Skip to main content
Alumni Magazine
Alumni Magazine
Back to News
Smarter Cites, Healthier Futures

Working Smarter

The times, they are a changin’ — and not necessarily for the better. Climate change, social inequities, rapid urbanization, and health disparities all have a direct impact on the health and wellbeing of city dwellers.

Thomas Jefferson University’s Institute for Smart and Healthy Cities is addressing those challenges in order to create a better future for those who live, work, and travel through urban areas. The Institute is a collaborative and transdisciplinary effort among the College of Architecture and the Built Environment (CABE), the College of Population Health, and the Kanbar College of Design, Engineering and Commerce.

“Our overarching goal is to transform cities into environments that actively support human health, equity, and ecological sustainability,” says Edgar Stach, PhD, director of the Institute. “We approach these objectives with interdisciplinary research, community-based engagement, education, and technological innovation.”

The Institute brings together experts in architecture, design, public health, urban planning, engineering, and data science to address complex urban challenges.

“By fostering cross-sector collaboration, developing evidence-based solutions, and translating research into policy and design practice, we aim to catalyze meaningful change at both local and global scales,” Stach says.

Barbara Klinkhammer, dean of the College of Architecture and the Built Environment, says integrating knowledge across disciplines will address the urban challenges that face us today and loom large tomorrow.

“Urban areas are the fastest-growing living environments for people around the world. The key challenge is designing cities that foster healthy living while adapting and reducing the harmful effects of urbanization, pollution, and climate change,” she says.

The concept of smart cities is an emerging model in the development of urban environments that strives to create more efficient, healthier, and livable cities. The early roots of the idea can be traced back to post-war urban planning in the 1950s, with later attempts occurring in the 1970s. In 1986, the World Health Organization launched its Healthy Cities initiative, which focused on improving public health through urban planning and policy. The term “smart city” gained traction in the 1990s.

Jefferson’s Institute for Smart and Healthy Cities launched in January 2021 and was recently awarded a UNESCO Chair for Smart, Healthy, and Learning Cities. UNESCO (United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization) is a specialized agency of the United Nations that works to promote peace and security through international cooperation in education, science, culture, and communication. Stach is the chairholder.

“This is both a recognition of our Institute’s global commitment and a strategic platform for advancing our mission,” Stach says. “Through this appointment, we can deepen our research collaborations, exchange knowledge with global partners, and align our work with the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals. It significantly enhances our ability to influence policy, support education, and pilot scalable solutions for healthier and more resilient cities.”

While there are similar smart and healthy city initiatives across the country and the world, Klinkhammer says Jefferson’s is unique due to the 2017 merger of Thomas Jefferson University and Philadelphia University.

“To my knowledge, there is no other institute or center that connects the health and the design disciplines,” she says. “Today’s problems cannot be solved by one discipline; they require people to think from very different perspectives and angles.”

Several smart cities in the U.S. are leading the way in innovative initiatives that include bike sharing, smart traffic lights that reduce automobile idling time, and sustainable fuel sources including biodegradables, just to name a few.

Other projects focus on adding more green space and vegetation to help improve air quality and provide shade to reduce the impact of the “heat island effect.”

Heat islands occur when urban areas experience higher temperatures than their surrounding rural areas, primarily caused by the replacement of natural landscapes with buildings, roads, and other parts of the infrastructure that absorb and reemit the sun’s heat more than natural landscapes such as forests and water bodies.

To combat the heat island effect, communities can increase vegetation and green spaces by planting more trees for cover, creating parks and gardens, and promoting urban farming; they also can institute the use of green roofs that incorporate vegetation or install “cool roofs” using materials that reflect more sunlight and absorb less heat than a traditional roof.

“When you compare areas of a city that have shade, you’ll see the temperature drop significantly—up to 18 or 20 degrees Fahrenheit,” Klinkhammer says.

One Philadelphia program that promotes a green community is Park in a Truck. While it does not fall under the Institute’s aegis, it works in connection with it. Under the leadership of Kimberlee Douglas, professor of landscape architecture at CABE, the program works with residents of urban neighborhoods to transform vacant lots into green spaces.

So far, six Park in the Truck gardens have been established using grant money from the Pew Charitable Trusts and other foundations.

Grant money and private funding are the keys to success in creating smart and healthy cities, says Klinkhammer. Yet, they’re not easy to come by these days.

“With the climate we are currently in, foundations and private citizens have played a big role in supporting our projects,” she says.

The Institute currently supports and coordinates more than 10 active research projects, including climate-responsive architecture, urban heat mitigation, AI-assisted planning tools, healthy building materials, active mobility systems, and health equity in underserved neighborhoods. Many of these projects are conducted in partnership with government agencies, community organizations, international universities, and private-sector collaborators.

One current project is headed by Yao Lu, PhD, assistant professor at the CABE.

Lu is partnering with Christopher Pastore, PhD, professor of transdisciplinary studies at Kanbar, Lu’s and their project centers on using textiles as a mold for casting concrete panels, which has multiple benefits.

“The traditional mold for concrete casting requires a lot of scaffolding material like timber or metal, which is very expensive … and once the project has been constructed, those mold materials are wasted,” he says. Using textiles, on the other hand, can be more cost effective, and they are easily recyclable for a variety of uses.

Lu’s lab is also exploring a special recipe for concrete that can absorb carbon dioxide, one of the biggest byproducts in the manufacturing process.

Lu says urban construction, and urban behaviors in general, consume a lot of resources, and managing those behaviors more efficiently can lessen the damage done to the environment.

“We are not leaving any margin for error for our children, our grandchildren,” Lu says. “In order to prevent any more terrible natural disasters from happening, we have to think more smartly now.”

Stach agrees.

“As urban populations continue to grow, the design and function of our cities play a central role in determining public health outcomes, climate resilience, and social equity. Smart and healthy cities initiatives address the urgent need for solutions that improve quality of life while reducing environmental impacts,” he says.

Klinkhammer looks forward to formulating many of those solutions at the Institute.

“What I’m hoping for in five or 10 years is that the Institute has real outcomes where we can prove through implementation that the science and the design concepts we are developing bring change for the city and a better life for its citizens,” he says.

Share This

Showing 3 items.

Related Articles

Making the Invisible Visible
Thin skin showing the epidermis with its different strata, resting on the dermis.
Cell Mates
@TheTherapyGal