American Cities Research Articles

Is a 15-Minute City Within Reach? Measuring Multimodal Accessibility and Carbon Footprint in 12 Major American Cities

Enhanced efforts in the transportation sector should be implemented to mitigate the adverse effects of CO2 emissions resulting from zoning-based planning paradigms. The concept of a 15-minute city, emphasizing proximity-based planning, holds promise in reducing unnecessary travel and progressing towards carbon neutrality. However, a critical research question remains inadequately explored: to what extent is the 15-minute city concept feasible for American cities? This paper presents a comprehensive framework to evaluate the 15-minute city concept using SafeGraph Point of Interest (POI) check-in data across 12 major American cities. Our findings suggest a prevailing reliance on cars among residents due to the spatial distribution of essential activities beyond convenient walking, cycling, and public transit distances. Nevertheless, there exists significant promise for realizing the 15-minute city vision, given that most residents' daily activities can be accommodated within a 15-minute radius by low-emission modes transportation modes. When comparing cities, it appears that achieving a 15-minute walking city is more feasible for metropolises like New York City, San Francisco, Boston, and Chicago, while proving to be challenging for cities such as Atlanta, Dallas, Houston, and Phoenix. In examing inter-group comparisons, neighborhoods with higher proportion of White residents and higher median incomes tend to have more accessible POIs, with a substantial percentage of activities concentrated within a 15-minute radius. This demographic also shows a greater propensity to fulfill daily activities through walking, cycling, or public transit trips within a 15-minute travel time, thus presenting a greater potential in CO2 reduction compared to African Americans. This study can offer policymakers insight into how far American cities are away from the 15-minute city concept. It also highlights the potential CO2 emissions reductions that could be achieved through successful implementation.

Association Between Household Deprivation and Living in Informal Settlements and Incidence of Diarrhea in Children Under 5 in Eleven Latin American Cities.

Diarrhea is a leading cause of death in children globally, mostly due to inadequate sanitary conditions and overcrowding. Poor housing quality and lack of tenure security that characterize informal settlements are key underlying contributors to these risk factors for childhood diarrhea deaths. The objective of this study is to better understand the physical attributes of informal settlement households in Latin American cities that are associated with childhood diarrhea. We used data from a household survey (Encuesta CAF) conducted by the Corporación Andina de Fomento (CAF), using responses from sampled individuals in eleven cities. We created a household deprivation score based on household water and sewage infrastructure, overcrowding, flooring and wall material, and security of tenure. We fitted a multivariable logistic regression model to estimate odds ratios (OR) and 95% confidence intervals (95% CI) to test the association between the deprivation score and its individual components and childhood diarrhea during the prior 2weeks. We included a total of 4732 households with children, out of which 12.2% had diarrhea in the 2-week period prior to completing the survey. After adjusting for respondent age, gender, and city, we found a higher risk of diarrhea associated with higher household deprivation scores. Specifically, we found that the odds of diarrhea for children living in a mild and severe deprived household were 1.04 (95% CI 0.84-1.28) and 3.19 times (95% CI 1.80-5.63) higher, respectively, in comparison to households with no deprivation. These results highlight the connections between childhood health and deprived living conditions common in informal settlements.

Prophet time series modeling of waste disposal rates in four North American cities.

In this study, three different univariate municipal solid waste (MSW) disposal rate forecast models (SARIMA, Holt-Winters, Prophet) were examined using different testing periods in four North American cities with different socioeconomic conditions. A review of the literature suggests that the selected models are able to handle seasonality in a time series; however, their ability to handle outliers is not well understood. The Prophet model generally outperformed the Holt-Winters model and the SARIMA model. The MAPE and R2 of the Prophet model during pre-COVID-19 were 4.3-22.2% and 0.71-0.93, respectively. All three models showed satisfactory predictive results, especially during the pre-COVID-19 testing period. COVID-19 lockdowns and the associated regulatory measures appear to have affected MSW disposal behaviors, and all the univariate models failed to fully capture the abrupt changes in waste disposal behaviors. Modeling errors were largely attributed to data noise in seasonality and the unprecedented event of COVID-19 lockdowns. Overall, the modeling errors of the Prophet model were evenly distributed, with minimum modeling biases. The Prophet model also appeared to be versatile and successfully captured MSW disposal rates from 3000 to 39,000 tons/month. The study highlights the potential benefits of the use of univariate models in waste forecast.

