Debates within urban studies concerning the relationship between urbanisation and infectious disease focus on issues of urban population growth, density, migration and connectivity. However, an effective long-term risk and wellbeing agenda, without which the threat of future pandemics cannot be mitigated, must also take account of demographic forces and changes as critical drivers of transmission and mortality risk within and beyond cities. A better understanding of the dynamics of fertility, mortality and changing age structures – key determinants of urban decline/growth in addition to migration – provides the foundation upon which healthier cities and a healthy global urban system can be developed. The study of how basic demographic attributes and trends are distributed in space and how they interact with risks, including those of infectious disease, must be incorporated as a priority into a post-COVID-19 urban public health agenda. This perspective concurs with recent debates in urban studies emphasising the demographic drivers of urban change. Moreover, it raises critical questions about the microbial and environmental emphasis of much research on the interface of urban health and governance.

城市研究中关于城市化与传染病之间关系的争论集中在城市人口增长、密度、迁移和连通性问题上。然而，一个有效的长期风险和福祉议程，如果没有它就无法减轻未来大流行的威胁，还必须考虑人口力量和变化作为城市内外传播和死亡风险的关键驱动因素。更好地了解生育率、死亡率和不断变化的年龄结构的动态——除了移民之外，城市衰退/增长的关键决定因素——为发展更健康的城市和健康的全球城市系统奠定了基础。研究基本的人口属性和趋势如何在空间中分布以及它们如何与风险相互作用，包括传染病在内，必须作为优先事项纳入 COVID-19 后的城市公共卫生议程。这种观点与最近在城市研究中强调城市变化的人口驱动因素的辩论是一致的。此外，它提出了关于城市健康和治理界面的许多研究中微生物和环境重点的关键问题。