The Lausanne Workshop — Healthy Urban Systems will be held at University of Lausanne on September 2-4, 2020. 

Background:

Disease shapes cities and the history of cities has always been intertwined with that of diseases. The COVID-19 pandemic has made clear how important it is to understand the transmission of a virus in its urban environment. Urban health is defined by complex urban systems design and behaviour: city infrastructure, mobility, density and movement of people, living and housing conditions, food systems, urban healthcare systems, the economy, education and communication systems, and also urban planning and design.

Urban systems are the epicentres for global development and the health of cities essentially defines human and planetary health and sustainable development. The complexity of urban systems generates opportunities but also risks to the health of people and the environment. Core to the health of urban systems is an understanding of the nature of complex urban systems. As they are partly plannable but also spontaneously emerge, different types of knowledge need to be applied: precise scientific knowledge and heuristic knowledge. Therefore, it is paramount to create a better understanding of what urban systems are, how they can be modelled and how people can apply that knowledge to better cope with urban complexity to improve health and wellbeing.

The Healthy Urban Systems Workshop aims at bringing together a group of experts who will contribute to a better understanding of what healthy urban systems are and how they function. Some workshop contributions will feed into the making of a MOOC at Lausanne University. The themes of the workshop are therefore meant to overlap with the MOOC modules which have been identified so far.

The Workshop is hosted by Geopolis, University of Lausanne (UNIL) and organised in collaboration with the International Science Council programme on Urban Health and Wellbeing (UHWB) and the Institute of Urban Environment (IUE), Chinese Academy of Science in Xiamen, China. 

More Information: https://wp.unil.ch/citadyne-news/healthy-urban-systems-mooc/