The COVID-19 pandemic exacerbated profound inequalities in the conditions in which people live, work, and age. Law plays a critical role in shaping these structural health inequalities, which have existed for decades. This dynamic can be observed at the local level, with cities operating as environments unequally distributing the risks of non-communicable diseases between population groups. This article first focuses on urban development to explore the conceptual links between health inequalities and the role of law. I expand this observation and I posit that the social determinants of health are about human rights. With that in mind, I argue that human rights are necessary to address the issue of unequally unhealthy urban environments, hence recognising that people are entitled to a minimum essential level of the conditions in which they live, work, and age, which the State is responsible to fulfil. By way of strengthening my argument, I lay out how a human rights framework can improve these conditions and ameliorate unfair inequalities. Finally, I recognise and respond to the limits of a human rights approach.

中文翻译：

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健康、法律和城市发展的社会决定因素：利用人权解决我们城市中的结构性健康不平等问题

COVID-19 大流行加剧了人们生活、工作和年龄条件方面的严重不平等。法律在塑造这些已存在数十年的结构性健康不平等方面发挥着关键作用。这种动态可以在地方层面观察到，城市作为环境在人口群体之间不平等地分配非传染性疾病的风险。本文首先关注城市发展，探讨健康不平等与法律作用之间的概念联系。我扩大了这一观察，并假设健康的社会决定因素与人权有关。考虑到这一点，我认为人权对于解决不平等的不健康城市环境问题是必要的，因此承认人们有权享有他们生活条件的最低基本水平，工作和年龄，这是国家有责任实现的。为了加强我的论点，我阐述了人权框架如何改善这些条件并改善不公平的不平等现象。最后，我承认并回应了人权方法的局限性。