Look at tobacco control policies.

Perceived vulnerability/safety in terms of violence is an important predictor of quality of life in the urban environment (and a determinant of whether people will want to visit and/or live in the urban environment).

When talking about people's health, one thing cannot be ignored, that is FOOD! Diet-related disease, such as obesity and diabetes, is the problem of urban population. Policies on food safety, food security, sustainable farming and food supply should be taken into account. I think this not only do influence on urban area, but also on rural area.

Safe water, Sanitation and Pollution

First outcomes of the Urban Nexus Dialogue Café on "Health and Quality of Life". Presentations are already published, grouped by sessions:

Session 1. Integrating health and quality of life aspects in urban management, urban policies and urban environment. General discussion on the Synthesis Report.

Session 2. City experiences in dealing with health and quality of life.

Session 3. Common interests and opportunities: implementation from local to regional scales and from national to European scales.

http://www.urban-nexus.eu/www.urban-nexus.eu/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=27&Itemid=26

Also available online the summary of the Synthesis Report on Health and Quality of Life.

This report considers research, mainly European, background material from a variety of sources including existing research evidence, case studies from cities, and projects results undertaken at EU level. The information was collected from the URBAN-NEXUS consortium, the strategic partners and a wider network of contacts. T

The Report should serve as basis to inform an evolving dialogue, fostering integrated approaches to urban sustainability that become intrinsic to all decision-making processes and partnership activities related to health and quality of life , and linking it with the other priority research areas.

http://www.urban-nexus.eu/www.urban-nexus.eu/images/WP3_Health_and_Quality_of_life_in_urban_areas_Summary.pdf

regarding health of urban dwellers the most important is "Plantation" We must have 10 cu. m. green foliage per person within a radius of 25 meters radius of every person. If this is not possible the dwellers must make a practice to walk into Green areas at least for one hour on the verge of sunrise. Next is "Maximum possible" natural ventilation. Thirdly, to walk till 1/2 km., to use bicycle up to distance of 2 km. Auto vehicle beyond.

The planning should be done to suit these situations.

Most important thing for urban health is to promote the people for "physical activity".

Available oxygen

Air quality most important i think.

Good waste disposal will have a beneficial effect

We are currently conducting a Health Impact Assessment on the building of a new jail. Policies impacting incarceration rates are highly correlated with community health. New York Times recently published an article on this, which includes the names of many US researchers and their publications: http://www.nytimes.com/2013/02/19/science/long-prison-terms-eyed-as-contributing-to-poverty.html?pagewanted=1&nl=todaysheadlines&emc=edit_th_20130219

Policies for employment and for social housing

Predicting outbreaks will be a cause of great concern in urban areas: infectious diseases are easily transmitted if proper precautions re not taken

I find this question hard to answer in a simple manner, I mean, without considering the specific needs of a given urban area.

Generally, several policies ranging from strict control in pollutant emission to artwork display do have the potential to benefit people's health in urban areas. But I believe that the answer to this question changes according to the area you consider. For instance, some surveys taken with the population in the metropolitan area of Sao Paulo (where I live) point out that the greatest concerns are related with traffic, security (specially fear of being mugged or robbed) and air quality. Probably these are the issues of greater importance in the day-to-day life of this area, these are the most common problems people have to deal with here. They all impact people's health in one way or another, both phisically and mentally/psycologically (through stress) and some are clearly related (more time spent in huge traffic jams increases your exposure to air pollution and odds of being mugged/robbed). So I imagine that a policy dealing with an improvement on something else, although helpful, might not have the same impact.

Wrapping up, I beileve that to assess this issue properly, you have to discover the factors that contribute most to the degeneration of health in a given area, if possible, and then try to work on/improve this points. Of course there are some measures which are probably universally efficient, but since urban areas develop in rather different geographical/cultural/social/demographic contexts throughout the world, they also have different needs. As I am not an expert in this area, I may have missed something important, but in my point of view this is important to consider.

Minimize hard surfaces in urban area. Health of people will improve with improvement in environment.

Julio, I think you highlighted an important issue "the context specificities", which we discussed on the Dialogue Café held in Barcelona last October. Results can be checked here:

https://www.researchgate.net/publication/236177772_Follow-up_Report_on_Health_and_Quality_of_Life_in_Urban_Areas

One of the Follow-up report key findings is, as you commented, the importance of contextualization, that is considering particularities of a specific place. Having this in mind, "local (site specific) and equity oriented (inclusive) approaches need to be multidimensional, integrating within urban planning, management practices as the non-monetary dimensions".

Book Follow-up Report on Health and Quality of Life in Urban Areas

Thank you Raquel for sharing this publication :-)