Health and Quality of Life in Urban Areas

The second in a series of Synthesis Reports (SR) produced by FP7 URBAN-NEXUS project addresses the importance and urgency of integrating health and quality of life in urban areas. The Synthesis Report considers research, mainly European, background material from a variety of sources including existing research evidence, and case studies from cities and projects results undertaken at EU level. The information was collected from the URBAN-NEXUS consortium, the strategic partners and a wider network of contacts. The SR on Health and Quality of Life was shaped by the SGR INTERFASE, research group of the Autonomous University of Barcelona (UAB) and member of the FP7 URBAN-NEXUS consortium.

This report should serve as basis to inform an evolving dialogue, fostering integrated approaches to urban sustainability that become intrinsic to all decision-making processes and partnership activities related to health and quality of life , and linking it with the other priority research areas being addressed in the URBAN-NEXUS project (http://www.urban-nexus.eu/).

Urban-Nexus added value

The resulting analysis of state of the art on Health and Quality of Life is described in the Synthesis Report, mainly focused on health aspects in cities, considering quality of air and green areas, noise and social aspects. This speech was enriched along the Dialogue Café, stressing the focus to the society and the public space, as well as highlighting the importance of sharing knowledge, in particular in local planning.

The challenge

The challenge of urban health and quality of life is to find solutions tackling environment and health problems together; it is essential to meet a balance between all policies and developments, and integrate the solutions into future urban planning.

A holistic approach of urban health and quality of life should consider the analysis of:

Project Reports

- Synthesis Report

- Follow-Up Report