DE-URBANISED EPIDEMICS: Planetary Coopetition for Re-Design of the Concept of Health in Relation to the Built Environment

Urbanised humans are the most invasive species on Earth, consuming the majority of the planet’s resources. In an endless battle with nature, the urban fosters an unhealthy condition resulting in extinctions and planetary crises, endangering the livelihood of both humans and non-humans. Meanwhile, in the contemporary urbanised world,  health is interpreted as the temporal psychological and physical condition of a human body.

A permanent and holistic conception  of (well)being and its widened territory embracing  the vitality of the entire nature are often neglected. Health in the urban environment is inscribed in infrastructures, rather than being a generative concept for a nurturing habitat. The paradigm of our times is that of treatment-an act after the damage has been done, rather than wellbeing, a sustained state of healthiness. 

The emergence of epidemics brings forth the significance of a new concept of health and wellbeing in relation to the built environment and beyond. It is evident from the zoonotic sources of the latest epidemics that humans have penetrated deeper into ecozones not occupied before.

Not a competition but rather a “coopetition”, this is a call for planetary solidarity to change the unsustainable and fragile “status quo” with speculative scenarios that explore health and wellbeing from the lense of ecology. 

• How can we describe and imagine a permanent mode of well being that is dependent and grounded on co-existence?
• What are the possible ways of “de-urbanising” the concept of health in relation to the built environment, with an emphasis on the issue of epidemics?

The coopetitive participation of diverse ideas will be shared widely, published as a book and will establish a ground for later studies and actions.