Urban Environments and Health

Abstract

As the proportion of the world's population residing in urban areas continues to grow, so does the urgency of disentangling the social processes that shape urban environments and the health of their residents. Urbanization is driven by global economic and social processes, which together with local and regional policies influence urban environments and the health of their residents. Understanding these processes, and their implications for the distribution of populations and resources, is central to understanding and addressing the distribution of health and disease both within and across urban areas. This entry outlines a conceptual model for examining the implications of global, regional, and local processes for the distribution of populations in urbanized environments, for the physical and social environments within which those populations find themselves, and implications for population health with a particular focus on inequalities in urban health. Several examples are described to illustrate the implications of such models for understanding urban environments as components of dynamic systems, and to consider implications for urban health interventions. The entry closes with a discussion of implications for reducing urban health inequalities through interventions in urban social and physical environments that emphasize participation and influence of less powerful urban residents.