International Collaborations
The Urban Design Science for Health Lab maintains strong international partnerships that advance scientific research in urban design and urban health resilience in diverse urban contexts.
Strategic research alliances
Prof KOOHSARI has initiated and led collaborative research with academic colleagues and research groups across Asia, North America, and Oceania. For example, he has co-developed comparative studies on AI in urban design, parametric urban design and health, neighbourhood walkability, healthy ageing, and space syntax with academic partners in Japan, Canada, China, Australia, Brazil, and the United States. These alliances have produced joint publications, coordinated fieldwork protocols, and sustained data-sharing agreements that advance the cross-national comparability of urban design science. To support future-ready urban governance, many of these partnerships now focus on digital urban design methods—such as urban informatics, spatial data modelling, and AI-driven planning tools—that can inform health-supportive urban transformation. As a result, according to Scopus SciVal (2025), 87.0% of the lab’s peer-reviewed publications involved international collaboration, reflecting the lab’s commitment to global scientific engagement.
Global scientific impact & policy recognition
The lab’s research is not limited to academic domains. Its findings have been cited by over 30 national and international policy organisations, including the World Health Organisation (WHO), United Nations agencies, and the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD). These citations indicate the translational relevance of the lab’s work to real-world global urban and health policy development, public health planning, and evidence-based approaches to the built environment.
Collaborative dissemination & outreach
Prof KOOHSARI has delivered over 100 invited lectures, seminars, and workshops at leading institutions internationally. These events have been hosted by universities, public institutions, and agencies. Through such outreach, he has contributed to capacity building, academic exchange, and professional training across sectors. His work has also been featured by international media outlets, extending the lab’s influence beyond academia.
Examples of active engagement
Ongoing collaborations include the development of AI-assisted urban design and health, integration of spatial epidemiology with built environment modelling, and engagement with international expert panels on healthy ageing, computational urban design, and healthy neighbourhoods. These collaborations collectively reinforce the lab’s position as an internationally recognised centre for scientific urban design and demonstrates its capacity to engage productively across disciplines, institutions, and national boundaries.