Active City Master Plans: A Methodology to Promote Active Behavior and Health via Urban Planning—Lessons from the Torrelodones (Spain) Pilot Study

Cities play a central role in shaping opportunities for physical activity, health, and social well-being. However, municipalities often lack operational methodologies capable of translating active living and healthy urban environment strategies into coordinated, implementable, and evaluable local action. This study addresses this gap by proposing a methodology for creating Active City Master Plans, an integrative planning and governance framework designed to support municipalities in the systematic creation, implementation, and monitoring of local active living strategies. This structured approach integrates urban planning, public health, sport policy, and social development via a multi-phase planning process combining political anchoring, evidence-based diagnosis, participatory prioritization, project programming, and indicator-based monitoring. Emphasis is placed on intersectoral governance, institutional coordination, and the use of spatially locatable indicators to support decision-making and resource allocation. The methodology was developed through the synthesis of international active living and healthy urban planning frameworks. It is currently in the second stage of development, following refinement through pilot application in the medium-sized Spanish municipality of Torrelodones, which served as a methodological testing environment. While early results demonstrate feasibility and policy integration potential, further research is required to evaluate long-term population-level outcomes and transferability across diverse urban contexts. By providing a transferable methodology rather than a predefined plan model, municipalities—particularly small and medium-sized cities—can develop context-adapted Active City Master Plans aligned with sustainability, equity, and public health objectives.