Human Cities – Fostering a Systems-Approach to Urban Life

Today, over half of the world’s human population lives in cities. According to the UN, this figure is projected to rise to 68 percent by 2050. As places that provide home to more and more of us, we might assume cities to be inherently human places. On reflection, however, we understand the contemporary city as a challenge for both humans and the natural world.

Issues like air pollution, stress, sedentary lifestyles and a lack of access to green space take their toll. In comparison to those living in rural areas, city dwellers typically display poorer levels of mental and physical wellbeing. These issues are compounded by rising inequality, which ensures even worse health outcomes for those without the means to pay. Looking closer, our cities often do not seem human at all.

Alongside industrial agriculture, city growth is also the leading driver of tropical deforestation, a major factor in climate change. However, this process is a vicious cycle, in that climate change only drives more and more people into urban areas, with this rapid growth, in turn, tending to unhealthy and unequal cities, with poorer health outcomes for those living there. One problem with cities is that they tend to separate and isolate us from nature. In this era of climate crisis, inequality and global pandemics, however, we need to think beyond their effect on individuals and consider their relation to the natural world.

How can we preserve the best things about cities––among them diversity, creativity, tolerance, and rich cultural life––without sacrificing our health and wellbeing? How do we ensure they exist as places of prosperity without accelerating rampant inequality? How can empathy and intersectionality become guiding principles to anchor our endeavours? Cities are highly complex, adaptive systems. This means the answer to how people can better thrive in them will inevitably be multifaceted as well. Reform in various areas––including but not limited to transportation, housing, education architecture and design, food, work, and cultural life––will play a pivotal role in the production of more humane and environmentally conscious urban spaces.

Therme Group believes that now is the time to think big and to start realising the human city. Catalysed by the recent publication of Therme Group’s ambitious green paper Human Cities: Increasing Urban Wellbeing, this Wellbeing Culture Forum session outlined the characteristics of the human city, focusing on the vital role of culture and creativity in creating urban environments more compatible with the wellbeing both of humans and the natural world. Gathering experienced individuals from culture, science and city planning, the event used the green paper’s bold visioning to foster collaboration, discussion and debate, and to promote fresh thinking in the quest for sustainable solutions.