Healthy Spaces, Healthy Lives: Analyzing the Role of Built Environment on Human Health

Dear Colleagues,

Cities are rapidly evolving to meet the proliferating urban population; the need to prioritize health and well-being within urban structures (building or urban scale) has thus never been so urgent. The extreme pace of urbanization poses challenges to societies that could be impacted by the intricate relationship between the built environment, health and well-being. Such challenges cover determinants in the physical, psychological and social dimensions, including socio-economic and environmental factors; these are particularly important with regard to the relationship between people and their communities. To enhance the health of the urban ecosystem, the integration of insights from a transdisciplinary approach to health and well-being promotion and disease prevention is needed. By expanding our perspective regarding the influence of facilities and the built environment to assess the interplay between social, environmental, biological, and behavioral determinants, new pathways to enhance individuals’ health and quality of life could be found. 

This Special Issue aims to explore the following topics:

• The provision of new models of open innovation and open science to support citizens’ health and well-being in urban environments (building and urban scale).
• The development of new digital tools to gather users’ data and provide new insights into health and well-being and the interactions of users in spaces, as well as including qualitative and subjective aspects that cannot be captured by existing indicators.
• Determining the effect of various innovative, physical nature-based solutions when they are combined in various multifunctional patterns on citizens’ health and well-being.
• Focusing on the creation of thematic areas within the urban environment that are dedicated to collecting, assessing and providing personalized advice to citizens regarding their relative health and well-being.
• Facility management in the creation of a healthy environment – approaches, standards and practices.
• The discovery of novel physiological measurement approaches to measure the impact of the built environment on individual health and happiness.
• Determining the facilities to be considered in health-related urban development from both intervention and prevention approaches.
• Citizens’ engagement in developing future-oriented urban development schemes that aim to increase health and wellbeing.
• Social innovations that aim to improve the sustainability of social infrastructure—new ideas (products, services and models) that meet social and physical demands and could improve well-being. 

Exploring the interaction between individuals and the environment in order to enhance health and well-being is crucial. Articles submitted to this Special Issue should explore the environment in which we live, work or spend our spare time (room, building, district, city). Measuring the impact of the built environment on health and well-being will provide the evidence-based target intervention required in urban design (building and environment) and the development of infrastructure. In addition, the engagement of citizens in the development of healthy cities will enable us to understand the evolving needs of today’s society regarding decisions related to health, invest more in the actual needs of citizens, and make decisions that lead to the development of more equitable urban health. Articles that present the determinants associated with stress-related health impacts, happiness levels, health disparities, and disease prevention are also desirable.

Prof. Dr. Alenka Temeljotov-Salaj
Guest Editor

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