Urban Public Health: A Research Toolkit for Practice and Impact

✍ Scribed by Gina S. Lovasi, Ana V. Diez Roux, Jennifer Kolker

• Publisher: Oxford University Press
• Year: 2020
• Tongue: English
• Leaves: 385
• Category: Library

✦ Synopsis

Today, we know cities as shared spaces with the potential to both threaten and promote human health: while urban areas are known to amplify the transmission of epidemics like Ebola, urban residency is also associated with longer, healthier lives. Modern cities encompass a wide ecology of
infrastructures, institutions and services that impact health, from access to improved sanitation and early childhood education to the design of buildings and transportation systems. So how has this centuries-long transformation in human settlement affected the mindset surrounding public health
research and practice?

Urban Public Health is an interdisciplinary collaboration from experts across the globe that approaches the issue of urban health research from a uniquely public health orientation. The carefully crafted and thoughtful chapters in this volume grapple with the complexity of the urban setting as a
physical and social space while also providing an abundance of global and local examples of current urban health practices. Urban Public Health is divided into four pragmatic sections which cover core conceptual models of public health and their inequities, methods of urban health research
assessment, methods of urban health research analysis and explanation, and ultimately, opportunities for urban health research to inform action through partnership and collaboration, including those which elevate community voices and capacities. An accessible guide for both students and researchers
alike, Urban Public Health shines a light on how to understand, measure and change the urban setting so that cities grow, people thrive, and no one is left behind.

✦ Table of Contents

Cover
Urban Public Health
Copyright
Contents
Contributing Authors
Foreword
Preface
Part I. Introduction to Urban Health
1. What Is Urban Health? Defining the Geographic and Substantive Scope
Why Urban Health?
The Geography of Urban Health: Urban Areas, Cities, and Neighborhoods
The Substance of Urban Health: Key Elements and Approaches
2. Global Urbanization and Health Trends
Urbanization Patterns Worldwide
Urban Living and Health
Urban Health on the Global Agenda
3. Conceptual Models and Frameworks for Understanding the Links Between Urban Environments and Health
Conceptualizing the Links Between Places and Health
Multisectoral Approaches to Urban Health
Urban Health Research Questions and Policy Options
4. Urban Health Inequities
What Are Urban Health Inequities?
Describing Urban Health Inequities
Causes of Urban Health Inequities: The Role of Residential Segregation
Approaches to Reducing Urban Health Inequities
Urban health Inequities as a Major Challenge for Urban Health
Part II. Identifying and Collecting Data for Urban Health Research
5. Assessment of the Urban Environment: Measurement Scales, Modes, and Metrics
Why Measure the Urban Environment
Where and at What Level to Measure Urban Features
What to Measure: Domains and Indicators for Citywide and Neighborhood Level Assessment
Secondary Spatial Data on Health Determinants From Governmental, Open, and Commercial sources
Primary Data Collection Across Entire Urban Spaces or Across Sampled Locations
Closing Thoughts on Measuring Health-​Relevant Aspects of the Urban Environment
6. Human Perceptions and Reflections on the Urban Context
Overview of Data on Human Perceptions and Reflections About the Environment
Quantitative Data to Capture Perceptions of the Environment
Qualitative and Mixed Methods Research to Understand How Residents View and Reflect on Urban Environments
Closing Thoughts on Improving Our Understanding of Perception and Reflection in Urban Contexts
7. Characterizing and Mapping Health in Urban Areas
Selecting Health Outcomes to Match Urban Health Goals
Health Data Sources and Consideration for Their Use in Urban Contexts
Mapping and Characterizing Spatial Variation in Health
Closing Note on Alignment Across Goals, Data Sources, and Visualization Strategies
Part III. Tools for Working With Urban Health Data
8. Managing and Integrating Diverse Sources of Urban Data
Variable Creation and Manipulation to Facilitate Linkage
File Naming and Metadata to Ease Navigation and Linkage
Bringing It All Together: Linking and Sharing Data Sets and Associated Documentation
Spotlight on Strategies for Integrating Geographic Data With Clinical Records
Concluding Thoughts on Managing Diverse Data Sources for Urban Health Research
9. Analysis Strategies for Relating the Urban Environment to Health
Descriptive, Causal Inference, and Evaluation-​Related Analyses Goals
Accounting for Multilevel and Spatial Structure
Transformation of Urban Environment Variables to Address Nonlinearity or Collinearity
Design and Analytic Strategies to Reduce Confounding in Studies of Environmental Influence on Health
Closing Thoughts on Analysis Options
10. What Do We Know About What Works? Synthesizing the Evidence
What Can Be Synthesized
Goals for Evidence Synthesis
Types of Review: Formality, Format, and Breadth of Included Evidence
Steps and Considerations for Conducting Systematic Reviews Relevant to Urban Health
Global and National Evidence Repositories Relevant to Urban Health
Concluding Note on Evidence Synthesis for Urban Health
11. Systems Approaches to Urban Health
Key Features of Systems
Using Systems Approaches to Engage Stakeholders: Participatory Group Model Building
Simulating Urban Systems: Agent-​Based Models and System Dynamics Models
Challenges and Opportunities for Systems Approaches to Urban Health
Caveats and Conclusion
Part IV. From Evidence into Action
12. Partnerships and Collaboration: An Urban Focus
Background
Urban Public Health Actors
Multisector Collaboration
Conclusion
13. Community Engagement and Participatory Approaches for Urban Health
Introduction
Community Partnership Challenges
Community Partnership Solutions
The Importance of Coalition-​Building for Cross-​Sector, Place-​Based, Collective Action Approaches to Improving Urban Health
Conclusion: An Integrated View of Community Health Action in Urban Contexts
14. Policy in Urban Health: The Power of Cities to Translate Science into Action
Policy Defined
Policy and Public Health
Policy and Cities: Tools to Impact Health
Challenges to Policymaking
Measuring and Evaluating Policy: How Do We Know If It Works?
Conclusion
15. Dissemination of Urban Health Research to Maximize Impact
Background
Planning and Designing for Dissemination
Dissemination to Policy Audiences and Decision Makers
Dissemination to Community Actors
Types of Dissemination Products for Policy Audiences
Digital Dissemination and Social Media
Monitoring and Tracking the Reach of Dissemination
Conclusion
Concluding Remarks
Acknowledgments
About the Authors
Index