The COVID-19 pandemic as a starting point to accelerate improvements in health in our cities through better urban and transport planning

[Extract] Cities are arguably the greatest achievement of human civilization. A greater proportion of the global human population is living in cities than ever, and this keeps growing with up to 70% of people expected to live in cities within 20 years. Jobs, wealth and prosperity, innovation, culture, entertainment, and access to healthcare are some of the greatest drivers of the growth and success of cities. But because of their density, cities also tend to be hotspots of air pollution and noise exposure, heat island effects, and more lately the COVID-19 pandemic (Nieuwenhuijsen 2020). Particularly, the more deprived were at higher risk of COVID-19 and already existing inequalities in cities were magnified. Cities also tend to have higher rates of poor mental health, and there were reports of further increases, particular during lockdowns (Kunzler et al. 2021)