Pub Date : 2025-01-02DOI: 10.1038/s44284-024-00172-z
Yunke Zhang, Daoping Wang, Yu Liu, Kerui Du, Peng Lu, Pan He, Yong Li
More frequent global extreme heat events prompt behavioral adaptations, such as reducing outdoor activities to relieve potential distress. The emergence of innovative daily life services in cities offers new avenues for implementing such adaptive strategies. Here we investigate whether urban residents augment food delivery consumption as an immediate response to hot weather in China. Analyzing extensive food delivery service data across 100 Chinese cities from 2017 to 2023, we observe a significant surge in lunchtime orders, exceeding 12.6%, as temperatures escalate from 20 °C to 35 °C, and reaching 21.4% at 40 °C. These increments, coupled with reduced heat exposure via food delivery services, are more pronounced among female, high-income and older individuals, signifying varying degrees of benefit among consumers. We further reveal the transfer of heat exposure from consumers to delivery riders, highlighting the gains and pains introduced by food delivery services and the need for policy intervention. The quantification and findings in this study provide unique insights for the design of efficient policies promoting extreme heat adaptation and ensuring social equity while fighting climate change. Food delivery services in cities offer avenues for urban residents to adjust their behavior in response to extreme heat events. Analysis of food delivery data from 100 Chinese cities between 2017 and 2023 revealed a surge in lunchtime orders during temperature spikes and showcased varying benefits of reduced heat exposure across different consumer demographic groups.
{"title":"Urban food delivery services as extreme heat adaptation","authors":"Yunke Zhang, Daoping Wang, Yu Liu, Kerui Du, Peng Lu, Pan He, Yong Li","doi":"10.1038/s44284-024-00172-z","DOIUrl":"10.1038/s44284-024-00172-z","url":null,"abstract":"More frequent global extreme heat events prompt behavioral adaptations, such as reducing outdoor activities to relieve potential distress. The emergence of innovative daily life services in cities offers new avenues for implementing such adaptive strategies. Here we investigate whether urban residents augment food delivery consumption as an immediate response to hot weather in China. Analyzing extensive food delivery service data across 100 Chinese cities from 2017 to 2023, we observe a significant surge in lunchtime orders, exceeding 12.6%, as temperatures escalate from 20 °C to 35 °C, and reaching 21.4% at 40 °C. These increments, coupled with reduced heat exposure via food delivery services, are more pronounced among female, high-income and older individuals, signifying varying degrees of benefit among consumers. We further reveal the transfer of heat exposure from consumers to delivery riders, highlighting the gains and pains introduced by food delivery services and the need for policy intervention. The quantification and findings in this study provide unique insights for the design of efficient policies promoting extreme heat adaptation and ensuring social equity while fighting climate change. Food delivery services in cities offer avenues for urban residents to adjust their behavior in response to extreme heat events. Analysis of food delivery data from 100 Chinese cities between 2017 and 2023 revealed a surge in lunchtime orders during temperature spikes and showcased varying benefits of reduced heat exposure across different consumer demographic groups.","PeriodicalId":501700,"journal":{"name":"Nature Cities","volume":"2 2","pages":"170-179"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2025-01-02","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143555234","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 : 2024-12-19DOI: 10.1038/s44284-024-00180-z
Katie Meehan, Jason R. Jurjevich, Lucy Everitt, Nicholas M.J.W. Chun, Justin Sherrill
The housing unaffordability and cost-of-living crisis is affecting millions of people in US cities, yet the implications for urban dwellers’ well-being and social reproduction remain less clear. This Article presents a longitudinal analysis of household access to running water—a vital component of social infrastructure—in the 50 largest US cities since 1970. The results indicate that water access has worsened in an increasing number and typology of US cities since the 2008 global financial crash, disproportionately affecting households of color in 12 of the 15 largest cities. We provide evidence to suggest that a ‘reproductive squeeze’—systemic, compounding pressures on households’ capacity to reproduce themselves on a daily and societal basis—is forcing urban households into more precarious living arrangements, including housing without running water. We analyze the case study of Portland (Oregon) to illustrate the racialized nature of the reproductive squeeze under a housing crisis. Our insights reveal that plumbing poverty—a lack of household running water—is expanding in scope and severity to a broader array of US cities, raising doubts about equitable progress towards Sustainable Development Goals for clean water and sanitation for all (SDG 6) and sustainable cities (SDG 11) in an increasingly urbanized United States. Meehan and colleagues study access to running water in large US cities since 1970, finding that the 2008 financial crisis worsened household ‘plumbing poverty’ in many cities. This disproportionately impacted households of color and generally squeezed lower-income households into more precarious living situations.
