We are proud to see our team’s work featured in the new issue of Ciudad y Territorio Estudios Territoriales (Vol. 58, No. 228, Summer 2026), specially focused on the crucial intersection of “City, Urbanism, and Health”.
The article captures the scientific methodology behind the Healthy Cities Generator, highlighting its role as a comprehensive tool for assessing the health and economic impacts of urban planning.
The Development Process
The foundation of the HCG is built upon five foundational pillars of research, collaboration, and validation:
- Literature Review & Health Links:
Conducted a systematic literature review (2015–2021) that identified 20 key Urban Health Determinants (UHD) and mapped their peer-reviewed links to 30 physical, mental, and environmental health indicators. - Evaluation of Existing Tools:
Completed a critical evaluation of over 60 existing tools, which highlighted common industry gaps, such as high complexity, a lack of operational recommendations, and missing community components, that HCG directly addresses. - Healthcare Expenditure Analysis:
Developed a financial calculation methodology alongside the European €VALUE project, which measures the economic value of life expectancy in urban environments, to translate urban impacts into tangible financial data by modeling the economic burden, local prevalence, and urban risk factors of 15 major chronic diseases. - Citizen Engagement Module:
Standardized a qualitative survey framework optimized for mobile devices (available in 9 languages) that easily captures community perceptions and cross-references them with technical data. - International Participatory Process:
Engaged in continuous real-world testing, refinement, and algorithm validation involving more than 60 experts from 45 entities across 10 countries, including the WHO, UN-Habitat, and various municipal teams.
With our past research and real life experiences, our current focus is on validating global context adaptability, capturing more social determinants of health, and integrating local health datasets.
Read the full article here.
