The University of Gloucestershire (UOG), has over 10,000 students studying a wide range of courses from undergraduate to postgraduate covering a wide range of disciplines, and is a VET provider for a range of professional courses. UOG has a strong reputation for teaching and learning innovation, and its graduate employability initiatives.

This project will be led by Professor Diane Crone, in the School of Sport & Exercise. The School was configured in 2002 and currently has over 45 academic staff. Staff on the project team have extensive experience of sport and physical activity promotion in community and health care settings, and carrying out applied research and evaluation, predominantly for the development of evidenced-based physical activity practice in education, health care, and the community. Their work has a strong emphasis in liaising with national, regional and local public organisations and local communities, working with them to develop evidence-based policy and practice. In respect to this specific project and the development of urban active environments, members of the team have previously developed and evaluated a national Healthy Towns project which involved developing a large complex community intervention for 18,000 people promoting a shift from car transport to walking and cycling. Furthermore, they have actively contributed to the development of guidance documents to help local government departments implement NICE (National Institute of Health and Clinical Excellence) guidance on active planning. The Active Planning Toolkit provided a practical guide for planners to ensure that buildings, campuses and wider infrastructure, support and encourage physical activity.

The British Heart Foundation Centre on Population Approaches for Non-Communicable Disease Prevention carries out research that has the highest methodological quality, and aims to have the greatest possible influence on public health policy and practice, which relates to population approaches for the prevention of non-communicable diseases (NCDs), i.e cardiovascular diseases, diabetes, cancer and lung diseases.

The Centre’s research has three themes:

1. The burden of NCDs
2. The primary prevention of NCDs
3. The relationship between NCD prevention and environmental sustainability

We were also designated a World Health Organisation Collaborating Centre in April 2014.  We have 5 research programmes (cardiovascular disease, diet and nutrition, physical activity, obesity and environmental sustainability) under which we have a variety of research projects currently running.

The Physical Activity and Health Unit is an academic group at the Epidemiology, Biostatistics, and Prevention Institute (EBPI) (formerly Institute of Social and Preventive Medicine) of the University of Zurich. The team carries out discovery and translational research as well as implementation and evaluation projects and supports the development of evidence based tools. Key areas of work include policy and transport approaches to physical activity promotion in populations, approaches in health care settings as well as economic approaches and international networks.

Main projects: http://www.research-projects.uzh.ch/a1381.htm

Fit for Life Program (Kunnossa kaiken ikää -ohjelma, KKI, in Finnish) is supporting creation of local HEPA services by providing funding, mentoring, seminars, and material. Operators such as national public health organizations, sport clubs, different associations, work communities, occupational health care, pharmacies, and private sector are organizing local HEPA projects, in cooperation with municipal departments (sports, health, land use, road planning).

The aim is to help operators to establish permanent actions. Local HEPA services include groups for sedentary and physically passive adults, targeted groups for sedentary men, adults at risk groups caused by a reduced physical activity and/or an increased sitting life-style, and work communities. Also, actions to increase physically active commuting as well as daily walking and cycling are included. One goal of KKI is to strengthen cooperation and networking between organizations, including the administrative branches, operating in the field of HEPA. The main funders of KKI are the Ministry of Education and Culture and the Ministry of Social Affairs and Health (via RAY Finland’s Slot Machine Association).

The work of KKI is focused on five main HEPA themes as follows: local HEPA service chains, HEPA services for work communities and physically active commuting, outdoor conditions as well as environment for HEPA actions, and tailored campaigns such as Adventures of Joe Finn for sedentary men. The actions are based on strong networking and cooperation with other HEPA partners.

Tukums municipality consists of Tukums town  and 10 villages – Sēme, Zentene, Tume, Degole, Irlava, Lestene, Pūre, Jaunsāti, Slampe, Džūkste.

Tukums Municipality has to fulfil all functions of the municipality as it is stated in legislation of Republic of Latvia in the Law on Local Governments particularly. The main functions are as follows: to organize the provision of utilities for residents, to look after the public services and facilities as well as the sanitary cleanliness of their administrative territory, to provide educations for residents, to ensure access to health care and social assistance and other activities.

Municipality is interested in active citizens and supports different activities in this field. Municipality collaborates with more than 20-ty non-governmental organizations, including sport organizations. Municipality helps citizens to get to know more about Europe citizenship through cooperation with twinning towns – Tidaholm (Sweden),  Scheessel (Germany), Krasnogorsk (Russia), Plunge (Lithuania), Frederiksverk (Denmark), Bnei Aish (Israel).

Brasov Metropolitan Agency for Sustainable Development is an associative body of the communities from Brasov Metropolitan Area. This organization brings together the public authorities from the city of Brasov with those of two other medium sized cities, four small sized towns, ten rural communes and the County Council of Brasov. Together, all these communities form a well-defined city region also known as the Brasov Metropolitan Area. The Metropolitan Agency represents the intercommunity development body that gathers the sustainable development goals of the member communities and strives toward developing projects that will benefit the entire metropolitan territory.

From its start Brasov Metropolitan Agency has directly implemented various projects, financed by the EU such as URBACT, INTERREG, LIFELONG LEARNING PROGRAMME or through the LEADER approach for rural development.

The organization consists of a young, motivated, versatile and interdisciplinary team that allows for the implementation of a variety of activities within a project’s framework. Based on the high level of expertise of our team, we can provide a proactive approach to project activities, both at local level as well as at the project consortium level.

As an organization oriented towards sustainable development in Brasov Metropolitan area, our cooperation interest are related the following areas:

• Local and regional development
• Research and Innovation
• Environmental protection and conservation; green and reusable energy
• Education and training
• Entrepreneurship and business competitiveness

CESIE is a European centre of studies and initiatives, established in 2001, inspired by the work and theories of the sociologist Danilo Dolci (1924-1997). Our mission is to promote growth through innovative and participative educational approaches. Our vision is the world to become only one creature.

Our objectives

• To improve lifelong education in Europe through transnational projects involving local communities
• To promote sustainable development of neighboring regions and beyond through training and education
• To foster progress and innovation in Higher Education and Research
• To support learning mobility for people at all ages, across borders and sectors
• To stimulate local growth by adapting international good practices and methods

CESIE works in the promotion of social and territorial development through capacity building and empowerment of individuals, communities and institutions through education, research and networking initiatives. The organisation is divided into five departments which work together and manage activities in their specific fields: European Cooperation, International Cooperation, Mobility, Socio-cultural Promotion and Vocational Training. The head office is the centre of Palermo with other offices in India, Nepal and Senegal.

Municipality of Trikala is the Metropolitan organization of Trikala region, located in Central Greece and the local council represents a population of more than 80,000 inhabitants. This organization has a significant experience in project planning and implementation and as such it has been awarded with the title of the First Greek Smart City in 2004 after the successful planning of a significant ICT project portfolio. Since then, Municipality of Trikala moves forward and utilized the corresponding ICT infrastructure and experience both at national (i.e., CitiesNet municipal network) and International level (i.e., European Smart City Network, ICLEI, participation in European Project Consortium etc.).Finally, in this organization work about 600 municipal employees in 11 municipal services.