DESIGN AND URBAN PLANNING AS GENERATORS OF PUBLIC HEALTH AND WELLBEING

This article presents nine healthy design strategies for cities and the conditions needed for their effective implementation. It highlights how urban environments shape physical and mental health and argues for stronger collaboration between public health professionals, architects, urban planners, and researchers. Through interdisciplinary and transdisciplinary approaches, it calls for greater awareness of the social, environmental, and structural determinants of health in cities. By integrating expertise across technical and health-related disciplines, the proposed strategies aim to address key public health challenges and support healthier, more equitable urban environments. These issues will be discussed in Plenary 5, “Health by design: building healthy minds and bodies.”