Building the Field of Urban Health
ISUH was established in 2002 at The New York Academy of Medicine by a founding group of public health scholars, urban practitioners, and policy advocates who recognized a significant gap: despite the profound influence of cities on health outcomes, no international organization existed to systematically study the health impacts of urban environments or to connect research, practice, and policy across this domain.
The organization was created to fill that gap — to build urban health as a coherent, evidence-based, and multidisciplinary field capable of informing how cities are designed, governed, and invested in to improve health.
Our Mission
Our mission is to achieve a healthier, more equitable urban future for all people, in all communities, worldwide.
This mission has guided every program, project, and partnership since the organization's founding. It reflects a conviction that the social and environmental conditions shaping urban life — housing quality, neighborhood infrastructure, environmental exposure, climate impacts, access to services, food systems, social inclusion and others — are determinants of health that can and must be addressed through sustained collective action across sectors & disciplines.
Our Vision
We envision neighborhoods and cities where the physical, social, economic, and environmental conditions of daily life support health and wellbeing for every resident—regardless of background, income, age, or geography—and where progress toward health equity is visible, measurable, and sustained.
Our Values
Equity: We prioritize neighborhoods and populations experiencing the greatest urban health disparities and examine the place-based conditions that produce and sustain those differences.
Place: Health is shaped by the physical, social, economic, and environmental conditions of daily life. We develop approaches that respond to the distinct histories, cultures, geographies, assets, and challenges of each place.
Evidence and Learning: Our work draws on rigorous research, local knowledge, and practical experience. We define measurable indicators, assess progress, and use what we learn to strengthen and adapt our work.
Action: We translate knowledge and evidence into practical strategies, tools, policies, and programs designed to produce meaningful, measurable improvements in urban health and wellbeing.
Systems Thinking and Collaboration: Urban health is shaped by interacting policies, institutions, environments, economies, and social conditions. We work across disciplines, sectors, levels of governance, and contexts to understand these connections, align action, and address the conditions driving health outcomes.
Community Knowledge and Leadership: Residents and locally rooted organizations are experts in their own places and critical leaders of neighborhood transformation. We work alongside them to define priorities, interpret evidence, co-design and implement action, and determine what meaningful change looks like in their own communities.
Two Decades of Contribution
Over more than two decades, ISUH has:
Convened the International Conference on Urban Health (ICUH) annually since 2002, producing the world's only dedicated global forum bridging urban health research and practice across every sector and discipline
Developed the Accelerating City Equity (ACE) Project — a globally informed active-learning resource center providing free tools and frameworks for practitioners advancing health equity in cities worldwide
Integrated the Healthy Housing Portfolio (formerly ARCHIVE Global), expanding ISUH's on-the-ground implementation capacity across multiple countries and health contexts
Launched I-HIP Co — a community-led healthy housing initiative connecting U.S. cities with international experience in resident-driven healthy housing & neighborhoods transformation
Contributed to foundational urban health research and systems frameworks, including collaborative work with the World Health Organization (WHO)
Built an international community and membership network spanning 8,000+ researchers, practitioners, policymakers, and advocates across more than 70 countries
Why Urban Health — The Case for Investment
More than 55% of the world’s population lives in urban areas today. By 2050, that proportion is projected to reach 68%—nearly seven in every ten people. The future of global health will be shaped, to a significant degree, by what happens in cities.
Housing, neighborhood design, mobility, greenspace, environmental hazards, economic opportunity, and social connection all influence health and wellbeing in ways that medicine alone cannot address. These conditions can vary dramatically between neighborhoods, producing profound differences in health within the same city.
Cities concentrate people—and therefore both health risks and opportunities for prevention. Noncommunicable diseases and injuries account for more than 80% of deaths worldwide, and many of their underlying risks are shaped by urban systems, policies, and environments.
An urban health approach works further upstream. By improving the conditions that create or compound risk, cities can prevent illness and injury, reach entire populations, reduce avoidable pressure on health systems, and generate wider benefits for economic productivity, climate resilience, and quality of life. Clinical care remains indispensable, but cities cannot treat their way out of environments that continually produce poor health.This makes urban health a high-leverage public health investment. It also requires a systems approach: housing, transportation, planning, climate, food, economic development, public health, and other sectors must work together.
ISUH connects the evidence, expertise, communities, and institutions needed to turn this opportunity into action. Through research, global learning, partnerships, and implementation support, we advance practical solutions for healthier and more equitable cities.
Join us in shaping healthier urban futures.
Partner with ISUH to turn evidence into coordinated, place-based impact. Together, we can shape city policy, strengthen urban systems, and implement solutions that create healthier and more equitable conditions for communities worldwide.
