Urban Public Health: A Research Toolkit for Practice and Impact

by Gina S. Lovasi (Editor), Ana V. Diez Roux (Editor), Jennifer Kolker (Editor)

Overview

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.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780190885328
Publisher:	Oxford University Press
Publication date:	09/10/2020
Sold by:	Barnes & Noble
Format:	eBook
Pages:	240
File size:	8 MB

About the Author

Gina S. Lovasi, PhD, MPH is Co-Director of the Urban Health Collaborative and Dornsife Associate Professor of Urban Health at Drexel University. Dr. Lovasi received her public health training at the University of Washington. Her research projects reflect a tension between loving to work with large datasets to chip away at big questions, and a fascination with the insights gained through field data collection to tackle local information needs. Ana V. Diez Roux, MD, PhD, MPH, is Dean and Distinguished University Professor of Epidemiology in the Dornsife School of Public Health at Drexel University. Originally trained as a pediatrician in her native Buenos Aires, she completed public health training at the Johns Hopkins University School of Hygiene and Public Health. Her work on neighborhood health effects has been highly influential in the policy debate on population health and its determinants. Jennifer Kolker, MPH is Associate Dean for Public Health Practice and Clinical Professor of Health Management and Policy in the Dornsife School of Public Health at Drexel University.

Table of Contents

Table of Contents Contributing Authors Foreword Preface Part I - Introduction to Urban Health Chapter 1. What is Urban Health? Defining the Geographic and Substantive Scope Chapter 2. Global Urbanization and Health Trends Chapter 3. Conceptual Models and Frameworks for Understanding the Links Between Urban Environments and Health Chapter 4. Urban Health Inequities Part II - Identifying and Collecting Data for Urban Health Research Chapter 5. Assessment of the Urban Environment: Measurement Scales, Modes, and Metrics Chapter 6. Human Perceptions and Reflections on the Urban Context Chapter 7. Characterizing and Mapping Health in Urban Areas Part III - Tools for working with urban health data Chapter 8. Managing and Integrating Diverse Sources of Urban Data Chapter 9. Analysis Strategies for Relating the Urban Environment to Health Chapter 10. What Do We Know About What Works? Synthesizing the Evidence Chapter 11: Systems approaches to urban health Part IV: From Evidence into Action Chapter 12. Partnerships and Collaboration: An Urban Focus Chapter 13. Community Engagement and Participatory Approaches for Urban Health Chapter 14: Policy in Urban Health: The Power of Cities to Translate Science into Action Chapter 15: Dissemination of Urban Health Research to Maximize Impact Concluding Remarks Acknowledgements About the Authors

Editorial Reviews

"A treasure-trove of lessons in urban public health research from the most urbanized regions of the world, Urban Public Health offers a comprehensive guide to urban health research from theoretical frameworks to practical considerations. By adopting a population health approach, the authors foreground the diverse systems for health that can support or undermine health in cities. The detailed exposé of updates to research methods for urban health are overdue additions to the scientific landscape, and a must for the conduct of policy-informed and contextually relevant research for healthy sustainable cities globally."
— Tolullah Oni, Public Health Physician and Urban Epidemiologist, Research Initiative for Cities Health and Equity (RICHE Africa), University of Cambridge, and University of Cape Town

"This book is an important contribution to the study of urban health. By its careful exposition of the tools of science, including definitions and methods, it establishes a coherent base to guide future exploration. Urban Public Health will serve scholars and students alike and should be required reading in all urban health courses."
— Mindy Thompson Fullilove, Professor of Urban Policy and Health, The New School

From the Publisher