Environment and Health Under the Microscope: Resilient Cities
Wednesday 7 May 2014, 7pm – 9pm
ECCI, Old High School, Infirmary Street Edinburgh EH1 1LZ
Speakers: Professor Catharine Ward-Thompson (Professor of landscape architecture, University of Edinburgh) Professor Jamie Pearce (Professor of Health, University of Edinburgh )
Over the past 150 years there have been substantial improvements in urban health. Indicators such as rising life expectancy and falling infant mortality suggest significant public health successes. Whilst health has tended to improve at the city scale, these gains have not been equally shared; some neighbourhoods and people have benefited more than others. The result of this is that inequalities in health are as wide as they have been since the Victorian period.
As we pass the point, globally, where more people live in towns and cities than in rural locations, new questions are being raised about how well such environments serve as human habitat. It has been predicted that, by 2025, there will be about 30 ‘megacities’ around the world with a total population exceeding 10 million; urbanisation opens the door to ‘western’ diseases, including heart disease, obesity, diabetes and stress. Even if we just focus on the UK context, what does it mean for human wellbeing as urban areas expand and most people live urban lives?
