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).
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Abstract
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.
Keywords
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.
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Abstract
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.
Keywords
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).
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Abstract
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.
Keywords
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.
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Abstract
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.
Keywords
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).
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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
Jiao, J.; Moudon, A. V.; Kim, S. Y.; Hurvitz, P. M.; Drewnowski, A. (2015). Health Implications of Adults’ Eating at and Living Near Fast Food or Quick Service Restaurants. Nutrition & Diabetes, 5.
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Abstract
BACKGROUND: This paper examined whether the reported health impacts of frequent eating at a fast food or quick service restaurant on health were related to having such a restaurant near home. METHODS: Logistic regressions estimated associations between frequent fast food or quick service restaurant use and health status, being overweight or obese, having a cardiovascular disease or diabetes, as binary health outcomes. In all, 2001 participants in the 2008-2009 Seattle Obesity Study survey were included in the analyses. RESULTS: Results showed eating >= 2 times a week at a fast food or quick service restaurant was associated with perceived poor health status, overweight and obese. However, living close to such restaurants was not related to negative health outcomes. CONCLUSIONS: Frequent eating at a fast food or quick service restaurant was associated with perceived poor health status and higher body mass index, but living close to such facilities was not.
Keywords
Body-mass Index; Socioeconomic-status; Built Environment; Obesity; Association; Consumption; Weight; Proximity; Outlets; Establishments
Horn, Erin; Proksch, Gundula. (2022). Symbiotic And Regenerative Sustainability Frameworks: Moving Towards Circular City Implementation. Frontiers In Built Environment, 7.
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Abstract
Growing in popularity, the circular city framework is at the leading-edge of a larger and older transitional dialogue which envisions regenerative, circular, and symbiotic systems as the future of urban sustainability. The need for more research supporting the implementation of such concepts has been often noted in literature. To help address this gap, this holistic review assesses a range of pertinent sustainability frameworks as a platform to identify actionable strategies which can be leveraged to support and implement circular city goals. This assessment is grounded in a holistic overview of related frameworks across interdisciplinary and scalar domains including circular city, the food-water-energy nexus, circular economy, bioeconomy, industrial symbiosis, regenerative design, and others. Building on these interrelationships, the applied strategies espoused within these publications are synthesized and assessed in the context of circular city implementation. From an initial 250 strategies identified in literature, thirty-four general implementation strategies across six thematic areas are distinguished and discussed, finding strong overlaps in implementation strategies between frameworks, and opportunities to further develop and harness these synergies to advance circular city toward sustainable urban futures.
Keywords
Circular City; Implementation Strategies; Literature Review; Circular Economy; Fwe-nexus; Regenerative Design; Systems Integration; Environmental Assessment; Rooftop Greenhouses; Anaerobic-digestion; Urban Agriculture; Built Environment; Waste Management; Climate-change; Carbon Nexus; Food Nexus; Economy
Drewnowski, Adam; Aggarwal, Anju; Cook, Andrea; Stewart, Orion; Moudon, Anne Vernez. (2016). Geographic Disparities in Healthy Eating Index Scores (HEI-2005 and 2010) by Residential Property Values: Findings from Seattle Obesity Study (SOS). Preventive Medicine, 83, 46 – 55.
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Abstract
Background. Higher socioeconomic status (SES) has been linked with higher-quality diets. New GIS methods allow for geographic mapping of diet quality at a very granular level. Objective. To examine the geographic distribution of two measures of diet quality: Healthy Eating Index (HEI 2005 and HEI 2010) in relation to residential property values in Seattle-King County. Methods. The Seattle Obesity Study (SOS) collected data from a population-based sample of King County adults in 2008-09. Socio-demographic data were obtained by 20-min telephone survey. Dietary data were obtained from food frequency questionnaires (FFQs). Home addresses were geocoded to the tax parcel and residential property values were obtained from the King County tax assessor. Multivariable regression analyses using 1116 adults tested associations between SES variables and diet quality measured (HEI scores). Results. Residential property values, education, and incomes were associated with higher HEI scores in bivariate analyses. Property values were not collinear with either education or income. In adjusted multivariable models, education and residential property were better associated with HEI, compared to than income. Mapping of HEI-2005 and HEI-2010 at the census block level illustrated the geographic distribution of diet quality across Seattle-King County. Conclusion. The use of residential property values, an objective measure of SES, allowed for the first visual exploration of diet quality at high spatial resolution: the census block level. (C) 2015 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
Keywords
Obesity Treatment; Prevention Of Obesity; Disease Mapping; Socioeconomics; Multivariate Analysis; Population Geography; Census; Diet; Housing; Nutrition Policy; Questionnaires; Research Funding; Socioeconomic Factors; Body Mass Index; Health Equity; Cross-sectional Method; Economics; Seattle (wash.); Washington (state); Diet Quality; Geographic Information Systems; Healthy Eating Index; Residential Property Values; Socio-economic Status; Local Food Environment; Vitamin-e Consumption; Socioeconomic Position; United-states; Social-class; Energy-density; Association; Indicators; Trends
In 2021 the College of Built Environments launched the CBE Inspire Fund, designed to support CBE research activities for which a relatively small amount of support can be transformative. The second year of awards have just been announced, supporting five projects across 4 departments within the college as they address topics such as food sovereignty, anti-displacement, affordable housing, and health & wellbeing. This year’s awardees include: Defining the New Diaspora: Where Seattle’s Black Church Congregants Are Moving and Why Rachel…
A team led by the University of Washington has received a nearly $2 million grant from the National Science Foundation to further research into how urban societal systems can be organized to be both efficient and resilient. The Leading Engineering for America’s Prosperity, Health and Infrastructure (LEAP-HI) project, based in the UW College of Engineering, supports fundamental research to generate the knowledge, mechanisms and tools needed to design an adaptable society. That is one, researchers say, that can switch between different operating strategies depending…