Cities & health最新文献

Driving space is considered as the transaction between built environment features and driving behaviour. Driving keeps people active and engaged, particularly in later life. Using Geospatial Information Systems (GIS) and machine learning, this study examined the driving space of older drivers (aged ≥65; n = 134) living in St. Louis City, St. Louis County, USA from 1 January 2019, to 31 December 2019. Driving variables, such as total distance, trip frequency, ratio of short trips long trips, were analyzed. Built environment measures included transit accessibility, land use mix, and road network characteristics. Our findings indicate that the most important features predictive of driving space of older adults were public transit density and land use diversity within residential areas. This study demonstrates the non-linear relationship between built environment factors and driving space variables. Total distance has a complex relationship with each built environment variable. The differences in short-distance and long-distance driving are linked to varied land use types, balanced transport density, and intersection density. These findings highlight the value of using in-vehicle monitoring technologies to determine how specific characteristics of the built environment can influence everyday driving behaviours in later life.

A livable city ensures safety, health, inclusivity, sustainability, housing, mobility, and opportunities for all. The Global Observatory of Healthy and Sustainable Cities (GOHSC) launched the 1000 Cities Challenge to assess urban health and sustainability globally. This study uses the GOHSC's spatial and policy indicators to evaluate livability in St. Louis, Missouri. Using a mixed-methods approach, we analyzed the spatial distribution of built environment and transport features alongside planning and sustainability policies. Spatial indicators were derived from open data. Policy documents were coded for their governance level, alignment with evidence from healthy cities, and inclusion of measurable targets. Most residents (91.7%) lived in neighborhoods with optimal street intersection density (100 intersections/km²). However, only 2.8% lived in areas with optimal population density (5,700 people/km²). Just 26.3% lived near public transit, and 44.5% had access to large public open spaces below the GOHSC city averages (44.6% and 66%). While there was good coverage of policies, policy quality was low (31%), with most lacking measurable targets. The policy and spatial indicators enabled a comprehensive evaluation of livability. Future research should synthesize local and regional policies, supplement livability indicators with measures of environmental (in)justice within cities and utilize streetscape micro-scale data to deepen livability analysis.

Public housing in the United States is often depicted as areas of decay and using racialized tropes about low-income communities of color. Despite these negative portrayals, residents of public housing often characterize their place as meaningful homes where they engage in place-making and community-building to challenge their social marginalization. The presence of strong connections to community and place among residents may help explain why public housing redevelopment programs focused on demolition and forced relocation have led to mixed results for improved mental and social well-being. This study explores how residents of a predominately Black public housing community undergoing redevelopment construct meanings of place and how these meanings influence their well-being and perceptions of redevelopment. We conducted semi-structured interviews with 29 adults relocating from a public housing site in Baltimore, Maryland and showcased how the social conditions of public housing intersect with individual characteristics, life experiences, and personal desires to dictate residents' notions of home, attachments to place and community, and experiences with stigma before relocation. Our findings demonstrate how residents' experiences with redevelopment and relocating can vary depending on their meanings of place, emphasizing the need to elevate residents' experiential knowledge in housing interventions to promote individual and community health.

Green infrastructure in college campuses and their surrounding communities can bring public health benefits. Using green infrastructure measures in three university towns in Texas, United States, this study explores if and how green infrastructure can impact the physical and mental health status of university campus users in the community. Campus users were estimated as the number of visitors to campus using the SafeGraph mobility data, green infrastructure was measured with land cover and Landsat 8 satellite images, and health status was measured with the CDC health status data. The results of spatial error models suggest a significant moderating effect of tree canopy coverage indicating that green infrastructure could potentially benefit campus users' health. This gives indirect evidence supporting the health-significant roles of the campus environment. For city planners and policymakers, increasing tree canopy coverage stands out as a promising green infrastructure planning and management strategy that can contribute to the health of campus users/communities.