{"title":"Urban inequality, the housing crisis and deteriorating water access in US cities","authors":"Katie Meehan, Jason R. Jurjevich, Lucy Everitt, Nicholas M.J.W. Chun, Justin Sherrill","doi":"10.1038/s44284-024-00180-z","DOIUrl":"10.1038/s44284-024-00180-z","url":null,"abstract":"The housing unaffordability and cost-of-living crisis is affecting millions of people in US cities, yet the implications for urban dwellers’ well-being and social reproduction remain less clear. This Article presents a longitudinal analysis of household access to running water—a vital component of social infrastructure—in the 50 largest US cities since 1970. The results indicate that water access has worsened in an increasing number and typology of US cities since the 2008 global financial crash, disproportionately affecting households of color in 12 of the 15 largest cities. We provide evidence to suggest that a ‘reproductive squeeze’—systemic, compounding pressures on households’ capacity to reproduce themselves on a daily and societal basis—is forcing urban households into more precarious living arrangements, including housing without running water. We analyze the case study of Portland (Oregon) to illustrate the racialized nature of the reproductive squeeze under a housing crisis. Our insights reveal that plumbing poverty—a lack of household running water—is expanding in scope and severity to a broader array of US cities, raising doubts about equitable progress towards Sustainable Development Goals for clean water and sanitation for all (SDG 6) and sustainable cities (SDG 11) in an increasingly urbanized United States. Meehan and colleagues study access to running water in large US cities since 1970, finding that the 2008 financial crisis worsened household ‘plumbing poverty’ in many cities. This disproportionately impacted households of color and generally squeezed lower-income households into more precarious living situations.","PeriodicalId":501700,"journal":{"name":"Nature Cities","volume":"2 1","pages":"93-103"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2024-12-19","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.nature.com/articles/s44284-024-00180-z.pdf","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143121604","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2024-12-11DOI: 10.1038/s44284-024-00169-8
Zhiwen Gao, Yingji Pan, Kun Song, Yanyi Yang, Mingming Zhuge, Tian Wu, Tiyuan Xia, Yuandong Hu, Liangjun Da, Ellen Cieraad
Spontaneous plants, those not planted by people or remaining from before urbanization, are vital to urban biodiversity. Their distribution in urban systems is affected by seed dispersal mode and environmental factors such as natural dispersal limitation and habitat quality factors. We assessed four seed dispersal modes in 16 cities in Yunnan province, the most biodiverse province in China. Autochory, in which plants eject seeds or otherwise power their seeds’ dispersal, was the dominant seed dispersal mode of urban spontaneous plants in most cities (13 out of 16), whereas hydrochory, or passive seed dispersal by water, was the least frequent. Our research showed spontaneous plants in urban ecosystems adopt convergent strategies to address environmental stressors. The number of urban plants was significantly higher in colder and more-humid climates but decreased with increased dispersal limitations and reduced habitat quality. Sensitivities to these factors varied, with autochory especially sensitive to dispersal limitation and hydrochory sensitive to habitat quality and climate. Findings suggest improving habitat quality and creating green corridors would enhance conservation efforts for urban biodiversity. Plants are vital to healthy cities, yet urban environments filter the plant traits we find. This study assesses the relative dominance of different seed dispersal modes among plants that establish in cities without human intent, finding that many disperse their own seeds and that seed dispersal by water is less common.
