How Do Individuals Interact with the Urban Environment?

[This text has been written by Cathryn Tonne, Associate Research Professor at ISGlobal, and Sarah Williams, project manager at ISGlobal]

The environment we live in has a significant impact on our health, explaining an estimated 70% of the (non-communicable) chronic disease burden. Most aspects of our environment are modifiable, providing huge potential for disease prevention. Multiple aspects of the urban environment work together to shape health, a concept known as the exposome. Derived from the term exposure, the exposome is the sum of all non-genetic drivers of health and disease. Interacting with the genome, it defines individual health at different stages throughout the life course, including foetal life.

Multiple aspects of the urban environment work together to shape health, a concept known as the exposome. Derived from the term exposure, the exposome is the sum of all non-genetic drivers of health and disease

Some of the factors that make up the exposome include exposure to noise, UV, pollen, air pollution, climate, food landscape (fast food, alcohol outlets, healthy food stores), food intake, access to green spaces, as well as social factors such as individual and neighborhood socio-economic position and psychosocial indicators such as family structure and social support.

Project EXPANSE: Maximizing health in a urban environment

EXPANSE (EXposome Powered tools for healthy living in urbAN SEttings) is a five-year European research project that focuses on the urban exposome and involves 20 academic and non-academic partners located in 14 European countries and the USA. With funding from the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme, EXPANSE will address one of the most pertinent questions for urban planners, policy makers, and inhabitants in Europe: “How to maximize one’s health in a modern urban environment?”.

EXPANSE’s goal is to improve cardio-metabolic and pulmonary health (CMPH) by studying the impact of the urban exposome on cardio-metabolic and pulmonary disease (CMPD) and by evaluating the impact of intervening on specific factors in the urban exposome on reducing the burden of CMPD

EXPANSE will address one of the most pertinent questions for urban planners, policy makers, and inhabitants in Europe: “How to maximize one’s health in a modern urban environment?”

EXPANSE defines the urban exposome as the complex interplay between the built, social, physico-chemical, food, and lifestyle aspects of the urban environment. The urban exposome consists of factors such as where we live and work, where and what we eat, our social network, and what chemical and physical hazards we are exposed to, and provides important targets to improve population health.

Photo: Martí Petit / Barcelona City Council

Currently, 72% of Europe’s population lives in an urban environment. This percentage is expected to grow to more than 80% by 2030. It is therefore critical that European urban areas provide a healthy living environment. Urban living should not have to involve a tradeoff between increased access to economic opportunities, innovative ideas, and health care at the cost of increased exposure to traffic-related air and noise pollution, and limited nature contact. With improved evidence and integration of health evidence in urban design, planning and policy, urban areas in Europe can be optimised to promote health.

Currently, 72% of Europe’s population lives in an urban environment. This percentage is expected to grow to more than 80% by 2030. It is therefore critical that European urban areas provide a healthy living environment

Additionally, the lower socio-economic class is over-represented in urban populations, and disadvantaged populations, have limited opportunities to move to ‘healthier environments’, and may be more vulnerable to adverse effects of the urban exposome (e.g. through elevated stress levels, occupational exposures, or dietary patterns). This is of great public health importance as significant differences in life expectancy are observed not only between different European urban populations (>12 years) but also within cities. For example, in Barcelona there is a difference of 9 years in life expectancy at birth between neighbourhoods. Therefore, research on the urban exposome is not just a question of creating healthier urban living environments, but also a question of health equity.

In the Dutch city of Utrecht, the difference in years lived in good health varies by more than 12 years across neighbourhoods. Therefore, research on the urban exposome is not just a question of creating healthier urban living environments, but also a question of health equity

This project builds on previous research done by the Urban Health Initiative at ISGlobal. Research conducted on specific exposures have identified various links between the urban exposome and health, including research on road traffic noise exposure; short-term exposure to air pollution and cognitive and mental health; and access to green space and reduction in premature deaths, among others

EXPANSE Urban Labs

One of the key initiatives of the EXPANSE projects are the EXPANSE Urban Labs. These labs are designed to develop a detailed, personalized assessment of the urban exposome in five European cities, including Barcelona (Spain), Utrecht (Netherlands), Basel (Switzerland), Warsaw (Poland) and Athens (Greece). The Urban Labs will collect rich data on how individuals’ exposure to the urban external exposome depends on where they live, travel, and how they perceive their environment. Novel data on individuals’ activities and perceptions as they go about their day will contribute to better understanding of how the physical-chemical, built, food, and social environment shape health behaviours like dietary intake and physical activity, which are relevant for a range of non-communicable diseases.

Contribute to new knowledge on the influence of urban environments on health

As part of the Barcelona Urban Labs, ISGlobal and its partners are recruiting 5,000 individuals to participate in the Urban Labs over the course of a year. Participants will be asked to fill in a questionnaire, install an app on their smartphone, and carry a set of small, light-weight devices to measure air pollution, activity, and chemical exposures over a two week period.

These devices include a GPS tracker, which records geographical positioning every second, a silicon wristband which absorbs the chemicals exposed to, and a randomly selected group will be chosen to carry an air pollution tracker which monitors particulate concentration in the air, and an activity tracker, which records physical activity, heart rate, step counts, stairs walked, sleep duration and sleep stage estimates.

At the end of the project, participants will receive information about their personal exposome and opportunities to modify their exposures to promote health.

Learn more about participating in the Barcelona Urban Lab here.