Feminist political economy has been enhanced by understanding the urban as a dynamic site of social reproduction. This article reveals how one aspect of social reproduction – women’s accounting for and managing the sociality around debt, that is, caring for debt – is expressed through embodied gendered norms that play out in the everyday lives of women in low-income urban neighborhoods in the Global South. Drawing on geo-ethnographic research, the article analyzes embodied experiences of indebtedness among grassroots women navigating economic precarity in Cochabamba (Bolivia), Delhi (India), Georgetown (Guyana), Ibadan (Nigeria), and Shanghai (China). The article illustrates how caring for debt is experienced through emotional, mental, and physical dimensions of women’s embodiment, expressed through their entanglement with socio-spatialities of the neoliberal urban. The analysis further underscores that women’s work caring for debts is an additional out-of-sight dimension of the unpaid and underpaid social reproductive labor driving urban economies in the Global South.

While sleep differs in adult males and females, its variation by sex during childhood is less understood. We examined sex differences in sleep measures in children and explored the influences of selective socio-demographic and health-related factors on these associations. The cohort included 323 participants aged 6-12 years who resided predominantly in low-income urban neighborhoods. Sleep duration and maintenance efficiency were assessed using wrist actigraphy. Sleep-disordered breathing (SDB) was assessed from overnight in-home testing. Validated questionnaires assessed sleep-related impairment and sleep disturbance. Linear and logistic regression modeled associations between sex and sleep outcomes, testing for effect modification by demographics, indoor environment, and neighborhood factors. Male children had higher odds for short sleep duration (<8 hours; Odds Ratio [OR]=1.81, 95% confidence interval [CI]: 1.06, 3.08) and low sleep efficiency (< 85%; OR=2.04, 95% CI: 1.24, 3.35), which persisted after adjusting for health-related factors. Male sex was associated with a 17.4% higher geometric mean of SDB respiratory event frequency (p<0.05). Effect modification analysis showed stronger associations between male sex and lower sleep efficiency for children older than 10 years, between male sex and short sleep duration for minority children, and between male sex and SDB for children of mothers with lower education. No sex differences were observed in parent-reported sleep outcomes. Male children were at higher risk for several objectively measured but not for caregiver-reported sleep outcomes; findings were unexplained by common health problems. Risk appeared further elevated in males who were older than 10 years and were of minority ethno-racial background or from homes with low maternal education.

BackgroundUnaffordable housing has become a critical public health concern in developing countries, where rapid urbanization and inequality increase mental health risk. While existing research has explored economic and infrastructural dimensions of housing, limited attention has been given to how rising housing prices impact psychological well-being in low-income urban neighborhood. This study investigates the relationship between housing price increases and two key mental health outcomes depression and perceived stress within District 18 of Tehran, Iran.MethodsA cross-sectional study was conducted among 180 households across seven neighborhoods in District 18, using standardized psychometric tools: the Perceived Stress Scale (PSS-14) and Beck Depression Inventory-II (BDI-II). Housing indicators, including apartment and villa prices, household density, and building density, were obtained from municipal datasets. Spatial clustering and regression analyses were applied to examine the spatial and statistical relationships between housing and mental health patterns.ResultsHousing price increases showed a strong positive correlation with both depression and perceived stress. The regression model revealed that apartment and villa prices accounted for 64.9% of the variation in depression scores (p < 0.001). Building density (34.8%) and household density (20.5%) were also significant predictors of psychological distress. Spatial analysis identified clustered hot spots of high depression and stress levels, particularly in high-density, high-price neighborhoods. The Moran’s I index confirmed significant spatial autocorrelation for building density (I = 0.348, p = 0.041).ConclusionsThis study highlights the significant impact of housing market pressures on mental health in underprivileged urban districts. The results suggest that rising housing prices and overcrowding have significantly increased the psychological burden among residents, emphasizing the need for integrative urban planning and mental health interventions.Supplementary InformationThe online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1186/s13033-026-00695-z.

