Health-oriented urban planning for a renewed implicit alliance

Abstract

The improvement of the deplorable hygienic conditions in which most of the inhabitants of the city lived is one of the main issues at the origin of modern urban planning in the nineteenth century. About two centuries later, the contemporary challenges linked to growing urbanization, climate change, environmental problems, and social inequalities still focus, even more forcefully, on the relationship between health and urban planning, in particular, on the role and responsibility of the discipline in contributing to improving the quality of life of people and communities. In fact, they should be placed at the centre of planning processes at all scales because all decisions and actions relating to the governance of the territory imply effects on the human health and well-being and on the environment. Such decisions and actions should be based on the fundamental principles of equity, intersectoral cooperation, and active citizen involvement. The challenge is to find the right balance between social, environmental and economic pressures, with a view to making cities and human settlements inclusive, safe, lasting and sustainable, in line with Objective 11 of Agenda 2030. With this in mind, international initiatives, often driven by WHO, are becoming increasingly numerous. They allow drawing useful reflections on the essential need to include and integrate the concepts of health and wellness in the policies, strategies and ordinary urban planning tools through the creation of public spaces and places, soft mobility networks capable of promoting healthy lifestyles, while reducing environmental problems. The positive repercussions on health expenditure are of no less interest, given the effects in terms of prevention of numerous and widespread diseases. Therefore, the close relationship between the well-being of the individual and the quality of the environment affirms the need to renew the implicit alliance between urban planning and health. In this reference framework, after outlining the more general aspects linked to the complex relationship between urban planning and health/well-being,