Healthy Cities and Local Agenda 21: the UK experience - challenges for thenew millennium

Healthy Cities and Local Agenda 21 both offer strategic frameworks for the development and implementation of theory and practice in the related fields of health promotion/public health and sustainable development. Whilst the close links between health and sustainable development are widely acknowled ged, the two frameworks continue to operate largely in parallel. This paper reviews concepts of health and sustainable development, and relates the ev olution of thinking that has taken place to the historical development of t he Health for All (HFA) and Agenda 21 movements. It is argued that towns ci ties and communities committed to promoting health and sustainability face two key challenges as they approach the new millennium: how to move from th e margins to the mainstream; and how to integrate the frameworks. Discussio ns from a recent national 'round table' meeting are used to illustrate a ra nge of key issues and highlight implications for people working at local, n ational and international levels.