Environmental planning and urban health.

1 Doctoral candidate in urban planning Columbia University, Graduate School of Architecture, Planning & Preservation, New York City, USA 2 Chair of Department of Environmental Health Sciences, Mailman School of Public Health, New York City, USA 3 Professor of Medicine and Professor of Earth and Environmental Engineering, Columbia University, New York City, USA Address for Correspondence: Joyce Rosenthal, Urban Planning Program, Graduate School of Architecture, Planning & Preservation, Columbia University, 1172 Amsterdam Avenue, Avery Hall, 4th floor, New York NY 10027, USA. * NIEHS Center for Environmental Health in Northern Manhattan (P30-ES09089) and the United States Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) under the Science to Achieve Results (STAR) Graduate Fellowship Program. EPA has not officially endorsed this publication and the views expressed herein may not reflect the views of the EPA. Environmental exposures to the adverse effects from climate change are expected to increase for many urban populations in the United States during the next 50 years, potentially due to increased summertime heat stress, increased ambient ozone concentrations, and other pathways such as increased vectorand water-borne disease. Vulnerable elderly and low-income populations will be most affected by these effects, and we need research that focuses on the disparities in climate and health outcomes for urban populations. Urbanisation and the creation of the built environment are major driving forces of environmental and climate change. Here, we discuss the role of urban environmental planning and of two related social movements – sustainable development and environmental justice – in providing the normative basis for interdisciplinary research that considers the role of the built environment in creating environmental liabilities and health inequities, and that focuses on disparities in climate and health outcomes.