Duncan, Glen E.; Mills, Brianna; Strachan, Eric; Hurvitz, Philip; Huang, Ruizhu; Moudon, Anne Vernez; Turkheimer, Eric. (2014). Stepping Towards Causation in Studies of Neighborhood and Environmental Effects: How Twin Research Can Overcome Problems of Selection and Reverse Causation. Health & Place, 27, 106 – 111.
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Abstract
No causal evidence is available to translate associations between neighborhood characteristics and health outcomes into beneficial changes to built environments. Observed associations may be causal or result from uncontrolled confounds related to family upbringing. Twin designs can help neighborhood effects studies overcome selection and reverse causation problems in specifying causal mechanisms. Beyond quantifying genetic effects (i.e., heritability coefficients), we provide examples of innovative measures and analytic methods that use twins as quasi-experimental controls for confounding by environmental effects. We conclude that collaboration among investigators from multiple fields can move the field forward by designing studies that step toward causation. (C) 2014 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved,
Keywords
Residential Location; Methylation; Gene; Interplay; Obesity; Causality; Environment Design; Lifestyle Risk Reduction; Social And Built Environments; Twin Studies
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
Brown, Megan; Benson, G. Odessa Gonzalez; Keel, Roneva; Mahoney, Eleanor; Porter, Jennifer; Thompson, James. (2017). Seeking Northlake: Place, Technology, and Public as Enabling Constraints for Urban Transdisciplinary Research. Cities, 60, 314 – 322.
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Abstract
This article reviews the urban transdisciplinary research of the Northlake Collective, a multidisciplinary group of graduate students in the University of Washington's Lake Union Laboratory. Through a series of place-based investigations, we explored a small slice of Seattle ultimately seeking to engage the public through an online digital humanities portal. The broader goal of our work and this paper is to address how we, as a team of emerging scholars, understand and investigate 'cities' in the current century as both networked at the global scale and dynamic places for everyday interactions and processes. The paradoxes and complexity inherent to understanding the 'city' and how to address these concerns led us to develop a framework that might enrich grounded urban theory through the 'enabling constraints' of place, technology and public. The productive character of these three concepts, combined with the practical constraints and interrelationships they bring to bear, allowed us to deepen our work and produced the context for our research of Northlake. We propose this tripartite framework for exploring the contemporary city via the structure afforded by transdisciplinary, born-digital collaborations. (C) 2016 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
Keywords
Memory-work; Local Trap; City; Politics; Context; Cities; Geographies; Thinking; Systems; Agency; Transdisciplinary Urbanism; Enabling Constraints; Place; Technology; Public; Collaboration
Drewnowski, Adam; Aggarwal, Anju; Rose, Chelsea M.; Gupta, Shilpi; Delaney, Joseph A.; Hurvitz, Philip M. (2019). Activity Space Metrics Not Associated with Sociodemographic Variables, Diet or Health Outcomes in the Seattle Obesity Study II. Spatial And Spatio-temporal Epidemiology, 30.
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Abstract
Background: Activity spaces (AS), captured using GPS tracking devices, are measures of dynamic exposure to the built environment (BE). Methods: Seven days of Global Positioning Systems (GPS) tracking data were obtained for 433 adult participants in the Seattle Obesity Study (SOS II). Heights and weights were measured. Dietary intakes from a food frequency questionnaire were used to calculate Healthy Eating Index (HEI 2010) scores. Linear regression analyses examined associations between AS measures: daily route length, convex hull, and radius of gyration, and diet quality and health outcomes, adjusting for covariates. Results: AS measures did not vary by age, gender, race/ethnicity, or socioeconomic status. AS measures were not associated with diet quality or with self-reported obesity or diabetes. One AS measure, route length (in miles), was associated with being employed, living in the suburbs, and with distance and time commuting to work. Conclusion: Spatial mobility studies based on GPS tracking of environmental exposure need to demonstrate a link to relevant health outcomes. (C) 2019 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Ltd.
Keywords
Local Food Environment; Physical-activity; Gps Data; Exposure; Patterns; Quality; Women; Index; Built Environment (be); Activity Space; Route Length; Hei 2010; Bmi
Des Roches, Simone; Brans, Kristien, I; Lambert, Max R.; Rivkin, L. Ruth; Savage, Amy Marie; Schell, Christopher J.; Correa, Cristian; De Meester, Luc; Diamond, Sarah E.; Grimm, Nancy B.; Harris, Nyeema C.; Govaert, Lynn; Hendry, Andrew P.; Johnson, Marc T. J.; Munshi-south, Jason; Palkovacs, Eric P.; Szulkin, Marta; Urban, Mark C.; Verrelli, Brian C.; Alberti, Marina. (2021). Socio-evolutionary Dynamics in Cities. Evolutionary Applications, 14(1), 248 – 267.
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Abstract
Cities are uniquely complex systems regulated by interactions and feedbacks between nature and human society. Characteristics of human society-including culture, economics, technology and politics-underlie social patterns and activity, creating a heterogeneous environment that can influence and be influenced by both ecological and evolutionary processes. Increasing research on urban ecology and evolutionary biology has coincided with growing interest in eco-evolutionary dynamics, which encompasses the interactions and reciprocal feedbacks between evolution and ecology. Research on both urban evolutionary biology and eco-evolutionary dynamics frequently focuses on contemporary evolution of species that have potentially substantial ecological-and even social-significance. Still, little work fully integrates urban evolutionary biology and eco-evolutionary dynamics, and rarely do researchers in either of these fields fully consider the role of human social patterns and processes. Because cities are fundamentally regulated by human activities, are inherently interconnected and are frequently undergoing social and economic transformation, they represent an opportunity for ecologists and evolutionary biologists to study urban socio-eco-evolutionary dynamics. Through this new framework, we encourage researchers of urban ecology and evolution to fully integrate human social drivers and feedbacks to increase understanding and conservation of ecosystems, their functions and their contributions to people within and outside cities.
Keywords
Urban Ecology (biology); Urban Research; Urban Ecology (sociology); Social Processes; Biologists; Adaptation; Anthropogenic; Coupled Human-natural Systems; Eco-evo; Socio-ecological Systems; Urbanization; Rapid Evolution; Ecosystem Services; Long-term; Ecological Consequences; Partitioning Metrics; Evosystem Services; Genetic Diversity; Rattus-norvegicus; Local Adaptation; Urban Landscapes; Coupled Human-natural Systems; Eco-evo; Socio-ecological Systems
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…
Research Interests: Designing built environments to enhance human happiness, and related principles: Justice, Nature Integration, Access, Identity, Well-Being, Resiliency.
I have a strong interest in urban conservation, which aims to enhance sustainability in old urban areas physically, economically, and socially. I would like to study management of changes in old (historic) urban areas, specifically focusing on creative approaches such as adaptive reuse projects, contemporary designs, and long-standing communities. In addition, I am also interested in urbanism issues in developing countries in East Asia, international preservation principals, gentrification, public places.
My research is focused on the management of public park and recreation services in urban areas. I am particularly interested in the role of the modern green space manager and the way in which our public park services are delivered in the face of extreme poverty. Public parks are on the frontline in our cities responding to complex social and environmental challenges. This role is likely to get more important in the future. Short-term, broken window styles of park management that try to control and sanitize park use are not sustainable. I am exploring the application of an ethic of care to the delivery of park services, what this could entail and how this would change current practice.
Research Interests: Urban resilience, disaster risk reduction, climate change, community engagement.