Urban Health Issues: Exploring the Impacts of Big-City Living. By Richard V. Crume. Santa Barbara, CA: Greenwood, 2019. 295 p. Acid-free $61 (ISBN 978-1-4408-6171-0). E-book Available (978-1-4408-6172-7), call for pricing.

Due to poverty, climate change, and other factors, the world’s populations are becoming more urban. While “urban” is relative to various countries, the shift from rural to urban is happening worldwide. At the beginning of the twenty-first century, the world’s populations became, for the first time, evenly split between urban and rural. By midcentury, the prediction is that most populations will live in urban areas. It follows that where there are more people, there are also more health concerns. Richard V. Crume’s Urban Health Issues: Exploring the Impacts of Big-City Living is an eminently readable, accessible volume that addresses these health concerns.

The author’s purpose in writing the book is “to help urban dwellers and health professionals understand the complexities of urban health and prepare for a future when maintaining a healthy urban environment will be of utmost importance” (p. x). Because urban health encompasses so many elements, this topic is an excellent one for a general audience. Each of the twenty-three essays explains an issue, its impact on health, how various cities have implemented or planned to address the issue, and recommendations for those living in urban areas. There are also occasional city spotlights, which detail how a place has specifically addressed the health issue—Melbourne, for example, has implemented a detailed urban forest plan to plant 3,000 trees a year to address warming temperatures—along with brief essays from experts. An appendix offers suggestions for urban dwellers, and there is a directory of resources.

While “urban health issues” might immediately bring to mind a factory chugging out polluted air, it ranges from “environmental pollution and the spread of infectious disease to drug and alcohol abuse and the importance of social support networks” (p. ix). In other words, as the world becomes more urban, these will just be called “health issues.” Plus, issues such as stress management, water and sanitation, and health care access affect all of us, urban or rural.

Updated works on this topic are necessary, as health concerns can change rapidly. Urban Health, edited by Sandro Galea et al. (Oxford University Press, 2019) would be a comparable volume, though more academic. However, Urban Health Issues: Exploring the Impact of Big-City Issues is suitable and recommended for public and academic libraries of all sizes.—Tracy Carr, Library Services Director, Mississippi Library Commission, Jackson, Mississippi