A Comparative Analysis of Global Datasets and Initiatives for Urban Health and Sustainability

Abstract

Globally, urban populations are growing rapidly, and in most cases their demands for resources are beyond current limits of sustainability. Cities are therefore critical for achieving national and international sustainability objectives, such as greenhouse gas reduction. Improving sustainability may also provide opportunities for urban population health co-benefits by reducing unhealthy exposures and behaviours. However, there is currently sparse empirical evidence on the degree to which city characteristics are associated with variations in health-related exposures, behaviours and sustainability. This paper examines the feasibility of aggregating empirical data relating to sustainability and health for global cities. An initial scoping review of existing English-language datasets and networks is performed. Resulting datasets are analysed for data types, collection method, and the distribution of contributing cities across climates, population sizes, and wealth. The review indicates datasets are populated using inconsistent methodologies and metrics and have poor overlap of cities between them. Data and organisations tend to be biased towards larger and wealthier cities, and concentrated in Europe and North America. Therefore, despite vast amounts of available data, limitations of reliability, representativeness, and disparate sources mean researchers are faced with significant obstacles when aggregating data to analyse the sustainability and health of globally representative samples of cities.

Toward the Renewal of the Sustainable Urban Indicators’ System after a Global Health Crisis. Practical Application in Granada, Spain

“…This critical need to enhance urban sustainability is reflected in an increasing number of global, national, and local initiatives [7], such as the Sustainable Development Goals and their fulfillment by the year 2030 to which 193 countries were committed [8] or the Charter of European Cities toward Sustainability, known as the Aalborg Charter, in which the signatory cities would participate in the United Nations' local Agenda 21 initiatives [9]. In Spain, this is the case of the Spanish Strategy for Urban and Local Sustainability (EESUL) [10], the Urban Ecology Agency of Barcelona [11], or the Spanish Network of Cities for Climate [12].…”