Sick city syndrome as a framework for urban diagnosis

First introduced in 1995, ‘sick city syndrome’ offers a timely way to interpret how environmental stress, infrastructure strain and social inequality combine to damage population wellbeing. Current urban health approaches often address these pressures in isolation, which can delay early intervention and obscure reinforcing feedbacks. This commentary formalises sick city syndrome as a diagnostic lens for recognising cumulative dysfunction patterns, guiding early detection, prioritisation and monitoring. By reframing urban stress as a syndrome rather than a set of disconnected problems, the framework supports preventive action and clearer policy choices in an era of intensifying climate and urbanisation pressures.