Complex Urban Systems for Sustainability and Health (CUSSH) (360G-Wellcome-205207_Z_16_Z)

The CUSSH programme will deliver strategically vital global research on the complex systemic connections between urban development and health. Based on transdisciplinary methods, it will develop critical evidence on how to achieve the far-reaching transformation of cities needed to address vital environmental imperatives for population and planetary health in the 21st century. Its core components include: a systematic review of evidence on potential solutions; the development and application of methods for tracking the progress of cities to towards sustainability and health goals; the development and application of models to assess the impact on population health, health inequalities, socio-economic development and environmental parameters of alternative urban development strategies to support policy decisions; iterative in-depth engagements with stakeholders in partner cities in low-, middle- and high-income settings, based on participatory methods, to test and deliver the implementation of the transformative changes needed to meet local and global health and sustainability objectives. Through these steps, the project will provide transferable evidence on how to accelerate actions essential to achieving population-level changes in such areas as energy provision, transport infrastructure, green infrastructure, water and sanitation, and housing. Associated public engagement and training, based on principles of co-generation of research, will be embedded throughout.