Emergy-based urban health evaluation and development pattern analysis

Regarding the basic roles of urban ecosystem health assessment (i.e., discovering the comprehensive health status, and diagnosing the limiting factors of urban ecosystems), the general framework integrating comprehensive evaluation and detailed analysis is established, from both bottom-up and top-down directions. Emergy-based health indicators are established to reflect the urban ecosystem health status from a biophysical viewpoint. Considering the intrinsic uncertainty and relativity of urban ecosystem health, set pair analysis is combined with the emergy-based indicators to fill the general framework and evaluate the relative health level of urban ecosystems. These techniques are favorable for understanding the overall urban ecosystem health status and confirming the limiting factors of concerned urban ecosystems from biophysical perspective. Moreover, clustering analysis is applied by combining the health status with spatial geographical conditions. Choosing 26 typical Chinese cities in 2005, relative comprehensive urban ecosystem health levels were evaluated. The higher health levels of Xiamen, Qingdao, Shenzhen, and Zhuhai are in particular contrast to those of Wuhan, Beijing, Yinchuan, and Harbin, which are relatively poor. In addition, the conditions of each factor and related indicators are investigated through set pair analysis, from which the critical limiting factors of Beijing are confirmed. According to clustering analysis results, the urban ecosystems studied are divided into four groups. It is concluded that the proposed framework of urban ecosystem health assessment, which integrates comprehensive evaluation and detailed analysis and is fulfilled by emergy synthesis and set pair analysis, can serve as a useful tool to conduct diagnosis of urban ecosystem health.

Relationship and driving factors between urbanization and natural ecosystem health in China

The Workshop titled “Salutogenic Cities: European experiences in Urban Health” - proposed and developed by the three EUPHA Section: Urban Public Health (URB), Public Mental Health (MEN) and Environmental Health (ENV) - is aimed to foster the dialogue between designers (architects and urban planners), Public Health experts (operators, professionals and epidemiologists), policy/decision makers and city users, to establish a multidisciplinary approach for understanding together how to create and manage healthy living outdoor urban environments. The Workshops mainly address both the “Climate emergency / Environment and health / Urban health” and the “Global health and Europe's role in global health” EPH23 conference topics. The Workshops purpose is to explore the link between the morpho-typological features of the urban environment and Public Health outcomes, that's crucial in the scientific scenario, taking into consideration the urbanization phenomena that characterizes contemporary society. Health is no longer a specifically individual health issue, but a collective priority strongly influenced by the environmental context and by strategies implemented by local Governments. Urban planning, at large and small scales, can be considered a key tool to protect and promote Urban Public Health. In this scenario, the COVID-19 emergency, has accelerated and emphasized several social, environmental and digital challenges, underling the focus on several aspects such as Urban mobility and walkable environment; Urban Green Spaces and ecosystem services assessment; Urban Health policies and actions. The Workshops program include inputs which they argue current experiences, emerging practices and scientific outcomes related to the Urban Health discipline. From methods, in “Improving health and wellbeing through health-centered, evidence-based urban planning methodologies” to actions, in “The urban burden of disease estimation for policy-making in 1000 European cities”. From epidemiological outcomes, in “Association between area-level walkability and glycated haemoglobin: a Portuguese population-based study” to hospitalizations implications, in “Daily temperature variability in cities and mental health-related hospitalizations”. Key messages • Explore the link between the morpho-typological features of the urban environment and Public Health outcomes, taking into consideration the urbanization phenomena that affect the contemporary society. • Establish a multidisciplinary approach for understanding together how to create and manage healthy living outdoor urban environments.

An integrated approach for assessing the urban ecosystem health of megacities in China

Evaluation of urban ecosystem health has become a research hotspot in ecology science with the increasing deterioration of urban environment. The paper constructed an evaluation index system composed of vigor, organizational structure, resilience, maintenance of ecosystem service and human health. Then it introduced grey correlation analysis into urban ecosystem health evaluation and established an urban ecosystem health evaluation model. Finally, it evaluated urban ecosystem health conditions of Chongqing from 1998 to 2007. The results show that urban ecosystem health conditions improved steadily. However, urban ecosystem health conditions are in ordinary condition during the study period, so urban ecosystem health conditions of Chongqing need to be improved. Evaluation results can provide references and guidance for the formulation of sustainable development policies. The model built in this paper has the specialties of easily calculating and clear results, and is suitable for comprehensive evaluation of urban ecosystem health.

