Municipal Scale Research Articles

Spatial-temporal patterns of homicide in socioeconomically deprived settings: violence in Alagoas, Brazil, 2006‒2015

ABSTRACT Background Homicide presents a significant health burden globally, but geographical differences in homicide rates necessitate focussed analyses of spatial and temporal patterns, particularly in affected areas. The highest rates are concentrated in regions in Central and South America, but analyses of sub-regional patterns and sex-specific differences may yield important information for addressing the upstream causes of homicide at the community level. Objective This study examines and presents spatial and temporal patterns of homicide victims from 2006 to 2015 in the state of Alagoas, Brazil, focussing on the municipality scale and differentiated by victims’ sex. Methods Data comprising victims’ age, sex, the date, time, and the municipality of the homicide incident were acquired from the Brazilian National Mortality Information System. These data were aggregated by municipality, and we made quantitative comparisons of sex-specific homicide rates between the capital city of Macieó metropolitan region and the peripheral, predominantly rural regions. Empirical Local Bayes methods were used to adjust per-capita homicide risk estimates and map the results. Results A total of 19,560 homicides occurred during the study period, with an average of 60.4 per 100,000 inhabitants; the metropolitan region rate was 81.8, compared to 46.5 for the remaining regions. The male homicide rate was 115.9 per 100,000, compared to 7.1 for females. Empirical Local Bayes mapping showed strong clustering of male homicide risk in specific cities near the capital, while female risk was more dispersed throughout the region. Conclusions The risk of male victim homicide observed for the metropolitan region of Alagoas was amongst the highest globally, particularly during the period 2012–2014. Geographical differences in male and female risk may indicate differences in risk factors and highlight a need for prevention programmes that take into account gender-specific pathways of violence.

A Saturated Light Correction Method for DMSP-OLS Nighttime Stable Light Data by Remote and Social Sensing Data

The defense meteorological satellite program- operational line-scan system nighttime stable light (NTL) data have been widely used to evaluate the intensity of human activities. However, the sensor's defects lead to the saturation phenomenon, which greatly limits the reliability of the research results based on NTL data. Thus, this article has attempted to propose a new spectral index—the points of interest, road network and EVI adjusted NTL index (PREANTLI) to effectively correct saturated pixels. To evaluate the desaturation effect, the PREANTLI was compared with existing saturation correction data across three aspects: the capacity to display differences in light intensities; the similarity with National Polar-orbiting Partnership/Visible Infrared Imaging Radiometer Suite (NPP/VIIRS) data; and the capacity to estimate the gross domestic product (GDP) and electric power consumption (EPC). The results showed that the PREANTLI can more easily identify light intensity differences than other indexes. The PREANTLI presents a strong linear correlation with the NPP/VIIRS data and socioeconomic statistics (GDP and EPC) at provincial and municipal scales. It is worth noting that, on the pixel scale, the correlation between PREANTLI and NPP/VIIRS ( R 2 = 0.63) is far higher than that of the other two existing saturation correction index whose R2 are both below 0.45. Thus, the PREANTLI can be considered as a reasonable index that is not only easy to calculate but can also better alleviate light intensity saturation and emphasize light differences within a city than other indexes.

Contamination susceptibility of Serra Geral Aquifer at municipal scale in Brazil

Abstract In the present work we intend to discuss groundwater contamination and its susceptibility in Serra Geral Aquifer, in Brazil. For this purpose, a list of data concerning the wells located in the study region was elaborated, obtained from the Groundwater Information System (GIS) of the Geological Survey of Brazil. Moreover, data on land use occupancy from United States Geological Survey (USGS) images was constructed. In order to determine local susceptibility to contamination, cross-referencing data was obtained based on the susceptibility index (SI) as well as from methodologies and the pollutant origin and surcharge hydraulically (POSH) system. The results pointed that the SI of the municipality of Sarandi (Brazil, RS) ranged from very low (37%) to high (76%) contamination susceptibility. Included on these, 12% is in the very low range, 17,6% in low, 13% in moderate to low, 13,2% in moderate to high, and 44% in high contamination susceptibility. Furthermore, potential sources of pollutant load are concentrated in areas where the contamination SI has scored from moderate to high. It is concluded that the methodologies used are important tools that benefits and facilitate environmental impact assessments, enabling management for the purpose of protecting and preserving water resources in general.

