Includes urban horticulture/agriculture, and cultures/systems of food.
Aquaponics OPTI: sustainable food production
Sustainable food production depends on the recovery of water, energy, and nutrients from waste streams within existing supply chains. Greenhouse hydroponic systems (HYP) and recirculating aquaculture systems (RAS) are two intensive food production systems that in combined production as an aquaponics system (AP) can utilize fish wastes as fertilizers, while recycling water and energy to increase both systems’ sustainability and efficiency.
Associate Professor of Architecture Gundula Proksch has been awarded the ARCC Mid-Career Research Impact Award, which recognizes outstanding performance and substantive impact in architectural research. Awardees are selected by the ARCC Board. Associate Professor Proksch’s NSF project CITYFOOD is mentioned in her recognition, as well as her book “Creating Urban Agricultural Systems: An Integrated Approach to Design” (Routledge, 2016). See the announcement story here.
Sun, F., Whittington, J., Ning, S., Proksch, G., Shen, Q., & Dermisi, S. (2023). Economic resilience during COVID-19: the case of food retail businesses in Seattle, Washington. Frontiers in Built Environment, 9. https://doi.org/10.3389/fbuil.2023.1212244
The first year of COVID-19 tested the economic resilience of cities, calling into question the viability of density and the essential nature of certain types of services. This study examines built environment and socio-economic factors associated with the closure of customer-facing food businesses across urban areas of Seattle, Washington. The study covers 16 neighborhoods (44 census block groups), with two field audits of businesses included in cross-sectional studies conducted during the peak periods of the pandemic in 2020. Variables describing businesses and their built environments were selected and classified using regression tree methods, with relationships to business continuity estimated in a binomial regression model, using business type and neighborhood socio-demographic characteristics as controlled covariates. Results show that the economic impact of the pandemic was not evenly distributed across the built environment. Compared to grocery stores, the odds of a restaurant staying open during May and June were 24%, only improving 10% by the end of 2020. Density played a role in business closure, though this role differed over time. In May and June, food retail businesses were 82% less likely to remain open if located within a quarter-mile radius of the office-rich areas of the city, where pre-pandemic job density was greater than 95 per acre. In November and December, food retail businesses were 66% less likely to remain open if located in areas of residential density greater than 23.6 persons per acre. In contrast, median household income and percentage of non-Asian persons of color were positively and significantly associated with business continuity. Altogether, these findings provide more detailed and accurate profiles of food retail businesses and a more complete impression of the spatial heterogeneity of urban economic resilience during the pandemic, with implications for future urban planning and real estate development in the post-pandemic era.
Lovasi, G. S., Boise, S., Jogi, S., Hurvitz, P. M., Rundle, A. G., Diez, J., Hirsch, J. A., Fitzpatrick, A., Biggs, M. L., & Siscovick, D. S. (2023). Time-Varying Food Retail and Incident Disease in the Cardiovascular Health Study. American Journal of Preventive Medicine, 64(6), 877–887. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.amepre.2023.02.001
Drewnowski, A.; Moudon, A. V.; Jiao, J.; Aggarwal, A.; Charreire, H.; Chaix, B. (2014). Food Environment and Socioeconomic Status Influence Obesity Rates in Seattle and in Paris. International Journal Of Obesity, 38(2), 306 – 314.
OBJECTIVE: To compare the associations between food environment at the individual level, socioeconomic status (SES) and obesity rates in two cities: Seattle and Paris. METHODS: Analyses of the SOS (Seattle Obesity Study) were based on a representative sample of 1340 adults in metropolitan Seattle and King County. The RECORD (Residential Environment and Coronary Heart Disease) cohort analyses were based on 7131 adults in central Paris and suburbs. Data on sociodemographics, health and weight were obtained from a telephone survey (SOS) and from in-person interviews (RECORD). Both studies collected data on and geocoded home addresses and food shopping locations. Both studies calculated GIS (Geographic Information System) network distances between home and the supermarket that study respondents listed as their primary food source. Supermarkets were further stratified into three categories by price. Modified Poisson regression models were used to test the associations among food environment variables, SES and obesity. RESULTS: Physical distance to supermarkets was unrelated to obesity risk. By contrast, lower education and incomes, lower surrounding property values and shopping at lower-cost stores were consistently associated with higher obesity risk. CONCLUSION: Lower SES was linked to higher obesity risk in both Paris and Seattle, despite differences in urban form, the food environments and in the respective systems of health care. Cross-country comparisons can provide new insights into the social determinants of weight and health.
