sports in urban courtyards, the lack of an accessible environment for people with disabilities. Municipal schools with an imperfect nutritional system for children; Medical services lagged behind the European quality standards, most hospitals used obsolete equipment. Thus, the main purpose of the “Healthy Kazan” project implementation was to tackle with all these challenges. At the same time, the goal was to comprehensively improve the quality of life and health of the citizens of Kazan. Therefore, the city has chosen a comprehensive approach: construction of new sports facilities and infrastructure (embankments, bicycle parkings, bicycle lines), modernization of the healthcare system, improvement of the children's nutrition system, attracting the population to physical activities and sports by promoting a healthy lifestyle among citizens at public places and throughout mass media. Due to the difficult demographic situation, the key goals of development were in the field of medicine, health protection, the environment, and the nutrition system: protection of human health - the birth of healthy children and improving the health of children and teenagers; creation of a system for detecting early diseases, preventing relapses; improvement of preventive measures for social diseases; provision of the citizens of Kazan with places for sports and motivation for a healthy lifestyle; creation of an accessible environment for people with disabilities; formation of a favorable urban environment; creation of favorable conditions for increasing the number of marriages and the birth of second and subsequent children; improvement of the organization of food service and increasing the hot meal coverage in urban schools; improvement of the healthcare system, creation of affordable and high-quality medical care; The main goal of the “Healthy Kazan” project is to create an accessible and comfortable urban environment for all categories of citizens to increase the motivation of people for sports and a healthy lifestyle. The beneficiaries of the project are both citizens of Kazan and local authorities. Any city needs a physically developed and healthy population. Kazan is no exception. Innovative solutions that were developed through the interaction of local authorities and the citizens were translated into municipal and regional programs in the areas of sports, healthcare, nutrition, and the environment. In addition, it is important to note the awareness-building effort by local authorities to promote preventive measures and services. In addition to the efficiently functioning mechanism of the public-community partnership, Kazan is actively developing public-private partnerships in modernizing public healthcare institutions and improving urban landscaping and greening. A demonstrative example is a concession agreement for the “Dialysis Clinic" and “Reconstruction of the Fedoseevsky protective dam” projects. The Dialysis Clinic successfully operates in the market of medical services, and provides free dialysis assistance to patients with chronic renal insufficiency. “Reconstruction of the Fedoseevsky protective dam” project is aimed at improving the coastal territory of the river Kazanka for recreation and leisure. Thanks to the project, for the first time in the city’s history well-developed riverwalks were created. These riverwalks were designed according to the latest trends and citizens’ opinions - separate bicycle paths, sports equipment rentals, children playgrounds, bookcrossing, and more. Successful and effective implementation of the “Healthy Kazan” initiative is carried out, first of all, through the implementation of the planned activities in the municipal, regional and federal programs, which allocate the budgetary funds for the implementation of activities. As noted previously, the city actively uses the public-private and public-community partnerships to carry out its ambitious plans. In addition to financial resources, Kazan has important personnel and managerial resources. Moreover, major international events held in Kazan, make a significant contribution to the development of urban infrastructure by attracting federal funding and subsidies. For instance, n Kazan, the sports infrastructure has significantly renewed hanks to XXVII World Summer Universiade in 2013, the FINA World Championships in Water Sports in 2015, the Confederations Cup in 2017, and the 2018 FIFA World Cup in 2018. Today, the legacy of these sporting events, including sports infrastructure, works for the benefit of the citizens.

Actions and Implementation

Today, Kazan is a city that rightfully holds a status of the Russia’s Sports Capital. The Kazan's experience in improving the quality of life and promoting the healthy lifestyle can be useful to other cities that have demographic, healthcare, and environmental problems. These problems are relevant not only for cities in the post-Soviet countries, but also in many other developing countries. Kazan's experience in the development of a healthy urban environment can be extended to any other city or country. As suggested by the “Healthy Kazan” initiative, it is important to meet the needs of citizens in physical activities and sports by developing adequate and favorable urban infrastructure. Attracting major international sports events can be a key for many cities that lack adequate financial resources to realize their goals by means of attracting external financial resources and better utilizing the public-private partnership mechanisms.