{"title":"Response and sensitivity of urban plants with different seed dispersal modes","authors":"Zhiwen Gao, Yingji Pan, Kun Song, Yanyi Yang, Mingming Zhuge, Tian Wu, Tiyuan Xia, Yuandong Hu, Liangjun Da, Ellen Cieraad","doi":"10.1038/s44284-024-00169-8","DOIUrl":"10.1038/s44284-024-00169-8","url":null,"abstract":"Spontaneous plants, those not planted by people or remaining from before urbanization, are vital to urban biodiversity. Their distribution in urban systems is affected by seed dispersal mode and environmental factors such as natural dispersal limitation and habitat quality factors. We assessed four seed dispersal modes in 16 cities in Yunnan province, the most biodiverse province in China. Autochory, in which plants eject seeds or otherwise power their seeds’ dispersal, was the dominant seed dispersal mode of urban spontaneous plants in most cities (13 out of 16), whereas hydrochory, or passive seed dispersal by water, was the least frequent. Our research showed spontaneous plants in urban ecosystems adopt convergent strategies to address environmental stressors. The number of urban plants was significantly higher in colder and more-humid climates but decreased with increased dispersal limitations and reduced habitat quality. Sensitivities to these factors varied, with autochory especially sensitive to dispersal limitation and hydrochory sensitive to habitat quality and climate. Findings suggest improving habitat quality and creating green corridors would enhance conservation efforts for urban biodiversity. Plants are vital to healthy cities, yet urban environments filter the plant traits we find. This study assesses the relative dominance of different seed dispersal modes among plants that establish in cities without human intent, finding that many disperse their own seeds and that seed dispersal by water is less common.","PeriodicalId":501700,"journal":{"name":"Nature Cities","volume":"2 1","pages":"28-37"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2024-12-11","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143121637","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 : 2024-12-10DOI: 10.1038/s44284-024-00170-1
Sandro M. Reia, P. Suresh C. Rao, Marc Barthelemy, Satish V. Ukkusuri
Recent studies show that rare and extreme domestic migration flows influence both population growth and the rise and fall of cities in urbanized countries such as the USA, Canada, the UK and France. This study examines the relationship between domestic net flows (inflows minus outflows) and city rank volatility across countries over time. We find that approximately 95% of cities, representing up to 99% of a country’s population, exhibit rescaled net flows that conform to normal distributions, while about 5% experience migration shocks. Small cities are more susceptible to these shocks, often caused by net flows from larger, nearby cities, while in France, large cities also experience shocks from smaller ones. We also show that domestic migration is an important component of population growth in small cities, thus explaining their rank volatility, and that the rank stability of large cities is supported by international migration and natural increase. This study characterized the intercity domestic migration flows in four countries, and found that in the USA, the UK and Canada, flows from big cities serve as shocks in smaller nearby cities, but not in France.
