Urbanization, Health & Equity

Social determinants of public health, that is the health of populations rather than of individuals, include the conditions in which people live that shape their daily lives. Broadly, these may include social policies and political systems, urban form, economic policies and systems, as well as more proximate causes of disease and poor health such as behavioral risk factors or exposures to environmental toxins. Inequities in health are the result of unjust and avoidable differences in exposure to these factors by any social stratification in populations (i.e., gender, race, ethnicity, age, socioeconomic status, etc.). As a result, some groups in cities are facing a number of unique inequities and challenges to maintaining good physical and mental health outcomes. BCNUEJ aims to assess the impacts of urban environments on health outcomes, with particular regard for equity in marginalized urban populations.

• Do green neighbourhoods promote urban health justice? (The Lancet Public Health, 2018)

• Can we make Healthy Cities really healthy? (The Lancet Public Health, 2017)

• Are green cities healthy and equitable? Unpacking the relationship between health, green space and gentrification (Journal of Epidemiology and Community Health, 2017)

• Neighborhood Socioeconomic Disadvantage, Neighborhood Racial Composition and Hypertension Stage, Awareness, and Treatment among Hypertensive Black Men in New York City: Does Nativity Matter? (J Racial Ethnic Health Disparities, 2016)

• Community-based settings and sampling strategies: implications for reducing racial health disparities among black men, New York City, 2010-2013 (Prev Chronic Dis., 2014)