Urbanization is quickly increasing across the globe. Today, some 55% of the world's population lives in cities and the number is projected to reach 70% by 2050. This shift has come with major advantages. For example, it’s become easier to consolidate the workforce, driving economic development and making it cheaper to provide services such as education, health, and sanitation to larger populations at lower fixed costs.
However, urbanization has also led to a rapid change in the way human beings live and interact with one another, with a cascade of negative consequences to our health and environment.
City living has led to more sedentary lifestyles. For most of human existence, physical activity has been incidental to daily living, and exposure to the outdoors and green spaces was higher than they are today. In the age of urbanization, people live in high-rise buildings with less exposure to green spaces for outdoor activities.
About the authors
Dr. Mamka Anyona
Dr. Mamka Anyona is the policy and strategy lead for the U.N. multipartner trust fund for noncommunicable diseases and mental health. She is a global health expert with a decade of experience in the prevention and management of chronic diseases through systems transformation.
Dr. Stefan Swartling Peterson
Stefan Swartling Peterson is a public health physician and professor of global transformation for health at Karolinska Institutet, Sweden. A former global chief of health at UNICEF, he is now a visiting professor at Makerere University, Kampala, Uganda.