{"title":"Domestic migration and city rank dynamics","authors":"Sandro M. Reia, P. Suresh C. Rao, Marc Barthelemy, Satish V. Ukkusuri","doi":"10.1038/s44284-024-00170-1","DOIUrl":"10.1038/s44284-024-00170-1","url":null,"abstract":"Recent studies show that rare and extreme domestic migration flows influence both population growth and the rise and fall of cities in urbanized countries such as the USA, Canada, the UK and France. This study examines the relationship between domestic net flows (inflows minus outflows) and city rank volatility across countries over time. We find that approximately 95% of cities, representing up to 99% of a country’s population, exhibit rescaled net flows that conform to normal distributions, while about 5% experience migration shocks. Small cities are more susceptible to these shocks, often caused by net flows from larger, nearby cities, while in France, large cities also experience shocks from smaller ones. We also show that domestic migration is an important component of population growth in small cities, thus explaining their rank volatility, and that the rank stability of large cities is supported by international migration and natural increase. This study characterized the intercity domestic migration flows in four countries, and found that in the USA, the UK and Canada, flows from big cities serve as shocks in smaller nearby cities, but not in France.","PeriodicalId":501700,"journal":{"name":"Nature Cities","volume":"2 1","pages":"38-46"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2024-12-10","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143121564","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 : 2024-12-09DOI: 10.1038/s44284-024-00167-w
Mahir Yazar, Håvard Haarstad, Johan Elfving
Increasingly, urban scholars and decision-makers are emphasizing the integration of justice into urban policy. Yet, there is limited research on if or how cities incorporate procedural justice (fairness, equality and inclusion) in urban governance. Here, we demonstrate that less than half of the C40 cities with climate action plans lean toward including procedural justice in policy choices and the related measures. We find that cities adopting the C40-driven equity pledge, those joining the C40 later and cities in the Global South positively correlate with the integration of procedural justice. Cities that substantially engage in procedural justice demonstrate fairness in decision-making processes through visible collaboration and clear plans. In contrast, cities lacking engagement with procedural justice focus primarily on the fairness of outcomes without addressing deeper systemic issues or involving marginalized groups, leading to what we label as tokenistic modes of participation. Cities must move beyond normative policy prescription and instead use concrete organizational tools to circumvent historical legacies of injustice. Yazar and coauthors investigate the incorporation of procedural justice—fair and inclusive decision-making processes—among the climate-ambitious cities in the C40 network. They find that less than half of C40 cities emphasize procedural justice in climate planning, thereby limiting their ability to meaningfully address systemic inequality.
{"title":"Cities incorporate equity in their climate policies but overlook procedural justice in decision-making","authors":"Mahir Yazar, Håvard Haarstad, Johan Elfving","doi":"10.1038/s44284-024-00167-w","DOIUrl":"10.1038/s44284-024-00167-w","url":null,"abstract":"Increasingly, urban scholars and decision-makers are emphasizing the integration of justice into urban policy. Yet, there is limited research on if or how cities incorporate procedural justice (fairness, equality and inclusion) in urban governance. Here, we demonstrate that less than half of the C40 cities with climate action plans lean toward including procedural justice in policy choices and the related measures. We find that cities adopting the C40-driven equity pledge, those joining the C40 later and cities in the Global South positively correlate with the integration of procedural justice. Cities that substantially engage in procedural justice demonstrate fairness in decision-making processes through visible collaboration and clear plans. In contrast, cities lacking engagement with procedural justice focus primarily on the fairness of outcomes without addressing deeper systemic issues or involving marginalized groups, leading to what we label as tokenistic modes of participation. Cities must move beyond normative policy prescription and instead use concrete organizational tools to circumvent historical legacies of injustice. Yazar and coauthors investigate the incorporation of procedural justice—fair and inclusive decision-making processes—among the climate-ambitious cities in the C40 network. They find that less than half of C40 cities emphasize procedural justice in climate planning, thereby limiting their ability to meaningfully address systemic inequality.","PeriodicalId":501700,"journal":{"name":"Nature Cities","volume":"2 1","pages":"17-27"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2024-12-09","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143121622","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}
Heat has gained traction as a visible amplifier of unequal vulnerability and adaptive capacity. Here we call for urban climate researchers researching in North America and Europe to distill the relations between unequal heat effects and the legacy of exclusionary urban planning, to point out how injustice is (re)produced through heat-response measures and heat gentrification, and propose new research priorities and policy takeaways grounded in heat justice. We argue that heat-abatement strategies cannot be climate-justice-driven if they prioritize heat management as an apolitical heat response strategy that does not address concurrent patterns of heat racism and emerging heat gentrification. Proposing pathways to what they call urban heat justice, Anguelovski et al. argue that heat adaptation strategies must account for historic drivers of environmental injustice, including historically exclusionary urban planning practices, particularly around housing, and new manifestations of environmental injustice such as heat gentrification.
