Foreword

With now over 50% of the global population in urban areas and this percentage projected to continue to increase, a research focus on urban areas and the health and wellbeing of their huge populations is central to the Mission of the International Council for Science which is“to strengthen international science for the benefit of society”and we mean all societies, including those urban societies around the world. One of our key priorities is Science for Policy and as part of that role, the International Council for Science has been the lead for the Science and Technological Major Group in many United Nations processes, including the negotiations of the Sustainable Development Goals. Many of the resulting SDGs relate to urban health and specifically Goal 11 on cities and human settlements and Goal 3 on healthy lives. The Council played a similar role in the negotiations of the Sendai Framework for Disaster Risk Reduction 2015-2030 which has as 2 of its 4 priority areas relating to understanding risk and risk governance. One of the Sendai Targets for Disaster Risk Reduction 2015-2030 is to lower average global mortality.

Recognizing that urban areas are often most vulnerable to hazards and where most of the people are, there is a clean connection with urban health and wellbeing. At the 21st Conference of the Parties under the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change in Paris, the Paris Agreement was concluded which includes Article 7, Paragraph 1.“... enhancing adaptive capacity, strengthening resilience and reducing vulnerability...”. Article 5 states that:“... adaptation action... the best available science... integrating adaptation into relevant socioeconomic and environmental policies and actions.”Again, the urban health and wellbeing connections are clear.

These are complex intersecting issues-urban area, healthy lives, governance, disaster risk, resilient and reduced vulnerability, climate change adaptation, vulnerable groups, communities and ecosystems, indigenous people and local knowledge- and addressing them in effective ways to provide information and advice for policy makers is a challenge and also part of the Council's priority on science for policy. The programme“Urban Health and Wellbeing: A Systems Approach”will bring together a research focus on these complex intersecting issues. Recognizing the human needs and challenges requires a systems approach that is transformative, transdisciplinary and integrative. Having the United Nations University and the InterAcademy Medical Panel as co-sponsored makes for a very valued partnership.

Another of the Council's priorities is International Research Collaboration. This has been a focus for many decades of sponsoring or co-sponsoring global research programs on the broad aspects of human-environmental interactions. As the global communities need to work together to address the intersecting issues of sustainable development, climate change and disaster risk reduction, the International Council for Science, as the common co-sponsor of each of the Urban Health and Wellbeing, World Climate Research Programme, Future Earth: Research for Global Sustainability and Integrated Research on Disaster Risk, will work with our programs and the global science community to deliver the information and outputs that will enable governments and societies around the world to effectively address these global challenges.

On behalf of the International Council for Science and its members, I thank the scientific leaders of the Urban Health and Wellbeing program for their insights and energies in bringing this program forwardtowards implementation and look forward confidently to seeing the scientific advances for the benefit of all.

Gordon McBean

President, International Council of Science（ICSU）