Across the globe, cities are faced with a growing challenge: how to ensure all children have access to nutritious food, safe spaces to play and the opportunity to grow up healthy. Childhood overweight and obesity are on the rise, especially in underserved urban areas where barriers to healthy food and safe spaces for play are most pronounced.

Yet cities are also where some of the most impactful solutions are taking action. With the right partnerships, policies and approaches, urban environments can be transformed to support children’s health and well-being for generations.

This City Health Talk will spotlight innovative, city-led strategies advancing equity and health outcomes for children.

We will start with insights from Ravi Gurumurthy, the Group CEO of Nesta, the UK’s innovation agency focused on social good. He will discuss Nesta's system-level approach to promoting equity and health, highlighting two of the agency's key missions: A fairer start, which aims to break the link between early disadvantage and life outcomes so that all children, regardless of their background, can thrive; and A healthy life, an initiative that seeks to reduce obesity rates by 50% by 2030 through the creation of healthier and more accessible food environments.

Milena Marques, a Physician and Health Authority at the Municipal Health Secretariat in Campinas, Brazil, will share insights on the Childhood Obesity Prevention Initiative (COPI). Her presentation will highlight how a cross-departmental effort is effectively expanding access to healthy, affordable food, transforming public spaces into safe and active environments, and fostering collaboration among city departments to better support child health.

Join us on 26 June (14.00–15.00 CEST) to learn how cities are turning bold ideas into practical, impactful solutions, reshaping urban environments to give every child a fair start and a healthy future.

• Date: 26 June 2025
• Time: 14.00–15.00 CEST
• Register now

Don’t miss this opportunity to explore how cities can reshape the places where children live, learn, and play, laying the foundation for healthier generations to come.

Register now and be part of the conversation shaping better urban futures for children.