Pub Date : 2025-08-15DOI: 10.1038/s44284-025-00300-3
Baojie Li, Hong Liao, Ke Li, Jintai Lin, Cheng Gong, Huan Liu, Yan Li, Lei Chen, Yang Yang, Xipeng Jin, Yongqi Zhao, Teng Wang, Jianbing Jin, Ruijun Dang, Daniel J. Jacob
Urban e-commerce growth has driven unprecedented expansion in express delivery services, yet their cross-regional environmental and health consequences remain poorly understood. Here we present a novel spatially explicit assessment of emissions and their environmental burden in China’s express delivery sector by integrating large-scale shipping records, geospatial modeling and atmospheric chemical transport models. In 2021, express delivery transportation emitted 23.9-Mt CO2-equivalent and 166.4-kt atmospheric pollutant equivalents, creating substantial environmental inequality. These emissions and associated health impacts disproportionately affect key transit regions connecting major urban agglomerations, which handled only 12.7% of parcels but accounted for 37.3% of the total emissions, with 75.2% of their air-pollution-related premature deaths from other regions’ delivery activities. Express-delivery-related pollution caused 5,100 premature deaths in 2021, yet implementing synergistic mitigation strategies could prevent over 256,000 cumulative premature deaths by 2050, underscoring the need for sustainable logistics that balance urban convenience with environmental externalities. China’s rapid e-commerce growth has driven a 12-fold surge in express delivery, yet cross-regional emissions and health impacts remain poorly quantified. Road transport emitted 23.9-Mt CO2-equivalent and caused approximately 5,100 premature deaths in 2021, revealing stark transit-region health inequities and guiding sustainable logistics pathways.
{"title":"Environmental burden and health inequity in China’s road-based express delivery","authors":"Baojie Li, Hong Liao, Ke Li, Jintai Lin, Cheng Gong, Huan Liu, Yan Li, Lei Chen, Yang Yang, Xipeng Jin, Yongqi Zhao, Teng Wang, Jianbing Jin, Ruijun Dang, Daniel J. Jacob","doi":"10.1038/s44284-025-00300-3","DOIUrl":"10.1038/s44284-025-00300-3","url":null,"abstract":"Urban e-commerce growth has driven unprecedented expansion in express delivery services, yet their cross-regional environmental and health consequences remain poorly understood. Here we present a novel spatially explicit assessment of emissions and their environmental burden in China’s express delivery sector by integrating large-scale shipping records, geospatial modeling and atmospheric chemical transport models. In 2021, express delivery transportation emitted 23.9-Mt CO2-equivalent and 166.4-kt atmospheric pollutant equivalents, creating substantial environmental inequality. These emissions and associated health impacts disproportionately affect key transit regions connecting major urban agglomerations, which handled only 12.7% of parcels but accounted for 37.3% of the total emissions, with 75.2% of their air-pollution-related premature deaths from other regions’ delivery activities. Express-delivery-related pollution caused 5,100 premature deaths in 2021, yet implementing synergistic mitigation strategies could prevent over 256,000 cumulative premature deaths by 2050, underscoring the need for sustainable logistics that balance urban convenience with environmental externalities. China’s rapid e-commerce growth has driven a 12-fold surge in express delivery, yet cross-regional emissions and health impacts remain poorly quantified. Road transport emitted 23.9-Mt CO2-equivalent and caused approximately 5,100 premature deaths in 2021, revealing stark transit-region health inequities and guiding sustainable logistics pathways.","PeriodicalId":501700,"journal":{"name":"Nature Cities","volume":"2 9","pages":"825-834"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2025-08-15","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"145123417","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2025-08-15DOI: 10.1038/s44284-025-00299-7
Ashish S. Kumar, Rajarshi Majumder, Vivek P. Kapadia, Udit Bhatia
Cities worldwide often rely on partial structural defenses to mitigate intensifying flood hazards. Although large-scale analyses suggest that partial levee coverage can reduce overall damage, its spatiotemporal effects remain understudied, particularly in cities of the Global South. Using a hydrodynamic model forced by extreme discharges (100-year return period flood event), along with depth–damage curves and demographic data, we find that partial levee construction in Surat, India, lowers citywide flood losses by ₹31.24 billion (US$380 million) in core urban wards and by ₹10.34 billion (US$125 million) in suburban neighborhoods. However, both damage and exposure become more inequitable, with the Gini index (0 = perfect equality, 1 = maximum inequality) rising by 20% for damage (0.55 to 0.66) and by about 26% for exposure (0.31 to 0.39). We introduced flood stripes and a protection-induced time shift to capture both spatial and temporal changes, finding that certain near-river wards can remain flood-free for up to 12 hours longer, whereas some downstream areas flood up to 7 hours earlier under partial levee coverage. These findings underscore the need for integrated strategies that address both dimensions of partial flood protection, ensuring that benefits for some do not escalate vulnerabilities for others. Partial flood defenses in Surat, India, reduce citywide flood losses but worsen inequality, with vulnerable areas facing deeper flooding. This study shows how constrained urban flood adaptation can redistribute rather than eliminate risk.
