Besser, Lilah M.; Lovasi, Gina S.; Michael, Yvonne L.; Garg, Parveen; Hirsch, Jana A.; Siscovick, David; Hurvitz, Phil; Biggs, Mary L.; Galvin, James E.; Bartz, Traci M.; Longstreth, W. T. (2021). Associations between Neighborhood Greenspace and Brain Imaging Measures in Non-Demented Older Adults: The Cardiovascular Health Study. Social Psychiatry And Psychiatric Epidemiology, 56(9), 1575 – 1585.
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Abstract
Purpose Greater neighborhood greenspace has been associated with brain health, including better cognition and lower odds of Alzheimer's disease in older adults. We investigated associations between neighborhood greenspace and brain-based magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) measures and potential effect modification by sex or apolipoprotein E genotype (APOE), a risk factor for Alzheimer's disease. Methods We obtained a sample of non-demented participants 65 years or older (n = 1125) from the longitudinal, population-based Cardiovascular Health Study (CHS). Greenspace data were derived from the National Land Cover Dataset. Adjusted multivariable linear regression estimated associations between neighborhood greenspace five years prior to the MRI and left and right hippocampal volume and 10-point grades of ventricular size and burden of white matter hyperintensity. Interaction terms tested effect modification by APOE genotype and sex. CHS data (1989-1999) were obtained/analyzed in 2020. Results Participants were on average 79 years old [standard deviation (SD) = 4], 58% were female, and 11% were non-white race. Mean neighborhood greenspace was 38% (SD = 28%). Greater proportion of greenspace in the neighborhood five years before MRI was borderline associated with lower ventricle grade (estimate: - 0.30; 95% confidence interval: - 0.61, 0.00). We observed no associations between greenspace and the other MRI outcome measures and no evidence of effect modification by APOE genotype and sex. Conclusion This study suggests a possible association between greater greenspace and less ventricular enlargement, a measure reflecting global brain atrophy. If confirmed in other longitudinal cohort studies, interventions and policies to improve community greenspaces may help to maintain brain health in older age.
Keywords
Mild Cognitive Impairment; Ventricular Enlargement; Residential Greenness; Hippocampal Atrophy; Volume; Disease; Environment; Progression; Symptoms; Dementia; Neighborhood; Green Space; Mri; Brain Volume; Hippocampal; White Matter
Hess, Chris; Acolin, Arthur; Walter, Rebecca; Kennedy, Ian; Chasins, Sarah; Crowder, Kyle. (2021). Searching for Housing in the Digital Age: Neighborhood Representation on Internet Rental Housing Platforms across Space, Platform, and Metropolitan Segregation. Environment And Planning A-economy And Space, 53(8), 2012 – 2032.
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Abstract
Understanding residential mobility, housing affordability, and the geography of neighborhood advantage and disadvantage relies on robust information about housing search processes and housing markets. Existing data about housing markets, especially rental markets, suffer from accuracy issues and a lack of temporal and geographic flexibility. Data collected from online rental platforms that are commonly used can help address these issues and hold considerable promise for better understanding the full distribution of available rental homes. However, realizing this promise requires a careful assessment of potential sources of bias as online rental listing platforms may perpetuate inequalities similar to those found in physical spaces. This paper approaches the production of rental advertisements as a social process driven by both contextual and property level factors. We compare data from two online platforms for the 100 most populated metropolitan areas in the United States to explore inequality in digital rental listing spaces and understand what characteristics are associated with over and underrepresentation of advertisements in certain areas. We find similar associations for socioeconomic measures between platforms and across urban and suburban parts of these metropolitan areas. In contrast, the importance of racial and ethnic composition, as well as broader patterns of segregation, for online representation differs substantially across space and platform. This analysis informs our understanding of how online platforms affect housing search dynamics through their biases and segmentation, and highlights the potential and limits in using the data available on these platforms to produce small area rental estimates.
Keywords
Fair Market Rents; Cities; Opportunity; Residential Mobility; Online Rental Listings; Rental Housing Markets; Housing Search; Inequality
Robinson, Jamaica R. M.; Phipps, Amanda, I; Barrington, Wendy E.; Hurvitz, Philip M.; Sheppard, Lianne; Malen, Rachel C.; Newcomb, Polly A. (2021). Associations of Household Income with Health-Related Quality of Life Following a Colorectal Cancer Diagnosis Varies with Neighborhood Socioeconomic Status. Cancer Epidemiology Biomarkers & Prevention, 30(7), 1366 – 1374.
