Measure and Method for Assessing the Systemic Health of Cities and Human Settlements

Cities play a crucial role in achieving the sustainable development goals by balancing the wellbeing of people and the health of the planet. We introduce a systemic health measure and method for cities and human settlements that goes beyond assessing only the health of people in cities and aims at capturing health benefits and costs of a city for people and the planet. Without knowledge of cities’ systemic health, cities cannot mobilize their capacity for resilience by apating to climate change, to resource and demographic challenges or more fundamental systemic transformations. To address those shortcomings, we suggest a new measure and method for assessing the systemic health of cities comprising of an initial health check and a more comprehensive systemic health assessment by means of which practical urban health improving interventions can be identified. Their combined application represents a methodological and conceptual innovation necessary for transforming the conventional science model towards transdisciplinarity.