Pub Date : 2025-08-22DOI: 10.1038/s44284-025-00325-8
Bin Jiang, Jiali Li, Peng Gong, Chris Webster, Gunter Schumann, Xueming Liu, Pongsakorn Suppakittpaisarn
{"title":"Author Correction: A generalized relationship between dose of greenness and mental health response","authors":"Bin Jiang, Jiali Li, Peng Gong, Chris Webster, Gunter Schumann, Xueming Liu, Pongsakorn Suppakittpaisarn","doi":"10.1038/s44284-025-00325-8","DOIUrl":"10.1038/s44284-025-00325-8","url":null,"abstract":"","PeriodicalId":501700,"journal":{"name":"Nature Cities","volume":"2 9","pages":"907-907"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2025-08-22","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.nature.comhttps://www.nature.com/articles/s44284-025-00325-8.pdf","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"145123465","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 : 2025-08-18DOI: 10.1038/s44284-025-00252-8
Yin Long
Urban residents navigate the delicate balance between order and chaos in urban life. Cities reflect this interplay, which shapes their identity and livability through the rules that cities establish and the freedoms they allow. From Tokyo’s precise order to Cairo’s spontaneous vibrancy, these contrasts illuminate fundamental questions about what makes a city thrive.
{"title":"Order and chaos in urban life","authors":"Yin Long","doi":"10.1038/s44284-025-00252-8","DOIUrl":"10.1038/s44284-025-00252-8","url":null,"abstract":"Urban residents navigate the delicate balance between order and chaos in urban life. Cities reflect this interplay, which shapes their identity and livability through the rules that cities establish and the freedoms they allow. From Tokyo’s precise order to Cairo’s spontaneous vibrancy, these contrasts illuminate fundamental questions about what makes a city thrive.","PeriodicalId":501700,"journal":{"name":"Nature Cities","volume":"2 8","pages":"770-770"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2025-08-18","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"145123733","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 : 2025-08-18DOI: 10.1038/s44284-025-00306-x
Urban health stands as one of the defining challenges and opportunities of our century. As cities continue to expand and densify, the well-being of their inhabitants is shaped not only by the bricks and mortar of urban form but also by the green and blue spaces that thread through our daily lives, the shifting patterns of infectious disease, and the social and economic structures that govern access and equity. This issue of Nature Cities brings together a set of manuscripts that collectively shed light on these interwoven pathways through which urban environments influence human health.
{"title":"Green dose to resilient and equitable urban health","authors":"","doi":"10.1038/s44284-025-00306-x","DOIUrl":"10.1038/s44284-025-00306-x","url":null,"abstract":"Urban health stands as one of the defining challenges and opportunities of our century. As cities continue to expand and densify, the well-being of their inhabitants is shaped not only by the bricks and mortar of urban form but also by the green and blue spaces that thread through our daily lives, the shifting patterns of infectious disease, and the social and economic structures that govern access and equity. This issue of Nature Cities brings together a set of manuscripts that collectively shed light on these interwoven pathways through which urban environments influence human health.","PeriodicalId":501700,"journal":{"name":"Nature Cities","volume":"2 8","pages":"673-673"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2025-08-18","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.nature.comhttps://www.nature.com/articles/s44284-025-00306-x.pdf","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"145123402","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 : 2025-08-15DOI: 10.1038/s44284-025-00308-9
Hongfang Lu
Blending hydrogen into existing urban gas networks presents promising pathways for urban decarbonization, yet numerous challenges persist. On this path, Hongfang Lu calls for collaborative action from industry, policymakers, community representatives and researchers to address technical barriers, management complexities and gaps in public awareness.
{"title":"Urban gas infrastructure meets hydrogen ambitions","authors":"Hongfang Lu","doi":"10.1038/s44284-025-00308-9","DOIUrl":"10.1038/s44284-025-00308-9","url":null,"abstract":"Blending hydrogen into existing urban gas networks presents promising pathways for urban decarbonization, yet numerous challenges persist. On this path, Hongfang Lu calls for collaborative action from industry, policymakers, community representatives and researchers to address technical barriers, management complexities and gaps in public awareness.","PeriodicalId":501700,"journal":{"name":"Nature Cities","volume":"2 9","pages":"773-774"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2025-08-15","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"145123468","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}
Heatwaves and ozone (O3) pollution threaten human and ecosystem health, with their compounding effects particularly severe in cities. While ground-based observations are indicative of urban O3 pollution during heatwaves, limited vertical insights into the intensified and prolonged O3 pollution hinder a comprehensive understanding of the underlying mechanisms and mitigation strategies. Here, leveraging airship vertical measurements and meteorology–chemistry coupled modeling, we reveal that heatwave-reinforced turbulence redistributes precursors vertically, altering photochemical stratification and accelerating O3 production both at the surface and aloft over megacities in China. Stringent emission controls targeting nitrogen oxides could mitigate the heatwave-exacerbated O3 extremes by narrowing the vertical disparity of photochemical sensitivity. Although heatwaves are projected to intensify, emission reductions due to China’s carbon neutrality pledge could alleviate urban O3 pollution by 41–47% during heatwaves and help tackle the dual challenges of air pollution and global warming while enhancing the climate resilience of city clusters. Heatwaves and ozone pollution pose compounded risks to urban health, but limited vertical insights have hindered understanding of their interaction. Using airship observations and model simulations, this study reveals that heatwaves worsen urban ozone pollution by vertically redistributing precursors, while emission reductions could mitigate heat–ozone extremes in a warming climate.
{"title":"Urban meteorology–chemistry coupling in compound heat–ozone extremes","authors":"Xueyu Zhou, Mengmeng Li, Xin Huang, Tengyu Liu, Haoran Zhang, Ximeng Qi, Zilin Wang, Yue Qin, Guannan Geng, Jiaping Wang, Xuguang Chi, Aijun Ding","doi":"10.1038/s44284-025-00302-1","DOIUrl":"10.1038/s44284-025-00302-1","url":null,"abstract":"Heatwaves and ozone (O3) pollution threaten human and ecosystem health, with their compounding effects particularly severe in cities. While ground-based observations are indicative of urban O3 pollution during heatwaves, limited vertical insights into the intensified and prolonged O3 pollution hinder a comprehensive understanding of the underlying mechanisms and mitigation strategies. Here, leveraging airship vertical measurements and meteorology–chemistry coupled modeling, we reveal that heatwave-reinforced turbulence redistributes precursors vertically, altering photochemical stratification and accelerating O3 production both at the surface and aloft over megacities in China. Stringent emission controls targeting nitrogen oxides could mitigate the heatwave-exacerbated O3 extremes by narrowing the vertical disparity of photochemical sensitivity. Although heatwaves are projected to intensify, emission reductions due to China’s carbon neutrality pledge could alleviate urban O3 pollution by 41–47% during heatwaves and help tackle the dual challenges of air pollution and global warming while enhancing the climate resilience of city clusters. Heatwaves and ozone pollution pose compounded risks to urban health, but limited vertical insights have hindered understanding of their interaction. Using airship observations and model simulations, this study reveals that heatwaves worsen urban ozone pollution by vertically redistributing precursors, while emission reductions could mitigate heat–ozone extremes in a warming climate.","PeriodicalId":501700,"journal":{"name":"Nature Cities","volume":"2 9","pages":"847-856"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2025-08-15","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.nature.comhttps://www.nature.com/articles/s44284-025-00302-1.pdf","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"145123462","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 : 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}
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