Max Lugavere

Healthy cities, healthy people: What science, policy and psychology agree on

The session’s core message was that cities function as a powerful, everyday determinant of health: people may spend only “fifteen minutes a year” with a doctor, but they spend the rest of the year inside environments that shape movement, air quality, heat exposure, social connection and mental wellbeing. The opening framed the city itself as “another kind of doctor,” then connected that idea to regional architectural wisdom, including old neighborhoods and the Birgil wind tower, which cooled homes before air conditioning. The moderator, Andrew, introduced the panel as an exploration of how physical and mental health can be supported in cities across the region and globally, bringing together nutritionist and author Max Lugavere, Blue Zones researcher Dan Buettner, and scientist-author Dr. Khaled Ghattass.