To explore the relationship between water ecological civilization construction and urban water ecosystem health, the Water-Human-Health (WHH) evaluation model that could reflect the health connotation and mechanism of urban water ecosystem model was constructed to evaluate the health level of urban water ecological system. The result showed that the health status of urban water ecosystem health in X city during 2005~2013 was evaluated and it was found that the index of the urban water ecosystem health showed fluctuating upward trend, water system health index declined slightly in fluctuation and the human system health index increased steadily. To sum up, the urban water ecosystem health assessment method and urban water ecological civilization construction framework are reasonable and feasible.

How does rapid urban construction land expansion affect the spatial inequalities of ecosystem health in China? Evidence from the country, economic regions and urban agglomerations

Set Pair Analysis (SPA) is a new methodology to describe and process the system uncertainty and has been applied in many areas recently. In view of the uncertainty and complexity in the process of urban ecosystem health evaluation, the paper introduced SPA theory and established an evaluation model. In the model, identity-discrepancy-contrary connection degree formula embodied certainties and uncertainties of the evaluation system. In addition, all indexes were summarized into five-dimensional connection numbers. As an example, the paper evaluated urban ecosystem health conditions of Chonqing city from 1997 to 2007 by the model. The results show that urban ecosystem health conditions of Chongqing improve steadily during the period but need to be improved. Urban ecosystem health evaluation model combines qualitative description with quantitative analysis and takes full advantage of uncertainty, so it provides a new way to evaluate urban ecosystem health.

Identifying distributions of urban ecosystem health based on Latin-hypercube sampling and multi-criteria decision analysis framework

The 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) are a complex system comprising 169 targets and about 230 indicators. Urban Health could be considered a complex system since it deals with 15 out of 17 SDGs, excluding the two related to life below water and life on land. According to the World Health Organization, to achieve the SDGs, countries have committed to organize Urban Health initiatives to improve the social, economic, and physical environments promoting health and sustainability globally. Cities will become more inclusive, safer and more sustainable, which are important driving forces to implement the development equation. To set up a framework to point out that Urban Health is a complex system oriented to the achievement of the SDGs. It has been conducted an extensive literature review on databases (PubMed, Embase, Web of Science and Scopus) using keywords in 3 strings combined with Boolean operators: SDGs and Urban Health, Urban Health as Complex System and Urban Health, Environmental Health and Public Health as Complex Systems. In addition, a grey literature review has been carried out. Out of 1005 publications, 21 were eventually included: 14 publications relate to the interdependent relationships between SDGs and Urban Health, with regard to the association between Urban Health and complex system, 3 publication studied the effects and implications of such correlation, 4 focused on Environmental Health and Public Health in relation with the complex system. The selected publications suggested methodologies aimed at setting up an urban health framework to achieve SDGs. There is an initial orientation focused on the study of Urban Health problems aimed at achieving SDGs from the perspective of complex systems. We highlight the need to conduct further studies on a more detailed framework in order to address this type of approach.

Rapid urban growth poses significant risks to urban biodiversity and ecosystem health, making the need for innovative green infrastructure solutions essential. This research evaluates the potential of rooftop and vertical gardens in providing ecosystem services and promoting urban plant diversity. From 2015 to 2025, 15 peer-reviewed studies published and systematically analyzed by using a pragmatism-oriented qualitative review. Using Taguette, the data were extracted and coded across categories system type, substrate depth, irrigation, plant functional groups, origin, and ecological outcomes, following thematic analysis principles. Results indicate that rooftop gardens predominantly support pollinators, stormwater retention, thermal regulation and spontaneous colonizers, fostering horizontal habitat connectivity and supporting succulents, graminoids, herbaceous forbs. Although they contain fewer species, vertical gardens deliver essential vertical stratification, shade micro-niches, and air filtration, enhancing multi-dimensional habitat diversity. Complementary ecological pathways like rooftops increase species richness and horizontal network connectivity, while vertical systems expand niche differentiation and microclimatic benefits are revealed in comparative synthesis. The design and management factors strongly influenced the ecological outcomes including substrate depth, irrigation regime, species selection, and maintenance intensity. Regulating services were followed by supporting, provisioning, and cultural services depending on species composition and most consistently delivered. This research indicates that the strategic integration of rooftop and vertical gardens can enhance ecosystem resilience, mitigate environmental stressors, and restore urban plant diversity, offering evidence-based recommendations for architects, urban planners, and policymakers.

Given that the urban area is a complex ecosystem consisted of natural, societal and economic entities, urban ecosystem health evaluation is necessary for the scientific decision-making and proper ecological restoration. In this paper, the framework and methodology of urban ecosystem health evaluation based on emergy are proposed. The system of indices is developed including vigor, structure, resilience, ecosystem service function maintenance, and environmental impact. The paper take Suzhou urban ecosystem as an example, introduce the method of emergy-based evaluation, then evaluate the Suzhou ecosystem health during 2000 to 2007. The results show that Suzhou has obtained the better ecosystem vigor, structure, resilience and service function maintenance during 2000-2007, there also had a larger environmental pressure during its development. But the general trend of urban ecosystem has great development in recent years.