Biodiversity-focused contributory science platforms generate massive quantities of opportunistic records for research, but data are spatially, temporally, and taxonomically biased. While research attempting to quantify these biases abounds, less is known about how varied user motivations and behavior shapes how data accrue. Here, we compare how different iNaturalist user groups prioritize where and when they sample in the southeastern United States. We categorized users by participation level and traveler status, and examined how these groups differentially sample across land cover categories, urban and rural areas, protected land, urban parks, low-income urban neighborhoods, and weekends versus weekdays. We found that highly active users prioritize sampling in biodiversity-rich locations, filling data gaps in natural green spaces and rural areas while perpetuating biases toward protected areas and parks within urban areas. In contrast, casual users tend to primarily incorporate sampling into their daily lives, filling gaps within urban neighborhoods and on non-protected land while perpetuating biases toward developed areas. Local iNaturalist users, especially casual users, were the most likely to sample in low-income census tracts compared with travelers and are important for gap-filling in these underrepresented areas. Understanding how participants with different motivations shape opportunistic biodiversity data can inform contributory project planning and downstream data use. Our results emphasize the importance of recruiting new participants, retaining current participants, and engaging locals in contributory science programs. Further efforts to derive insight from opportunistic biodiversity data may benefit from accounting for variation in motivations of participants and resulting heterogeneity in biases across space and time.

Refugees in the United States are being resettled in low-income urban neighborhoods with long histories of housing instability and racialized poverty, and where struggles over inequality and belonging shape everyday experiences. While prior research emphasizes the structural challenges refugees face and their strategies of legal and social claims-making, few studies explore how these processes unfold within urban housing systems where race and space are deeply contested. Drawing on in-depth interviews with Syrian refugees in northern New Jersey, this study shows how refugees navigate racialized housing institutions and mobilize collective claims for improved living conditions. Newly arriving refugees, like their long-term minoritized neighbors, encountered persistent barriers to safe and affordable housing. With nonprofit support, refugee families pursuing legal claims against exploitative landlords built alliances with other marginalized tenants, resisting housing inequality and challenging their incorporation into racialized urban poverty. By tracing these everyday collaborations, the study reveals how interracial alliances emerge through shared struggles, reshaping race relations and creating spaces where refugees expand agency, build collective belonging, and contest the intertwined inequalities of race, space, and place. These findings uncover an alternative pathway to integration rooted not only in formal state resources but also in grassroots interracial collaboration within marginalized urban communities.

Abstract The COVID-19 pandemic brought the global economy to its knees, with the urban livelihoods of the poor in the developing world particularly hit hard. Yet, how the pandemic impacted livelihoods in modernizing, mid-sized Global South cities like Kigali, Rwanda, remains underexplored. This study investigates the effects on Kigali’s low-income and informal residents by examining livelihood activities and challenges, resilience strategies, and trajectories across pre-, during-, and post-pandemic periods. Drawing on 30 in-depth interviews, the research employs the Sustainable Livelihoods Approach, urban vulnerability, and resilience theory as guiding frameworks to analyse experiences of residents in Kigali city. Findings highlight a dramatic shift from pre-crisis livelihood stability to widespread economic and social disruption during the pandemic, with urban residents, particularly those reliant on daily earnings and informal activities, facing acute job losses and distress. Resilience emerged through a hybrid of government aid, livelihood diversification, community and familial support, enabling some to adapt mid-crisis and others to transform livelihoods long-term. However, the pandemic also left a lingering psychological toll, with many residents reluctant to revisit their experiences, underscoring the enduring human legacy of crisis. Kigali’s modernising context offers a novel lens on urban crises, distinct from megacities or rural settings. The study argues that Kigali’s experience reframes urban vulnerability as a modernization paradox, where progress heightens precarity. The study advances urban scholarship, particularly in the developing world, by illuminating how modernisation can amplify vulnerability while fostering adaptive potential through blended support systems. The analyses call for policies for economic safety nets, skill development, and mental health support during and post-crises.

Spatial equity of wastewater infrastructure, sports and health disparities: a GIS-based study of low-income urban neighborhoods in China

ABSTRACT This study examined food insecurity in low-income neighborhoods of Yangon following Myanmar’s 2021 coup. Among 80 households, 77.5% were food insecure, with 48.8% classified as severely insecure. Higher dietary diversity scores and sufficient income relative to expenses significantly lowered food insecurity odds (AOR: 0.71, 95% CI: 0.53–0.93; and AOR = 0.11, 95% CI: 0.03–0.49, respectively). The findings reveal widespread food insecurity driven by limited dietary diversity and economic constraints in a politically unstable environment. Despite ongoing violence and uncertainty, interventions to enhance income opportunities and improve access to diverse food sources are needed to address this critical issue.

