ABSTRACT
Public health agencies should be devoted to influencing the decision-makers in the city council, in the major private enterprises, economic development and transport authorities, so that the large investment decisions and wide-area plans support healthy, convivial lifestyles, good air quality and net-zero carbon strategies. The health of the whole population depends on all three overlapping circles of sustainable development: a sound economy satisfying needs and offering useful work; a healthy environment, locally and globally, that facilitates physical and mental wellbeing while reducing risk; and social networks, social provision, community cohesion and empowerment. In the face of the accumulated evidence, the international community at the Paris Climate Change Conference in 2015 set the aim of keeping global temperature rise well below 2 degrees above pre-industrial levels. Radical national and international action is essential to send the right legislative and financial signals.
