Cities, health and well-being

Abstract

Cities are critical sites for enquiry and action in relation to health and well-being. With up to 70 per cent of the world’s population estimated to be living in urban areas by 2050, global health will be determined increasingly in cities. In response to these challenges, the 2011 Urban Age Hong Kong conference, organized by the London School of Economics and Political Science and the Alfred Herrhausen Society in partnership with the University of Hong Kong, brought together over 170 planners, architects, sociologists, medical doctors, public health experts and economists from 36 cities and 22 countries to help identify the routes through which new meanings, methods and interventions for health and well-being might be developed for greater effect in today’s cities.