Ione Avila-Palencia (United States of America)
Drexel University
Urban Health Collaborative, Dornsife School of Public Health
Ione’s academical background is in Environmental Sciences and Public Health. During her PhD at the Barcelona Institute for Global Health (ISGlobal), she worked in the EU funded project called Physical Activity through Sustainable Transport Approaches (PASTA). She coordinated the data collection in Barcelona, the tracking add-on study (sub-study to track participants with Moves app) in the seven PASTA cities, and the final questionnaire design. As an academical result, she published three papers as leading author focused on health effects of transport and related exposures like air pollution and physical activity in European cities. In her Postdoctoral position at the Urban Health Collaborative (Drexel University), she worked in the Salud Urbana en América Latina (SALURBAL) looking the effects of physical urban features in health and environmental outcomes in Latin American cities. She is also part of the Urban Climate Change Research Network (UCCRN) working as a contributing author in the Architecture, Urban Planning, and Design Element of the upcoming Third Assessment Report on Climate Change and Cities (ARC3.3).

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HEALTH AND ENVIRONMENTAL CO-BENEFITS OF CITY URBAN FORM IN LATIN AMERICA: AN ECOLOGICAL STUDY

Session Name
0600 - Pecha Kuchas - Healthy 01: Food and diets, COVID-19 7 co-creation (ID 81)
Session Type
Pecha Kuchas
Date
02/23/2022
Session Time
02:00 PM - 03:00 PM
Room

Hall D

Presenter
Lecture Time
02:30 PM - 02:35 PM

Abstract

Abstract Body

Background: Urban design features are often studied in relation to health and behavioral outcomes. They can also have major implications for environmental outcomes. Yet the impact of these features on both health and environmental outcomes (co-benefits) is rarely examined. We investigated how urban landscape and street design profiles are related to jointly occurring health and environmental outcomes in Latin America cities.

Methods: The SALURBAL project has compiled and harmonized data on built environment, environmental exposures, and health outcomes for 370 cities in 11 countries: Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Costa Rica, El Salvador, Guatemala, Mexico, Nicaragua, Panama, and Peru. Eight city profiles were identified using finite mixture models. Four urban landscape profiles were defined measuring patch (contiguous area of urban development) fragmentation, shape, and isolation. Additional four street design profiles were defined using street connectivity, length, and directness. Multilevel regression models were used to assess associations between the city profiles and several health and environmental outcomes.

Findings (preliminary): As compared to the urban landscape profile labelled ‘scattered pixels’ (low fragmentation, compact shape, high isolation), the ‘proximate stones’ profile (moderate fragmentation, irregular shape, moderate isolation) had significantly higher levels of PM2.5 and NO2, and the ‘proximate inkblots’ profile (moderate-high fragmentation, complex shape, moderate isolation) had significantly higher violence related deaths. As compared to the street design profile labelled ‘labyrinthine’ (low connectivity, moderate length, moderate directness), the ‘semi-hyperbolic grid’ (moderate connectivity, moderate length, moderate directness) and the ‘spiderweb’ (high connectivity, low length, moderate directness) profiles had significantly higher levels of PM2.5 and NO2. While the ‘hyperbolic grid’ profile (moderate connectivity, high length, low directness) had significantly higher levels of NO2 and lower levels of obesity.

Conclusion: Identifying how city profiles are related to environment and health outcomes can shed light on the urban policies that could have the greatest environment and health co-benefits.

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