Waterfront developments and engineered canals in the UAE

Engineered canals and waterfront developments as a means to revitalize aging riverfront and coastal areas, dominated until the mid-thirties by industrial buildings and warehouses, have been at the forefront of many American and European cities. Urban revitalization is accomplished after prolonged public participation and has succeeded to transform abandoned areas to healthy public spaces, renovating old warehouses and industrial buildings to apartments with water views, and keeping alive the historical memory of a city. In contrast, in the United Arab Emirates (UAE), most of these waterfront developments, such as Al-Qana, a recent project in Abu Dhabi promote forms of modern, spectacular architecture that project a sense of departure from tradition, local culture and architecture. This is also visible in the area around the Dubai canal, which has opted for a modern development on its banks, replacing parts of an existing open park. A project that diverges from such an approach is the two-decades old waterfront project in the city of Sharjah, UAE. Al-Qasba in Sharjah aimed for a more balanced approach, intertwining new architectural forms with hybridized Islamic ornaments. The current article analyzes these three UAE waterfront development projects, focusing on the one in Abu Dhabi. In order to assess the water quality in these engineered canals on the long term we created simulation waterflow models using 2D Finite Element Surface Water Modelling System (FESWMS). Our hydrodynamic modeling results indicate that water velocities in some canals was better than others. Furthermore, on the long-term Al-Qana may require mechanical means in order to maintain healthy waterflow conditions.

USE OF GEOINFORMATION SYSTEMS FOR OPTIMISATION OF CITY MANAGEMENT

The study aims to answer how city halls and municipal departments of territorial communities can cope with numerous tasks related to providing city services. This issue is quite relevant in our time. As a solution, there has been a proposal to use geographic information systems (GIS) and a unified geodatabase to provide local governments, municipal organisations, and citizens access to reliable information about the urban area. This information has to be systematised, structured, and stored for efficient use. Experts suggest utilising a geodatabase as a primary tool for managing massive amounts of spatial information to solve these issues. The analysis shows that this is the direction that most European and American cities have chosen. As a result of the study, the authors propose the geodatabase structure for local-level urban planning documentation. It defines a set of objects, attributes, relations, and topology rules used to represent urban planning documentation in electronic form (in the form of a city GIS). Such an approach will allow for reliably storing all the diverse information necessary for the city’s life, analysing this information, and making the right management decisions. In this study, the authors analysed existing geographic information systems of some large cities. We defined weaknesses and strengths and found out based on which software products these city GIS were developed. Then, we proposed the main structural elements (layers) of the unified geospatial database of the city GIS that would ensure the solution of all issues related to the existence of a modern city. The authors prove that the combination of a clear structure of the geodatabase, convenience, and data relevance can determine the success of city GIS, making it a core tool for ensuring harmonious development and improving the quality of life in the city. Only such an approach will facilitate the creation of a technologically advanced urban environment that will meet the modern requirements and needs of citizens. Keywords: geoinformation technologies, geoinformation system, database, protection of historical heritage, urban planning.

Associations between Rat Infestations and Mental Health Vary by Gender, Race, and Income in Chicago.

Rats are an understudied stressor for people in urban environments around the world but the effects may not be distributed equally among residents. In this study, we examined associations between residential rat sightings and mental health in Chicago, where rat complaints are the highest of any American city. We examined how this relationship varied by frequency of rat sightings, race, ethnicity, income, home ownership, and gender and explored potential psychosocial pathways (e.g., feelings about the home) between rat sightings and mental distress. We conducted a randomized household survey along an income gradient in 2021 and asked about depressive symptoms in the past week (i.e., Center for Epidemiologic Studies Depression scale), frequency of rat sightings in/around the home, perceptions of rats, neighborhood conditions, and socio-demographic characteristics. We used logistic regression to assess relationships among these variables for our entire sample and for specific demographics using stratified models. Respondents (n = 589; 409 complete cases) who saw rats in/around the home daily/almost daily had 5.5 times higher odds of reporting high depressive symptoms relative to respondents who saw rats less frequently after accounting for socio-demographics and neighborhood conditions. This relationship was significant for men and respondents with lower incomes or race or ethnicity other than white. Our results show that rat infestations should be considered a threat to mental health among urban residents. Increased mental health support for residents living in rat-infested housing may improve public health in cities.