{"title":"Partial flood defenses shift risks and amplify inequality in a core–periphery city","authors":"Ashish S. Kumar, Rajarshi Majumder, Vivek P. Kapadia, Udit Bhatia","doi":"10.1038/s44284-025-00299-7","DOIUrl":"10.1038/s44284-025-00299-7","url":null,"abstract":"Cities worldwide often rely on partial structural defenses to mitigate intensifying flood hazards. Although large-scale analyses suggest that partial levee coverage can reduce overall damage, its spatiotemporal effects remain understudied, particularly in cities of the Global South. Using a hydrodynamic model forced by extreme discharges (100-year return period flood event), along with depth–damage curves and demographic data, we find that partial levee construction in Surat, India, lowers citywide flood losses by ₹31.24 billion (US$380 million) in core urban wards and by ₹10.34 billion (US$125 million) in suburban neighborhoods. However, both damage and exposure become more inequitable, with the Gini index (0 = perfect equality, 1 = maximum inequality) rising by 20% for damage (0.55 to 0.66) and by about 26% for exposure (0.31 to 0.39). We introduced flood stripes and a protection-induced time shift to capture both spatial and temporal changes, finding that certain near-river wards can remain flood-free for up to 12 hours longer, whereas some downstream areas flood up to 7 hours earlier under partial levee coverage. These findings underscore the need for integrated strategies that address both dimensions of partial flood protection, ensuring that benefits for some do not escalate vulnerabilities for others. Partial flood defenses in Surat, India, reduce citywide flood losses but worsen inequality, with vulnerable areas facing deeper flooding. This study shows how constrained urban flood adaptation can redistribute rather than eliminate risk.","PeriodicalId":501700,"journal":{"name":"Nature Cities","volume":"2 9","pages":"835-846"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2025-08-15","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"145123461","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2025-08-08DOI: 10.1038/s44284-025-00304-z
Fran Meissner, Karin Pfeffer
As cities grow, more people face poor living conditions and greater wealth inequality. By overcoming conceptual, data-based and computational challenges, and focusing on cities in sub-Saharan Africa, a new study demonstrates how to measure this trend at scale.
{"title":"From remote monitoring to local action","authors":"Fran Meissner, Karin Pfeffer","doi":"10.1038/s44284-025-00304-z","DOIUrl":"10.1038/s44284-025-00304-z","url":null,"abstract":"As cities grow, more people face poor living conditions and greater wealth inequality. By overcoming conceptual, data-based and computational challenges, and focusing on cities in sub-Saharan Africa, a new study demonstrates how to measure this trend at scale.","PeriodicalId":501700,"journal":{"name":"Nature Cities","volume":"2 11","pages":"1020-1021"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2025-08-08","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"145533748","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2025-08-08DOI: 10.1038/s44284-025-00291-1
We reveal the hidden geography of poverty in African cities by combining survey data, geospatial data and machine-learning algorithms to develop high-resolution maps of slums that show where services are lacking and inequality is rising. These insights should help to guide investment and interventions.
{"title":"Street-level mapping of urban slums and wealth inequality in sub-Saharan Africa","authors":"","doi":"10.1038/s44284-025-00291-1","DOIUrl":"10.1038/s44284-025-00291-1","url":null,"abstract":"We reveal the hidden geography of poverty in African cities by combining survey data, geospatial data and machine-learning algorithms to develop high-resolution maps of slums that show where services are lacking and inequality is rising. These insights should help to guide investment and interventions.","PeriodicalId":501700,"journal":{"name":"Nature Cities","volume":"2 11","pages":"1022-1023"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2025-08-08","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"145533782","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2025-08-08DOI: 10.1038/s44284-025-00276-0
Chengxiu Li, Le Yu, Robert Ndugwa, Adrian J. Bailey, Xiaoling Zhang, Francis Oloo, Ellasy Gulule Chimimba, Xiangzhen Deng, Jim Wright
Slums house nearly one-quarter of the global urban population, yet their spatial and socioeconomic dynamics remain poorly understood, hindering progress toward the United Nations’ commitment to ‘leave no one behind’. Here, focusing on sub-Saharan Africa, we integrate geospatial data with household surveys to map slum prevalence and asset-based wealth inequalities across 32 countries. We identify that 54.6% of the urban population in these countries live in slums, with lower wealth levels compared with non-slum areas. Despite a reduction in the proportion of slum populations over the past two decades, wealth inequalities have risen, especially in countries with substantial slum populations. This study highlights profound inequalities in urban essential services, living conditions and household wealth in sub-Saharan African countries, emphasizing the importance of fine-scale analysis of slum distributions and associated wealth inequalities to inform inclusive programs. Understanding who is being left behind, where and how is crucial to advancing the United Nations’ commitment to ‘leaving no one behind’. This study maps urban slums and wealth distribution across 32 sub-Saharan African countries, revealing a decreasing proportion of the population living in slums, yet a concerning rise in wealth inequality.
