Our Practice Program
The escalating Earth crisis is triggering an unprecedented humanitarian and global health emergency, necessitating rapid and profound transformations across investment systems, energy systems, food production, manufacturing processes, and urban infrastructure. These changes are vital to safeguard and restore the natural systems that sustain human life and allow for stable, thriving societies.
Our Goal
To catalyze innovations in science and technology, business, finance, and the built environment in support of the rapid structural changes needed to safeguard a livable future.
Practice Activities
Establishing Principles for Planetary Health Cities
The Johns Hopkins Institute for Planetary Health is leading efforts to develop and promote principles for Planetary Health Cities—a framework for designing urban spaces that prioritize the health of both people and the planet. Through a working group comprising members from JHIPH, the Carey Business School, Bloomberg Center for Public Innovation, School of Medicine, and partner organizations; active participation in the 2025 Urban Land Institute’s Health Leaders Network; engagement with the United Nations Capital Development Fund; and strategic collaborations across the Republic of Korea, Malaysia, Singapore, and other regions, JHIPH is advancing Johns Hopkins University’s leadership in regenerative urban design and fostering global efforts toward healthy, safe, and equitable urban development under the Planetary Health Cities framework.
A New JHU Center for the Future of Real Estate
The Center for the Future of Real Estate is being developed at the Carey Business School, built on three pillars: technology, alternative real estate, and Planetary Health Cities. This new center aims to equip professionals with interdisciplinary real estate expertise, addressing the challenges and opportunities presented by demographic shifts, technology, urbanization, and the impacts of environmental change on human health. By uniting expertise from across the university, the center will share networks, ideas, and innovations; advocate for global change-informed risk management; and align academic programming and research with market needs and Planetary Health priorities to ensure well-being of current and future generations.
Convening Engineering and Science for Human Health
JHIPH, the Whiting School of Engineering, and the Applied Physics Laboratory have been convening discussion sessions and working groups centered on four key Planetary Health focus areas: coastal resilience, the Arctic and cryosphere, critical resources, and air quality and control. These engagements aim to highlight the vital role of engineering interventions in addressing urgent Planetary Health challenges and to set the stage for innovative, high-impact initiatives, including collaborative proposals for the Applied Physics Laboratory’s Internal Research & Development projects and SURPASS, a pilot program that funds joint efforts between the Applied Physics Laboratory and the Whiting School of Engineering.
View global Planetary Health research and resources
Explore the Planetary Health Alliance’s collection of research articles, tools, videos, and other Planetary Health resources on topics such as the built environment and urbanization, business and manufacturing, technology and innovation, and more.
VISIT PHAFaculty Directors
 Jaafar El-Awady |  Seydina Fall |
Interested in learning more?
For more information about JHIPH’s Practice Program or for any other questions, please contact Matt Rigsby.