Revitalizing Cities Pathways to Neighborhood Health and Resilience through Urban Regeneration

In today's rapidly evolving cities, climate change, environmental degradation, and public health challenges pose significant difficulties for the health and wellbeing of residents, most acutely in vulnerable communities. The urgent need to address these interconnected issues has never been clearer, especially considering the disproportionate impacts being borne by the most marginalized neighborhoods and populations, such as children and the elderly. To confront these pressing challenges, this event will provide an opportunity for experience, knowledge sharing and building new partnerships and approaches to creating more resilient and healthier neighborhoods for all residents regardless of background, age, gender, disability, or geography.

Climate change drastically magnifies urban health risks. The increased frequency and magnitude of extreme weather events, coupled with existing urban phenomena such as urban heat islands leads to dangerously high temperatures and a growing number of extreme heat days, which in turn affect mortality rates associated with heat, and can also exacerbate air pollution, infectious disease outbreaks, food security, water access, political stability and more. Flooding is becoming more frequent and intense, which especially impacts those who live in insecure, self-constructed or inadequate housing conditions. Diseases once regionally confined are now expanding their geographic range with alarming increases in cases of malaria, dengue, and others around the world.

In the face of these pressing challenges, new policies, innovations and transdisciplinary partnerships must be crafted to tackle climate change mitigation, adaptation and to minimize the negative impacts on health in cities, fostering urban climate resilience and promoting the comprehensive health and wellbeing of communities. Urban transformation and regeneration emerge as processes to reimagine and revitalize underserved and disregarded neighborhoods. By redesigning these spaces with climate resilience and public health of all residents in mind, we can forge communities that can fully meet their potential, contribute to our communities and that are better equipped, physically and socially, to withstand future challenges. The event will emphasize the pivotal role neighborhoods play in shaping residents’ resilience, environmental and social health and examine the positive power of reintroducing nature into the places we live, work, play and grow.