Turning Evidence into Impact

Urban Health as a Global Driver of Equity and Social Justice

Conference Tracks

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Driving Equity, Combating Disparities

Contributions addressing the social and economic determinants of health, structural racism, racial disparities, ways to improve health equity and disparities in neighborhood environments, strategies for reaching and empowering vulnerable and excluded populations, decolonizing knowledge, informality, and environmental justice to ensure equitable environments, supporting the health and wellbeing of all residents.

  • Decolonizing knowledge and research approaches  

  • Inequalities, environment, and health 

  • Structural racism and health disparities 

  • Justice in urban and transportation planning 

  • Affordable housing, evictions and involuntary displacement  

  • Designing and developing inclusive cities 

  • Life expectancy differences by zip code, city, and country 

  • Building more equitable health systems 

  • Tools and methods to measure equity impacts of development initiatives  

  • And more…

Mind Matters—Promoting Mental Health and Wellbeing

  • How nature affects mental health 

  • How restorative landscapes and nature-based solutions affect mental health

  • Environmental exposures and mental health impacts 

  • Social and nature-based prescribing  

  • Physical activity and mental health 

Contributions related to how we can better understand urban determinants of mental health and the potential for exposure to nature, nature-based solutions, opportunities for physical activity and increasing social connectedness to promote improved mental health in cities.  

  • Managing urban environments to combat social isolation and stress 

  • Social cohesion, social capital and social equity to improve mental health

  • Public art and culture to promote improved mental health  

  • And more… 

Prescription for Healthy, Equitable Places

Contributions that promote healthy, active, equitable and vital communities as an integral part of government policy, community planning and development practice. 

  • Planning and designing built environments for health 

  • Harnessing placemaking to develop healthier places 

  • Active transportation planning for health 

  • Building health-supporting social environments in cities 

  • Transforming neighborhoods into health-supporting communities

  • Designing green, public, and open spaces to promote health 

  • Healthy housing  

  • NCDs and urbanization 

  • Approaches to enhancing physical activity and active living opportunities 

  • Health Impact Assessments (HIAs)  

  • And more… 

Mobilizing Resources and Collaboration to Invest in Health

  • Social and impact investing for health 

  • Quantifying urban health value for insurers, healthcare systems and companies

  • Measuring financial value of healthy buildings, e.g., workplaces, homes, schools and communities

  • Health Economic Assessment Tool (HEAT) and other tools for measuring and monitoring economic value of health benefit investments 

Making the economic case for investing in health supporting urban environments. Contributions describing mechanisms, methods, approaches, tools, and processes that can attract public and private sector financial and human resource investments into better health for all. 

  • Health in all policy approaches  

  • Tools to quantify financial gain to cities from healthier cities and citizens

  • Tools for measuring and monitoring health and economic impacts in urban settings

  • Advancing multidisciplinary and intersectoral cooperation and partnerships to improve urban health 

  • And more…

One Life. One Planet. One Society—Leveraging One Health and Climate Action in Cities

Contributions related to using the One Health integrated approach to health and sustainability at the human-animal-environmental ecosystem interface. Research and experiences harnessing climate action to improve health, protect biodiversity, contribute to sustainability, and mitigate climate impacts across all sectors. 

  • One Health local governance approaches, e.g., data monitoring, finance mechanisms, decision making structures, public participation, etc. 

  • Systematic and cross-sectoral approaches to health threats at the human-animal-ecosystem interface 

  • Infectious diseases in cities 

  • Urbanization and zoonotic and vector-borne diseases 

  • Providing healthy food and nutrition for urban populations 

  • Animal health e.g., the human-animal bond, diseases in food animals 

  • Planetary health and cities 

  • Climate change and health impacts in urban contexts 

  • Climate action mitigation, adaptation planning and solutions for healthier people and planet in urban settings 

  • Climate change and municipal public services to improve air quality, clean water access and enhance food security    

  • Heat impacts on health in urban settings  

  • Air pollution mitigation  

  • Role and authority of local governments in driving climate action

  • And more… 

Cities for all Ages

  • Designing child-responsive policies, neighborhoods, and public spaces that explicitly support early childhood development  

  • Environments promoting the independence and physical activity of younger persons, older persons and the disabled  

  • Strategies to increase social interaction, cohesion and community engagement across the lifecourse  

  • Urban systems and services that promote safety and security in urban environments for all ages  

  • Safe play in urban settings, i.e., playable places, streets, cities 

Contributions that demonstrate how urban environments and services address the needs of all residents throughout the lifecourse allowing all community members to achieve and maintain their best potential physical and mental health, independence, dignity, and quality of life.

  • Effectively engaging youth and adolescents in neighborhood transformation for improved health

  • Developing age-supporting urban environments 

  • Strategies that support ageing in place  

  • Intergenerational approaches to ageing  

  • Legacy resident retention in urban environments  

  • Equitable healthcare support and home-based services  

  • Public health approaches to violence prevention and harm reduction for kids and youth 

  • And more… 

#HealthyATL

Local contributions on the above topics or new topics particularly relevant to local contexts and challenges, including:

  • Case studies from Atlanta, Georgia, the American South 

  • Research studies in Urban Health 

  • Local projects 

  • Policy examples 

  • Sustainable curriculum and SDGs in higher education 

  • Environmental education and sustainability 

  • And more…