How do you create a healthy city?

Chapter 1

Air quality in Hong Kong

While we mostly take a positive stance on the ways cities are trying to make us healthier, we begin this week’s episode with an issue that has been on the news a lot lately – and not for the best of reasons. Our Hong Kong bureau chief James Chambers reports on the quality of the city’s air.

Chapter 2

The secret to a happy city, part one

There’s one element that is crucial when creating a healthy city: understanding how people interact with the built environment. UCL’s Nick Tyler spoke to us about the ways our brains respond to stimuli on the street and how vital it is to design a city that people enjoy.

Chapter 3

WHO’s Healthy Cities project

We couldn’t talk about health without mentioning the World Health Organization but you may be surprised to learn that there is a section of the agency dedicated to urban health. It started in the mid-1980s when the WHO kicked off its Healthy Cities project to engage local governments to promote active change in their cities.

Chapter 4

The secret to a happy city, part two

​Earlier Nick Tyler told us how accessibility is a must when it comes to urban happiness. ​Now we put him on the spot and ask him to name ​a city that ​has ​the​ vital elements that a happy city should.​

Chapter 5

Urban quality through planning

The way a neighbourhood is planned can have a deep impact on our physical and mental health and designers play a vital role in making us healthier. We speak to Bianca Hermansen, head advisor at Cititek, an urban-quality consultancy based in Copenhagen.