WCN24-1427 Epidemiology of kidney disease in patients without health insurance in a Latin American city. Who develop accelerated deterioration of eGFR

WCN24-1427 Epidemiology of kidney disease in patients without health insurance in a Latin American city. Who develop accelerated deterioration of eGFR

Addressing air quality challenges: Comparative analysis of Barcelona, Venezuela, and Guayaquil, Ecuador

This study presents a willingness-to-pay (WtP) questionnaire that was designed, validated, and applied to assess perceptions of air quality and self-reported health in two middle-income South American cities: Barcelona and its neighboring cities (Venezuela) and Guayaquil (Ecuador). These cities lack air quality monitoring and control measures. The questionnaire is a reliable tool to assess air quality based on citizens' perceptions, and the results reveal that both populations perceive low air quality and accurately identify emission sources and air pollutants (industrial emissions and particulate matter in Barcelona and vehicular emissions and carbon monoxide in Guayaquil).The study also evaluated the efforts made by both cities to improve air quality using the United Nations Environment Programme to strengthen air quality in South America. Based on this evaluation, strengths were identified for enhancing air quality in both cities. The study finds that in Barcelona and its surroundings, investment is needed to improve urban transport, waste management, and update the environmental legislation regarding air quality at the national level. In contrast, Guayaquil has already taken some measures to improve air quality, but more investment in public transport and measures to lower vehicle emissions are needed.

City Character Prints

Archar Inc. of Toronto, Ontario was one of the most prolific publishers of pictorial poster-maps of North American cities during the 1970s and 1980s. Their “City Character Prints” were three dimensional perspective maps created by artists to evoke the unique spirit of a place by including illustrations representative of city symbols, historical facts and cartoon-like caricatures of prominent citizens. Costs of poster production were subsidized by collecting advertising fees from local businesses and attractions in return for promotion on the finished map.

Urban labs beyond Europe: the formation and contextualization of experimental climate governance in five Latin American cities

The urban lab is an experimental governance approach for the co-creation of innovative solutions to urban challenges, such as climate change. However, urban lab scholarship has overlooked lab formation as a distinct process and is almost exclusively based on European cases. Therefore, little is known about the role of context conditions for lab formation in general and beyond Europe in particular. To address these gaps, this paper inductively analyses urban lab formation in five cities in Argentina, Brazil and Mexico, develops a framework for the comparative analysis of lab formation challenges, and asks: What do the challenges encountered and the solutions developed during lab formation in these cities tell us about the context dependence of the urban lab approach and what are the implications for its potential beyond Europe? Comparing insights from Europe to the findings from Latin America, the paper answers these questions and identifies future research questions.

Sustainable urban mobility: brief considerations on plans and practices in Latin American cities

This article presents a research excerpt, located in the diverse set of studies on urban mobility, which highlights the importance that new technologies are acquiring in the Latin American context to mitigate the urban and environmental crisis. This debate seeks to expose plans and practices that are being implemented in Buenos Aires (Argentina); Belo Horizonte, Curitiba, Porto Alegre, Rio de Janeiro and São Paulo (Brazil); Santiago (Chile); Bogota (Colombia); San José (Costa Rica); Ciudad de Mexico, Guadalajara and Leon (Mexico); Lima (Peru); Montevideo (Uruguay); and Caracas (Venezuela). Based on a descriptive and exploratory approach of the research, the text shares reflections on the increasing impact of the incorporation of electric vehicles in public and individual transport. As the investigation advanced, the analysis sought to identify nuances within this theme, providing data that raise questions and project meanings in relation to the use of policies and infrastructures that are becoming reality in urban space. We hope that the reflections presented here can enrich the discussions on urban mobility as a means of mitigating environmental impacts, inspiring new research and practices.

A Fuzzy-Based Analysis of Air Particle Pollution Data: An Index IMC for Magnetic Biomonitoring

Airborne magnetic particles may be harmful because of their composition, morphology, and association with potentially toxic elements that may be observed through relationships between magnetic parameters and pollution indices, such as the Tomlinson pollution load index (PLI). We present a fuzzy-based analysis of magnetic biomonitoring data from four Latin American cities, which allows us to construct a magnetic index of contamination (IMC). This IMC uses four magnetic parameters, i.e., magnetic susceptibility χ, saturation isothermal remanent magnetization SIRM, coercivity of remanence Hcr, and SIRM/χ, and proposes summarizing the information to assess an area based exclusively on magnetic parameters more easily. The fuzzy inference system membership functions are built from the standardization of the data to become independent of the values. The proposed IMC is calculated using the baseline values for each case study, similar to the PLI. The highest IMC values were obtained in sites close to industrial areas, and in contrast, the lowest ones were observed in residential areas far from avenues or highways. The linear regression model between modeled IMC and PLI data yielded robust correlations of R2 > 0.85. The IMC is proposed as a complementary tool for air particle pollution and is a cost-effective magnetic approach for monitoring areas.