The opportunity for smart city projects at municipal scale: Implementing a positive energy district in Zorrozaurre

espanolLa urgencia del cambio climatico esta demandando nuevos procesos de transicion energetica que aceleraran el desarrollo soluciones innovadoras. Este articulo propone una nueva metodologia en tres pasos que acompanara procesos de transicion energetica. En primer lugar, el diseno de espacios urbanos de acuerdo al concepto de Distrito de Energia Positiva (DEP) define un objetivo muy ambicioso que liderara el avance de nuevas perspectivas de desarrollo urbano. En segundo lugar, se propone el concepto de City Lab para el testeo y demostracion de soluciones a escala real en ciudades de estructuras urbanas muy consolidadas. Por ultimo, la transicion energetica esta demandando nuevos mecanismos de gobernanza donde se combinen y armonicen estrategias de largo plazo con procesos participativos bottom-up. El proyecto europeo ATELIER – H2020 acelerara la demostracion de esta nueva metodologia en el DEP de Zorrozaurre (Bilbao, Euskadi). EnglishThe urgency of climate change is demanding new urban energy transition processes that will be accelerated by the implementation of innovative urban solutions. This paper proposes a three-step methodology to encompass the energy transition in cities. Firstly, the design of urban spaces in accordance to Positive Energy District (PED) concept is defining a very ambitious objective that will lead the development and implementation of innovative urban approaches. Secondly, the implementation of Urban City Labs is proposed for testing and demonstrating urban innovations at real scale as reasonable approach for consolidated urban landscapes. Thirdly, energy transition is demanding new governance mechanisms where top-down and bottom-up perspectives are continually combined and harmonized. ATELIER H2020 is accelerating the demonstration of this methodology at the recently defined PED in Zorrozaurre (Bilbao, Basque Country). euskaraKlima-aldaketaren larritasuna dela eta, energia-trantsizioko prozesu berriak behar dira, irtenbide berritzaileen garapena bizkortzeko. Artikulu honek hiru urratseko metodologia berria proposatzen du, energia-trantsizioko prozesuekin batera. Lehenik eta behin, Energia Positiboaren Barrutiaren (EPB) kontzeptuaren araberako hiri-espazioen diseinuak asmo handiko helburu bat definitzen du, hiri-garapenerako ikuspegi berrien aurrerapena gidatuko duena. Bigarrenik, City Lab kontzeptua proposatzen da garapen urbanoa oso finkatua duten hirietan eskala errealeko soluzioak probatu eta erakusteko. Azkenik, trantsizio energetikoak gobernantza-mekanismo berriak eskatzen ditu, epe luzeko estrategiak eta bottom-up partehartze prozesuak konbinatu eta bateratzeko. Europako ATELIER – H2020 proiektuak bizkortu egingo du metodologia berri horren erakustaldia Zorrotzaurreko EPBn (Bilbao, Euskadi).

Regionálne nerovnosti v zdravotnej a sociálnej starostlivosti o seniorov na Slovensku

Slovakia's regional health and social care inequities in old age. This study aims to find and analyse inequity between regions in access to health and social care. Focusing on two age groups above 65 and 80, we investigate a possibility that in some regions health and social care deteriorates towards substandard level. We use a static regression test in spatial Durbin specification for the relationships between distribution of demand for health and social care in senior population, and distribution of service providers' network: general practitioners and medical specialists in the first domain, residential social care facilities in the second domain. Significant regression parameters reveal that health and social care correlate in a complex pattern, including indices of population density, settlement hierarchy and competition. Difference between public and private subjects suggests existence of cost effectiveness driving capacities into suburban area. Current intensity of population aging and related growth in cohort size in senior age encourage a novel attitude and reassessment of wellbeing, housing, security, formal and informal support. Increasing longevity creates a simultaneous participation of three or four generations in the family networks at the same time. Social and economic problems arise on basis of inter-generational responsibility. Social care for senior population is one of the most important components of state's institutional sphere. Despite long history and adaptive capacity of public social sector, on background of different socioeconomic contexts, their scope, structure, and spatial accessibility signal inequities. Regional qualities seem structurally linked with healthcare facilities, part of which evolves in a commercial regime. Supply side may avoid the burden of healthcare in old age when health and mobility decline. We pay attention to relationships between healthcare and social care capacities and suggest practical identification of regions and their parts at the municipality scale, in which inaccessibility aggregates. These regions need future spatially well-focused interventions correcting increasing commercial motive shaping distribution of service providers.

