Digital Transformations and Urban Health: Current Challenges and Opportunities

Digital access in urban settlements is a social determinant of urban health and a formidable element of advancing sustainable growth in our cities. Yet, it is also characterised by deep inequalities and capacity gaps that prevent us from delivering on the promise of step-change digital transformations for urban health. Whilst digital urban transformations are happening worldwide, most urban health investment in this space still fail to make an impact at scale. Reviewing key evidence and foundational issues as part of a collaboration with the World Health Organization, this essay stresses three key axes for effective intervention: 1) the development of novel sources of data, 2) the improvement of digital public infrastructures, and 3) the building of digital capacity at all levels of government and civil society. It identifies three priorities for evidence-based digital transformations in urban health: networking, financing, and review. These are underpinned by a cross-cutting call to step up multilevel commitments on digital transformations for urban health.