How London became the tuberculosis capital of Europe
When Frances Wilson set out to chronicle the great ‘disease of storytellers’ on the streets of London, she had no idea of the twist in her own story that awaited
Anti-pollution skincare: can a cream really help you 'face the city'?
The booming market for products for ‘urban skin’ reflects anxieties about the health impacts of living in cities – but is it all just a marketing gimmick?
Bournville again: can a new Birmingham hospital recreate the Cadbury effect?
A few miles from Bournville, the world’s first planned community, the new Midland Met hospital aims to regenerate one of England’s most deprived areas with ideas derived from that 19th-century ‘benevolent model’
'The graveyard of the Earth': inside City 40, Russia's deadly nuclear secret
Ozersk, codenamed City 40, was the birthplace of the Soviet nuclear weapons programme. Now it is one of the most contaminated places on the planet – so why do so many residents still view it as a fenced-in paradise?
The Glasgow effect: 'We die young here - but you just get on with it'
Research based on newly released 1970s policy documents suggests Glaswegians’ higher risk of premature death was caused by ‘skimming the cream’ – rehousing skilled workers in new towns, and leaving the poorest behind
A new survey suggests that almost one in 10 Swansea residents endure at least one panic attack a week – with public transport and densely populated offices identified as key urban triggers
Chernobyl 30 years on: former residents remember life in the ghost city of Pripyat
Evacuees from the Chernobyl nuclear accident remember relatives, friends and colleagues who died – and the abandoned city declared unsafe for 24,000 years
Can Liverpool's new hospital make the whole city healthier – and wealthier?
The city’s ‘ugliest building’ is undergoing an ambitious £335m redevelopment which aims to reconnect the Royal Liverpool University Hospital with both nature and its surrounding neighbourhoods
Houston's health crisis: by 2040, one in five residents will be diabetic
Regularly dubbed ‘America’s fattest city’, Houstonites’ dietary choices are only one element of its spiralling diabetes problem. Can anything be done to reverse this deadly – and very costly – disease in a city addicted to sugar and cars?
The sickness at the heart of modern cities is clear. But what's the cure?
Richard Florida
The prevalence of lifestyle diseases such as type 2 diabetes is rising alarmingly in cities across the world. But the social factors driving this epidemic are complex and need our urgent attention
A manifesto for conscious cities: should streets be sensitive to our mental needs?
Rapid developments in behavioural science and data technology offer the prospect of urban streetscapes helping to alleviate ailments such as stress, anxiety and boredom – and even reducing the likelihood of crowd trouble
The Dharavi Biennale, Mumbai's new arts and science festival - in pictures
This urban festival highlights the contribution of Dharavi, Mumbai’s largest informal settlement, to India’s economic and cultural life while informing people about the health issues residents face there
Death in the city: the grisly secrets of dealing with Victorian London's dead
In this extract from his new book Dirty Old London, Lee Jackson investigates a much-overlooked aspect of the city’s 19th-century filth problem: the human corpse
Missing Maps: nothing less than a human genome project for cities
A huge number of the world’s most vulnerable human settlements have remained unmapped ... until now. Enter an unprecedented plan to map the world’s forgotten places
In China, a single plague death means an entire city quarantined
Tens of thousands of people were trapped in Yumen after officials swiftly locked down the city when a man died of plague. While the crisis has since passed, it highlights China's severe approach to the threat from disease
With smog nearly five times worse than what caused Paris to ban cars, the capital of the supposedly pristine mountain nation of Nepal is choking. Doctor Andrew Lodge reports