{"title":"From heat racism and heat gentrification to urban heat justice in the USA and Europe","authors":"Isabelle Anguelovski, Panagiota Kotsila, Loretta Lees, Margarita Triguero-Mas, Amalia Calderón-Argelich","doi":"10.1038/s44284-024-00179-6","DOIUrl":"10.1038/s44284-024-00179-6","url":null,"abstract":"Heat has gained traction as a visible amplifier of unequal vulnerability and adaptive capacity. Here we call for urban climate researchers researching in North America and Europe to distill the relations between unequal heat effects and the legacy of exclusionary urban planning, to point out how injustice is (re)produced through heat-response measures and heat gentrification, and propose new research priorities and policy takeaways grounded in heat justice. We argue that heat-abatement strategies cannot be climate-justice-driven if they prioritize heat management as an apolitical heat response strategy that does not address concurrent patterns of heat racism and emerging heat gentrification. Proposing pathways to what they call urban heat justice, Anguelovski et al. argue that heat adaptation strategies must account for historic drivers of environmental injustice, including historically exclusionary urban planning practices, particularly around housing, and new manifestations of environmental injustice such as heat gentrification.","PeriodicalId":501700,"journal":{"name":"Nature Cities","volume":"2 1","pages":"8-16"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2024-12-05","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143121591","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 : 2024-12-02DOI: 10.1038/s44284-024-00182-x
As urbanization affects planet Earth and humanity with ever more poignant and confounding implications, Nature Cities celebrates the end of our first year, and we recommit to integrating knowledge across disciplines, sectors and contexts.
{"title":"From local to global and in between, urban context counts","authors":"","doi":"10.1038/s44284-024-00182-x","DOIUrl":"10.1038/s44284-024-00182-x","url":null,"abstract":"As urbanization affects planet Earth and humanity with ever more poignant and confounding implications, Nature Cities celebrates the end of our first year, and we recommit to integrating knowledge across disciplines, sectors and contexts.","PeriodicalId":501700,"journal":{"name":"Nature Cities","volume":"1 12","pages":"801-801"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2024-12-02","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.nature.com/articles/s44284-024-00182-x.pdf","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"142762990","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2024-12-02DOI: 10.1038/s44284-024-00175-w
Zhengyang Li, Katherine Idziorek, Anthony Chen, Cynthia Chen
During and after a disaster, people share resources with family, friends and neighbors to tide them over difficult times. The conventional top-down approach for disaster relief overlooks the wealth of critical resources that exist within communities. Here we explicitly model place-based peer-to-peer (P2P) resource sharing and evaluate its impact on community resilience to disasters. Using data from two urban communities in Seattle, Washington State, we confirm substantial untapped capacity for enhanced community resilience through place-based P2P resource sharing. Under a 5-day isolation scenario, place-based P2P sharing can reduce a community’s resilience loss by 13.4–100%; on average, 22–44 social ties per household support an 80% sharing rate of surplus resources. These findings suggest that place-based P2P sharing could be a viable strategy for disaster response across US communities, in addition to the current, government-led effort. Our methodological framework is transferable to other urban communities interested in enhancing disaster resilience. Using two socioeconomically different neighborhoods in Seattle, this study shows that place-based peer-to-peer resource sharing can substantially improve community resilience in both types of neighborhoods. Strong ties were about 1.5–3 times as effective as weak ties, and the neighborhood with lower socioeconomic status (SES) required more ties to achieve an optimal sharing rate than the neighborhood with higher SES.
