Our vision: By 2030, all urban infrastructure projects in Africa will embed health and climate resilience principles in their design and implementation.
Africa’s population is young (median age 19.4 years) and rapidly urbanising. High rates of urban poverty and largely unplanned urban environments compromise wellbeing and are contributing to a rising burden of both infectious and non-communicable diseases (NCDs). Despite an urgent need for healthy urban environment to reverse this trajectory, the continent’s mostly unplanned urban development, coupled with unresponsive governance in growing cities, offer few opportunities for health creation and disease prevention, with most urban residents also experiencing environmental vulnerability.
These cities are dually characterised by rapidly growing informal settlements and increasing investment in new greenfield urban development initiatives, with a largely untapped opportunity to harness this rapid pace of change and the young population for sustainable urban health initiatives.
We:
ASPIRE..
for an urban reality where access to health-enabling, climate-resilient environments in cities is the central guiding principle of all urban development.
INSPIRE..
through the use of participatory data on urban environments and health to inform activism, shape advocacy and guide prioritisation and accountability of the impact of urban infrastructure development on health.
CONSPIRE..
building a vibrant movement of citizen scientists across the African continent who are impatient for impact and relentlessly drive demand for healthy public spaces.
How do we do this?
The UrbanBetter Cityzens initiative aims to harness urban infrastructure and development for planetary health through the air we breathe, our spaces and places and the food we eat.
Progress
Our campaign at the intersection of physical activity, built environment and air pollution is CITYZENS FOR CLEAN AIR .
[Read about the outcomes of the COP27 Cityzens4CleanAir project presented at the COP27 meeting in Egypt in November 2022].
We are working to build the citizen sensing infrastructure needed to generate data stories that
- augment and inform urban design for healthy climate resilient public spaces through evidence-informed activism and policy.
- support training of the next generation of transdisciplinary researchers using data generated by young people across the continent.
The Cityzens initiative is currently incubating in the UrbanBetter satellite studio at Innovation Africa @UP, a research investment platform that hosts and develops collaborative government-industry-university initiatives to address pan-African needs for sustainable development and economic growth.
We are actively seeking
- Partners who finance or design urban infrastructure projects to commit to health generating principles.
- Anchor funding and implementation partners for the 3 core elements of public space: air, built environment, food environment.
Follow us for updates & Get in touch to find out how you can support and contribute to this exciting innovative approach to making the urban better.
