Journal of urban health : bulletin of the New York Academy of Medicine
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Quality of residential area, or neighborhood, is one determinant of overall quality of life and associated with health and health behavior. Ensuring that urban and suburban neighborhoods remain liveable and comfortable to reside in is a challenge amidst growing urbanization. Neighborhood quality has been associated with socio-demographic, dwelling-related, and subjective and objective neighborhood factors. ⋯ The following factors were most strongly associated with perceiving the neighborhood as liveable: low area-level socioeconomic deprivation; central urban zone; green view from home; satisfaction with neighborhood safety, green areas, blue areas, and maintenance of traffic routes; and good or very good possibilities to influence decisions regarding the neighborhood. Only a few interactions between indicators of being more settled in the neighborhood (e.g., age group and dwelling ownership) modified these associations. In all, our study suggests that to maintain liveability, urban or community planning should consider local residents' favorable perceptions of safety, recreational areas, and engagement in decision-making.
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Evidence has documented the effects of place on perinatal outcomes, but less is known about the sociopolitical mechanisms, such as gentrification, that shape neighborhood context and produce spatialized inequities in adverse birth outcomes. Leveraging a diverse sample in California, we assessed the associations between gentrification and birth outcomes: preterm birth, small-for-gestational-age, and low birth weight. Gentrification was measured using the Freeman method and the Displacement and Gentrification Typology. ⋯ While Displacement and Gentrification Typology-measured gentrification was consistently associated with greater odds of adverse outcomes, Freeman-measured gentrification was associated with slightly lower odds of small-for-gestational-age and low birth weight. Furthermore, gentrification was associated with birth outcome odds across multiple racial and ethnic groups, but the directions and magnitudes of the associations varied depending on the gentrification assessment methodology and the outcome assessed. Results demonstrate that gentrification plays a role in shaping adverse birth outcomes in California.
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Mortgage discrimination alters the distribution of investment, opportunity, and economic advantage-key contributors of health disparities. Leveraging Home Mortgage Disclosure Act data, we assessed mortgage denial risk in 380 U. ⋯ This approach borrows information through spatial and non-spatial smoothing, resulting in stable estimates in the presence of sparse data. The method, publicly accessible, allows researchers to apply our approach, fostering deeper insights into mortgage lending discrimination and systematic neighborhood disinvestment.
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The contributions of informal providers to the urban health system and their linkage to the formal health system require more evidence. This paper highlights the collaborations that exist between informal providers and the formal health system and examines how these collaborations have contributed to strengthening urban health systems in sub-Sahara Africa. The study is based on a scoping review of literature that was published from 2011 to 2023 with a focus on slums in sub-Sahara Africa. ⋯ Additionally, there were numerous instances of client referrals, either from informal to formal providers or from formal to informal providers. However, the review also indicates that these collaborations are unformalized, unsystematic, and largely undocumented. This undermines the potential contributions of informal providers to the urban health system.
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According to the Global Food Policy Report 2017, nearly 90% of the projected urban population increase by 2050 is going to be concentrated in Africa and Asia. Parallel evidence suggests that poverty and related challenges of food insecurity and undernutrition are also urbanizing. The dynamics underlying urban nutrition is different from rural ones but also arguably represents a more complex scenario. ⋯ Noticeably, this literature also draws upon successful interventions having implications for urban nutrition. Finally, the review identifies a few research gaps that hinder a holistic view of urban nutrition. These gaps pertain to gender, equity, water (along with sanitation and hygiene), and local governance.