An essential collection that advances our understanding of how cities influence our health

More than half the world's population lives in cities -- a figure that will grow to two-thirds by 2030. As global populations rapidly consolidate around urban centers, the scientific understanding of what this means for human health faces a new and greater urgency.

Urban Health connects urban exposures -- the experiences, choices, and behaviors shaped by living in a city -- to their impact on population health. By using the ubiquitous aspects of the urban experience as a lens to study these exposures across borders and demographics, it offers a new, scalable framework for understanding health and disease. Its applications to public health, epidemiology, and social science are virtually unlimited.

Enriched with case studies that consider the state of health in cities all over the world, this book does more than capture the state of a nascent field; it holds a critical mirror to itself, considering the next decade and arming a new generation with the tools for research and practice.

Sandro Galea is Robert A. Knox Professor and Dean of the School of Public Health at Boston University. He is a past president of the Society for Epidemiologic Research and of the Interdisciplinary Society for Population Health Science, chair-elect of the board of the Association of Schools and Programs of Public Health, and is an elected member of the National Academy of Medicine.

Catherine K. Ettman is chief of staff at the Boston University School of Public Health and a doctoral student at the Brown University School of Public Health. She is interested in the non-health policies that shape health in urban areas.

David Vlahov is Professor and Associate Dean for Research at the School of Nursing at Yale University. He is former Dean of the University of California School of Nursing, founding president of the International Society for Urban Health, editor of the Journal of Urban Health, and is an elected member of the National Academy of Medicine.

Contributors

Foreword

SECTION 1: Why cities, why health

1. The present and future of cities
Sandro Galea, Catherine K. Ettman, David Vlahov

2. Why cities and health? Cities as a determinant of health
Catherine K. Ettman, David Vlahov, Sandro Galea

SECTION 2: Health challenges and opportunities in cities

3. Economic conditions
Atheendar S. Venkataramani, Alexander C. Tsai

4. Reducing poverty, improving health
Sanjay Basu

5. Housing
Roshanak Mehdipanah, Alexa K. Eisenberg, Amy J. Schulz

6. Transportation
Mark Nieuwenhuijsen, Haneen Khreis

7. Aging populations
Kathleen A. Cagney

8. Children and adolescents in cities
Shakira F. Suglia

9. Inequities in cities and in urban health
Ben Brisbois, Patricia O'Campo, Janisha Kamalanathan

10. Migration
Sabrina Hermosilla, Tahilia J. Rebello

11. Education
Jennifer Karas Montez, Amy Ellen Schwartz

12. Healthy places to play, learn, and develop
Renée Boynton-Jarrett

13. Pollution
Jonathan M. Samet

14. Climate change and the health of urban populations
Patrick L. Kinney

15. Crime and criminal justice in cities
Matt Vogel, Steven F. Messner

16. Improving access to healthy food in cities
Monica L. Wang, Marisa Otis

17. Disasters
James M. Shultz

SECTION 3: Methods and approaches to understanding health in cities

18. History
Richard Rodger

19. A systems science approach to urban health
Danielle C. Ompad, Yesim Tozan

20. Sociology
Lei Jin, Eric Fong, Chenyu Ye

21.Urban planning: leveraging the urban planning system to shape healthy cities
Helen Pineo, Nici Zimmermann, Mike Davies

22. Health services research: studying health care services in the city
Michael K. Gusmano

23. Environmental Health Impact Assessment
Carlos Dora

24. Multi-level perspectives on urban health
Dustin T. Duncan, Yazan A. Al-Ajlouni, Ilgaz Hisirci, Basile Chaix

25. Cells-to-society approaches
Guia Guffanti

26. Social networks
Abby E. Rudolph

27. Urban design
Oliver Gruebner, Layla McCay

28. Urban land use and health
Rohan Simkin, Karen C. Seto

29. Community-based participatory research: an approach to research in the urban context
Barbara A. Israel, Amy J. Schulz, Chris M. Coombe, Edith A. Parker, Angela G. Reyes, Zachary Rowe, Richard L. Lichtenstein

SECTION 4: Case studies in urban health

30. The Healthy Cities movement
Agis D. Tsouros

31. The Partnership for Healthy Cities: activating urban governments as engines of public health practice
Ariella Rojhani, Charity Hung, Sally Chew, Christina Honeysett, Sandra Mullin, Adam Karpati

32. CityHealth: policies for today's urban health challenges
Brian C. Castrucci, Elizabeth A. Corcoran, Shelley L. Hearne, Katie Keith, Elizabeth Voyles, Catherine Patterson

33. New York City: the Fit City example
Karen Lee

34. Boston, a case study
Russ Lopez

35. Richmond, CA: health equity in all urban policies
Jason Corburn, Joseph S. Griffin

36. Case studies in urban health: Nairobi, Kenya
Alex Ezeh, Blessing Mberu

37. Observatory for urban health in Belo Horizonte City: an innovative and cross-sectoral collaboration in urban health
Waleska Teixeira Caiaffa, Amélia Augusta de Lima Friche

38. Rapid urbanization in China
Brian J. Hall, Teng Ieng Leong, Wen Chen

39. Regional planning for health
David Siscovick, Mandu Sen, Chris Jones

40. Going biophilic, living and working in biophilic buildings
Jie Yin, John D. Spengler

SECTION 5: The future of cities, the future of health

41. City health departments: leading urban public health practice
Daniel Kass, Thomas Matte, Adam Karpati

42. City leadership for health, equity, and sustainable development
Agis D. Tsouros

43. Teaching urban health
Nicholas Freudenberg

44. Urban health: looking to the future
David Vlahov, Catherine K. Ettman, Sandro Galea

Index