City infrastructure shapes health and health inequities in myriad interdependent ways: cities are drivers of economic policy and employment; they are sites of excellence, for example, education and healthcare, but also of crime and exploitation. Mobility within and between cities and regions is critical for economic development but is also responsible for air pollution, chronic disease, and road traffic injuries. The voracious demands of urban populations for housing, energy, food, and other resources bind cities to their peri-urban and rural neighbors, and across the world environmentally, economically, and socially. These and other examples shape physical health, mental well-being, safety, and equity.

While infrastructure is defined as the undergirding of society, the costs and benefits of revitalizing old or creating new infrastructure tend to narrowly focus on economics rather than how cities and regions function and grow. The climate crisis is placing massive pressure on existing and new infrastructure to both mitigate and adapt to a newer more volatile world. The COVID-19 pandemic profoundly tested (as will future pandemics) the function and capacity of city infrastructure globally through connecting infrastructure (especially transport but also the flow of finance) and locally where critical infrastructure services and their workforce were both the cause and solution to the spread of the pandemic.

The percentage of the global urban population is growing steadily and by 2050 is expected to reach 68%, meaning scholarship to drive decision-making, politics, and policy is urgent. Taking a health lens to infrastructure provides an ever deeper understanding of the links between cities as producers of healthy societies and a healthy planet. Influencing city infrastructure to protect and promote the health of the public is wholly political, but the research into the systemic policy and practice connections between city infrastructure and the creation of healthy built environments remains underdeveloped.

This Collection invites papers that capture innovations in city infrastructure policies and practices. The innovations can range from ways that information is collected and used, to activities to develop capacity and share knowledge within and between cities, to the interrogation of policy-making and political institutions. Given the ubiquitous interconnected nature of this challenge, we encourage papers with a global south lens. Given city and infrastructure policy and practice is essentially transdisciplinary we encourage papers that span disciplines. We aim for a collection of papers that foster policy innovation by providing a mix of empirical rigour and critical depth.

Keywords:Cities, Infrastructure, Practice, Policy, Health, Equity, Wellbeing, Urban, Planning, Institutions, Governance, Power, Evidence

As the 21st century progresses, cities face unprecedented pressures from rapid urbanization, climate variability, ecological degradation, and social inequality. These challenges call for integrated and forward-thinking planning approaches that enhance urban resilience while supporting sustainable development goals. In particular, environmental planning has emerged as a critical domain where transformative change can be realized—by reshaping how cities manage land, natural resources, infrastructure, and urban growth in the face of climate uncertainty. This Collection aims to advance scholarly and policy-oriented debate on climate-resilient urban environmental planning, focusing on nature-based solutions (NbS), green and blue infrastructure, ecosystem-based adaptation, and climate-sensitive land-use management. It invites interdisciplinary and comparative contributions from both the Global South and North, with emphasis on context-sensitive innovations, bottom-up adaptation practices, and integrated planning frameworks that prioritize equity, sustainability, and urban ecological health. Key themes include (but are not limited to):

• The design, implementation, and governance of NbS in formal and informal urban areas

• Urban ecosystem services and their role in climate adaptation and risk reduction

• Policy and planning tools for integrating green and blue infrastructure

• Spatial inequality, environmental justice, and access to green amenities

• Circular urbanism and the nexus of land, water, and waste systems

• Participatory planning for urban resilience and transformation

By drawing together research from urban planning, environmental science, climate policy, and spatial governance, this Collection will provide a platform for empirical evidence, theoretical innovation, and policy-relevant insights. Ultimately, it aims to influence how planners, practitioners, and decision-makers conceptualize and implement resilient and ecologically responsive urban futures.

Keywords: Urban Resilience, Nature-based Solutions, Adaptation to Climate Change, Climate Change, Green and Blue Infrastructure, Environmental Change