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A Framework for Improving Health in Cities: A Discussion Paper

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Abstract

This paper considers health in cities from the perspective of complex adaptive systems. This approach has a number of important implications for intervention that do not emerge in traditional accounts of cities and health. The paper reviews various accounts of the nature of cities and of health as well as the traditional urban health and Healthy Cities movements. It then provides a framework for intervention and tests it against an actual case study. It concludes that a complex adaptive systems framework opens up fresh possibilities for improving health in urban contexts.

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Notes

  1. This paper is based on research conducted by Health and Everything and the Canadian Urban Institute for Wellesley Central Health Corporation (WCHC). The consultants were asked to develop a framework that would guide an urban health initiative by WCHC in southeast Toronto. The research results were based partially on previous research conducted by WCHC1 , 2 and can be used by other organizations with a mandate to promote health in cities.

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Acknowledgments

This research was supported by Wellesley Central Health Corporation, Bridgepoint Health, and Change Foundation.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Kunin-Lunenfeld Applied Research Unit, Baycrest Centre for Geriatric Care, Toronto, Ontario, Canada

    Sholom Glouberman

Authors
  1. Sholom Glouberman
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  2. Michael Gemar
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  3. Philippa Campsie
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  4. Glenn Miller
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  5. Jim Armstrong
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  6. Chayim Newman
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  7. Ariadne Siotis
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  8. Philip Groff
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Sholom Glouberman.

Additional information

Glouberman, Gemar, Armstrong, Newman, and Siotis are with the Kunin-Lunenfeld Applied Research Unit, Baycrest Centre for Geriatric Care, Toronto, Ontario, Canada; Campsie and Miller are with the Canadian Urban Institute, Toronto, Ontario, Canada; Groff is with the SMARTRISK Foundation, Toronto, Ontario, Canada.

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Glouberman, S., Gemar, M., Campsie, P. et al. A Framework for Improving Health in Cities: A Discussion Paper. JURH 83, 325–338 (2006). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11524-006-9034-9

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