Transforming cities for sustainability: a health perspective

Melanie Crane, Simon Lloyd, Andy Haines, Ding Ding, Emma Hutchinson, Kristine Belesova, Michael Davies, David Osrin, Nici Zimmermann, Anthony Capon, Paul Wilkinson, Catalina Turcu

Research output: Contribution to journalReview ArticleResearchpeer-review

81 Citations (Scopus)

Abstract

Transformational change is urgently needed to address planetary health challenges in cities. Through an interdisciplinary overview of the literature, we consider how to frame and unpack city-level transformation towards synergistic benefits for urban health and environmental sustainability. By describing the characteristics of a ‘healthy sustainable city’ and by bringing together the ideas underlying frameworks for health and sustainability, we develop a conceptual understanding of how cities may progress towards achieving significant improvements in health and the environment. We investigate how urban change works, and build a theoretical understanding of how urban change may be directed to integrate health and sustainability. We conclude that urban transformation needs to be a multi-scalar process across city sectors to meet the scale, speed and form of change required. We propose that this can best be achieved in practice through a composition of mechanisms, including strengthening city governance, enabling technological and social innovations, applying sustainable urban planning and infrastructure development, and impelling social behaviour change; supported by systems-driven policy and practice-focused scientific evidence.

Original languageEnglish
Article number106366
Number of pages10
JournalEnvironment International
Volume147
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - Feb 2021
Externally publishedYes

Keywords

  • Cities
  • Environmental Health
  • Governance
  • Liveability
  • Sustainability
  • Systems science
  • Urban planning
  • Urban policy
  • Urban population
  • Urban transformation

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