Cities Health

Cities for global health

BMJ 2018; 363 doi: https://doi.org/10.1136/bmj.k3794 (Published 03 October 2018)Cite this as: BMJ 2018;363:k3794

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1. Majid Ezzati, professor of global environmental health1,
2. Christopher J Webster, dean and chair professor of urban planning and development economics2,
3. Yvonne G Doyle, director for London3,
4. Sabina Rashid, dean and professor4,
5. George Owusu, professor and director5,
6. Gabriel M Leung, dean and chair professor of public health medicine6

Author affiliations

1. Correspondence to: M Ezzati majid.ezzati@imperial.ac.uk

In the first of a new series of articles on the role of cities in health, Majid Ezzati and colleagues call for greater action to reduce health inequalities within cities

The number of people, and proportion of the world population, living in cities has increased steadily, with 4.2 billion urban residents now accounting for 55% of the world’s population (fig 1). That urban living influences health is well recognised and increasingly included in broader discussions about cities and sustainable human development. The general tone of such discourse, however, tends towards the negative aspects of infectious outbreaks, vehicular pollution, waste disposal, and unhealthy lifestyles2 rather than the “positive and progressive aspects of cities . . . recognised by historians, economists, and other social scientists.”3