Public Debates on Healthy Cities

The first edition of the Public Debates on Healthy Cities of the Norman Foster Foundation supported by Sanitas took place on Tuesday 18 April 2023. It explored the different urban and civic actions to strengthen, regenerate and revitalise healthy cities.

The main challenge of the 21st century is to ensure that society evolves and grows in a sustainable way, while promoting healthy environments in which people can thrive. This is crucial in the case of cities, which account for 55% of the world’s population and are major contributors to the problem of climate change, but that can also be part of the solution.

Welcomed by:

Yolanda Erburu Arbizu, Chief Sustainability & Corporate Affairs Officer of Sanitas and Bupa ELA. Sanitas Foundation General Manager, Madrid, Spain


With a five-minute keynote and debate between the following experts:

Beatriz Colomina, Director of Graduate Studies, PhD Program, School of Architecture, Princeton University, Princeton, NJ, United States

María Neira, Assistant Director-General, ad interim Division of UHC/Healthier Populations. Director Department of Environment, Climate Change and Health World Health Organization

Susana Saiz Alcazar, Director, Sustainability & Energy Advisory, Arup, Madrid, Spain


And with a conversation between:

Joseph G Allen, Director, Healthy Buildings Program, T. H. Chan School of Public Health, Harvard University, Cambridge, MA, United States


Norman Foster, President, Norman Foster Foundation