Urban Planning As Preventive Medicine: Designing Cities To Reduce Dengue Transmission

Abstract

As urbanization and climate change accelerate, integrating green spaces into city planning has become crucial for mitigating heat, enhancing air quality, and improving mental health. However, poorly designed green infrastructure can inadvertently foster breeding grounds for disease vectors, especially Aedes mosquitoes that transmit dengue and chikungunya. With global dengue cases increasing tenfold in the past five decades, there is an urgent need for urban planners and public health authorities to adopt an integrated approach. Key strategies include effective water management to prevent stagnation, selecting native and mosquito-repellent plant species, leveraging smart technologies to detect and mitigate risk, and fostering community awareness. Interdisciplinary collaboration exemplified by Singapore’s model of vector-conscious urban development—is essential to building cities that are both environmentally sustainable and protective of public health. Urban planning must be recognized as a form of preventive medicine, where green development and vector control are not conflicting, but harmonized goals in the fight against emerging infectious diseases.