The majority of people live in cities and urbanisation is continuing worldwide. Cities have long been known to be society’s predominant engine of innovation and wealth creation, yet they are also the main source of pollution and disease.

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Emerging evidence suggests that (poor) urban and transport planning may be to a large extent responsible for this and may have a large impact on mortality and morbidity in cities.

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New concepts such as car-free cities, compact cities, low carbon cities, and nature-based solutions and new technologies such as electric vehicles and (shared) autonomous vehicles have been introduced and may improve the urban environment and thereby health.

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The objective of the Urban Transitions 2020 is to promote healthy urban development by bringing together different sectors and disciplines (e.g. urban and transport planning, architecture, green space management, environmental exposure assessment, environmental epidemiology, physical activity, climate change, and public health and governance) working within cities and presenting the state of the art research and providing solutions to and future healthy visions of our cities.

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Source: Eltis