With 68% of the world's population projected to live in urban areas by 2050, cities are grappling with worsening health burdens. Poor air quality and sedentary lifestyles are serious risk factors for millions of urban dwellers, contributing to noncommunicable diseases such as cancer, and chronic respiratory and cardiovascular diseases. Climate change and rising temperatures are expected to further amplify these vulnerabilities.
Yet within this tangle of challenges lies an opportunity: Urban mobility interventions can unlock new financing pathways for NCDs funding while delivering a host of co-benefits. This may be especially valuable in unlocking public financing, as the return on investment spans multiple budget lines — from reduced health care costs to improved air quality, educational outcomes, and climate resilience.
Jordi Honey-Rosés, director of City Lab Barcelona — a research group at the Institute for Environmental Science and Technology at the Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona — believes that cycling infrastructure, in particular, can be a high-impact, cost-effective NCD intervention.
About the author
Laura Secorun
Laura Secorun is an independent journalist covering the climate crisis and its intersection with global development. Based in Barcelona, she previously worked as a foreign correspondent in East Africa and the Middle East, writing about politics and migration for outlets such as The New York Times, The Guardian, and Foreign Policy.
