Urban Health as a Complex System

Abstract

Abstract The 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) are a complex system comprising 169 targets and about 230 indicators. Urban Health could be considered a complex system since it deals with 15 out of 17 SDGs, excluding the two related to life below water and life on land. According to the World Health Organization, to achieve the SDGs, countries have committed to organize Urban Health initiatives to improve the social, economic, and physical environments promoting health and sustainability globally. Cities will become more inclusive, safer and more sustainable, which are important driving forces to implement the development equation. To set up a framework to point out that Urban Health is a complex system oriented to the achievement of the SDGs. It has been conducted an extensive literature review on databases (PubMed, Embase, Web of Science and Scopus) using keywords in 3 strings combined with Boolean operators: SDGs and Urban Health, Urban Health as Complex System and Urban Health, Environmental Health and Public Health as Complex Systems. In addition, a grey literature review has been carried out. Out of 1005 publications, 21 were eventually included: 14 publications relate to the interdependent relationships between SDGs and Urban Health, with regard to the association between Urban Health and complex system, 3 publication studied the effects and implications of such correlation, 4 focused on Environmental Health and Public Health in relation with the complex system. The selected publications suggested methodologies aimed at setting up an urban health framework to achieve SDGs. There is an initial orientation focused on the study of Urban Health problems aimed at achieving SDGs from the perspective of complex systems. We highlight the need to conduct further studies on a more detailed framework in order to address this type of approach.