How to scientifically assess the health status of cities and effectively assist in formulating policies and planning for health city development remains a profound challenge in building a global “health community.”
This study employs the Building Research Establishment’s International Healthy Cities Index (BRE HCI), encompassing ten environmental categories and fifty-eight indicators, to guide and support the scientific development of healthy cities. The entropy weight-TOPSIS method and the rank sum ratio (RSR) method were applied to comprehensively rank and categorize the health development levels of fifteen global cities. Furthermore, through cluster analysis, this research identifies universal and unique indicators that influence the development of healthy cities.
The results indicate that: (1) Within the scope of 58 evaluation indicators, the precedence in weight allocation is accorded to the kilometres of bicycle paths and lanes per 100,000 population (0.068), succeeded by m2 of public indoor recreation space
The study proposes four strategic recommendations based on these findings: establishing a comprehensive policy assurance system, refining urban spatial planning, expanding avenues for multi-party participation, and augmenting distinctive health indicators. These measures aim to narrow the developmental disparities between cities and contribute to healthy global cities’ balanced and sustainable growth. However, due to existing limitations in sample selection, research methodology application, and the control of potential confounding variables, further in-depth studies are required in the future.