Selected Research Issues of Urban Public Health

Abstract

Health is created within the urban settings of people’s everyday lives. In this paper we define Urban Public Health and compile existing evidence regarding the spatial component of health and disease in urban environments. Although there is already a substantial body of single evidence on the links between urban environments and human health, focus is mostly on individual health behaviors. We look at Urban Public Health through a structural lens that addresses health conditions beyond individual health behaviors and identify not only health risks but also health resources associated with urban structures. Based on existing conceptual frameworks, we structured evidence in the following categories: (i) build and natural environment, (ii) social environment, (iii) governance and urban development. We focused our search to review articles and reviews of reviews for each of the keywords via database PubMed, Cochrane, and Google Scholar in order to cover the range of issues in urban environments. Our results show that linking findings from different disciplines and developing spatial thinking can overcome existing single evidence and make other correlations visible. Further research should use interdisciplinary approaches and focus on health resources and the transformation of urban structures rather than merely on health risks and behavior.

Considerations for Children’s Nature Connection and Park Environmental Justice in Western Societies

“…In addition, as outlined in a review by Schröder et al [30], the first step of the review included identifying the paper's conceptual approach. The initial search of the literature performed in 2020 formed the conceptual approach to the paper through identifying common environmental justice frameworks.…”

Stadtepidemiologie als integrativer Ansatz für eine nachhaltige, gesundheitsfördernde Stadtentwicklung

“…Die Stadtepidemiologie sollte bestehende Konzepte zum Verständnis urbaner Systeme sowie vorhandene Methoden zur Analyse von Gesundheit und Krankheit in der Stadt inter- und transdisziplinär weiterentwickeln und breit erproben. Ein aktuelles Review zu Forschungsthemen für Urban Public Health nennt ein breites Spektrum von Forschungsbedarfen, u. a. die gesundheitliche Bedeutung von Segregation und Gentrifizierung, Digitalisierungsprozesse oder die Evaluation raumbezogener Interventionen 62 . Einen Wissensfundus über urbane Systeme und Gesundheit aufzubauen, zugänglich zu halten und weiterzuentwickeln ist eine Aufgabe für Forschungskooperationen und Fachgesellschaften.…”

Classification of Regional Healthy Environment and Public Health in China

“…Indicators are measurements selected to represent a larger phenomenon of interest to the researcher [26], in our case, the relationships between population health and a healthy environment. However, the public's living environment is not a self-contained, homogenous entity, but a complex system characterized by a number of different structures (e.g., educational, economic, mobility and political structures) that have their own dynamics and interact with each other in a complex grid [29]. Therefore, the index system of the healthy environment proposed consists of four parts-medical environment, economic environment, ecological environment and humanistic environment (Table 1).…”