The Global Centre on Healthcare and Urbanisation Public Seminar series brings together members of the public, researchers and practitioners interested and engaged in urban health issues. The principal aim of the series is to provoke debate and constructive action, linking current best practice in urban development with emerging areas of health research.

One of the key challenges of the coming century is ensuring that everyone’s essential needs – such as food, education, housing, mobility, and equality – are met, even as environmental change exacerbates poverty and inequality for many. A critical question is therefore, how can communities prosper under Net Zero? How can their social and ecological needs be met?

The seminar focuses on alternative approaches to development, beyond the current lens on prosperity and economic growth. Concepts such as the Wellbeing Economy or Doughnut Economics propose new pathways to balance ecological limits with social needs, while Community Wealth Building emphasises local economic resilience and community wellbeing. These emerging options aim to redefine prosperity in ways that respect both ecological boundaries, and the social foundations that can help communities to flourish.

In what promises to be a lively discussion with policymakers, community leaders, and researchers, we will reflect on the promises and limitations of these frameworks, examining real-world examples of places that have implemented these visions, and what we can learn from them.