Obesity; Health & Social Status; Social Status; Supermarkets; Grocery Shopping; Physiology; Body-mass Index; Dietary Energy Density; Atherosclerosis Risk; Weight Status; Us Adults; Associations; Health; French; Access; Socioeconomic Status (ses); Access To Supermarket; Food Environment; Food Shopping
Lin, Lin; Chen, Xueming (Jimmy); Moudon, Anne Vernez. (2021). Measuring the Urban Forms of Shanghai’s City Center and Its New Districts: A Neighborhood-Level Comparative Analysis. Sustainability, 13(15).
Rapid urban expansion has radically transformed the city centers and the new districts of Chinese cities. Both areas have undergone unique redevelopment and development over the past decades, generating unique urban forms worthy of study. To date, few studies have investigated development patterns and land use intensities at the neighborhood level. The present study aims to fill the gap and compare the densities of different types of developments and the spatial compositions of different commercial uses at the neighborhood level. We captured the attributes of their built environment that support instrumental activities of daily living of 710 neighborhoods centered on the public elementary schools of the entire Shanghai municipality using application programming interfaces provided in Baidu Map services. The 200 m neighborhood provided the best fit to capture the variations of the built environment. Overall, city center neighborhoods had significantly higher residential densities and housed more daily routine destinations than their counterparts in the new districts. Unexpectedly, however, the total length of streets was considerably smaller in city-center neighborhoods, likely reflecting the prominence of the wide multilane vehicular roads surrounding large center city redevelopment projects. The findings point to convergence between the city center's urban forms and that of the new districts.
Quantifying Spatiotemporal Patterns; Fast-food Restaurants; Instrumental Activities; Physical-activity; Chinese Cities; Land; Schools; Redevelopment; Expansion; Transformation; Built Environment; Planning; Neighborhood; Urban Form; Shanghai
Barrington, Wendy E.; Beresford, Shirley A. A.; Koepsell, Thomas D.; Duncan, Glen E.; Moudon, Anne Vernez. (2015). Worksite Neighborhood and Obesogenic Behaviors: Findings among Employees in the Promoting Activity and Changes in Eating (PACE) Trial. American Journal Of Preventive Medicine, 48(1), 31 – 41.
Background: Understanding mechanisms linking neighborhood context to health behaviors may provide targets for increasing lifestyle intervention effectiveness. Although associations between home neighborhood and obesogenic behaviors have been studied, less is known about the role of worksite neighborhood. Purpose: To evaluate associations between worksite neighborhood context at baseline (2006) and change in obesogenic behaviors of adult employees at follow-up (2007-2009) in a worksite randomized trial to prevent weight gain. Methods: Worksite property values were used as an indicator of worksite neighborhood SES (NSES). Worksite neighborhood built environment attributes associated with walkability were evaluated as explanatory factors in relationships among worksite NSES, diet, and physical activity behaviors of employees. Behavioral data were collected at baseline (2005-2007) and follow-up (2007-2009). Multilevel linear and logistic models were constructed adjusting for covariates and accounting for clustering within worksites. Product-of-coefficients methods were used to assess mediation. Analyses were performed after study completion (2011-2012). Results: Higher worksite NSES was associated with more walking (OR = 1.16, 95% CI = 1.03, 1.30, p = 0.01). Higher density of residential units surrounding worksites was associated with more walking and eating five or more daily servings of fruits and vegetables, independent of worksite NSES. Residential density partially explained relationships among worksite NSES, fruit and vegetable consumption, and walking. Conclusions: Worksite neighborhood context may influence employees' obesogenic behaviors. Furthermore, residential density around worksites could be an indicator of access to dietary and physical activity-related infrastructure in urban areas. This may be important given the popularity of worksites as venues for obesity prevention efforts. Published by Elsevier Inc. on behalf of American Journal of Preventive Medicine.
Health Behavior; Food Habits; Lifestyles & Health; Prevention Of Obesity; Employee Health Promotion; Follow-up Studies (medicine); Local Food Environment; Dietary Energy Density; Body-mass Index; Socioeconomic-status; Physical-activity; Built Environment; Longitudinal-associations; Walking Behavior; Restaurant Use; Weight-gain
Luo, Minghai; Qin, Sixian; Tan, Bo; Cai, Mingming; Yue, Yufeng; Xiong, Qiangqiang. (2021). Population Mobility and the Transmission Risk of the Covid-19 in Wuhan, China. Isprs International Journal Of Geo-information, 10(6).
