The Study of Interconnections Between Human Immune System and the Characteristics of Urban Landscapes

The concept of urbanism in the era of medicine and the interconnection between these two apparently separate territories of study dates back to more than seven decades ago. The reason for this research and the study of relationship of urban life elements with physical & mental health of citizens is due to the presence of frequent statistical and scientific data showing the higher rates of health disorders among the inhabitants of industrial cities and urban area compared to the sub-urban and rural places such as stress, mental disorders and autoimmune diseases. At the beginning of the twenties century by entering the term of urban-life to human encyclopedia, the concept and the potential impacts of it on different aspects of human life from public health to psychological disorders becomes highlighted. It is argued that these two discipline although have been arisen from a common root of industrial revolution at the early of 19th century, but they have been departed and there has been some divergence in master planning of these two disciplines in 20th century, since each were focusing on their own area, the urban planners on building environment and the public health specialists on the root cause of human diseases separately. Therefore the reuniting of these two disciplines is a new paradigm requires multidisciplinary approach such as “Health ecology” and “Health landscape” to redefine urban planning and public health by calling the professionals of these areas.The research question raised here is that what type of relationship is there between human health, specifically his immune system, as a defense barrier against harmful factors on the one hand, and its environment, specifically in this study the "urban body", in which human as an urban user reside in it, on the other hand? And if there is a significant damage to the human body from its environment while transiting from this purely industrial and machine life to post-industrial life, what considerations do urban planners need to take into account in future urban structures to minimize the damage to physical and mental health of urban habitants or even to get close to zero damage?