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Competing Interests: BG-C and MS were supported by National Health and Medical Research Council (NHMRC) Senior Principal Research Fellowship funding (grant numbers: 1107672 and 1136250); BG-C and HB were also supported by RMIT Vice-Chancellor's Fellowships; CH was supported through an NHMRC Centre for Research Excellence in Healthy Liveable Communities (grant number: 1061404) and The Australian Prevention Partnership Centre (grant number: 9100003); DA was supported by an Impact Acceleration Award from the Economic and Social Research Council and funding from the Global Challenges Research Fund administered by the Department for the Economy, Northern Ireland, UK. EC's research was supported by the Australian Catholic University. APR was supported by the Centre for Health and Social Care Research of the University of Vic, Central University of Catalonia. The Barcelona Provincial Council and City Council of Vic provided funding for the Barcelona and Vic data collection. AAF was supported by a research fellowship from the Brazilian National Council for Scientific and Technological Development (grant number: 309301/2020-3). GB was supported by a grant from The Public Goods Projects. SL was supported by the experiential fellowships from College of Social Science and Humanities, Northeastern University. JFS was supported by Australian Catholic University. DS was supported by the Center for Diabetes Translation Research, Washington University in St Louis, MO, (grant number: P30DK092950 from National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases [NIDDK] at the National Institutes of Health [NIH]) and by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) (grant number: U48DP006395). MAA was supported by the National Cancer Institute at the NIH (grant number: R01CA198915). GV was supported by Ayudas para contratos Juan de la Cierva-formación 2019 (grant number: FJC2019-041233-I), and the Centro de Excelencia Severo Ochoa 2019–23 Program (grant number: CEX2018-000806-S) from the Spanish Government. RFH was supported by the UK Research and Innovation—National Health and Medical Research Council (grant number: MR/T038934/1). All other authors declare no competing interests. The content of this article is solely the responsibility of the authors and does not represent the official views of any of the NIDDK/NIH, CDC, or of any of the funding agencies supporting this work. We thank Karel Frömel, Faculty of Physical Culture, Palacký University Olomouc, Olomouc, Czech Republic; David Vale, Lisbon School of Architecture, University of Lisbon, Lisbon, Portugal; Andreia Pizarro, Research Center in Physical Activity, Health and Leisure (CIAFEL), Faculty of Sports, and Laboratory for Integrative and Translational Research in Population Health (ITR), University of Porto, Porto, Portugal; Javier Molina-García, Department of Teaching of Musical, Visual and Corporal Expression, University of Valencia, Valencia, Spain; Hannah Hook, College of Health Solutions, Arizona State University, Phoenix, AZ, USA; Adetoyeje Y Oyeyemi, Department of Physiotherapy, University of Maiduguri, Maiduguri, Nigeria; Belinda Nemec, Melbourne; Judy Boyce, Healthy Liveable Cities Lab, Centre for Urban Research, RMIT University, Melbourne, VIC, Australia

City planning policies influence urban lifestyles, health, and sustainability. We assessed policy frameworks for city planning for 25 cities across 19 lower-middle-income countries, upper-middle-income countries, and high-income countries to identify whether these policies supported the creation of healthy and sustainable cities. We systematically collected policy data for evidence-informed indicators related to integrated city planning, air pollution, destination accessibility, distribution of employment, demand management, design, density, distance to public transport, and transport infrastructure investment. Content analysis identified strengths, limitations, and gaps in policies, allowing us to draw comparisons between cities. We found that despite common policy rhetoric endorsing healthy and sustainable cities, there was a paucity of measurable policy targets in place to achieve these aspirations. Some policies were inconsistent with public health evidence, which sets up barriers to achieving healthy and sustainable urban environments. There is an urgent need to build capacity for health-enhancing city planning policy and governance, particularly in low-income and middle-income countries., Competing Interests: Declaration of interests BG-C reports Senior Principal Research Fellowship (GNT1107672) and grant (number 1061404) support from National Health and Medical Research Council during the conduct of the study. CH was also supported by National Health and Medical Research Council through the Centre for Research Excellence in Healthy Liveable Communities (grant number 1061404). GB reports grants from the Public Good Projects, during the conduct of the study. JFS reports personal fees from Sports, Play, and Active Recreation for Kids (SPARK) physical activity programmes of Gopher Sport, and travel support from Rails to Trails Conservancy, outside the submitted work. JFS also has a copyright on SPARK physical activity programmes with royalties paid by Gopher Sport. DA was supported by an Impact Acceleration Award from the Economic and Social Research Council and funding from the Global Challenges Research Fund administered by the Department for the Economy, Northern Ireland, UK. SL was supported by the experiential fellowships from the College of Social Science and Humanities, Northeastern University, Boston, MA, USA. EC and JFS were supported by the Australian Catholic University, Melbourne, VIC, Australia. AAF is supported by a research fellowship from the Brazilian National Council for Scientific and Technological Development (CNPq) (#309301/2020-3). TB was supported by a Doctoral Scholarship from Auckland University of Technology, Auckland, New Zealand. AP-R was supported by the Centre for Health and Social Care Research at the University of Vic-Central University of Catalonia, Vic, Spain, and funding was provided by the Barcelona Provincial Council, Barcelona, Spain and City Council of Vic, Vic, Spain. CDGR is supported by the Portugal National Funds through Fundação para a Ciência e a Tecnologia, Instituto Público, Lisbon, Portugal, under the Research Fellowship (UI/BD/152231/2021). DS was supported by Washington University in St Louis, Center for Diabetes Translation Research, St Louis, MO, USA (P30DK092950 from National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases of the National Institutes of Health) and by the Cooperative Agreement Number U48DP006395 from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. RFH was supported by the UK Research and Innovation—National Health and Medical Research Council (project reference MR/T038934/1). The content of this article is solely the responsibility of the authors and does not represent the official views of any of the funding agencies supporting this work. Funding sources had no role in writing the manuscript or in the decision to submit for publication. All other authors report no competing interests., (Copyright © 2022 The Author(s). Published by Elsevier Ltd. This is an Open Access article under the CC BY 4.0 license. Published by Elsevier Ltd.. All rights reserved.)