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Abstract
Background: Existing evidence indicates household income as a predictor of health-related quality of life (HRQoL) following a colorectal cancer diagnosis. This association likely varies with neighborhood socioeconomic status (nSES), but evidence is limited. Methods: We included data from 1,355 colorectal cancer survivors participating in the population-based Puget Sound Colorectal Cancer Cohort (PSCCC). Survivors reported current annual household income; we measured HRQoL via the Functional Assessment of Cancer Therapy - Colorectal (FACT-C) tool. Using neighborhood data summarized within a 1-km radial buffer of Census block group centroids, we constructed a multidimensional nSES index measure. We employed survivors' geocoded residential addresses to append nSES score for Census block group of residence. With linear generalized estimating equations clustered on survivor location, we evaluated associations of household income with differences in FACT-C mean score, overall and stratified by nSES. We used separate models to explore relationships for wellbeing subscales. Results: We found lower household income to be associated with clinically meaningful differences in overall FACT-C scores [<$30K: -13.6; 95% confidence interval (CI): -16.8 to -10.4] and subscale wellbeing after a recent colorectal cancer diagnosis. Relationships were slightly greater in magnitude for survivors living in lower SES neighborhoods. Conclusions: Our findings suggest that recently diagnosed lower income colorectal cancer survivors are likely to report lower HRQoL, and modestly more so in lower SES neighborhoods. Impact: The findings from this work will aid future investigators' ability to further consider the contexts in which the income of survivors can be leveraged as a means of improving HRQoL
Keywords
Built Environment Factors; Functional Assessment; Fact-c; Population-density; Physical-activity; Survivors; Care; Disparities; Impact; Mortality
Zhong, Bo; Wu, Shuang; Sun, Geng; Wu, Ning. (2022). Farmers’ Strategies to Climate Change and Urbanization: Potential of Ecosystem-based Adaptation in Rural Chengdu, Southwest China. International Journal Of Environmental Research And Public Health, 19(2).
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Abstract
Ecosystem-based adaptation (EbA) is emerging as a cost-effective approach for helping people adapt to climate and non-climate changes. Nowadays, climate change and urbanization have affected agricultural systems, but it is not clear how rural communities have responded or adapted to those changes. Here, we chose two typical villages in the Chengdu Plain, southwest China, through sociological surveys on 90 local farmers with a semi-structured questionnaire, participatory observation, geospatial analysis of land use and land cover, and a literature review, to explore the local people's perception of changes or disturbances and their adaptation strategies from the perspective of EbA. The results showed that climate change and urbanization had impacted agricultural systems dramatically in the last 40 years. In two case-study sites, climate change and urbanization were perceived by most local farmers as the main drivers impacting on agricultural production, but various resource-use models containing abundant traditional knowledge or practices as well as modern tools, such as information communication technology (ICT), were applied to adapt to these changes. Moreover, culture service through the adaptive decoration of rural landscapes is becoming a new perspective for implementing an EbA strategy. Finally, our findings highlighted the potential value of an EbA strategy for sustaining urban-rural integrated development and enhancing the resilience of agricultural systems.
Keywords
Ecosystem-based Adaptation (eba); Chengdu Plain; Climate Change; Urbanization; Agricultural System; Traditional Knowledge Or Practice; Functioning Ecosystem; Agro-biodiversity; Resilience; Services; Diversity; Polls & Surveys; Spatial Analysis; Topography; Rural Communities; Biodiversity; Questionnaires; Adaptation; International Organizations; Land Use; Climate Change Adaptation; Canals; Irrigation; Land Cover; Ecosystems; Case Studies; Literature Reviews; Agriculture; Farmers; Environmental Economics; Sustainable Development; Rural Areas; Gross Domestic Product--gdp; Agricultural Production; Urban Areas; Cultural Heritage; China
Van Den Wymelenberg, Kevin; Inanici, Mehlika; Johnson, Peter. (2010). The Effect of Luminance Distribution Patterns on Occupant Preference in a Daylit Office Environment. Leukos, 7(2), 103 – 122.