Geography, Infrastructure and Architecture: From the Immaterial Scenes of the Arts to the Physical Space of the American City

The aim of this paper is to propose a design answer to the United States issue of public space through the use of art, using the city of Dallas as an example. A pragmatic way to interpret space is the grid. The first analysis are aimed toward one of the most ancient systems of formulating “urban” conglomerates, the roman grid. In the USA, it is the Continental Congress’s Land Ordinance of 1785 to prescribe the usage of the Continental grid. Ideally the two grids have the same role, the significant difference is their scale. This grid can only be compared to a colossal scale, here space is subordinated to time. This mutation is in line with the urban development processes of the city of Dallas. This is why, the University Crossing Trail Public Improvement Distric, along with the Southern Methodist University of Dallas, have developed a collaboration to promote and regenerate an old trail of the city into an art corridor. Even if not constructed using the Jeffersonian grid, the apparent orderliness of its blocks accentuates the complete supremacy of circulation, while the shapes and turns of the infrastructure collaborate to a new idea of beauty within the landscape of the city. The proposed solution is to intervene with three different urban art projects that have been placed along the main and different types of infrastructures of the city. The intention is to invert the subordination of space that returns protagonist where the urban art projects have been inserted, without ever negating the principal condition of circulation and speed. Because this apparent contradiction requires a specific and cautious sensitivity, it is the responsibility of art and architecture to mediate between audacious locations, functional solutions and the world of visual representation.

The great urban shift: Climate change is predicted to drive mass species turnover in cities.

Human experiences with nature are important for our culture, economy, and health. Anthropogenically-driven climate change is causing widespread shifts in biodiversity and resident urban wildlife are no exception. We modelled over 2,000 animal species to predict how climate change will impact terrestrial wildlife within 60 Canadian and American cities. We found evidence of an impending great urban shift where thousands of species will disappear across the selected cities, being replaced by new species, or not replaced at all. Effects were largely species-specific, with the most negatively impacted taxa being amphibians, canines, and loons. These predicted shifts were consistent across scenarios of greenhouse gas emissions, but our results show that the severity of change will be defined by our action or inaction to mitigate climate change. An impending massive shift in urban wildlife will impact the cultural experiences of human residents, the delivery of ecosystem services, and our relationship with nature.

Regional comparison of socio-demographic variation in urban E-scooter usage

In recent years we have witnessed explosive growth in the shared, free-floating, electric scooter industry. While still controversial in many North American cities, a number of large e-scooter operators have managed to carve out a piece of the urban transportation landscape. As these vehicles shift from novelty services to increasingly reliable modes of short personal travel, the discussion has turned to investigating who exactly benefits from these micromobility services and who are being left behind. Though population surveys have been administered to identify the socio-demographic characteristics of e-scooter riders in the past, little work has linked these characteristics through trips, or investigated the regional variation in these demographic factors. In this work we explore the variability and similarities in e-scooter rider characteristics across three major U.S. cities. To accomplish this, we apply a Moran’s Eigenvector Spatial Filtering linear regression model and compare our results to more commonly used spatial regression approaches. Our results indicate that the spatial filtering approach outperforms other methods in identifying socio-demographic characteristics of e-scooter users, across multiple regions. We find that many socio-demographics associated with e-scooter usage are regionally variant, despite younger users making up the core user base in all cities. There are variations in usage based on gender, income, and race across cities with Black and Hispanic populations remaining underserved. The implications of these findings are discussed.

Children’s Active Mobility to School: Evidence from Two Andean Cities

Active mobility to school (AMS) has been identified as a pivotal element in promoting health and physical activity during childhood, adolescence, and beyond. However, the importance of AMS is often downplayed or disregarded in urban and transportation planning, especially in Latin American cities. Factors such as cultural and political dynamics, socioeconomic conditions, urban and social environments, household and individual characteristics, and parental perceptions and attitudes collectively shape the mobility behavior of schoolchildren. This research analyzes the outcomes of a study on AMS at public schools in Cuenca and Ibarra (Ecuador), through the lens of the Socio-Ecological Model framework. The findings show that 47% of students from schools in Cuenca and 26% from Ibarra engage in active commuting to school for at least part of their journey. Key factors correlated with AMS include gender (individual dimension), travel duration, household socioeconomic characteristics, and parental attitudes towards active mobility (household dimension), as well as street-level attributes and land use density surrounding schools (urban environment dimension). This study offers three significant contributions: a detailed portrayal of student mobility behavior at six public schools in Cuenca and Ibarra, an exploration of the factors linked with active commuting, and a methodology for estimating land-use parameters.