At the beginning of 2020, a suddenly appearing novel coronavirus (COVID-19) rapidly spread around the world. The outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic in China occurred during the Spring Festival when a large number of migrants traveled between cities, which greatly increased the infection risk of COVID-19 across the country. Financially supported by the Wuhan government, and based on cellphone signaling data from Unicom (a mobile phone carrier) and Baidu location-based data, this paper analyzed the effects that city dwellers, non-commuters, commuters, and people seeking medical services had on the transmission risk of COVID-19 in the early days of the pandemic in Wuhan. The paper also evaluated the effects of the city lockdown policy on the spread of the pandemic outside and inside Wuhan. The results show that although the daily business activities in the South China Seafood Wholesale Market and nearby commuters' travel behaviors concentrated in the Hankou area, a certain proportion of these people were distributed in the Wuchang and Hanyang areas. The areas with relatively high infection risks of COVID-19 were scattered across Wuhan during the early outbreak of the pandemic. The lockdown in Wuhan closed the passageways of external transport at the very beginning, largely decreasing migrant population and effectively preventing the spread of the pandemic to the outside. However, the Wuhan lockdown had little effect on preventing the spread of the pandemic within Wuhan at that time. During this period, a large amount of patients who went to hospitals for medical services were exposed to a high risk of cross-infection without precaution awareness. The pandemic kept dispersing in three towns until the improvement of the capacity of medical treatment, the management of closed communities, the national support to Wuhan, and the implementation of a series of emergency responses at the same time. The findings in this paper reveal the spatiotemporal features of the dispersal of infection risk of COVID-19 and the effects of the prevention and control measures during the early days of the pandemic. The findings were adopted by the Wuhan government to make corresponding policies and could also provide supports to the control of the pandemic in the other regions and countries.
Covid-19; Covid-19 Pandemic; Sars-cov-2; Seafood Markets; Pandemics; Cell Phones; City Dwellers; Wuhan (china); Big Data; Novel Coronavirus; Population Mobility; Risk Analysis; Zika Virus; Diseases; Africa; Impact; Ebola; Spain; Passageways; Smartphones; Investigations; Disease Control; Emergency Response; Health Services; Viral Diseases; Policies; Outbreaks; Emergency Preparedness; Risk; Seafood; Coronaviruses; Medical Treatment; Transmission; Commuting; Dispersion; Dispersal; Infections; Cross-infection; Epidemics; Health Risks; Disease Transmission; China
Cohen-Cline, Hannah; Lau, Richard; Moudon, Anne V.; Turkheimer, Eric; Duncan, Glen E. (2015). Associations between Fast-Food Consumption and Body Mass Index: A Cross-sectional Study in Adult Twins. Twin Research & Human Genetics, 18(4), 375 – 382.
Obesity is a substantial health problem in the United States, and is associated with many chronic diseases. Previous studies have linked poor dietary habits to obesity. This cross-sectional study aimed to identify the association between body mass index (BMI) and fast-food consumption among 669 same-sex adult twin pairs residing in the Puget Sound region around Seattle, Washington. We calculated twin-pair correlations for BMI and fast-food consumption. We next regressed BMI on fast-food consumption using generalized estimating equations (GEE), and finally estimated the within-pair difference in BMI associated with a difference in fast-food consumption, which controls for all potential genetic and environment characteristics shared between twins within a pair. Twin-pair correlations for fast-food consumption were similar for identical (monozygotic; MZ) and fraternal (dizygotic; DZ) twins, but were substantially higher in MZ than DZ twins for BMI. In the unadjusted GEE model, greater fast-food consumption was associated with larger BMI. For twin pairs overall, and for MZ twins, there was no association between within-pair differences in fast-food consumption and BMI in any model. In contrast, there was a significant association between within-pair differences in fast-food consumption and BMI among DZ twins, suggesting that genetic factors play a role in the observed association. Thus, although variance in fast-food consumption itself is largely driven by environmental factors, the overall association between this specific eating behavior and BMI is largely due to genetic factors.
Diseases In Twins; Obesity; Adults; Diseases; Food Habits; Food Consumption; Body Mass Index; Cross-sectional Method; United States; Fast-food Consumption; Generalized Estimating Equations; Twin Studies; Fto Gene Variants; Physical-activity; Dietary-intake; Weight Status; Environment Interaction; Human Obesity; Young-adults; Zygosity; Patterns; Exercise
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).
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.
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