International Center for Sustainable Wellbeing

The International Center for Sustainable Well-being (ICSW) facilitates a robust international network that identifies, educates and promotes interdisciplinary solutions to improve public and environmental health for current and future generations. The ICSW is a group of experts and practitioners in the fields of urban policy, medicine, statistics and agro-ecology. We strive to provide the connective tissue for experts in their respective fields, as well as improved multidisciplinary knowledge to guide positive system change focused on sustainable well-being through urbanization, human health and agriculture.

The Problem

The ICSW project will address three strategic areas to promote sustainable well-being: urban development, human health, and agro-food networks.

oSustainable Urban Development:
With more people living in urban areas than ever before, and urban population expected to continually rise, cities have the potential — and responsibility — to be healthier places for humans and the natural surroundings. The challenge is for cities to harmoniously grow with the planet for generations to come. Cities occupy 2% of earth’s total land but account for 54% of the world’s population. A UN report projects that by 2030, the urban population of developing countries will double, and 90% of that increase is expected to be concentrated in Asia and Africa.

oHuman Health
Environmental health (EH) addresses all the physical, chemical, and biological factors external to a person, and all the related factors impacting behaviors. It encompasses the assessment and control of those environmental factors that can potentially affect health. To give a proportion of the problem, one should bear in mind that outdoor air pollution alone caused 3.2 million premature deaths worldwide in 2015 (Lelieveld. Nature. 2015;). EH is targeted towards preventing diseases and creating health-supportive environments.

oSustainable Food and Agriculture
When it comes to well-being and health, what we consume in terms of food has high impact on our long-term health and the environment. The development of sustainable agriculture and agro-food networks — that is to ensure access to food in sufficient quantity and quality, as well as reduce the ecological impact through a redesign of the agricultural sectors — is a challenge for the coming decades. Various stakeholders in the agriculture and food sectors aim to innovate strategies and healthy, sustainable interventions that find new centrality in policies of socio-economic development and regional planning.

Our Approach

By bringing stakeholders – planners, policy makers, architects, shop owners, residents – to the table, we aim to support the “scaling up” of successful sustainable urban initiatives. The ICSW aims to work with these stakeholders from key developing regions, such as Asia and Africa, as well as developed regions, such as North America and Europe. Having a broad and diverse reach will help the ICSW facilitate cooperation and knowledge sharing among various regions and expertise around the world.

Climate change, air pollution, occupational health and sustainability (among others) are often seen as remote, abstract problems expressed in parts per million, in terms of temperature change of mere degrees, or in sea-level rise predicted decades into the future. The ICSW will support and advocate for public health experts to present another view, namely spelling out the dire health consequences that could occur both now and into the future, especially if steps aren’t taken to reduce harmful carbon emissions that are increasing the planet’s temperature and jeopardizing long-term health for all types of environments. Ultimately, health and well-being are the human face of climate change and global pollution.

Through publishing articles, co-organizing educational events and workshops, including the ICSW summer school, that will target stakeholders in the sustainable agriculture field (small and medium agricultural enterprise and agribusiness, trade associations, agricultural and agri-food cooperatives, business networks, and consortia), we will be able to promote the transition to environmental sustainability and well-being by providing local actors with expertise for designing and managing sustainable supply chains and rural development interventions.

Our Team

• Anthony Advincula, Journalist
• Rebecca Behrmann, Impact Evaluation Specialist
• Enrico Marco Heffler, Physician
• Stefano Massaglia, Agricultural Economist
• Christiana Peano, Agronomist

• Savino Sciascia, Physician

  Contact information

Winston Gilcrease
winstongilcrease@gmail.com