Objectives: Traffic speed is important to public health as it is a major contributory factor to collision risk and casualty severity. 20mph (32km/h) speed limit interventions are an increasingly common approach to address this transport and health challenge, but a more developed evidence base is needed to understand their effects. This study describes the changes in traffic speed and traffic volume in the City of Edinburgh, pre- and 12 months post-implementation of phased city-wide 20mph speed limits from 2016-2018., Methods: The City of Edinburgh Council collected speed and volume data across one full week (24 hours a day) pre- and post-20mph speed limits for 66 streets. The pre- and post-speed limit intervention data were compared using measures of central tendency, dispersion, and basic t-tests. The changes were assessed at different aggregations and evaluated for statistical significance (alpha = 0.05). A mixed effects model was used to model speed reduction, in the presence of key variables such as baseline traffic speed and time of day., Results: City-wide, a statistically significant reduction in mean speed of 1.34mph (95% CI 0.95 to 1.72) was observed at 12 months post-implementation, representing a 5.7% reduction. Reductions in speed were observed throughout the day and across the week, and larger reductions in speed were observed on roads with higher initial speeds. Mean 7-day volume of traffic was found to be lower by 86 vehicles (95% CI: -112 to 286) representing a reduction of 2.4% across the city of Edinburgh (p = 0.39) but with the direction of effect uncertain., Conclusions: The implementation of the city-wide 20mph speed limit intervention was associated with meaningful reductions in traffic speeds but not volume. The reduction observed in road traffic speed may act as a mechanism to lessen the frequency and severity of collisions and casualties, increase road safety, and improve liveability., Competing Interests: I have read the journal’s policy and the authors of this manuscript have the following competing interests: Dr. Ruth Hunter is a current member of the National Institute for Health Research (NIHR) Public Health Research panel who fund the study. She was not a member of the panel when the decision to fund the study was made.

According to the biophilia hypothesis, humans have evolved to prefer natural environments that are essential to their thriving. With urbanization occurring at an unprecedented rate globally, urban greenspace has gained increased attention due to its environmental, health, and socioeconomic benefits. To unlock its full potential, an increased understanding of greenspace metrics is urgently required. In this first-of-a-kind study, we quantified street-level greenspace using 751 644 Google Street View images and computer vision methods for 125 274 locations in Ireland's major cities. We quantified population-weighted exposure to greenspace and investigated the impact of greenspace on health and socioeconomic determinants. To investigate the association between greenspace and self-reported health, a negative binomial regression analysis was applied. While controlling for other factors, an interquartile range increase in street-level greenspace was associated with a 2.78% increase in self-reported "good or very good" health [95% confidence interval: 2.25-3.31]. Additionally, we observed that populations in upper quartiles of greenspace exposure had higher levels of income and education than those in lower quartiles. This study provides groundbreaking insights into how urban greenspace can be quantified in unprecedented resolution, accuracy, and scale while also having important implications for urban planning and environmental health research and policy.

Twenty miles per hour (mph) speed limits can impact the health of the public (e.g., road safety, active travel). However, a better understanding of how individuals experience 20mph limits is required, to ensure interventions are cognisant of perceptions and potential un/intended outcomes. Focus groups (n = 9, 60 participants) to explore the Belfast 20mph intervention highlighted divergent perspectives and experiences including: 12 mechanisms (e.g., limited awareness), 15 pathways (e.g., reduced driving speed→improved liveability) and 10 public health outcomes (e.g., increased cyclist safety). Future interventions should consider un/intended outcomes and implement strategies to enhance effectiveness and mitigate harms (e.g., through training, enforcement)., (Copyright © 2021 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.)

The COVID-19 pandemic is causing mass disruption to our daily lives. We integrate mobility data from mobile devices and area-level data to study the walking patterns of 1.62 million anonymous users in 10 metropolitan areas in the United States. The data covers the period from mid-February 2020 (pre-lockdown) to late June 2020 (easing of lockdown restrictions). We detect when users were walking, distance walked and time of the walk, and classify each walk as recreational or utilitarian. Our results reveal dramatic declines in walking, particularly utilitarian walking, while recreational walking has recovered and even surpassed pre-pandemic levels. Our findings also demonstrate important social patterns, widening existing inequalities in walking behavior. COVID-19 response measures have a larger impact on walking behavior for those from low-income areas and high use of public transportation. Provision of equal opportunities to support walking is key to opening up our society and economy.