Initiative Description
The third initiative of the sustainable city project implies the promotion of a healthy lifestyle, which includes the development of both physical and mental health with the help of such practices as yoga, meditation, exercises in gyms (with cardio stimulation), and various field trips (Dam et al. 2017, p. 40). It is necessary to mention that a healthy and wise community is one of the most essential components of any modern sustainable city, which supports the proposed project’s objectives. The discussed initiative will reduce the rate of obese children in Dubai as they will have more resources and knowledge to maintain fit.
Contribution to Sustainable City
As mentioned previously, the promotion of a healthy lifestyle makes Dubai a sustainable city because the practices of yoga, meditation, and other exercises make its younger generations fit and wise. Not only do active games make children healthier, but they also enrich their brains with oxygen, which makes them work faster, better, and longer. Moreover, the city will never face a demographic crisis if all the suggested actions will be popular among local citizens.
To educate the public about what the third initiative can do, it would be necessary to show people that minor investments (as displayed in the table above) lead to major outcomes. The population of Dubai must know that health is one of the most important factors that must be inherent in a modern developed city (Lewis 2015, p. 473). As many individuals have sedentary lifestyles today, it is crucial to eat nutritious and fresh meals, do physical exercises, and so on.
Implementation of the Initiative
- Promotion of healthy activities in schools
- Organization of health centers (with equipment for yoga, meditation, and light weights) for children
- Development of certain health activities into people’s habits
- Collaboration with business centers, kindergartens, schools, gyms, and other institutions to attract more people to maintain a healthy lifestyle
To help Dubai Municipality to announce the success of the discussed project, it is necessary to make a publication on the future online source of the project and gather a meeting of all its stakeholders to summarize the acquired goals, along with other results and statistics.
Reference List
Dam, NTV, Vugt, MKV, Vago, DR, Schmalzl, L, Saron, CD, Olendzki, A, Meissner, T, Lazar, SW, Kerr, CE, Gorchov, J, Fox, KCR, Field, BA, Britton, WB, Brefczynski-Lewis, JA & Meyer, DE 2017, ‘Mind the hype: a critical evaluation and prescriptive agenda for research on mindfulness and meditation’, Perspectives on Psychological Science, vol. 13, no. 1, pp. 36–61.
Evans, CE, Albar, SA, Vargas-Garcia, EJ & Xu, F 2015, ‘School-based interventions to reduce obesity risk in children in high- and middle-Income countries’, Advances in Food and Nutrition Research, vol. 76, no. 1, pp. 29–77.
Hussain, HY 2015, ‘Obesity and overweight among Dubai population, prevalence and associated risk factors: cross sectional analytical study’, International Journal of Epidemiology, vol. 44, no. 1, p. 133.
Lewis, S 2015, ‘Qualitative inquiry and research design: choosing among five approaches’, Health Promotion Practice, vol. 16, no. 4, pp. 473–475.