Healthy Urban Living

How healthy is living in a large, densely populated city? The urban environment can influence public health in several ways, for instance through the accessibility of healthy transport and food options, and providing opportunities for physical activity and social engagement. The research performed within the Healthy Urban Living theme assesses the links between these different issues and health with the ultimate goal to advance our understanding on how we can design cities that promote the health of the city and its inhabitants.

Research projects

  • Data and Knowdledge Hub Healthy Urban Living

    The Data and Knowledge Hub Healthy Urban Living is an independent and open public-private platform, initiated by amongst others Utrecht University. Together with residents, the partners will develop scientific and data-driven concepts and measures: evidence-based products and services that have a positive effect on the health of everyone who lives, works or recreates in an urban environment. Now and in the future.

    Duration: 2020 - ongoing
    Coordinator: Roel Vermeulen
    Contact: info@gezondstedelijklevenhub.nl

  • ELAPSE

    ELAPSE is a European research project that investigates if long-term exposure to low concentrations of outdoor air pollution is related to adverse health effects. It address the health effects at low air pollution levels by performing new analyses within selected cohorts of the ESCAPE study (~485,000 subjects) and in seven very large European administrative cohorts (> 35 million subjects).

    Duration: 2016-2021
    Contact: g.hoek@uu.nl

  • EXPANSE

    EXPANSE 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. The project has received funding from the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme under grant agreement No 874627 and is coordinated by Utrecht University.

    Duration: 2020 - 2025
    Coordinators: Jelle Vlaanderen, Roel Vermeulen
    Funded by: European Union's Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme

     

     

  • CitieS-Health

    CitieS-Health aims to put citizens’ concerns at the heart of research agenda on environmental epidemiology by tackling health issues that concern them. Groups of citizens in five cities in Europe will design and run experiments to explore how the pollution in their living environment is affecting their health. The project will create an interactive toolkit with customised tools and best practices for the replication of the studies in other locations by researchers, individuals and citizen groups.

    Duration: 2019 - 2023
    Contact: Gerard Hoek

  • GERoNiMO - Generalized EMF Research using Novel Methods

    The GERoNiMO project aims to close gaps of knowledge on health effects of electromagnetic fields (EMF) and reduce exposure. To achieve this, it will use an integrated approach, bringing together researchers from different disciplines (biology, engineering and physics, epidemiology and public health, radiation protection and risk assessment and communication), 19 different research institutions (see below) and 13 countries to address key questions related to EMF.

    Duration: 2014 - ongoing
    Contact: Anke Huss & Roel Vermeulen

     

  • ETAIN - Exposure To electromAgnetic fIelds and plaNetary health

    The ongoing introduction of new telecommunication technologies (5G now, 6G next) comes with changes in exposure patterns and of biological interaction with humans and ecosystems. E.g., the coming mm-wave technology will lead to higher dose in human skin and eyes and higher absorption in small bodies, like insects. It is unclear if these changes are accompanied by adverse effects and what it means for current exposure limit regulation. ETAIN aims to develop and validate approaches to assess the impact of existing and novel communication technology from a planetary health perspective, while exploring options for exposure reduction and interacting with the public and stakeholders about exposure levels and possible associated risks.

    Duration: 2022 – 2027
    Coordinator: Anke Huss
    Funded by: European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme

Cohort Studies

  • COSMOS (Cohort Study of Mobile Phone Use and Health)

    COSMOS is a large prospective cohort study of mobile telephone users (ongoing recruitment of 250,000 men and women aged 18+ years in five European countries - Denmark, Finland, Sweden, The Netherlands, UK) who will be followed up for 25+ years. Information on mobile telephone use is collected prospectively through questionnaires and objective traffic data from network operators. Associations with disease risks will be studied.

    Duration: ongoing
    Contact: Roel Vermeulen