The Adoption of Digital Technologies and Artificial Intelligence in Urban Health: A Scoping Review

Martina Sapienza, Mario Cesare Nurchis, Maria Teresa Riccardi, Catherine Bouland, Marija Jevtić and Gianfranco Damiani
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Martina Sapienza: Dipartimento di Scienze della Vita e Sanità Pubblica, Università Cattolica del Sacro Cuore, 00168 Roma, Italy
Mario Cesare Nurchis: Dipartimento di Scienze della Vita e Sanità Pubblica, Università Cattolica del Sacro Cuore, 00168 Roma, Italy
Maria Teresa Riccardi: Dipartimento di Scienze della Vita e Sanità Pubblica, Università Cattolica del Sacro Cuore, 00168 Roma, Italy
Catherine Bouland: Research Centre on Environmental and Occupational Health, School of Public Health, Université Libre de Bruxelles, 1050 Bruxelles, Belgium
Marija Jevtić: Research Centre on Environmental and Occupational Health, School of Public Health, Université Libre de Bruxelles, 1050 Bruxelles, Belgium
Gianfranco Damiani: Dipartimento di Scienze della Vita e Sanità Pubblica, Università Cattolica del Sacro Cuore, 00168 Roma, Italy

Sustainability, 2022, vol. 14, issue 12, 1-9

Abstract: As more people live in cities, the impact of urban settings on population health has been increasing. One of the main strategies to cope with urbanization is adopting artificial intelligence (AI) and new digital technologies to develop new urban services that improve citizens’ health and well-being. The aim of this study is to review urban interventions and adopting digital technologies and AI-based algorithms to improve population health. A scoping review of the literature was conducted by querying MEDLINE, Web of Science, and Scopus databases. The included studies were categorized into one urban health area, suggested by the WHO, according to the type of intervention investigated. Out of 3733 records screened, 12 papers met all inclusion criteria. Four studies investigated the “outdoor and indoor pollution” area, one “climate change”, one “housing”, two “health and social services” and four “urban transport” areas. Only one article used a comprehensive approach to public health, investigating the use of AI and digital technologies both to characterize exposure conditions to health determinants and to monitor population health effects, while the others were limited to characterizing exposure conditions to health determinants, thus employing a preliminary public health perspective. From this point of view, countries should foster synergy for the development of research on digital technologies to address the determinants of health in the urban context. From a global health perspective, sharing results with the scientific community would also allow other countries to use those technologies that have been shown to be effective, paving the way for more sustainable living conditions worldwide.

Keywords: digital technologies; artificial intelligence; urban health (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: O13 Q Q0 Q2 Q3 Q5 Q56 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2022
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