With the speculated possible return of the Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS), the next pandemic of influenza, and the current avian flu outbreak, there have been growing academic and public interests in understanding the environmental factors that cause transmission of infectious diseases as well as improving environmental control means in hospitals and the community at large. People stay most of their time indoors, and at the same time, the use of mechanical air-conditioning systems has been on the rise, in particular in developing countries such as China. Inadequate ventilation, excessive chemical release during renovation or decoration, poor commissioning and maintenance, as well as lack of understanding of the built environment by the residents are all significant issues in the built environment. The quality of built environment is closely associated with the occupant's heath, well-being, comfort and productivity. Research on built environments and health are of inter-disciplinary nature involving inputs from urban planning, building services, architecture, environmental engineering, microbiology, epidemiology, public health as well as decision makers. Inter-disciplinary collaboration is the key in improving built environment and thus public health in both developed and developing countries. Cooperation and communication across the boundaries between disciplines also benefit new technology development, policy implementation as well as technology transfer.

  The first international forum on built environment and public health was held in December 13-15 2003 in Changsha, China with participants from different related disciplines, following the SARS epidemic in 2003. The success of this meeting as well as the interests generated among the participants have promoted the organizers to consider further series of the meetings with a focus on built environment and public health. These meetings are to provide a forum for discussion and exchange of the latest knowledge and development related to the built environment and the health of occupants. The conference will also discuss the important global issues as SARS, influenza and related infectious diseases and their association with built environment - building design, building materials, indoor air quality, building services, air conditioning, and human behavior.

  The conference will especially provide a platform for Chinese participants such as researchers, building designers, environment monitoring and public health related professionals from various related disciplines to exchange and share information, and to provide the overseas participants a platform to present their latest research and technologies, and to gain a good understanding of the market, policy and research situations of the related fields in China.Accompanied with this conference will be an exhibition. All built environment and public health related products and technologies from China and overseas will be exhibited during the conference time.