Urban living – a balancing act for health and wellbeing

Living in cities presents profound health challenges, assert experts in a recent journal series addressing the intersection of urban life and wellbeing.

The collection, featured within a special issue of Public Health Research & Practice by the Sax Institute, emphasises the pressing issues affecting urban residents' health and proposes crucial actions to mitigate these concerns.

Produced in collaboration with the Healthy Populations and Environments Platform within Maridulu Budyari Gumal (SPHERE), the papers underline the urgency to address the substantial health issues embedded within urban settings.

UTS Institute for Sustainable Futures (ISF) Professor Jason Prior – alongside fellow ISF researchers Erica McIntyre, Edgar Liu, Rupert Legg and other international experts – highlight the interconnectedness between people’s health and urban planning, development and management. 

ISF’s Jason Prior said, "We need to harness urban planning and development for health. We can no longer rely solely on the health sector to address health and wellbeing."

The world’s population is increasingly concentrated in cities, so greater collaboration is needed between the urban planning, development and health sectors. These collaborations are required to effectively address growing urban inequalities.

“These collaborations are needed to address the disproportionate impact that our urban environments are having on the health of the planet on which all human life depends. This special issue is about harnessing these collaborations for health and wellbeing”, says Prior.

The special issue contains nine papers, all of which call for the urgency to revamp urban spaces to foster better health and wellbeing for all. They highlight the escalating disparities, strained infrastructure, housing shortages, sedentary lifestyles, and intensified heat that collectively impact the health landscape of city dwellers. 

One paper examines the experiences of LGBTQIA+ people in public spaces across Sydney, Melbourne, and Brisbane. It rates Melbourne as the most proactive city in fostering inclusive environments, closely followed by Sydney. The paper gives a breakdown of the best-performing Local Government Areas and puts forward a new framework for creating more inclusive public spaces. 

Another study researches the health outcomes across the life course from exposure to everyday urban environments during the first 2000 days of life.

“It is critical we design our environments to promote the health of people and the planet”, says ISF Research Principal Erica McIntyre. 

“If we collaborate across health and built environment disciplines and with communities, there is the potential to create urban environments that allow ecosystems and the people who live within them to thrive.” 

The call to action resonates across these papers, urging stakeholders to rally behind a united effort in reshaping urban landscapes to prioritise health, equity, and equality. As cities continue to grow and evolve, the need for holistic urban planning that nurtures healthier communities becomes ever more imperative.