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Planetary Health
Right now, we face the triple planetary crisis, that is crises in climate, biodiversity and water, that put our planet's health at risk and threaten millions of people. We are pushing the planet to its limits – and ours. Our life depends on us inhabiting a healthy planet.
Cities and urbanised regions sit at the heart of global environmental change. They are drivers of the crises we face, but also the most powerful sites for solutions. This special series in UCL Open Environment invites bold, innovative and interdisciplinary research that confronts the central questions of planetary health through an urban lens. We position cities as the primary locus where planetary challenges and transformative responses converge.
- How can city systems, viewed as systems of systems, be transformed to operate within planetary boundaries while supporting human health and well being?
- What mitigation actions are cities uniquely positioned to deliver, and what evidence exists about the scale and pace at which these actions can meaningfully reduce urban contributions to climate, biodiversity and water cycle crises?
- What are the limits to urban adaptation, particularly in legacy cities with embedded infrastructure, governance structures and socio economic constraints?
- How can cities embed ecological intelligence, inclusive governance and nature based approaches into planning, design and operation to regenerate rather than deplete natural systems?
- In what ways can cities draw on knowledge from Indigenous, rural, and other non urban communities to enhance urban decision making for planetary health?
- What forms of urban inequality most strongly mediate planetary health outcomes, and what kinds of city level interventions can reduce these inequities while contributing to planetary health objectives?
- How can urban policies for energy, housing, mobility, water and waste be reframed to help cities act as restorative agents rather than contributors to planetary degradation?
- What are the impacts of planetary crises on cities and urban areas and the people that live there and the infrastructure that supports them?
Articles in this series aim to explore themes including (but not limited to): water and food insecurity; ground instability and subsidence; coastal storms and flooding; heat and overheating; wellbeing, morbidity and mortality; and the scientific dimensions of social and economic disruption.
Call for papers
Submission to this thematic series is currently open and further information about the call for papers can be found here.
Further information about the scope of this thematic series can be found in the Editorial published open access here.