Complex Urban Systems for Sustainability and Health (CUSSH) (360G-Wellcome-201765_Z_16_Z)

We propose a strategically vital global research programme on the complex systemic connections between urban development and health. We aim to conduct research and improve capacity to guide transformational changes in cities to meet environmental imperatives and to maximize the health and wellbeing of current and future populations by harnessing the benefits of sustainability policies, and minimizing potential adverse consequences of global technological, environmental and social change. The CUSSH programme will formulate innovative, evidence-based examples of healthy urban development, provide underpinning evidence on practical solutions, and identify factors critical to successful implementation. Candidate solutions will be tested in city case studies using participatory methods across Europe, the Americas, Africa and Asia, capitalizing on investments in urban environments. The evidence generated will help decision-makers accelerate population-level changes in such areas as energy provision, transport infrastructure, and housing, as well as to understand the drivers of such change (e.g. demographic change, governance mechanisms, economic factors). Its chief focus is on integrated and implementable solutions to address health, socioeconomic development and environmental sustainability, encompassing both increased resilience to environmental change, and the ancillary effects for health, of measures which reduce the environmental ‘footprint’ of cities. It will include training/capacity building and public/policy engagement.