The Evolutionary Determinants of Health Programme: Urban Living in the 21st Century from a Human Evolutionary Perspective

Abstract

There is a mismatch between our palaeolithic genome and the urbanised Anthropocene world we now inhabit. One consequence is the alarming global rise in ‘Western Life-style’ diseases and conditions such as obesity, Type 2 diabetes and heart disease. It is suggested here that a better understanding of the ‘Evolutionary Determinants of Health and Urban Wellbeing’ might materially improve matters. Such an approach concerns ancestral diets, lifestyle embedded activity regimes, evolutionary-concordant building designs and town plans incorporating urban green space and cleaner air.