[Research program "City of the Future - Healthy and Sustainable Metropolises"]

Urbanization is advancing worldwide and thus, cities are increasingly living spaces for people. Therefore, it is essential to place the health and well-being of city dwellers at the center of urban planning. The research funding program "City of the Future - Healthy and Sustainable Metropolises" from the Fritz and Hildegard Berg Foundation at the German Stiftungszentrum has been providing important inter- and transdisciplinary research impulses on this topic since 2010. Junior research groups at the interfaces of health sciences and other disciplines in the natural and social sciences were funded. One focus of the research program is to enable intensive cooperation with practitioners, in order to reflect upon and work on problems and issues from practice using the best possible scientific methods and to catalyze the transfer of knowledge. The research consortia are accompanied by annual conferences on a wide variety of urban health topics at various venues in Germany. In addition, transdisciplinary networks have been established and further initiatives (e. g., founding of an institute) have been launched. In this paper, the development of the multifaceted research funding program "City of the Future - Healthy and Sustainable Metropolises" is presented, including an outlook into its future development.