Urban Public Health: A Research Toolkit for Practice and Impact

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