Health and Environmental Co-Benefits of City Urban Form in Latin America: An Ecological Study

Ione Avila-Palencia (), Brisa N. Sánchez, Daniel A. Rodríguez, Carolina Perez-Ferrer, J. Jaime Miranda, Nelson Gouveia, Usama Bilal, Andrés F. Useche, Maria A. Wilches-Mogollon, Kari Moore, Olga L. Sarmiento and Ana V. Diez Roux
Additional contact information
Ione Avila-Palencia: Centre for Public Health, School of Medicine, Dentistry and Biomedical Sciences, Queen’s University Belfast, Belfast BT12 6BA, Northern Ireland, UK
Brisa N. Sánchez: Department of Epidemiology and Biostatistics, Dornsife School of Public Health, Drexel University, Philadelphia, PA 19104, USA
Daniel A. Rodríguez: Department of City and Regional Planning, University of California—Berkeley, Berkeley, CA 94720, USA
Carolina Perez-Ferrer: CONACYT—National Institute of Public Health, Cuernavaca 62100, Mexico
J. Jaime Miranda: CRONICAS Center of Excellence in Chronic Diseases, Universidad Peruana Cayetano Heredia, Lima 15074, Peru
Nelson Gouveia: Department of Preventive Medicine, University of São Paulo Medical School, São Paulo 01246-903, Brazil
Usama Bilal: Urban Health Collaborative, Dornsife School of Public Health, Drexel University, Philadelphia, PA 19104, USA
Andrés F. Useche: Department of Industrial Engineering, School of Engineering, Universidad de los Andes, Bogotá 111711, Colombia
Maria A. Wilches-Mogollon: Department of Industrial Engineering, School of Engineering, Universidad de los Andes, Bogotá 111711, Colombia
Kari Moore: Urban Health Collaborative, Dornsife School of Public Health, Drexel University, Philadelphia, PA 19104, USA
Olga L. Sarmiento: School of Medicine, Universidad de los Andes, Bogotá 111711, Colombia
Ana V. Diez Roux: Urban Health Collaborative, Dornsife School of Public Health, Drexel University, Philadelphia, PA 19104, USA

Sustainability, 2022, vol. 14, issue 22, 1-14

Abstract: We investigated the association of urban landscape profiles with health and environmental outcomes, and whether those profiles are linked to environmental and health co-benefits. In this ecological study, we used data from 208 cities in 8 Latin American countries of the SALud URBana en América Latina (SALURBAL) project. Four urban landscape profiles were defined with metrics for the fragmentation, isolation, and shape of patches (contiguous area of urban development). Four environmental measures (lack of greenness, PM 2.5 , NO 2 , and carbon footprint), two cause-specific mortality rates (non-communicable diseases and unintentional injury mortality), and prevalence of three risk factors (hypertension, diabetes, and obesity) for adults were used as the main outcomes. We used linear regression models to evaluate the association of urban landscape profiles with environmental and health outcomes. In addition, we used finite mixture modeling to create co-benefit classes. Cities with the scattered pixels profile (low fragmentation, high isolation, and compact shaped patches) were most likely to have positive co-benefits. Profiles described as proximate stones (moderate fragmentation, moderate isolation, and irregular shape) and proximate inkblots (moderate-high fragmentation, moderate isolation, and complex shape) were most likely to have negative co-benefits. The contiguous large inkblots profile (low fragmentation, low isolation, and complex shape) was most likely to have mixed benefits.

Keywords: cities; Latin America; population density; air pollution; green space; risk factors; co-benefits (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: O13 Q Q0 Q2 Q3 Q5 Q56 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2022
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (1)

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