{"title":"Untapped capacity of place-based peer-to-peer resource sharing for community resilience","authors":"Zhengyang Li, Katherine Idziorek, Anthony Chen, Cynthia Chen","doi":"10.1038/s44284-024-00175-w","DOIUrl":"10.1038/s44284-024-00175-w","url":null,"abstract":"During and after a disaster, people share resources with family, friends and neighbors to tide them over difficult times. The conventional top-down approach for disaster relief overlooks the wealth of critical resources that exist within communities. Here we explicitly model place-based peer-to-peer (P2P) resource sharing and evaluate its impact on community resilience to disasters. Using data from two urban communities in Seattle, Washington State, we confirm substantial untapped capacity for enhanced community resilience through place-based P2P resource sharing. Under a 5-day isolation scenario, place-based P2P sharing can reduce a community’s resilience loss by 13.4–100%; on average, 22–44 social ties per household support an 80% sharing rate of surplus resources. These findings suggest that place-based P2P sharing could be a viable strategy for disaster response across US communities, in addition to the current, government-led effort. Our methodological framework is transferable to other urban communities interested in enhancing disaster resilience. Using two socioeconomically different neighborhoods in Seattle, this study shows that place-based peer-to-peer resource sharing can substantially improve community resilience in both types of neighborhoods. Strong ties were about 1.5–3 times as effective as weak ties, and the neighborhood with lower socioeconomic status (SES) required more ties to achieve an optimal sharing rate than the neighborhood with higher SES.","PeriodicalId":501700,"journal":{"name":"Nature Cities","volume":"2 1","pages":"47-57"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2024-12-02","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143121561","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 : 2024-11-27DOI: 10.1038/s44284-024-00173-y
Jing Zhao, Yiqi Tang, Xufeng Zhu, Junming Zhu
Monitoring technologies are widely used by upper-level government to enhance local compliance and achieve better environmental quality. Given their limited spatial accessibility of monitoring, how these technologies shape local enforcement strategies is uncertain. Here we show the impact that the nationwide establishment of air-quality-monitoring stations in Chinese cities had on local pollution reduction, enforcement and social welfare. Leveraging high-resolution datasets and a quasi-experimental design, we found that the newly introduced monitoring stations led to an 8.03% reduction in PM2.5 concentrations in urban areas. Within these areas, there was a 0.57% greater reduction in PM2.5 concentrations in technically accessible areas than in non-accessible areas. The reduction in air pollution was associated with a decline in industrial activities and change in land use. A back-of-the-envelope estimation shows nontrivial urban spatial inequalities in welfare consequences. Our findings suggest that the application of monitoring technologies should take environmental justice into consideration for a more comprehensive approach to sustainable development. This study analyzes the impact of 1,436 air-quality-monitoring stations in Chinese cities. It found that these stations led to an 8.03% reduction in PM2.5 concentrations in urban areas. Within these areas, they resulted in 0.57% more reduction in PM2.5 concentrations in technically accessible areas compared to non-accessible areas, which also experienced an increase in housing prices and a decrease in air-quality-induced mortality.
{"title":"National environmental monitoring and local enforcement strategies","authors":"Jing Zhao, Yiqi Tang, Xufeng Zhu, Junming Zhu","doi":"10.1038/s44284-024-00173-y","DOIUrl":"10.1038/s44284-024-00173-y","url":null,"abstract":"Monitoring technologies are widely used by upper-level government to enhance local compliance and achieve better environmental quality. Given their limited spatial accessibility of monitoring, how these technologies shape local enforcement strategies is uncertain. Here we show the impact that the nationwide establishment of air-quality-monitoring stations in Chinese cities had on local pollution reduction, enforcement and social welfare. Leveraging high-resolution datasets and a quasi-experimental design, we found that the newly introduced monitoring stations led to an 8.03% reduction in PM2.5 concentrations in urban areas. Within these areas, there was a 0.57% greater reduction in PM2.5 concentrations in technically accessible areas than in non-accessible areas. The reduction in air pollution was associated with a decline in industrial activities and change in land use. A back-of-the-envelope estimation shows nontrivial urban spatial inequalities in welfare consequences. Our findings suggest that the application