Exploring desired urban futures: the transformative potential of a nature-based approach

Amidst multiple crises and calls for transformative change, the demand to reassess human-nature relationships has increased. Rethinking the future of cities is vital in this process, yet positive urban visions prioritizing nature beyond human-centred perspectives are lacking. To address this gap, we propose a “nature-based desired futures” approach for envisaging and building collective discussion around transformative change. We explore four concepts underpinning (i) why such alternative urban futures are needed (human-nature disconnect and changing urban imaginaries) and (ii) how they might be approached (transformative change and leverage, and the ‘education of desire’). This provides the basis for a participatory approach that adapts the Three Horizon method to explore desired urban futures for nature in 2050. Six workshops involving 111 participants linked to ‘Conexus’, a project on nature-based solutions in European and Latin American cities, explored emerging desired futures, evolving ideas of nature, human-nature relationships, and agency. The approach offers space for reflection creative exploration, and weaving together of new, hopeful, caring, emancipatory stories. Its effectiveness hinges on the mutually reinforcing power of deep leverage, and of structural, systemic, and enabling approaches, to give purpose and direction to the exploration of desired futures.

Mestizo Urbanism: Enduring Racial Intersections in Latin American Cities

Abstract Across Latin America, there continues to be strong resistance to the claim that racism plays a role in the production of urban space. Deemed antipatriotic, this issue remains widely unaddressed in urban planning and geography. Based on qualitative research in Bogotá and secondary literature on other Latin American cities, this article explores the afterlife of mestizaje (racial mixture) as a racial–colonial project from the viewpoint of its materialisation in the city and society–space relations. In particular, it illustrates how racism in the city is transfigured as ‘always something else’ (e.g., culture, class, regionalism, displacement) through a variety of normative, discursive and operational devices. Thus, the article confronts the need to divest from the racial hegemony of mestizaje in urban planning and geography, suggesting that it is hindering the path towards more equitable urban futures.

Community weaving across Latin American peripheries: A listening infrastructure in Oaxaca

In July 2021, residents of Vicente Guerrero, a settlement built around the largest landfill in Oaxaca, commemorated the waste-pickers’ 40th anniversary with an urban art festival. This event was organised by Santa Cecilia Music School, a community-led cultural infrastructure that has shaped the social and material landscape of Vicente Guerrero since 2011. Drawing on ethnographic fieldwork conducted around this festival and throughout 2023, I propose studying cultural initiatives like Santa Cecilia as listening infrastructures to discern their ability to ‘centre’ peripheral communities through the opportunities they create for self-, collective and social listening, which, respectively, promote self-growth, spark community projects and display peripheries as creative places. I argue that the combined effect of these forms of listening – what Vicente Guerrero residents call community weaving– helps overcome material and social stigma conditioning life on the periphery. By examining these listening mechanisms, this analysis aims to enrich debates about the fundamental role of cultural infrastructure in the making of (Latin American) cities and their peripheries.

Influence of the Plan Structural Symmetry on the Non-Linear Seismic Response of Framed Reinforced Concrete Buildings

Seismic-resistant design incorporates measures to ensure that structures perform adequately under specific limit states, focusing on seismic forces derived from both the equivalent static and spectral modal methods. This study examined buildings on slopes in densely built urban areas, a common scenario in Latin American cities with high seismic risks. The adjustment of high-rise buildings to sloping terrains induces structural asymmetry, leading to plan and elevation irregularities that significantly impact their seismic response. This paper explores the asymmetry in medium-height reinforced concrete frame buildings on variable inclines (0°, 15°, 30°, and 45°) and its effect on their nonlinear response, assessed via displacements, rotations, and damage. Synthetic accelerograms matched with Chile’s high seismic hazard design spectrum, scaled for different performance states and seismic records from the Chilean subduction zone, were applied. The findings highlight structural asymmetry’s role in influencing nonlinear response parameters such as ductility, transient interstory drifts, and roof rotations, and uncover element demand distributions surpassing conventional analysis and in earthquake-resistant design expectations.