Abstract
The COVID-19 coronavirus crisis exposed our globalized vulnerability to novel pandemic infectious diseases without pre-treatment. It is yet too early to assess if ‘urbanization’ or ‘urban lifestyle’ is a root-cause of COVID-19, but surely cities and their typical characteristics are under stress: density, diversity, complexity and equity. Hence, cities are at the forefront of addressing these challenges and innovating for healthier and more caring urban environments. What we do know is that in the top 10 causes of death - including heart and lung diseases, cancers, diabetes and road-injuries - many if not most are related to our way of (urban) ) life. And many COVID-19 patients that died or were on intensive care had a chronic disease. But what is urban health, how can urban planning and health related disciplines work together more closely and what is ISOCARP’s take on this? To answer this question and to take on a leading role in the debate, ISOCARP has created in March 2020 a vibrant virtual Community of Practice on Urban Health (CoPUH), with a core-group of 30 members covering the globe. The CoPUH serves as a platform for members to develop together knowledge and advocacy towards cities to invest in the planning of healthy and resilient cities for all, within a broader agenda to achieve the UN Sustainable Development Goals. The CoPUH enables to: - gather, produce and improve knowledge on the topic amongst its members; - define and promote urban planners’ unique role to shape healthy/caring cities and healthy behaviors; - explore new definitions and strategies; - share ideas and identify best practices; - establish partnerships to bring us closer to the goal of healthy/caring cities and citizens. This session will focus on the first outputs of the CoPUH, such as an ISOCARP brief on Urban Health. Also close partners like WHO, UN-Habitat and the International Society of Urban Health (ISUH) will collaborate in this session and showcase their recent insights, programs and activities related with urban health. There will be dedicated time to present the new UN-Habitat/WHO joint publication 'Sourcebook on Integrating Health into Urban and Territorial Planning', planned to come out summer 2020. A separate training session is planned to provide participants more in depth knowledge and tools. As a format, the session will be structured as the following: - presentations on the ISOCARP Brief Urban Health - discussion with the participants and selected panelists - launch of the UN-Habitat/WHO 'Sourcebook on Integrating Health into Urban and Territorial Planning'
