Category Archives: Urban Health

Overflowing Disparities: Examining the Availability of Litter Bins in New York City

The 1980s marked the birth of the modern environmental justice movements thanks to civil rights activists’ concerns about the disproportionate placements of landfills in low-income and Black communities. (see our Environmental Justice Spotify playlist here) Similar environmental injustice concerns are … Continue reading

Posted in Economic, Environmental Justice, Physical Disorder, Racism, Social Environments, Socioeconomic Status, Urban Health | Leave a comment

In New York City, pandemic policing reproduced familiar patterns of racial disparities

In the past month, New York City has rolled back most of the public health mandates first put in place to control the spread of COVID-19 in early 2020, such as social distancing and mask wearing mandates. Now, new research … Continue reading

Posted in COVID-19, Ethnicity, Health Disparities, Mass Incarceration, Neighborhood Environments, Pandemic, Race, Racism, Social Environments, Spatial Analysis, Urban Health | Leave a comment

The COVID-19 Pandemic as a Threat Multiplier for Childhood Health Disparities: Evidence from St. Louis, MO

In the United States, the COVID-19 pandemic has highlighted and exacerbated socioeconomic and racial health disparities. For example, U.S.-based studies have found that the mortality rates for Black, Hispanic, Latino, and Indigenous communities from COVID-19 are double that of their … Continue reading

Posted in Childhood Adversity, COVID-19, Pandemic, Race, Stress, Urban Health | Leave a comment

Ridesharing is Associated with Assaults around Bars in NYC

Ridesharing companies such as Uber and Lyft have completed more than 20 billion rides globally since 2010. Studies have found that this change to transportation systems has affected health outcomes, including alcohol consumption and motor vehicle crashes. In research recently … Continue reading

Posted in Alcohol, Alcohol Consumption, Spatial Analysis, Urban Health, Violence | Leave a comment

COVID-19 testing, case, and death rates and spatial socio-demographics in New York City

Social and Spatial Epidemiology Unit members, Byoungjun Kim, Andrew Rundle, Christopher Morrison, Charles Branas, and Dustin Duncan recently published research regarding neighborhood-level social and built environments as potential determinants of COVID-19 testing, case, and death rates in New York City. There is emerging … Continue reading

Posted in COVID-19, Mapping, Neighborhood Environments, Social Environments, Socioeconomic Status, Spatial Analysis, Urban Design, Urban Health | Leave a comment

How neighborhoods and infrastructure can impact HIV transmission among Black sexual minority men

Individual risky behaviors (ex. condomless sex, multiple partners, drug use) have long been a focus of HIV research and intervention strategies for sexual minority men (SMM). However, focusing on the individual level obscures the effects of broader societal influences and … Continue reading

Posted in Health Disparities, Neighborhood Disadvantage, Neighborhood Environments, Physical Disorder, Race, Racial Segregation, Urban Health | Leave a comment

City footprints and motor vehicle crashes

Cities around the world differ on countless dimensions. The glow of a sunset. The smell of a sea breeze. The gritty air from a thousand industrial chimneys. The hum of people and animals and machines and elements. As far as … Continue reading

Posted in Injury, Urban Design, Urban Health | Leave a comment

Moving through the City: Understanding the neighborhoods transgender women live and socialize in.

Geospatial research can help scientists and public health officials better understand a diverse range of health risks and outcomes. In their recent paper published in Geospatial Health, however, Columbia’s Spatial Epidemiology Lab (led by Dustin Duncan) points out that the … Continue reading

Posted in Neighborhood Environments, Social Environments, Urban Health | Leave a comment

Neighborhood Health Effects: Does The Way We Define “Neighborhood” Alter the Effect?

There are many different ways that aspects of the social and physical environment can affect a person’s health. For example, body mass index and chronic disease are associated with the walkability of the area where a person lives. Spending more … Continue reading

Posted in Alcohol Consumption, Methods, Neighborhood Environments, Urban Health | Leave a comment

Webinar Online – Urban Informatics: Studying How Urban Design Influences Health in New York City

Dr. Rundle’s March 2nd webinar for the ISBNPA webinar has been posted online at ISBNPA’s web site (Here and embedded below). His talk covered different approaches to assessing neighborhood walkability and the link between urban design and resident’s physical activity using New York … Continue reading

Posted in Neighborhood Environments, Physical Activity, Urban Health | Leave a comment