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Abstract
New research in daylighting metrics and developments in validated digital High Dynamic Range (HDR) photography techniques suggest that luminance based lighting controls have the potential to provide occupant satisfaction and energy saving improvements over traditional illuminance based lighting controls. This paper studies occupant preference and acceptance of patterns of luminance using HDR imaging and a repeated measures design methodology in a daylit office environment. Three existing luminance threshold analysis methods [method1: predetermined absolute luminance threshold (for example, 2000 cd/m(2)), method2: scene based mean luminance threshold, and method3: task based mean luminance threshold] were studied along with additional candidate metrics for their ability to explain luminance variability of 18 participant assessments of 'preferred' and 'just disturbing' scenes under daylighting conditions. Per-pixel luminance data from each scene were used to calculate Daylighting Glare Probability (DGP), Daylight Glare Index (DGI), and other candidate metrics using these three luminance threshold analysis methods. Of the established methods, the most consistent and effective metrics to explain variability in subjective responses were found to be; mean luminance of the task (using method3; (adj)r(2) = 0.59), mean luminance of the entire scene (using method2; (adj)r(2) = 0.44), and DGP using 2000 cd/m(2) as a glare source identifier (using method1; (adj)r(2) = 0.41). Of the 150 candidate metrics tested, the most effective was the 'mean luminance of the glare sources', where the glare sources were identified as 7* the mean luminance of the task position ((adj)r(2) = 0.64). Furthermore, DGP consistently performed better than DGI, confirming previous findings. 'Preferred' scenes never had more than similar to 10 percent of the field of view (FOV) that exceeded 2000 cd/m(2). Standard deviation of the entire scene luminance also proved to be a good predictor of satisfaction with general visual appearance.
Keywords
Glare; Daylight Metrics; Luminance Based Lighting Controls; Discomfort Glare; Occupant Preference; High Dynamic Range
Hurvitz, Philip M.; Moudon, Anne Vernez. (2012). Home Versus Nonhome Neighborhood: Quantifying Differences in Exposure to the Built Environment. American Journal Of Preventive Medicine, 42(4), 411 – 417.
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Abstract
Background: Built environment and health research have focused on characteristics of home neighborhoods, whereas overall environmental exposures occur over larger spatial ranges. Purpose: Differences in built environment characteristics were analyzed for home and nonhome locations using GPS data. Methods: GPS data collected in 2007-2008 were analyzed for 41 subjects in the Seattle area in 2010. Environmental characteristics for 3.8 million locations were measured using novel GIS data sets called SmartMaps, representing spatially continuous values of local built environment variables in the domains of neighborhood composition, utilitarian destinations, transportation infrastructure, and traffic conditions. Using bootstrap sampling, CIs were estimated for differences in built environment values for home (1666 m) GPS locations. Results: Home and nonhome built environment values were significantly different for more than 90% of variables across subjects (p < 0.001). Only 51% of subjects had higher counts of supermarkets near than away from home. Different measures of neighborhood parks yielded varying results. Conclusions: SmartMaps helped measure local built environment characteristics for a large set of GPS locations. Most subjects had significantly different home and nonhome built environment exposures. Considering the full range of individuals' environmental exposures may improve understanding of effects of the built environment on behavior and health outcomes. (Am J Prev Med 2012;42(4):411-417) (C) 2012 American Journal of Preventive Medicine
Keywords
Built Environment; Public Health Research; Individual Differences; Neighborhoods; Environmental Exposure; Health Of Homeless People; Global Positioning System; Data Analysis; Quantitative Research; Seattle (wash.); Washington (state); Geographic Information-systems; Global Positioning Systems; Physical-activity; Health Research; Urban Form; Land-use; Associations; Transportation; Availability; Walkability
Bogus, Susan M.; Migliaccio, Giovanni C.; Jin, Ruoyu. (2013). Study of the Relationship between Procurement Duration and Project Performance in Design-Build Projects: Comparison between Water/Wastewater and Transportation Sectors. Journal Of Management In Engineering, 29(4), 382 – 391.
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Abstract
Previous studies on building, industrial, and transportation projects found that projects delivered using design-build tend to perform better than projects delivered with the traditional design-bid-build method. However, performance of design-build projects is affected by various factors, with procurement-related factors being among the most influential. Whereas other aspects of procurement have been largely investigated, the effect of procurement duration on project performance has been studied only for design-build transportation projects. In addition, few studies have focused specifically on the delivery of water/wastewater projects. This paper includes the results of a study on the relationship between procurement duration and performance of water/wastewater design-build projects. The study methodology was based on regression analysis of data from a sample of water/wastewater design-build projects. The results show that unlike the transportation sector, procurement duration has little effect on either schedule or cost performance in the water/wastewater sector. Likely reasons for this difference were then explored through a content analysis of procurement documents. (C) 2013 American Society of Civil Engineers.