{"title":"Mapping urban slums and their inequality in sub-Saharan Africa","authors":"Chengxiu Li, Le Yu, Robert Ndugwa, Adrian J. Bailey, Xiaoling Zhang, Francis Oloo, Ellasy Gulule Chimimba, Xiangzhen Deng, Jim Wright","doi":"10.1038/s44284-025-00276-0","DOIUrl":"10.1038/s44284-025-00276-0","url":null,"abstract":"Slums house nearly one-quarter of the global urban population, yet their spatial and socioeconomic dynamics remain poorly understood, hindering progress toward the United Nations’ commitment to ‘leave no one behind’. Here, focusing on sub-Saharan Africa, we integrate geospatial data with household surveys to map slum prevalence and asset-based wealth inequalities across 32 countries. We identify that 54.6% of the urban population in these countries live in slums, with lower wealth levels compared with non-slum areas. Despite a reduction in the proportion of slum populations over the past two decades, wealth inequalities have risen, especially in countries with substantial slum populations. This study highlights profound inequalities in urban essential services, living conditions and household wealth in sub-Saharan African countries, emphasizing the importance of fine-scale analysis of slum distributions and associated wealth inequalities to inform inclusive programs. Understanding who is being left behind, where and how is crucial to advancing the United Nations’ commitment to ‘leaving no one behind’. This study maps urban slums and wealth distribution across 32 sub-Saharan African countries, revealing a decreasing proportion of the population living in slums, yet a concerning rise in wealth inequality.","PeriodicalId":501700,"journal":{"name":"Nature Cities","volume":"2 11","pages":"1037-1048"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2025-08-08","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"145533785","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2025-08-06DOI: 10.1038/s44284-025-00298-8
Barret L. Kurylyk, Christopher J. Russoniello, Julia A. Guimond, Shellie Habel, Holly A. Michael, Michael C. Sukop, Alicia M. Wilson
Groundwater-associated hazards in coastal cities can be as acute as surface flood hazards, but are often overlooked, more persistent and harder to identify. Here we discuss how climate change is causing flooding and corrosion of coastal infrastructure by driving groundwater rise and salinization.
{"title":"Invisible groundwater threats to coastal urban infrastructure","authors":"Barret L. Kurylyk, Christopher J. Russoniello, Julia A. Guimond, Shellie Habel, Holly A. Michael, Michael C. Sukop, Alicia M. Wilson","doi":"10.1038/s44284-025-00298-8","DOIUrl":"10.1038/s44284-025-00298-8","url":null,"abstract":"Groundwater-associated hazards in coastal cities can be as acute as surface flood hazards, but are often overlooked, more persistent and harder to identify. Here we discuss how climate change is causing flooding and corrosion of coastal infrastructure by driving groundwater rise and salinization.","PeriodicalId":501700,"journal":{"name":"Nature Cities","volume":"2 9","pages":"775-777"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2025-08-06","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"145123736","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2025-08-04DOI: 10.1038/s44284-025-00296-w
Amir AghaKouchak, Annika Hjelmstad, Jonathan Lucy, Jesse Duku, Nitheshnirmal Sadhasivam, Susanna Werth, Salih Babagiray, Debora Yumi de Oliveira, Azara Boschee, Mojtaba Sadegh, Farshid Vahedifard, John T. Abatzoglou, Marco Turco, Mikiztli S. Ortiz, Manoochehr Shirzaei, Parham Azimi, Lauren Ferguson, Joseph G. Allen
The 2025 Los Angeles fires exposed the escalating threat of urban fires and their potential to trigger major human disasters. This Comment outlines key policy strategies to strengthen fire resilience and reframe urban fires as both a climate risk and a national security concern.