Natural Area Forests in US Cities: Opportunities and Challenges

AbstractNot all urban greenspace is the same. Natural area forests can provision more benefits than designed landscapes, and healthy natural area forests can provide more benefits than degraded and invaded forests. Yet there is little information about the scale of natural areas in cities and their management systems. We used data sets on city parkland from across the United States and surveyed practitioners to understand urban natural area forest extent and management. We find that urban natural areas are a dominant greenspace landcover, accounting for 68% of total city parkland across 96 of the most populous cities in the United States in 2019. In the same cities over a five-year period (2014–2019), natural area parkland decreased by 4% (15,264 hectares). At municipal scales, most cities are managing forested natural areas to conserve native species. Across the 108 organizations and 92 cities that responded to our online survey, many different management interventions are being used to steer forest structure and composition. These activities and their outcomes are being tracked nearly 70% of the time by the managing organizations, suggesting a strong data basis for adaptive management. However, challenges exist: 94% of organizations cite invasive species and limited funding as primary challenges. Lack of data and low public awareness of the value of natural areas are also considered primary challenges by more than 70% of the organizations surveyed. As cities embark on efforts to expand and improve greenspace, protecting natural area parkland from development and addressing the challenges managers of these ecosystems face are two very important goals.

Criterios a utilizar para la determinación de delimitaciones submunicipales. Referentes aplicados en Andalucía

El poblamiento es una de las realidades geográficas más incontestables, que posee una clara repercusión en la organización territorial básica del Estado, además de responder a una larga tradición investigadora. No obstante, en muchas ocasiones, sus células elementales —municipios para el caso español— incluyen una diversidad interna de situaciones que conviene conocer a fondo. El objetivo del presente estudio es el de establecer un protocolo común en Andalucía para la delimitación de los términos municipales en subunidades, tal como plantea la normativa autonómica. Se analizan todas aquellas fuentes de información que incorporan delimitaciones submunicipales con el fin de establecer una metodología delimitadora basada en criterios diferenciados (territoriales, históricos, administrativos y de diseño de zonas), con el apoyo además de ejemplos cartográficos levantados a escalas regional y municipal. Los resultados hablan de la diversidad de posibilidades que se encuentran hoy por hoy sobre el territorio andaluz, aunque no sean siempre aplicables en todos los casos. En discusión se revisan las distintas aristas que presenta este procedimiento, así como sus potencialidades e inevitabilidad para una mejor ordenación y gestión de los recursos territoriales. Las conclusiones sintetizan los principales aspectos abordados y abren nuevas líneas de investigación y actuación para el futuro.

Mapping Dream and Favourite Destinations’ Perceptions: The Indian Tourists’ Brands Spatial Scales

Understanding the perceptions of tourists is a key element for predicting their behavior and providing them the tourist experiences that are part of their expectations. This study aims to assess destination preferences of Indian tourists, using a new methodological approach to investigate the brand equity of tourism destinations competing in the globalized world. Using the top-of-mind approach, respondents (N = 697 Indian citizens) were asked through an online questionnaire to inform their “dream destinations” (destination they did not visit yet but they desire to visit in the near future) and their “favorite destinations” (destination they have visited and liked the most). Results confirmed both study hypotheses: (1) “dream destinations” are mostly located far away from India; (2) “favorite destinations” are mostly domestic or located in the neighboring countries. Furthermore, the study shows that local (municipal) scale is more frequently used to categorize destinations related to the following motivations: ecotourism, cultural, rural, mountain, creative tourism, city tourism, and shopping tourism; but sun and sea is more frequently framed by regional scale; however, the country scale is more frequently used to designate dream destinations as well as wellness tourism destinations. Finally, the study delivers useful managerial insights, particularly for DMO aiming to attract repeat Indian tourists.

