Building resilient cities: Lessons from COVID-19 for a healthier urban future
Discover how cities can build resilience against future health crises. Our study synthesizes key lessons from the COVID-19 pandemic to create healthier, more sustainable urban environments.
The urban health crisis: How city living is quietly fueling the world diabetes crisis
We present a novel conceptual framework called the Urban Stress Model, which intentionally crosses disciplinary boundaries. We suggest that the unique physical form of cities contributes to an increased stress burden through the interacting influences of daily urban hazards and social disadvantage. We use New York City as a case example because of its high diabetes rates and its legacy of unequal healthcare in the context of concentrated wealth. Therefore, New York City can provide valuable insights for newly developing urban centers worldwide confronting similar challenges and growing social and health inequality.
A pragmatic all-inclusive method to uncover drivers of health in high-density apartment buildings
This research from Sydney shows the value of combining qualitative flexibility with systems thinking. Key contributions include: 1) Demonstrating how conversational, non-rigid methods reveal overlooked drivers of health and well-being. 2) Showing that human–environment systems perspectives add depth to urban health research. 3) Providing a never-before-used resident-centred approach for studying complex city living challenges.
What determines better neighbouring among affordable housing residents in Metro Vancouver, Canada
At the intersection of urban and public health policy, the success of higher-density affordable housing solutions to serve an inclusive well-being agenda depends upon reducing the association of these lifestyles and built environments with loneliness and social isolation. We construct a pro-neighbouring index and test its predictors using an ordinal logistic regression model based on resident survey data.
A framework to integrate health into urban climate policies: A city-level approach for better planning
Urban planning significantly impacts public health, yet health considerations are often overlooked in city development strategies. Climate change further exacerbates urban health risks, particularly in vulnerable regions. Despite growing recognition of the link between urban planning and health, cities lack structured methodologies to quantify and integrate health-related data into policy. Without systematic approach, cities struggle to identify disparities, allocate resources effectively, and create health-resilient urban environments. Addressing this gap is critical for sustainable urban development.