Cities@Heart in Izmir

Members of Cities@Heart were in İzmir on 4 June 2026 for a stakeholder meeting.

The day kicked off with a warm welcome from the mayor of İzmir, Dr Cemil Tugay. Presentations were then given from the Izmir Municipality, members of Cities@Heart and other stakeholders. The programme showcased Izmir Metropolitan Municipality’s institutional capacity, field-level implementation, and collaborative approach to advancing cardiovascular health and wellbeing in urban environments. It also presented a number of stakeholders present at the event with the opportunity to learn more about Cities@Heart.

A notable part of the day was the visit to the İzmir Health and Wellbeing Centre (İZSEM). This is Izmir’s core strategy to offering accessible health, regardless of socioeconomic background and resonates strongly with Cities@Heart’s ambition of reducing inequity in access to cardiovascular care. Discussions at the centre gave delegates valuable insights into how Cities@Heart can collaborate with Izmir and other cities within the project to pilot, implement and scale up interventions.

Cities@Heart is sincerely grateful to Pınar Okyay, Ahmet Soner Emre, Ferhat Yıldız, Zarife Kalindamar, Mahir Can Ekicibil and the rest of the team at Izmir Metropolitan Municipality, as well as Isil Ergin, the academic coordinator from Ege University, and the entire team at İZSEM for their kind hospitality and the opportunity to meet local stakeholders.