Keywords
Design Engineering; Procurement; Project Management; Regression Analysis; Transportation; Waste Management; Procurement Documents; Schedule Performance; Cost Performance; Design-build Transportation Projects; Procurement-related Factors; Design-bid-build Method; Water-wastewater Sectors; Transportation Sectors; Project Performance; Procurement Duration; Design/build; Project Delivery; Water; Wastewater
Purcell, Mark. (2013). To Inhabit Well: Counterhegemonic Movements and the Right to the City. Urban Geography, 34(4), 560 – 574.
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Abstract
A right to the city, understood as a conjoint claim to a right to inhabit urban space well, can be an effective starting point from which diverse urban movements can begin to build broad counterhegemonic coalitions for alternative urban futures. In this article, I argue that the right to the city supports the project of establishing relations of equivalence among members of coalitions--balancing relations of sameness/difference and interdependence/autonomy.
Keywords
Right To The City; Urban Social Movements; Autogestion; Urban Politics
El-Anwar, Omar; Aziz, Tamer Abdel. (2014). Integrated Urban-Construction Planning Framework for Slum Upgrading Projects. Journal Of Construction Engineering And Management, 140(4).
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Abstract
Slums are areas of population concentrations developed in the absence of physical planning and lack access to life essentials. Slums represent major national challenges in countries where they exist, especially developing countries. Various intervention strategies can be adopted to upgrade and/or replace slums, but are often faced with serious construction challenges, such as lack of access to sites and poor terrain conditions. Moreover, during the execution of slum upgrading projects, resident families can experience significant social and economic disruptions. The objective of this paper is present an integrated urban-construction planning framework for slum upgrading projects. This framework incorporates participatory upgrading and is designed to achieve three important objectives, including (1)maximizing the benefits of slum upgrading projects by identifying and accelerating the delivery of urgent projects; (2)providing more accurate and practical estimates of upgrading projects costs and timelines, which enables controlling and minimizing the total projects costs and durations; and (3)minimizing the social and economic disruptions for resident families during construction. An illustrative example is presented to demonstrate the potential of the proposed framework and its core multiobjective optimization process.
Keywords
Construction; Industrial Economics; Optimisation; Planning; Project Management; Social Sciences; Integrated Urban-construction Planning Framework; Slum Upgrading Projects; Physical Planning; Intervention Strategies; Construction Challenges; Economic Disruptions; Social Disruptions; Urgent Projects Delivery; Project Costs; Multiobjective Optimization Process; Logistics; Constructability; Optimization; Design; Build; Urban Areas; Slums Upgrading; Logistics Planning; Multi-objective Optimization; Integrated Design-build; Project Planning And Design
Purcell, Mark. (2014). Rancière and Revolution. Space & Polity, 18(2), 168 – 181.
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Abstract
This paper explores what role Rancière's work can play in the struggle for a more democratic world. It highlights the strength of Rancière's conception of democracy, which clearly identifies democracy as a popular disruption of the prevailing police order. This order claims to have assigned a proper role to all parts of society. Democracy for Rancière is when an element emerges that has not been taken account of and demonstrates the police order's claim to be false. Among the many benefits of this way of understanding democracy, it upsets any easy association between hegemony and democracy - as in Laclau & Mouffe - and it refuses utterly the ideological fiising of democracy, capitalism, and the state offered by the liberaldemocratic- capitalist consensus. However, Rancière's approach also introduces significant limits on democracy because it denies that democracy can ever do more than disrupt the prevailing order. It does not allow for the possibility that democracy can grow and spread to the point that it becomes pervasive in the polity. This paper uses the case of the Egyptian uprising to show how this limitation closes off important political possibilities. The paper argues that Deleuze & Guattari's theorisation of revolution, when used carefully, is a necessary corrective to Rancière's too-restricted concept of democracy [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]; Copyright of Space & Polity is the property of Routledge and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)
Keywords
Political Philosophy; Democracy; Hegemony; Capitalism; Egyptian Revolution, Egypt, 2011-; Deleuze; Guattari; Ranciere; Revolution; Ranciere, Jacques, 1940-