We describe the current state of play in urban health, predominantly in the Global North with case material from Australia. Health in the urban context touches on any domain within urban development, be it social, technical, design or natural (‘urban morphology’), or political. In order to arrive at a reflection on reflexive governance in the urban health sphere, we describe the emergence of health as a prominent dimension in urban development. This dimension, we then show, goes by monikers that extend beyond a ‘Healthy City’ framing to include other ‘Theme Cities’ such as Happy, Smart and Resilient Cities. Additionally, within the more uniquely health-framed urban networks, we show that uniquely separated cliques and paradigms pursue highly varied – and separated – research and policy goals and objectives. These range from medical-industrial views to social movement dimensions. This variation is then illustrated and analysed through a number of Australian case studies. They look at spatial concentrations of human and economic urban activity (the ‘precinct’) with healthcare and aviation-based examples prominent. These spatially determined urban health efforts in Australia are often part of ‘City Deals’ – economically neoliberal efforts at urban partnership development. We conclude with two cases that show that these – slightly more ideological – policy ontologies do not align with issues such as Aboriginal transport justice and social housing solutions. In all, we show how active and passive reflexive capacity on health in urban development should happen but is hardly realised.

Urban developments and health: Evidence from the distributional analysis of biomarkers in China.

城市绿地耦合了生态系统服务与人类福祉，兼顾公平与效率的城市绿地空间格局，是提升人居环境和改善民生的重要途径。在厘清相关概念内涵的基础上，基于Citespace软件对城市绿地生态系统服务与健康福祉及其相近概念进行关键词共现图谱与聚类分析，可以发现：研究集聚性强、各集群下研究领域重叠度高，研究尺度逐渐精细化，城市绿地与建成环境、休闲性体力活动与健康空间分异成为近几年研究热点。从供给侧：城市绿地绿地生态系统服务类型以及其估与测度方法，需求侧：居民健康福祉需求测度方法及时空表达，供需匹配：城市绿地生态系统服务供需匹配方法与空间公平，提升与调控：城市绿地时空结构优化与高效服务4个方面系统地综述了绿地生态系统服务与居民健康相关性研究，并指出目前城市绿地生态系统服务供需研究在研究内容、研究逻辑、研究方法及研究结果等方面还需进一步深化与提升。未来研究应重点关注城市绿地生态系统服务空间特征关系与居民健康需求层级的供需匹配程度，通过耦合新数据环境下精细化、规范性居民健康时空行为空间研究，总结供需平衡状态下多维度城市绿地高效服务的空间形态、功能结构与要素组织，并将其应用到城市绿地空间格局研究与绿地系统规划实践中，拓展人居环境优化提质的理论与方法。;Urban green space couples with urban ecosystem services and human well-being. The pattern of urban green space which takes fairness and efficiency into account is an important method to enhance the human settlements environment and improve people's livelihood. On the basis of clarifying the relevant concepts and connotations, based on Citespace software, keyword co-emerging network analysis and cluster analysis of urban green space ecosystem services, residents' health and human well-being and their similar concepts can be found:The research clusters are highly concentrated, the research fields under each cluster have a high degree of overlap, and the research scale is also more refined. The differentiation of urban green space and the urban built environment and leisure physical activity and health spatial has become the research hot spots in recent years. In this paper, the correlation research between urban green space ecosystem services and residents' health is systematically summarized from the following four aspects:1) Supply side, which mainly includes the types of urban green space ecosystem services as well as their evaluation and measurement methods; 2) demand side, that is, the measurement methods of urban residents' health and human well-being needs and their temporal and spatial expression; 3) the matching of supply and demand, relating to the matching method of supply and demand of urban green space ecosystem services and spatial equity; 4) and the promotion and regulation, including optimization of spatial and temporal structure of urban green space and efficient service. It is pointed out that the existing research on the supply and demand matching of urban green space ecosystem services needs to be further deepened and improved in terms of research content, research logic, research methods and results. Future research needs to pay more attention to the spatial characteristics of urban green space ecosystem services and the matching degree of supply and demand at the level of residents' health needs. The spatial form, functional structure and element organization of multidimensional urban green space efficient service under the equilibrium state of supply and demand are summarized through the coupling with refined and normative research of residents' health temporal and spatial behaviors in the context of new data environment. At the same time, it is applied to the research of the spatial pattern of urban green space and the practice of urban green space system planning for expanding the theory and methods of optimization and improvement the quality of human settlements environment.