The ‘Beyond Health Care’ Conference hosted in Toronto leads to the launch of the worldwide “Healthy Cities” movement. The Healthy Cities Projects, one of which was located in Toronto, utilized a participatory approach to health promotion by engaging community residents in the identification of health priorities in their community and the development of appropriate activities to address these priorities.

The approach used by the Healthy Cities Projects was widely adopted by health promoters. Over time, the Healthy Cities Projects becomes the “Healthy Communities” initiative as it spreads to towns, villages and rural areas throughout the world.