ABSTRACT This study examines the consequences of the COVID-19 pandemic in Stovner, an urban low-income, working-class borough of Oslo. The study reveals the feedback-loop between mental health and pay problems and mental health and the respondent’s network – negatively affecting people’s quality-of-life. The study applies Bourdieu for identifying three habitus-types being particularly vulnerable to the COVID-19 pandemic and estimating their share of the Stovner population: The mental health-economic distress habitus; the Global South immigrant-economic distress habitus; and the old-age habitus. A fourth habitus-type, the Healthy-prosperity, representing robustness and resilience to COVID-19, also emerged. The spatial segregation of low-income people within Stovner indicates that the mental health-economic distress habitus and the Global South immigrant-economic distress habitus become spatially segregated, within environments experiencing health-poverty distress.

Background: Cardiovascular disease (CVD) remains a leading cause of morbidity and mortality, particularly in socioeconomically disadvantaged populations. Telemedicine offers a potential strategy to support risk factor management in such groups with limited access to care. Our aim was to assess the effectiveness of a telemedicine-supported intervention compared to usual care in improving cardiovascular risk parameters among adults from a socially deprived urban population. Materials and Methods: In this controlled intervention study, adult patients with one or more cardiovascular risk factors were recruited from a primary care center in a low-income urban neighborhood in Timişoara, Romania. Participants were allocated to either usual care or a six-month telemedicine-supported intervention group. The intervention consisted of regular phone calls by trained staff focusing on medication adherence, self-monitoring of blood pressure and glucose, smoking cessation, and lifestyle advice. No physical visits were delivered. Primary outcomes included changes in systolic and diastolic blood pressure, fasting glucose, and lipid profile. Data were collected at baseline and at six months. Results: A total of 144 patients were allocated to the telemedicine group and 142 to the usual care group. After 6 months, diastolic blood pressure decreased by 3.9 mmHg in the telemedicine group compared to 0.3 mmHg in the standard care group (p < 0.001). LDL-cholesterol was reduced by 18.0 mg/dL with telemedicine versus 5.7 mg/dL with usual care (p < 0.001). In contrast, fasting glucose improved more in the standard care group (–10.9 mg/dL vs. –2.0 mg/dL, p < 0.001). Patient satisfaction in the telemedicine group was high, with 84% rating the program as very useful. Conclusions: Basic telemedicine-supported interventions may represent a feasible and effective strategy for improving cardiovascular risk factors such as diastolic blood pressure and LDL-cholesterol in socially deprived populations. High satisfaction suggests strong acceptability; however, given the small sample size, short follow-up, and single-center design, these findings should be interpreted cautiously and confirmed in larger studies.

Urban tree planting on single-family-home lots represents a critical yet underexplored component of municipal greening strategies. This study examines residents’ perceptions of tree planting in Westpointe, a diverse neighborhood in Salt Lake City, Utah, as part of the city’s Reimagine Nature Public Lands Master Plan development effort. Through a mixed-methods approach combining qualitative interviews (n = 24) and a tree signup initiative extended to 86 residents, with 51 participating, this research explores the complex interplay of demographic, economic, social, and infrastructure factors influencing residents’ willingness to plant trees on single-family-home lots. The findings reveal significant variations based on gender, with women expressing more positive environmental and aesthetic motivations, while men focused on practical concerns including maintenance and property damage. Age emerged as another critical factor, with older adults (65+) expressing concerns about long-term maintenance capabilities, while younger families (25–44) demonstrated future-oriented thinking about shade and property values. Property characteristics, particularly yard size, significantly influenced receptiveness, with owners of larger yards (&gt;5000 sq ft) showing greater willingness compared to those with smaller properties, who cited space constraints. Additional barriers, i.e., maintenance, financial, and knowledge barriers, included irrigation costs, lack of horticultural knowledge, pest concerns, and proximity to underground utilities. Geographic analysis revealed that Spanish-speaking social networks were particularly effective in promoting tree planting. The study contributes to urban forestry literature by providing nuanced insights into single-family homeowners’ tree-planting decisions and offers targeted recommendations for municipal programs. These include gender-specific outreach strategies, age-appropriate support services, sliding-scale subsidy programs based on property size, and comprehensive education initiatives. The findings inform evidence-based approaches to increase urban canopy coverage through private property plantings, ultimately supporting climate resilience and environmental justice goals in diverse urban neighborhoods.

