Abstract
Emerging zoonotic diseases (EZD) like Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS), COVID-19, and Ebola have highlighted the need for incorporating emerging zoonoses considerations in urban planning practice. To mainstream EZD in urban planning, this scoping review collates recommendations from across disciplines to provide directions to city planners and policymakers. A search of published literature examining the relationship between EZD and urban planning or policymaking was conducted in February 2020 using PubMed, Web of Science, and Scopus. Thirty-six articles were identified by the review process and the research examining the relationship between urban planning and EZD was found to be limited but expanding. In identified articles, recommendations for planners were found to address various areas and aspects of planning like inter-disciplinary collaboration, social justice, built environment, climate change adaptation, urbanization, sanitation, green space and economic planning. The applicability of these recommendations to global north and south cities is also discussed.
Highlights
This scoping review is guided by these two questions: 1. What recommendations exist in current literature for planners concerning emerging zoonoses?
It was realised that several studies that made it to title and abstract relevance screening stage focused on epidemiological and medical studies associated with diseases in urban areas
Millennium Ecosystem Assessment (MEA) framework is recommended for planning as it integrates human wellness while focusing on ecosystem services (Patz et al 2004) In tropical regions where rodent borne leptospirosis occurs, high human activity, low forest cover and lack of natural bodies of water increases the public risk of disease transmission in urban areas
Summary
Since early times humans have largely strived to shape and modify their environment to reduce risks to themselves. This intent to decrease risks and increase longevity coupled with a better understanding of health risks and the microbial universe have changed how cities function and look over time (McKeown, 1971; Pijnenburg & Leget, 2007). Our society still faces several health risks that threaten to take lives, destroy livelihoods, and induce diplomatic and political tensions (Bloom et al, 2018). Recent outbreaks of infectious diseases like Coronavirus (COVID-19), Ebola and Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS) have shown us how ill adapted our current global, national, and local government systems are to face these risks.
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