But if the downtowns of many older US cities are pre-eminently walkable, their more affordable peripheries and suburbs are as car dependent as most newer Sunbelt cities. And the affluent creative class is far from a majority: overall, it accounts for less than a third of the workforce. For most of us, urban living means long commutes, sedentary working days and the constant temptations of junk food and sugary and alcoholic beverages.

"Two thirds of the 415 million people around the world who have type 2 diabetes live in cities"

The prevalence of lifestyle diseases – atherosclerosis, heart disease, stroke, type 2 diabetes and the whole panoply of bad things that are associated with obesity, smoking and alcohol and drug abuse – is rising alarmingly. Two thirds of the 415 million people around the world who have type 2 diabetes live in cities. A new study by researchers at University College London for the Cities Changing Diabetes programme explores the complex social and cultural factors that are driving this epidemic. One of its most striking findings is that the social isolation that occurs in cities and vulnerability to disease are closely associated.

That chimes with an important study published by Toronto Public Health, which looked into the increasing incidence of mental health problems and suicides in the city’s population. The link it found between suicide and social isolation was unmistakable. Isolation is a fact of life in far-flung sprawling suburbs where people depend on the car, but it also occurs in even the most crowded cities.

大城市里不仅心脏病糖尿病发病率在提升，都市里特有的人情冷漠，孤独寂寞也更容易引发疾病。

the whole panoply of 全套

vulnerability 易受伤，易感

chime with 与…一致

far-flung 漫长的

sprawling 蔓生的

There is good news and bad news in this. If urban living elevates some health risks, cities can also mobilise the resources that are needed to mitigate them. Most cities have well-established infrastructures for the delivery of social welfare and health services. Urban hospitals and clinics are developing more and more effective medical interventions; as medical schools and medical professionals reach better understandings of the specifically urban dimensions of health problems, they will be better able to respond to them. Urban density and diversity accelerate the transmission of information and ideas; cities are rich in media and other mass communication professionals and platforms that can go far to raise public awareness and change behaviours.

elevate 提升

mobilise 调动，流通

mitigate 缓和，减轻

A new study has shown that metros with higher incomes and greater concentrations of the creative class were healthier.

Quality of place is important too – numerous surveys have shown that the physical and intangible features of a city are associated with higher levels of happiness and better health. Poor health outcomes and intractable urban poverty are as closely related today as they were historically; raising minimum wages, improving education and creating higher levels of socio-economic mobility can go far to change that. Community-building can help dispel the plague of loneliness.

Cities can do a lot, and many are – but they can’t do it all by themselves. A century ago, healthcare practices and standards received a huge boost through the extraordinary concept of teaching hospitals. We need to bring similar levels of innovation and creativity to the delivery of healthcare in our cities today – via robust urban agendas at the state and national levels of government, and by building international networks of expertise that knit private and public resources together. Cities themselves need to become more like teaching hospitals where researchers, policy-makers, urbanists and residents can come together to identify the most effective ways to promote healthier lifestyles.

By the middle of this century, 75% of humanity will live in cities; we are about to embark on the greatest epoch of city-building that history has ever seen. We can do it systematically, making our cities better and healthier places, or we can wing it. The choice is ours.

Richard Florida is the Director of the Martin Prosperity Institute at the University of Toronto’s Rotman School of Management, Global Research Professor at NYU, and the co-founder and editor-at-large of The Atlantic’s CityLab.

intangible 无形的

intractable 棘手的

dispel 驱散

plague 泛滥

robust 破垄

embark 从事，着手

epoch 纪元

editor-at-large 特约编辑，自由编辑

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