WHO
© Credits

Urban and built environments

18 July 2023

Key facts

  • Every year, more than 100 000 deaths occur in the WHO European Region due to inadequate housing conditions, many of which could be prevented.
  • Transport, domestic heating and industrial production generate pollution in the Region’s cities, making urban planning and infrastructure a key mechanism for pollution reduction.
  • Around 2.8 million land sites affected by pollution exist in the European Union (EU) alone and require environmental action. Redeveloping these contaminated sites provides many opportunities for healthy urban planning and promoting residents’ well-being.
  • Cities exhibit high levels of social and environmental inequality. Less wealthy households can be affected 5 times more by inadequate housing and indoor cold than affluent households, with significantly lower access to adequate water and sanitation.
  • The Region’s cities need to prepare for technological and natural disasters and the impacts of extreme climate situations, acknowledging the projected climate change scenarios. Though an increasing number of cities have established action plans for urban resilience and climate change adaptation, disasters still represent a future urban health risk.
  • The COVID-19 pandemic has shown that urban structure and design – through the availability of green spaces, opportunities for active mobility and the distance to public services – have significantly impacted managing the crisis at the local level. WHO therefore calls for a healthy and green recovery through the development of sustainable urban infrastructure and environmental policies.

Overview

More than 80% of the population of the European Region is expected to live in urban areas by 2030. While urban living offers many opportunities, including access to better health care, jobs and education, urban environments may also accumulate environmental health risks and introduce new hazards.  

Therefore, urban planning decisions made by local and subnational actors play a pivotal role in implementing Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) 11 on sustainable cities – through promoting and protecting the health and well-being of urban dwellers and assuring that all population groups benefit equally from urban environments and services.  

WHO Response

Countries in the WHO European Region have identified cities and subnational environmental health action as priority work areas. WHO, through the European Centre for Environment and Health (WHO ECEH), supports national and subnational authorities, urban planners and practitioners to embed environmental health aspects in urban planning and redevelopment. This includes:

  • compilation of evidence reviews and the analysis of practical experiences, generating knowledge and capacities for healthy and sustainable urban development (such as on the health benefits of urban nature, heat–health action planning and urban design, the impact and redevelopment of contaminated sites, and the application of urban planning approaches for urban resilience);
  • technical support to Member States on the development, implementation and evaluation of national and subnational policies affecting urban settings, including, for example, the assessment of environmental and health impacts related to urban policies or the evaluation of their equity effects;
  • provision of strategies and tools to promote sustainable and healthy urban planning policies and information about the relevance and impacts of environmental factors; such tools and strategic briefings have, for example, been developed for the health relevance of urban nature and the management of contaminated sites;
  • promotion of intersectoral and Health in All Policies approaches towards the urban environment and health challenges at the local level, and the increased implementation of participatory planning tools such as environmental or health impact assessments;
  • collaboration with international actors involved in urban planning and urban environments (such as UN-Habitat, the United Nations Economic Commission for Europe (UNECE) or EU institutions, as well as professional communities); with local practitioners and pan-European city networks; and with WHO networks such as Healthy Cities, Regions for Health and the working group for collaboration among subnational and local authorities.