Overview: Riverside aims to become one of the healthiest, longest-living populations in the world by 2030, joining other locations recognized as Blue Zone Project Communities. These blue zones have been identified as having specific practices and habits that contribute to the health and longevity of their communities. The City of Riverside was awarded a $1 million grant to develop a resident-led effort to increase public health and longevity in the Arlanza neighborhood. The city hopes for improved outcomes such as modified behaviors, decreased instances of disease, medical cost savings, and increased regional economic performance.
Breanna Reeves
The City of Riverside aims to become one of the healthiest, longest-living populations in the world by 2030, alongside other locations as part of the Blue Zones Project Communities.
“Riverside is a really special and exciting place, and we have extraordinary community partners who are doing amazing work… who were all really looking for ways to address upstream health and to have a deep impact on Riverside’s health and wellbeing,” said Erin Edwards, executive director of Blue Zones Project – Riverside. The project is built upon three different pillars: policy, places and people.
The phrase “blue zones” was coined by National Geographic Fellow and award-winning journalist Dan Buettner in 2005, who identified the five original blue zones in Okinawa, Japan; Sardinia, Italy; Nicoya, Costa Rica; Ikaria, Greece; and Loma Linda, California.
According to the Blue Zones Project, observations from blue zones around the world found specific practices and habits that contributed to the health and longevity of these communities. Loma Linda is identified as the only blue zone in the U.S. and is made up of a community of about 9,000 Seventh-day Adventists who live a decade longer than most Americans, according to the Blue Zones Project.
The Blue Zones Project gathers local stakeholders and global well-being experts to introduce evidence-based programs and changes to environment, policy, and social networks. Riverside recently hosted a stakeholders launch which welcomed nearly 150 people, including elected officials, nonprofit organizations, government entities, faith leaders and health professionals who convened to kick off the City of Riverside Blue Zones Project.
There are currently more than 70 Blue Zones Project Communities across the nation that have launched different initiatives to help achieve healthier communities.
Riverside’s Blue Zone Project Community recently completed the discovery stage (focus groups and discussions with stakeholders). In February 2025, Blue Zones Project Riverside will host summits and work with local experts and stakeholders to narrow down key priorities that Blue Zones Riverside will focus on in the next five years to reach Blue Zones Certification.
Following the focus groups and walking/driving tours with experts, the next few months are dedicated to developing the blueprint for the project which will be “the guiding document to which we will be accountable in order to become a Certified Blue Zones Project Community over the next five years,” Edwards explained. The blueprint will be published and available to the community in May 2025.
“From there, we dive in and we do the work that our community has identified,” Edwards said. National subject matter experts have already been invited into the community to examine food systems, the built environment, and alcohol and tobacco policy in Riverside and to learn from local experts as the project narrows down priority areas.
Following the publication of the blueprint, communities across Riverside will be invited to an event where the Blue Zones Project Riverside will discuss the blueprint and begin the process of engaging with individuals, neighborhoods, and schools and begin to implement the policy recommendations that emerge from the blueprint.
“We have a lot of great things in place already, and now it’s a matter of identifying where the opportunities are. Where can Blue Zones use our convening power and role of facilitation and our access to experts at the national level to really take us into the next chapter as a city and achieve the dreams and the priorities that we’re all already working toward?” Edwards asked.
Residents in blue zones have lower rates of chronic disease, in part, due their diet. The most recent available data from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reported that in 2022, life expectancy at birth was 77.5 years for the total U.S. population. The leading cause of death was heart disease.
In Loma Linda’s blue zone, residents do not drink alcohol, smoke, eat meat in moderation and practice daily exercise. Within this blue zone, the Adventists eat higher rates of vegetables and fruit, and snack on nuts; they also practice a 24-hour Sabbath — a day of rest.
The City of Riverside has been a part of the greater Riverside County blue zones effort since the city council voted on Dec. 12, 2023 to join. By participating in this project, the city hopes for improved outcomes among residents such as modified behaviors, decreased instances of disease, medical cost savings and increased regional economic performance.
Other cities across the county joining the effort to become healthier as part of the Blue Zones Project Community include Banning, Mead Valley, French Valley, Corona and Coachella. Riverside University Health System (RUHS) Public Health is also working with local leaders to achieve healthier cities in partnership with the Blue Zones Project Community, along with Blue Zone Project sponsors Inland Empire Health Plan (UEHP), Kaiser Permanente and Molina Healthcare.
Community members interested in learning more about how to get involved with the Blue Zones Project Community can sign up to volunteer.