Urban Design Science for Health Lab

Welcome to the Urban Design Science for Health Lab.

More than half of the world’s population now lives in urban areas, with this shift especially pronounced in Asia. The region is experiencing both rapid urban growth in countries such as China, India, Indonesia, and Vietnam, and post-urbanisation challenges in societies such as Japan and South Korea. These trends have created a range of complex and interrelated urban challenges, including population ageing, chronic health conditions, environmental pressures, and social disparities, that require scientifically grounded approaches.

Addressing these challenges requires cross-disciplinary collaboration that integrates perspectives across both disciplinary and interdisciplinary fields. Experts from fields such as urban design, urban planning, public health, environmental studies, data science, artificial intelligence (AI), sociology, geography, and economics must work together to produce empirical knowledge that is both rigorous and relevant to real-world urban governance, socio-economic outcomes, and health. Integrating these perspectives is necessary to support effective, science-based responses to complex urban systems.

This laboratory was established to serve as a scientific platform for cross-disciplinary exchange on contemporary urban challenges, with a focus on the role of the built environment. It brings together diverse expertise to investigate how built environment characteristics in high-density urban areas influence health-related behaviours and environmental conditions. Our research includes topics such as data-driven urban health solutions, healthy ageing, AI-assisted spatial modelling, walkability, and parametric urban design. We draw on methods from spatial analytics, computational epidemiology, and AI-based modelling.

The Urban Design Science for Health Lab is committed to advancing collaborative research that is robust, scalable, and relevant to urban governance and data-informed urban policy. Through international cooperation and cross-disciplinary expertise, we aim to generate scientific knowledge that contributes to healthier, more liveable, and more equitable urban futures.

Thank you for your interest.

Sincerely,

Prof Javad KOOHSARI, PhD (Urban Design), PhD (Health & Sport Science)

Founder & Director, Urban Design Science for Health Lab

Japan Advanced Institute of Science & Technology, Japan

Top 2% Scientist (Stanford/Elsevier Global List, 2021–2025)