Background: Social disintegration has long been associated with rising crime rates in marginalized urban settings. In low-income neighborhoods, weakened social bonds and limited trust in formal institutions can erode community-based mechanisms that maintain order. Objective: To examine the relationship between social disintegration and crime rates in low-income urban neighborhoods, with a particular focus on the role of informal social control as a mitigating factor. Methods: A mixed-methods approach was utilized, involving data collection from 300 residents through structured surveys, semi-structured interviews, and observational fieldwork. Key variables assessed included perceptions of social cohesion, community engagement, and crime victimization. Results: The results showed that there was a strong negative correlation between informal social control and crime prevalence. It was found that neighborhoods with stronger social bonds had fewer cases of crime. There were also gender differences, where the female residents experienced some other obstacles to engaging in community-based social control. Qualitative data revealed that there was a high level of mistrust towards formal institutions and reliance on informal institutions that were undermined in socially fragmented regions. Conclusion: The paper demonstrates how community cohesion and informal social networks play a vital role in reducing crime in poor-income urban areas. Social interventions such as strengthening social trust, empowering the local residents, and decreasing socio-economic obstacles are critical to improving neighborhood safety.

This study examines the effect of a typhoon on low-income urban neighborhoods in the Philippines during the coronavirus disease quarantine. Using household panel data, we assess welfare—as measured by psychological distress, food consumption, and human capital investment—exploiting cross-sectional variation in flood exposure and the unintended timing of interviews relative to the typhoon. The typhoon did not exacerbate food insecurity during the strict quarantine period; in fact, flooded households ate more than nonflooded households over the next 2 months, presumably due to flood relief. Parents in flooded households initially experienced less psychological distress immediately after the flooding but accumulated more distress than nonflooded parents over the next 2 months. The typhoon also reduced the home-study time of high school students. These findings highlight the need for flood risk reduction and targeted interventions to address the lingering mental health effects of extreme weather events in vulnerable populations.

This article presents a case study of the Tepito-Morelos neighborhood to analyze the aging in place process in low-income neighborhoods of Mexico City. These are neighborhoods with a strong historical tradition and socio-spatial identity, where intense economic activity has developed alongside the presence of organized crime. We consider that the theory of social representations helps to understand whether these types of neighborhoods offer living spaces that provide conditions for the dignified aging of their inhabitants. In the first part of the article, we focus on the relationship between the concept of aging in place and the theory of social representations. In the second part, we establish the research objectives and the methodology employed: in-depth interviews, field trips, a review of publications about the neighborhood, and an analysis of press coverage. The third part focuses on the presentation of results. The analysis of these materials allows us to observe that the social representations of the Tepito-Morelos territory articulate three types of social order that have governed the life of the community over several decades: urban morphology, and economic and cultural aspects. Over time, this tripartite order has had both benefits and negative effects on the aging-in-place process. It is important to take into account the socio-cultural complexity of the neighborhood to understand this process. This knowledge forms the basis for undertaking intervention strategies and designing policies to improve the conditions of aging in this type of neighborhood.

ABSTRACT Gentrification is a process of urban change that has wide-ranging social and political impacts, but previous studies provide divergent findings. Does gentrification leave residents feeling alienated, or does it bolster neighborhood social satisfaction? Politically, does urban change mobilize residents, or leave them disengaged? I assess a national, cross-sectional sample of about 17,500 respondents in lower-income urban neighborhoods, and use a structural equation modeling approach to model six latent variables pertaining to local social environment and political participation. Among the full sample, gentrification has a positive association with all six factors. However, this relationship depends upon respondents’ level of income, length of residency, and – most particularly – racial identity. White residents and those with shorter length of residency report higher levels of social satisfaction as gentrification increases, but there is a weaker association among racial minority groups and longer-term residents. This finding aligns with a perspective on gentrification as a racialized process and demonstrates that gentrification-related amenities primarily serve the interests of white residents and newcomers. All groups, however, are more likely to participate in neighborhood politics as gentrification increases, drawing attention to the agency of local residents as they attempt to influence processes of urban change.

