For Better Public Health and Healthcare: Multidisciplinary Solutions
Montecatini Terme, Tuscany (Italy), 13-15 March 2026
OUTLINE AND AIMS
This 3-day International Multidisciplinary Conference is organized in collaboration with the International Urban Symposium-IUS, the University of Kent, and City St George’s, University of London.
Good Health and Well-being is one of the 17 UN Sustainable Development Goals, closely interconnected with social challenges, such as poverty and inequality. Avoidable poor health and inequalities in health and access to healthcare persist across all countries, while healthcare costs continue to rise. This conference aims to stimulate multidisciplinary thinking and action to develop solutions that grasp the opportunities offered by technological innovation, while tackling the socio-economic determinants of health and the effects of environmental challenges.
Sustainable healthcare solutions and effective public health delivery require more than just stated commitments — they demand concrete action, innovative thinking and sustained collaboration across sectors to enable a good patient experience and ensure efficient and sustainable health services. This International Multidisciplinary Conference will bring together actors in the interconnected fields of public health, health care and environment to investigate the state of health policies and services across different fields.
A key objective is to develop synergies between academic research, the management of the physical environment, public health delivery, health providers, public and private investors and policy makers. The aim is to stimulate an integrated approach to address both immediate challenges and long-term sustainability goals, improving efficiency, resilience and service accessibility to all community members, while promoting a greater focus on reducing demand upstream through appropriate preventive approaches in the physical, economic and psychosocial environment.
The Conference will develop through workshops and plenary sessions focused on three core areas and the complementary ways in which they impact the efficiency and resilience of public health policies and healthcare systems, and people’s health and wellbeing in a holistic sense. The three interconnected core areas are: (1) Tackling Systemic Healthcare Costs and Healthcare Access; (2) Public Health and the Physical and Socio-economic Environment; (3) Digital Health Innovation and Responsible AI in Health Systems.
CORE FOCUS AREAS
1. Tackling Systemic Healthcare Costs and Healthcare Access
This framework addresses two critical aspects of health: (i) a holistic approach to health and wellbeing that takes into account the embodied, experiential, emotional and spiritual dimensions of care; (ii) the complex dynamics between private and public healthcare systems. Often, public funding proves insufficient to cover healthcare costs, necessitating innovative public-private partnerships. The focus is on:
- Prevention and Health Education initiatives (including good parenting and early-age education, formal and informal education and activities, raising awareness of the impact of social media and digital information);
- Public-Private Partnership models to cut backlog and long waiting lists, and stimulate collaboration between research, health services and industry;
- Integrated Health System Design and Care. Enabling better collaboration between primary, acute and social care services (e.g., home-based and community-based programmes), and spiritual and emotional dimensions of care. Key roles of primary care – management of chronic disease, care of the dying.
2. Public Health and The Physical and Socioeconomic Environment
This framework emphasises practical solutions to creating healthier living environments that can reduce the need for health and social care services. The management of the physical, economic and psychosocial environment significantly impacts both public health and healthcare system efficiency. We invite abstracts discussing:
- Health in public policy at the national, regional and local level;
- Healthy and environmentally sustainable workplaces and infrastructure: urban design, buildings, sanitation, transport, green spaces, etc;
- Upstream approaches to tackling inequalities and key determinants (e.g., socio-economic factors) of population health.
3. Digital Health Innovation and Responsible AI in Health Systems
The digital component of the framework focuses on two key issues: leveraging technology to enhance healthcare delivery and the ethical and social implications of digital and AI technologies, contemplating how legislation may deal with this challenge and the attendant security issues. It will address:
- Telehealth implementation;
- Responsible AI: AI-powered clinical management support systems (their usefulness and potential biases or misuse);
- Health data interoperability solutions.
Work starts in the morning of 13 March and ends in the evening of 15 March. Participants are expected to arrive in the afternoon of 12 March and leave in the morning of 16 March. Participants will register on the afternoon of 12 March.
Revised papers will be considered for publication in the open-access, peer-reviewed journal Urbanities-Journal of Urban Ethnography, either as individual articles or as part of a Special issue. If applicable, collections of revised papers may be considered for publication in the Series Palgrave Studies in Urban Anthropology and other relevant publishing outlets.
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Endorsed by:
Municipality of Montecatini Terme