The world is rapidly urbanising, and this increasing manifestation of cities-as-environments poses unique sets of opportunities, as well as challenges, since cities are a primary source of pollution and diseases for humans as well as all urban-adapted wildlife. However, the relationship between urban land use and disease dynamics is still poorly understood. We urgently need a better and more inclusive understanding of the key processes that drive disease dynamics in urban environments, especially for zoonotic diseases.

Yet understanding the urban disease dynamics requires a conceptual change, as one needs to account for the spatial heterogeneity of the urban landscape. Furthermore, individuals will vary in traits that affect the spread of diseases, such as their movement behaviour, sociality or disease susceptibility, which then again may be affected by environmental factors. Investigating the disease dynamics in urban environments, therefore, requires an integrative approach. For this, I will use one of the most successful urban-dweller, the feral pigeon, and its parasitic bacterium Chlamydophila psittaci as a model system. I will integrate variation at different spatial and organismal scales, i.e. from the individual to the (meta) population level, into one epidemiological model, which will ultimately allow for developing a sustainable urban planning framework within a one-health framework.