Healthy cities and the city planning process: a background document on links between health and urban planning

Overview

The urban world is changing rapidly. Whether in the west or in countries in transition, the changes taking place in our cities are of revolutionary proportions. It thus becomes vitally important to look at how cities develop and how they are planned.

To this end, this paper will look at the function of urban planners – professionals long concerned with the urban environment – and see where the field of urban planning has been, what is happening now, and where it is likely to go. Like the field of health, which is similarly in great flux, urban planning must take into account the broader social, economic and political context.