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Abstract Diabetes poses a substantial disease burden, prompting preventive interventions. Physical inactivity, a major risk factor for type 2 diabetes, can potentially be mitigated by enhancing area-level walkability. Despite this, limited population-based studies have investigated the link between walkability and objective diabetes measures. Our study aims to estimate the association between area-level walkability and individual glycated haemoglobin levels in the Portuguese adult population without the diagnosis of diabetes. Data from the 2011 census and an updated street map were obtained to construct a walkability index based on residential density, land-use mix, and street connectivity. Individual health data were sourced from The National Health Examination Survey (INSEF) 2015, a representative survey of the Portuguese adult population. Gamma regression was employed for estimation of the main associations, revealing that residing in moderately walkable areas significantly reduced average glycated haemoglobin levels (Exp(β) = 0.906; 95% CI: 0.821, 0.999) compared to the least walkable areas. The association was less pronounced and not statistically significant for the third tertile of walkability (Exp(β) = 0.919; 95% CI: 0.822, 1.028). Our findings highlight a nonlinear protective association between walkability and glycated haemoglobin, emphasizing the potential policy implications for urban planning, diabetes prevention, and health promotion.

Background. Urban planning is a key tool to promote health in cities. The COVID-19 emergency accelerated several social, environmental, and digital challenges, stressing the importance of some issues regarding housing, urban mobility, green areas, and health service networks, urban health policies, and actions. These issues were the subject of an intensive residential course (the 57th) held in Erice, Sicily, in June 2021 in the “International School of Epidemiology and Preventive Medicine G. D’Alessandro”, and the main findings are described here. Methods. Lectures presented the topics, subsequently developed them, and argued them in parallel practical sessions using the World Café technique, since it is well suited for the interaction of participants and the involvement of groups. Results. The World Café provides new insights into how to improve the livability and health of urban spaces, and a set of strategies and actions were proposed for each topic. Discussion and Conclusions. All attendees agreed on the importance of participation in the planning processes, but also on the need for strong political support to ensure the resources needed and a full integration of health with other local policies. A multidisciplinary approach to developing systemic operational capacities and health literacy is considered pivotal to raising awareness and participation.

The link between the urban contexts’ features and the Public Health outcomes, opens to a challenging scenario about the Urban Health issue. The research purpose is to describe a critical literature review, aimed to correlate the Public Health outcomes with the environmental risk factors, and for each of them, define Evidence-Based Design Strategies and Actions, capable to reduce those risk, improving the urban quality and attractiveness of places. Furthermore, the main focus of the paper is to underline the cities’ ability to be resilient to the on-going climate change phenomena, and the definition of the urban context’s features representing best practices i.e. of Nature-Based Solutions, to enhance the ecosystemic quality, and to reach healthiness, safety and security of the urban spaces.

The refugees’ crisis results one of the most relevant social and medical issues in the international panorama. The Aim of the research is to develop a design project for a refugees’ temporary housing module, able to solving specific social, typological and functional needs in the context of anthropogenic emergencies in Europe. Starting from the study of the refugee crisis’ phenomenon, through a careful analysis of case studies and by identifying the main requirements of temporary dwellings for housing emergencies, the SNAP House project presents innovative solutions related to modularity, flexibility, adaptability to the different user’s needs and it is able to ensure hygiene of spaces and indoor well-being.