The scientific programme of the Urban Design Science for Health Lab is supported by an established international research record spanning urban design, population health, geography, environmental research, transportation, workplace health and behavioural science. This body of work examines how built environments relate to human behaviour and health, while also advancing methods for measuring, interpreting and translating environmental evidence.

Research associated with this programme has addressed neighbourhood design, public open space, walkability, mobility, sedentary behaviour, cardiometabolic health, mental health, healthy ageing, workplace environments and health inequalities. More recent work builds on these foundations through research on the scientific development of urban design, parametric approaches, and the responsible application of artificial intelligence.

Research Record

The wider academic record underpinning the lab’s research programme includes:

• 147 peer-reviewed journal articles
• 64 first-authored peer-reviewed articles
• 96 publications in Q1 journals
• 74 publications among the top 25% most-cited publications worldwide
• More than 8,500 Google Scholar citations
• h-index: 47 (Google Scholar); 40 (Scopus); 37 (Web of Science)
• Publications in journals including Nature, Nature Reviews Cardiology, The Lancet Planetary Health, British Journal of Sports Medicine, Landscape and Urban Planning, Health & Place, Journal of Urban Health, Preventive Medicine and Building and Environment

These indicators are reported as of September 2026. Publication quartiles and citation-percentile indicators are based on Scopus SciVal data.

Selected Research Contributions

The publications below illustrate the breadth and development of the research programme. They include empirical studies, conceptual contributions, evidence syntheses and methodological work across urban design and population health.

Artificial Intelligence (AI) and Urban Design

Ethical assessment of large language model-generated advisory text on designing the built environment for health
Developments in the Built Environment, 2026

This study evaluates the ethical dimensions of built environment advice generated by large language models. It examines whether AI-generated recommendations for health-supportive environments adequately address principles relevant to responsible urban design and public health. 

Walkable intelligent parks: Can a large language model turn urban park audit findings into actionable recommendations?
International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health, 2026

This study examines whether a large language model can translate structured urban park audit findings into actionable recommendations for more walkable and activity-supportive park environments. 

The Metaverse, the built environment, and public health: Opportunities and uncertainties
Journal of Medical Internet Research, 2023

This work considers how emerging virtual environments may contribute to built environment and public health research, while identifying conceptual, methodological, and practical uncertainties that require further investigation. 

Advancing Urban Design as a Scientific Field

Can urban design be a science for health studies?
Urban Design International, 2026

This work examines the scientific status of urban design in health research and identifies principles for strengthening its conceptual and methodological foundations.

Clinical medicine as a model for scientific rigour in urban design
Discover Cities, 2026

This article considers how principles associated with cumulative scientific development can inform greater methodological rigour and knowledge building in urban design research.

From associations to action: Parametric urban design science for cardiometabolic health
Developments in the Built Environment, 2025

This work proposes a shift from identifying static environmental associations towards generating and evaluating spatial design alternatives relevant to cardiometabolic health.

Built Environments and Cardiometabolic Health

Neighbourhood built environment and cardiovascular disease: Knowledge and future directions
Nature Reviews Cardiology, 2020

This contribution identifies major conceptual, methodological and policy-relevant challenges in research linking neighbourhood environments with cardiovascular disease.

Urban design and cardio-metabolic risk factors
Preventive Medicine, 2023

This empirical study examines relationships between traditional and novel neighbourhood built environment measures and clinically assessed cardiometabolic risk factors.

Local-area walkability and socioeconomic disparities of cardiovascular disease mortality in Japan
Journal of the American Heart Association, 2020

This study examines whether neighbourhood walkability may contribute to socioeconomic inequalities in cardiovascular mortality.

Public Space, Urban Nature and Health

Revisiting public open space and physical activity: What we know, what we still don’t, and emerging issues, a decade later
Health & Place, 2025

This work reassesses major conceptual and methodological issues in public open space and physical activity research a decade after an earlier research agenda was proposed.

Residential greenspace and health: Quantity or quality?
The Lancet Planetary Health, 2023

This contribution highlights the importance of moving beyond the amount of greenspace towards consideration of environmental quality and its potential relevance to health.

Public open space, physical activity, urban design and public health: Concepts, methods and research agenda
Health & Place, 2015

This widely cited work developed a conceptual and methodological agenda for examining public open spaces in relation to physical activity and public health.

Active Living, Mobility and Spatial Structure

Make cities more walkable, both physical and virtual
Nature, 2025

This contribution discusses opportunities for strengthening research and intervention on walkability across physical and emerging virtual environments.

Urban form metrics for promoting walking: Street layouts and destinations
Journal of Urban Health, 2023

This work examines how spatial configuration and destinations can be incorporated into the measurement of walkable urban environments.

Natural movement: A space syntax theory linking urban form and function with walking for transport
Health & Place, 2019

This conceptual work develops a framework linking street configuration, urban function and transport walking.

Mental Health, Well-being and Inequality

Depression among middle-aged adults in Japan: The role of the built environment design
Landscape and Urban Planning, 2023

This empirical study examines relationships between neighbourhood design characteristics and depressive symptoms.

Built environment design and cancer prevention through the lens of inequality
Cities, 2021

This article considers how environmental approaches to cancer prevention may interact with socioeconomic inequalities.

Workplaces, Behaviour and Health

Active workplace design: Current gaps and future pathways
British Journal of Sports Medicine, 2024

This work identifies research gaps and future directions for understanding how workplace design may support more active patterns of behaviour.

Perceived workplace layout design and work-related physical activity and sitting time
Building and Environment, 2022

This empirical study examines relationships between workplace layout characteristics and workers’ physical activity and sitting.

International Recognition

The research record underpinning the lab has received sustained international recognition. The Director has been included in the Stanford/Elsevier Global Top 2% Scientists list for five consecutive years, from 2021 to 2025, and in Research.com’s Top Scientists in Social Sciences and Humanities in 2022, 2024, 2025 and 2026. The record was also placed among the top 0.5% of scholars worldwide by ScholarGPS in 2024.

Earlier distinctions include a Japan Society for the Promotion of Science Postdoctoral Fellowship, a Heart Foundation of Australia Postdoctoral Fellowship, and a Publons Peer Review Award recognising placement among the top 1% of reviewers in Social Sciences.

These recognitions complement, rather than define, the scientific programme. The principal emphasis of the lab remains the development of rigorous and transferable research at the intersection of urban design, spatial science and population health.

Research Beyond Academic Publications

The wider research record has also been cited in policy publications produced by national and international organisations, including the World Health Organization, United Nations agencies and the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development. Research findings have additionally been communicated through invited academic presentations, institutional research communications and international media coverage.

Further information on these activities is provided under International Collaborations, Media & Research Communication, and International Events.

Full Publication Record

A complete and continuously updated publication record is available through:

Google Scholar | ORCID | Scopus | Web of Science | ResearchGate | ResearchMap

Visual Research Summaries

Selected visual summaries present recent findings and research directions in accessible formats. These materials complement the peer-reviewed publications and provide concise representations of the questions, methods and implications of selected studies.