Urban and transport planning pathways to carbon neutral, liveable and healthy cities; A review of the current evidence

Introduction: Half the world population lives in cities and this is likely to increase to 70% over the next 20 years. Suboptimal urban and transport planning has led to e.g. high levels of air pollution and noise, heat island effects and lack of green space and physical activity and thereby an increase in morbidity and premature mortality. How can better urban and transport planning improve public health? Methods: A narrative meta-review around a number of cutting edge and visionary studies and practices on how to improve public health through better urban and transport planning reported in the literature and from meetings over the past few years. Results: We describe the latest quantitative evidence of how cities can become healthier through better urban and transport planning. It focuses and provides evidence for important interventions, policies and actions that can improve public health, including the need for land use changes, reduce car dependency and move towards public and active transportation, greening of cities, visioning, citizen involvement, collaboration, leadership and investment and systemic approaches. Health impact assessment studies have recently provided new powerful quantitative evidence on how to make cities healthier and will be used as examples. At the same time these measures make also our cities more sustainable (i.e. carbon neutral) and liveable creating multiple benefits. Conclusion: Better urban and transport planning can lead to carbon neutral, more liveable and healthier cities, particularly through land use changes, a move from private motorised transportation to public and active transportation and greening of cities.