Outcomes and Impacts

One of the main achievements is an improvement in city demographics: since 2009 the number of births exceeded the number of deaths and natural population growth has been achieved. The increase is both due to fertility growth and reduction in mortality rate. The life expectancy of the citizens has increased and reached 75 years, which is above the nationalaverage. Today every third Kazan citizen actively and regularly participates in sports, exercise and recreational activities - about 40% of residents. Annually there are new interesting forms of promotion of healthy lifestyle as well as forming negative attitude of youth to alcohol, tobacco and drugs. Over the last 15 years, the birth rate has increased almost by 3 times. In the last 15 years, the number of registered marriages more than doubled. Last year, about 11,000 marriages were registered in Kazan. Since 2005, the city population has grown by about 120,000 people and by now has reached 1,232,000. Today, the number of sports facilities Kazan is 2027 units (in 2006 - 1369 units), including 15 stadiums, 12 indoor ice arenas, 54 swimming pools, 378 sports halls, and 942 playgrounds. In preparation for The XXVII World summer Universiade of 2013, 31 new sports facilities have been introduced and 19 existing facilities have been repaired and reconstructed. Thanks to the unique technological solutions, all facilities meet the requirements of international sports federations. These facilities are considered to be one of the best not only in Russia, but also in Europe. Today these sports facilities serve an excellent base for training of national teams in many kinds of sports. The medical center of the Universiade Village today functions as students’ hospital and provides medical care to students of 27 higher education institutions of Kazan with total number of about 70,000 people. On Sundays, the Universiade facilities such as swimming pools, sports halls, and ice rinks are open to the citizens of Kazan at no charge. The monthly number of such visitors exceeds 30,000 people. Due to the developed infrastructure, every third citizen is actively engaged in sports and physical activities (450,000 people or 40% of all citizens). For the last 10 years, the number has increased almost by 3 times. The city emphasizes the importance of outdoor sports. For instance, with the support of the Mayor’s office every year the city hold “Golden Puck” ice hockey and “Leather Ball” football competitions. The latest outdoor sports events are "Ironstar" triathlon and Kazan athletics marathon. The number of people willing to participate in these events increases from year to year. It was possible to make a breakthrough thanks to the actions of the city team, close and effective cooperation with the regional and federal authorities, innovative ideas in choosing development approaches in the area of improving citizens' health, actively attracting financing by through international events, consistently building dialogue with citizens and involving them into solving the urban problems. The implementation of measures of municipal and regional programs, the construction of sports facilities and improvement of the urban environment, the initiatives to attract major international events to the city, and the active promotion of a healthy lifestyle among the population have a positive impact on the image of Kazan, making it more attractive for citizens and recognizable for visitors of the city. Thanks to the attraction of major international sports competitions to the city, Kazan has secured the status of a sports capital of Russia. The experience of Kazan can be useful for many Russian and foreign cities that feel the need for a physically developed and healthy population.

Sustainability and Scalability

Goal 3: Ensure healthy lives and promote well-being for all ages Goal 9: Build resilient infrastructure, promote inclusive and sustainable industrialization and foster innovation Goal 11: Make cities and human settlements inclusive, safe, resilient and sustainable Target 2: Access to safe, affordable, accessible and sustainable transport systems for all Target 3: Participatory, integrated and sustainable human settlement planning and management Target 8: Support positive economic, social and environmental links between urban, peri-urban and rural areas Goal 12: Ensure sustainable consumption and production patterns

Innovative Initiative

In the development of a healthy urban environment, Kazan has followed the evolutionary path. For a long time, the residents of Kazan had a low interest in a healthy lifestyle and sport. Only 13.1% of the total population of Kazan regularly participated in sports and recreational activities. Today, every third citizen of Kazan is actively and regularly engaged in physical activities and sports, which is 40% of the city population. In addition, the urban sports infrastructure was unsatisfactory, and the promotion of a healthy lifestyle among the population was inadequate. The local authorities had to admit these problems and take gradual steps towards their resolution. Gradually Kazan has begun to develop municipal programs and participate in regional, federal and international programs in the field of sports, healthcare, nutrition system, and urban infrastructure development. The changes that took place in Kazan have a cumulative character and favorably affect the development of a healthy urban environment. At the same time, one of the proven recipes on the way to significant changes, the development of urban infrastructure and improving the quality of life of Kazan citizens is the attraction of large mega-events to the city. Thanks to attracting large international sports competitions to the city, Kazan has secured the status of a sports capital of Russia. Innovative solutions in the development of a healthy urban environment and the future development of this field are reflected in the “Strategy of Social and Economic Development of Kazan until 2030”. According to the Strategy, by year 2030 Kazan is a territory of health, a city convenient for living, a city of active, responsible and creative citizens, a city with open government and safe urban environment. The main goal of the project is to turn Kazan into a “health territory” by year 2030, in accordance with the best quality of life standards and criteria of the World Health Organization. An important objective is to bring the share of citizens systematically engaged in physical activities and sports to 50%, to extend the period of active longevity, and to increase the life expectancy to 76 years. The “Healthy Kazan” project isone of “image project” of the “Strategy of Social and Economic Development of Kazan until 2030”. At the initial stage of the “Healthy Kazan” project, it was difficult to convince the citizens that not only designated social policy of local authorities but also their personal interest in healthy lifestyle contributes to the increase of the overall health level of population. New forms of promoting healthy lifestyles allowed people to pay attention to their own health. In addition, there were difficulties in finding funding for the modernization of the healthcare system, the organization of the children nutrition system, and the construction of sports facilities and urban infrastructure. Participation in regional, federal and international programs, as well as the city's initiative in attracting major sporting events were solution to the funding problems.

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BASIC CITY DATA Population size: 1,243,500 Population growth rate (%): 0.95 Surface area (sq.km): 614.20 Population density (people/sq.km): 2025.00 GDP per capita (USD): 9500.00 Main source of prosperity: Industry http://www.guangzhouaward.org/a/925.html?lang=en&page=3