of monitoring technologies should take environmental justice into consideration for a more comprehensive approach to sustainable development. This study analyzes the impact of 1,436 air-quality-monitoring stations in Chinese cities. It found that these stations led to an 8.03% reduction in PM2.5 concentrations in urban areas. Within these areas, they resulted in 0.57% more reduction in PM2.5 concentrations in technically accessible areas compared to non-accessible areas, which also experienced an increase in housing prices and a decrease in air-quality-induced mortality.","PeriodicalId":501700,"journal":{"name":"Nature Cities","volume":"2 1","pages":"58-69"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2024-11-27","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143121590","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 : 2024-11-15DOI: 10.1038/s44284-024-00156-z
Yongxuan Li, Yujia Bao, Ne Qiang, Min Zhong, Zheshen Han, Yuanyuan Li, Yanqiu Zhou, Jingqi Zhou, Xiaobei Deng, Chen Shen, Lefei Han, Jinjun Ran
Ambient benzene is a volatile anthropogenic pollutant and known carcinogen associated with industrialization and urbanization. Benzene is a natural constituent of petroleum, so cities, which concentrate combustion through industrial activity, transit and heating, generate a great deal. In addition to causing cancer, theory also predicts that benzene may chronically affect the human brain, even at a low level (<5 µg m−3). In this study, we estimated associations of ambient benzene exposure before 2010 with brain disorders (261,909 participants) and brain imaging phenotypes (23,911 participants) in urban residents in the UK (enrolled during 2006–2010 and followed up to 2022). The results show that ambient benzene (per interquartile range increment of 0.30 µg m−3) is associated with elevated risks of dementia (hazard ratio, 1.18; 95% confidence intervals, 1.09 to 1.28), major depression (1.09; 1.03 to 1.14) and anxiety disorder (1.16; 1.10 to 1.22). Neuroimaging analysis highlighted the associations with brain structures, including the thalamus and the superior temporal gyrus. This study provides population-level evidence of the effect of ambient benzene on brain disorders in urban populations, critical for risk assessments, air quality and health guidelines, and sustainable-development efforts as the world urbanizes. Cities and urbanization concentrate benzene, a carcinogen and brain toxin found in petroleum. This study estimated associations between benzene exposure and brain disorders in urban adults in the UK, finding elevated risks of dementia, major depression and anxiety disorder even at low benzene levels.
{"title":"Long-term exposure to ambient benzene and brain disorders among urban adults","authors":"Yongxuan Li, Yujia Bao, Ne Qiang, Min Zhong, Zheshen Han, Yuanyuan Li, Yanqiu Zhou, Jingqi Zhou, Xiaobei Deng, Chen Shen, Lefei Han, Jinjun Ran","doi":"10.1038/s44284-024-00156-z","DOIUrl":"10.1038/s44284-024-00156-z","url":null,"abstract":"Ambient benzene is a volatile anthropogenic pollutant and known carcinogen associated with industrialization and urbanization. Benzene is a natural constituent of petroleum, so cities, which concentrate combustion through industrial activity, transit and heating, generate a great deal. In addition to causing cancer, theory also predicts that benzene may chronically affect the human brain, even at a low level (<5 µg m−3). In this study, we estimated associations of ambient benzene exposure before 2010 with brain disorders (261,909 participants) and brain imaging phenotypes (23,911 participants) in urban residents in the UK (enrolled during 2006–2010 and followed up to 2022). The results show that ambient benzene (per interquartile range increment of 0.30 µg m−3) is associated with elevated risks of dementia (hazard ratio, 1.18; 95% confidence intervals, 1.09 to 1.28), major depression (1.09; 1.03 to 1.14) and anxiety disorder (1.16; 1.10 to 1.22). Neuroimaging analysis highlighted the associations with brain structures, including the thalamus and the superior temporal gyrus. This study provides population-level evidence of the effect of ambient benzene on brain disorders in urban populations, critical for risk assessments, air quality and health guidelines, and sustainable-development efforts as the world urbanizes. Cities and urbanization concentrate benzene, a carcinogen and brain toxin found in petroleum. This study estimated associations between benzene exposure and brain disorders in urban adults in the UK, finding elevated risks of dementia, major depression and anxiety disorder even at low benzene levels.","PeriodicalId":501700,"journal":{"name":"Nature Cities","volume":"1 12","pages":"830-841"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2024-11-15","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"142762896","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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