Creating healthy and non-toxic cities (Signal)

Why is the ZPA especially relevant for urban communities?

Cities contribute to environmental pollution and degradation worldwide (UN-Habitat, undated). The natural and built environment also shapes human health and wellbeing (Salgado et al., 2020). While rural residents may face elevated exposures to some agricultural pesticides (Dahiri et al., 2021), urban residents regularly experience increased exposures to particulate matter (PM_2.5), biocides (Wicke et al., 2021) or other pollutants (to check the air quality in your city, please refer to the European city air quality viewer (EEA, 2023a)).

Urban inhabitants are often exposed to multiple health risks through combinations of heat, air and noise pollution. These risks tend to disproportionately affect deprived neighbourhoods and the people who live in them. Access to high-quality blue and green spaces — key health resources for urban inhabitants — is also, on average, better for more privileged social groups (Schüle et al., 2019). Therefore, creating a non-toxic environment and healthy cities for all is a great opportunity to promote physical and mental health, and reduce health inequalities.

Triple inner urban development: less pollution, more health, promoting resources

Urban infrastructure can promote health by including healthcare, green and blue spaces, and mobility systems.

For example, vegetation may help improve air quality in urban settings (Diener and Mudu, 2021). Active mobility concepts promote walking and cycling, which contribute to environmental and climate protection, reduce traffic-related emissions, and strengthen health and well-being (health co-benefits; EC, undated). Sustainable buildings and neighbourhoods have lower environmental footprints and protect people from pollutants, noise and heat waves (EEA, 2023b).

Urban planning can coordinate the demands and needs of these various health-related infrastructures on a municipal scale.

Coordinated health-related infrastructures can improve living conditions for many people. Despite this, such solutions are still too often planned in isolation. The German Environment Agency (UBA) developed the concept of triple urban inner development (Schubert et al., 2023), which integrates the needs and demands of green space development, mobility transition and inner urban development to promote sustainability (Figure 1).

Such an integrated approach can enable cities to pollute less, offer more health resources, address inequalities in exposure and thus ensure a good quality of life for all.

Zero pollution meets urban development: need for integrated approaches

The transformation of European cities offers great synergising potential to create non-toxic and healthy living environments for all. The decarbonisation of transport, the expansion of green and blue infrastructures (nature-based solutions), and the integrated internal development of cities will both serve respective policy areas and bring numerous additional health and social benefits.

To achieve this, the ZPA should be dovetailed with other urban activities. At the local level, for example, the WHO Healthy Cities Network provides a framework for combining goals and measures for urban health promotion and disease prevention.

Another example is the EU Urban Agenda, which links environmental health needs with various social topics such as climate adaptation, urban mobility or housing. The policy landscape is supported through urban health research, particularly the Urban Health Cluster of six Horizon 2020 projects, aiming at improving and safeguarding the health and wellbeing of all citizens.

Collaborative consideration and implementation of these and other strategies is important to move towards sustainable and healthy cities consistent with the zero-pollution vision for 2050 (EC, 2021).

Please consult the relevant indicators and signals below for a more comprehensive overview on the topic.