The Biological Challenge of Urban Environments: Overview and Introduction to the Special Issue on Urbanism

By 2050, the World Bank estimates that 7 out of 10 humans will live in cities. Human biologists have recognized that urban environments involve biological challenges. Historically, cities present challenges from ineffective waste disposal, impure water and food, pollution, violence from internal and external sources, and socioeconomic inequality. For the past half century, human biologists have engaged in the study of biological responses to these and other features of urban environments using a variety of approaches. While there have been publications on urban human biology in the American Journal of Human Biology, this is the first special issue on the subject. Papers in this issue investigate some areas of long-standing concern, such as pollution and stress, inequality, and others that open new ground with new approaches.