Investigating the Participation of Iranian Metropolitan Municipalities in Promoting Urban Health and Providing a Conceptual Model

Municipality is one of the most important urban institutions with which citizens necessarily communicate. Municipality, with it is long-term management and planning, can identify the primary and secondary needs of citizen whereby the security of urban life can be guaranteed. In the realm of health and its enhancement, municipalities can potentially play an important role. The main goal of this study is to propose a model for municipalities’ participation in health promotion projects in urban settings in Iran. In this study both qualitative and quantitative approaches are utilized. In the first step, dimensions, components, and indices of a questionnaire are identified by interviewing members of the expert group and implementing Delphi technique in three stages. Subsequently, using the survey method, research toolkits were distributed among the members of the sample group. Finally, a model for municipalities’ participation in health promotion projects in urban settings was proposed and was compared to other models exercised in other countries.The results of structural equations indicated that the municipal participation model in health promotion projects in Iran has six main dimensions: urban planning improvement, living conditions improvement, democratic and collaborative governance, safety in face of disastrous and emergency events, creating age-friendly cities, and public health improvement. The improvement of living conditions with a coefficient of 0.96 is the most significant dimension. According to the findings of this study, the role of municipalities in public health promotion in Iran is quite negligible. Overall, this study suggests that municipalities should enhance their involvement in public health promotion particularly in terms of improving living conditions.