Healthy City Design International

Dr Michael Wilkinson has been selected to present AVATR at the inaugural Healthy City Design 2017 International Congress, from 16-17 October at the Royal College of Physicians, London, UK. Organised by SALUS Global Knowledge Exchange in collaboration with Helen Hamlyn Centre for Design, Royal College of Art, the inaugural Congress seeks to share and stimulate new research, innovative practice and progressive policy ideas on how to design economically and ecologically sustainable cities that enhance citizen health and wellbeing.

A crisis of global and planetary health

Urban populations are growing at an unprecedented rate, a trend which – when set against the backdrop of an ageing society, rising obesity and chronic conditions, and the urgent need to respond to climate change – presents a powerful case for new thinking on how to design more sustainable, resilient cities that enhance health, wellbeing and social inclusion.

The World Health Organisation defines a healthy city as one that “supports health, recreation and wellbeing, safety, social interaction, easy mobility, a sense of pride and cultural identity, and... is accessible to the needs of all its citizens”. More recently, in a Lancet series on urban design, transport and health, cities are highlighted as the “key to the future sustainable development agenda”. Healthy City Design 2017 is fully aligned with these definitions.