Rapid urbanization is a global trend that will not abate in the near future. It is estimated that by 2050, 68% of the world’s population will be urban. Yet, little research focuses on how health systems could be redesigned to meet the challenges of urbanization. A central concern is the urban disadvantage and specifically the impact of urbanization on health equity. The increasing absolute numbers of urban inhabitants and expanding slums lead to challenges in ensuring equitable access to health care. Changing disease patterns and increasing diversity of urban residents require adaptations of health services and programmes. In addition, if healthy cities in healthy ecological systems are going to be a feasible goal, the interaction between urban planning and health needs attention too. Urbanization is evidently a global challenge for health professionals, policy makers, programme managers, city administrators, civil society organizations and citizens alike.

Effectively addressing urban health and health inequities takes more than meeting the health needs of the people living in cities. Building responsive, resilient and sustainable health services and systems requires a thorough understanding of the complexity of urban health. By unpacking the relationships between the social, political and ecological determinants of health in cities, the human exposome, the residential distribution across urban areas and the distribution of health outcomes, research can inform multi-sectoral action to address urban health challenges.

While a number of research agendas for urban health research have been proposed, most seem to focus on a partial view on cities. In this call for research on urban health, we start from the conceptualization of cities as being multi-faceted: cities are defined by the density of the population, the social, political, juridical, economic and physical urban environment and the ecological systems. Cities are networks of actors and relations and it is the continuous, dynamic intersection between all these dimensions and actors that make cities to be complex adaptive systems. This Research Topic therefore aims to publish innovative concepts, empirical research and methodological developments that may guide further research on the nexus between the complex nature of cities and health.

This Research Topic calls for papers that address the complex nature of cities and of urban health. Authors can address this through the following themes:

-Urban planning for health and health service organization (including access to healthcare, responsiveness, equity and inclusion).
-Urban resilience;
-Migration;
-Superdiversity;
-Climate change;
-Ecological degradation;
-Governance.

This Research Topic welcomes papers presenting empirical research, novel methods or conceptual/analytical frameworks, reviews and evidence syntheses, and critical reflections. We expect papers to address the complex nature of cities-as-determinants-of-health, and to pay specific attention to equity and the urban disadvantage. In addition, this Research Topic calls for papers presenting the development and evaluation of innovative solutions and policies as well as evaluations, comparisons or analyses of policies. Papers that discuss or apply multi-disciplinary insights, theories, frameworks or evidence from urban planning, urban ecology, public administration and urban sociology are encouraged.

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