Abstract Integrating renewable energy systems into urban neighborhoods is essential for achieving sustainable development and decarbonization. This study investigates the integration of building-integrated photovoltaics and energy-sharing mechanisms to achieve net-zero energy communities in low-income urban neighborhoods. Using a social housing neighborhood in Ioannina, Greece, within Local Climate Zone 6, as a case study, we evaluated energy performance through hourly simulations. Annual PV generation (1096.2 MWh) exceeded the total load (931.5 MWh), achieving net-positive energy status. Incorporating a 1000 kWh battery energy storage system improved the hourly load match from 39.1 to 81% and reduced grid imports and exports by 52% and 37%, respectively. The findings underscore the potential of energy-sharing systems to enhance urban energy resilience and self-sufficiency. In addition, the study emphasizes the importance of leveraging Local Climate Zone characteristics to design energy systems tailored to urban contexts. Policy incentives and further research are recommended to promote cost-effective energy-sharing models in similar contexts.

Rust-belt cities in the United States have been striving to rejuvenate their city centres for decades since deindustrialization undermined their economies, driving residents to seek opportunities elsewhere. The population loss reduces vibrancy on city streets and revenue for municipal services, stressing the remaining urban population. In this context, cities often turn to private capital to develop rejuvenating projects and invest in city initiatives. While this investment can generate new economic activity, these efforts often target specific audiences and generate isolated pockets of prosperity that are hoped to trickle down to legacy, often low-income urban neighbourhoods nearby. While the glamorous projects gain attention, the critical places where city residents live and seek to improve their lives require different solutions, both in regard to scale as well as focus. In these places, a focus on the public realm offers one component of a rejuvenation strategy. Detroit’s extreme depopulation and commensurate abandonment of building fabric offers an important case study of how the public realm’s redefinition can establish and support neighbourhood life and community resilience. This paper explores how the innovative heritage of urban design in Detroit can offer inspiration for remaking its urban form to support the legacy population and efforts to rejuvenate and re-invent this rust belt city.

Rust-belt cities in the United States have been striving to rejuvenate their city centres for decades since deindustrialization undermined their economies, driving residents to seek opportunities elsewhere. The population loss reduces vibrancy on city streets and revenue for municipal services, stressing the remaining urban population. In this context, cities often turn to private capital to develop rejuvenating projects and invest in city initiatives. While this investment can generate new economic activity, these efforts often target specific audiences and generate isolated pockets of prosperity that are hoped to trickle down to legacy, often low-income urban neighbourhoods nearby. While the glamorous projects gain attention, the critical places where city residents live and seek to improve their lives require different solutions, both in regard to scale as well as focus. In these places, a focus on the public realm offers one component of a rejuvenation strategy. Detroit’s extreme depopulation and commensurate abandonment of building fabric offers an important case study of how the public realm’s redefinition can establish and support neighbourhood life and community resilience. This paper explores how the innovative heritage of urban design in Detroit can offer inspiration for remaking its urban form to support the legacy population and efforts to rejuvenate and re-invent this rust belt city.

Food environment near schools (FENS) influence children's dietary habits and contribute to obesity. Socioeconomic characteristics of schools and school neighborhoods play a role in determining FENS. We compare the availability of fast-food restaurants (FFRs) and convenience stores (CSs) across schools' socioeconomic characteristics: whether the school is public or private and the school neighborhood's median household income. We obtained the number of FFRs and CSs within a 0.75-mile network buffer from schools' locations and the names of the outlets. Negative binomial regression models, stratified by urbanicity, were used to estimate the association between the number of outlets near schools and schools' socioeconomic characteristics. We explored brand names and types of outlets. Private schools' neighborhoods had more FFRs and CSs than public schools across all income and urbanization levels. Private and public schools in low-income urban neighborhoods had more outlets compared to those in higher-income urban areas. While the names of FFRs and CSs near both school types were broadly similar, private schools had more non-chain outlets. Programs and policies to promote healthy eating and reduce obesity- and diet-related diseases should target food environments near both private and public schools, especially those located in urban areas and low-income communities.

Although public attitudes toward the police have been widely examined over the past several decades, very few quantitative studies have focused on large community samples of street-identified Black populations. Drawing on data collected by a street participatory action research project conducted in two low-income urban Black neighborhoods, this paper examines perceptions of the police as a function of neighborhood and individual correlates among street-identified Black males and females. Study findings suggest that neighborhood physical disorder is negatively related to perceptions of the police, whereas social cohesion is positively linked to favorable perceptions. Older participants had more positive attitudes toward police, and respondents with prior arrest and incarceration experiences expressed more negative perceptions. Recommendations include improving housing and environmental management programs and constructively working with street-identified Black boys/men and girls/women to enhance public–police relations.