TABLE 1.
Urban health research focus areas and priority research questions
| Focus areas | Urban health priority research questions |
|---|---|
| 1. Obesity and food insecurity nexus | What are the changing patterns of the informal and formal retail food environment? |
| How do the food environment and food policies influence population diet, obesity, food insecurity, and health? | |
| Using a life-course approach, what are the most effective meso- and macro-level interventions to reduce obesity and improve food security (focus on women-headed households, the first 1000 days and female adolescents)? | |
| 2. Urban context as a tool for health promotion | Can the housing environment be a tool for health promotion and disease prevention? |
| What is the impact of urban regeneration and upgrades to the transport and physical activity/recreational environments on experienced violence/injuries, alcohol or drug use, mental health, and chronic diseases? | |
| To what extent does community engagement and social mobilization influence urban planning and prioritization with respect to the urban built environment and broader health nexus? | |
| What role can schools play as potential community hubs of wellness? | |
| What are the most (cost) effective and contextually relevant environmental interventions to improve health through the control and prevention of infectious and zoonotic disease transmission in informal urban settings? | |
| How can the risks of climate change be mitigated and communicated to a marginalized population? | |
| 3. Urban health governance and policy | What is the influence of urban population dynamics in the implementation of innovative urban health and economic policy interventions and programs within the context of equity? |
| What is the impact of incorporating health objectives in strategic spatial planning (as part of a “Health in All Policies” approach) on health and well-being? | |
| What are the barriers and facilitators to policy reform towards health in all policies? | |
| 4. Community strengthening for healthy inclusive cities | How do we best measure/quantify community wellness and resilience, using participatory methods and routine administrative data to develop indicators/indices (for general and vulnerable urban populations: youth, disabled, elderly)? |
| How can communities work together with the natural resource of an increasingly aging population to address social isolation, access and vulnerability? | |
| What core competencies are needed for health workers to assist with negotiating and advocating for disability-inclusive and environmentally just community development? | |
| Can community strategies that focus on increasing engagement among youth with respect to health and environmental literacy/risk communication and a community health needs assessment, influence risk- and health-seeking behavior in the youth? | |
| 5. Health systems in an urbanizing context | How can health systems better respond to changing patterns of disease in urban settings to address children and adults with chronic infectious, mental health, and NCD multi-morbidity? |
| How can health systems and policies incorporate environmental health concerns into mainstream health policies (e.g., climate change, air pollution, chemical poisonings)? | |
| 6. Migration, urbanization and health | What are the patterns of urban population dynamics (intra-urban and rural-urban population circulation) and can exposure to key aspects of urban environment (including pathogens, air, food, vectors, chemicals) be quantified and measured spatio-temporally? |
| Given the dynamic nature of urban exposure, how does exposure to the urban environment influence the inflammatory status, microbiome, and ultimately biopsychosocial health (physical activity, obesity, alcohol or drug use, diabetes, hypertension/cardiovascular disease, HIV, tuberculosis, mental disorders, depression, social cohesion, resilience) of urban residents? |