Franz Gatzweiler

Key messages

1. Complex problems of urban health and wellbeing cause millions of premature deaths annually and are beyond the reach of individual problem-solving capabilities.

2. Collective and artificial intelligence (CI+AI) working together can address the complex challenges of urban health

3. The systems approach (SA) is an adaptive, intelligent and intelligence-creating, “data-metabolic” mechanism for solving such complex challenges. 

4. Design principles have been identified to successfully create CI and AI. Data metabolic costs are the limiting factor.

5. A call for collaborative action to build an “urban brain” by means of next generation systems approaches is required to save lives in the face of failure to tackle complex urban health challenges.