{"title":"Building urban fire resilience to enhance national security","authors":"Amir AghaKouchak, Annika Hjelmstad, Jonathan Lucy, Jesse Duku, Nitheshnirmal Sadhasivam, Susanna Werth, Salih Babagiray, Debora Yumi de Oliveira, Azara Boschee, Mojtaba Sadegh, Farshid Vahedifard, John T. Abatzoglou, Marco Turco, Mikiztli S. Ortiz, Manoochehr Shirzaei, Parham Azimi, Lauren Ferguson, Joseph G. Allen","doi":"10.1038/s44284-025-00296-w","DOIUrl":"10.1038/s44284-025-00296-w","url":null,"abstract":"The 2025 Los Angeles fires exposed the escalating threat of urban fires and their potential to trigger major human disasters. This Comment outlines key policy strategies to strengthen fire resilience and reframe urban fires as both a climate risk and a national security concern.","PeriodicalId":501700,"journal":{"name":"Nature Cities","volume":"2 9","pages":"778-780"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2025-08-04","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"145123469","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2025-08-04DOI: 10.1038/s44284-025-00294-y
Xin Sun, Jake M. Robinson, Manuel Delgado-Baquerizo, Anton Potapov, Haifeng Yao, Biao Zhu, Alexei V. Tiunov, Linxiu Zhang, Faith Ka Shun Chan, Scott X. Chang, Martin F. Breed, Nico Eisenhauer, Stefan Scheu, Zhipeng Li, Yong-Guan Zhu
Soils in urban greenspaces often support higher microbial richness but with more homogenous communities than in natural ecosystems. However, it is not known how urbanization impacts the diversity and homogeneity of soil communities in urban greenspaces compared with other highly managed ecosystems such as farmlands. Here we conducted a continental-scale study spanning 13 cities and four land uses (city parks, residential areas, and adjacent forests and farmlands) in China. We found that urban ecosystems consistently support higher local soil bacterial, protist and fungal (but not metazoan) richness than farmlands and forests. This elevated richness was closely related to higher pH in urban ecosystem soils. Urban greenspaces also supported more homogenous soil communities than farmlands. The results indicate that urbanization drives biotic homogenization and increases synchronous responses to environmental stressors in urban greenspaces at a continental scale. Our findings have important implications for managing soil ecosystem resilience and functional diversity in cities of the future. The soils of urban greenspaces are strikingly rich. This study finds that the variety of microbial life there is linked to acidic conditions and that this diversity is more homogenous than found in farmland soils.
{"title":"Unforeseen high continental-scale soil microbiome homogenization in urban greenspaces","authors":"Xin Sun, Jake M. Robinson, Manuel Delgado-Baquerizo, Anton Potapov, Haifeng Yao, Biao Zhu, Alexei V. Tiunov, Linxiu Zhang, Faith Ka Shun Chan, Scott X. Chang, Martin F. Breed, Nico Eisenhauer, Stefan Scheu, Zhipeng Li, Yong-Guan Zhu","doi":"10.1038/s44284-025-00294-y","DOIUrl":"10.1038/s44284-025-00294-y","url":null,"abstract":"Soils in urban greenspaces often support higher microbial richness but with more homogenous communities than in natural ecosystems. However, it is not known how urbanization impacts the diversity and homogeneity of soil communities in urban greenspaces compared with other highly managed ecosystems such as farmlands. Here we conducted a continental-scale study spanning 13 cities and four land uses (city parks, residential areas, and adjacent forests and farmlands) in China. We found that urban ecosystems consistently support higher local soil bacterial, protist and fungal (but not metazoan) richness than farmlands and forests. This elevated richness was closely related to higher pH in urban ecosystem soils. Urban greenspaces also supported more homogenous soil communities than farmlands. The results indicate that urbanization drives biotic homogenization and increases synchronous responses to environmental stressors in urban greenspaces at a continental scale. Our findings have important implications for managing soil ecosystem resilience and functional diversity in cities of the future. The soils of urban greenspaces are strikingly rich. This study finds that the variety of microbial life there is linked to acidic conditions and that this diversity is more homogenous than found in farmland soils.","PeriodicalId":501700,"journal":{"name":"Nature Cities","volume":"2 8","pages":"759-769"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2025-08-04","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"145123732","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2025-08-04DOI: 10.1038/s44284-025-00301-2
Our study reveals the shortage of green infrastructure per capita in the most informal neighborhoods of sub-Saharan African cities by linking individual trees to neighborhood informality. Continued urban expansion is projected to result in tree cover loss beyond current urban boundaries, which highlights the contradiction between the urgent need to upgrade informal settlements and current socioeconomic constraints.
{"title":"Remote-sensing data reveal tree inequity in informal settlements in sub-Saharan African cities","authors":"","doi":"10.1038/s44284-025-00301-2","DOIUrl":"10.1038/s44284-025-00301-2","url":null,"abstract":"Our study reveals the shortage of green infrastructure per capita in the most informal neighborhoods of sub-Saharan African cities by linking individual trees to neighborhood informality. Continued urban expansion is projected to result in tree cover loss beyond current urban boundaries, which highlights the contradiction between the urgent need to upgrade informal settlements and current socioeconomic constraints.","PeriodicalId":501700,"journal":{"name":"Nature Cities","volume":"2 11","pages":"1024-1025"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2025-08-04","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"145533780","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
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