New approach for drought assessment: A case study in the northern region of Minas Gerais

Drought poses a major threat to food security and maintenance of rural populations in dry lands, because it leads to losses in agriculture and other productive sectors. Given the intensification and recurrence of drought events and their impacts, it is necessary to deepen our knowledge as a key to subsidize mechanisms for drought preparation and mitigation plans. Therefore, this study aimed to develop and apply methodologies for drought characterization and impact assessment, considering different agro-ecosystems and the impact on smallholder farmers. The new approach developed included as dataset LULC maps, the limits of rural properties, and the Vegetation Supply Water Index (VSWI) time series. The z-score was used in order to identify areas affected by droughts and a zonal statistic was used to compare the results of VSWI in a municipal and rural property scale. Afterwards, the areas identified as significant statistics were used to determine the LCLU and rural property most affected. The results of the analysis showed that Agricultural Lands were the most affected LULC during the study period (about 50%), whereas Micro and Small Properties were the most affected by droughts, over than 65% and 15% respectively. Besides, an important finding is that the analysis at the municipality or rural property levels can affect the drought assessment. This can result in an underestimated or overestimated of drought intensity and in the expansion of impacts. Thus, these results contribute to the local drought mitigation actions and help determine the threshold to better spatialize drought impacts on smallholder farming.

Is Tax Competition Strategic? Spatial Distributions of Business Property Tax Abatements in the Chicago Suburbs

The authors analyze the locations of property tax abatements awarded to businesses in Cook County, Illinois from 2012 to 2014 to explore their spatial distribution and to examine local government motivations for awarding incentives. The authors’ analysis, which controls for the spatial distribution of businesses, reveals a clustering of abatements at intramunicipal geographic scales. They also find amplified probabilities that abatements are awarded to businesses located near tax increment financing districts or enterprise zones. These patterns suggest that local governments use abatements in a strategic fashion to advance policy goals. The authors use the same data to develop three indices of the degree of abatement clustering at the municipal scale for each of the 64 municipalities in Cook County that awarded five or more abatements. Most of the Chicago suburbs exhibit a pattern consistent with the strategic award of business tax incentives.

The Neo‐populist Surge in Italy between Territorial and Traditional Cleavages*

AbstractThe rise of neo‐populist parties in Western countries is a current issue in social sciences. Over the past two decades, and with increasing emphasis in recent years, a notable body of research has been preoccupied with explaining the complex relationship between populism and places. This paper fits in this literature and is aimed at verifying the role played by territorial inequalities and the urban‐rural divide on voting preferences in Italy. Through a detailed statistical analysis carried out at the municipal scale, we hereby compare recent trends in national (2013, 2018) and European (2019) Elections with socioeconomic and demographic data to shed light on the drivers of political change. In particular, we focus on the two main Italian parties labeled as populist: the Lega and the Movimento 5 Stelle. Analyses show that support for such parties is only partially related to rural areas, territorial inequalities, and place peripherality, highlighting the need for a more comprehensive explanation of the neo‐populist surge. Accordingly, we argue that besides demand‐side factors, other supply‐side ones should be considered, especially in Italy, where electoral behaviors are embedded in diverse local geopolitical histories that still play an important role in orienting voting.

Human health outcomes at the neighbourhood scale implications: Elderly's heat-related cardiorespiratory mortality and its influencing factors

The excessively warm weather, especially in cities, can lead to several adverse impacts, including heat-related mortality, becoming an increasingly important public health issue. Previous studies on heat-related mortality have assessed risk factors at the municipal scale, missing the intra-urban variability in heat risk and vulnerability. The knowledge of the spatial intra-variability can help to design spatially targeted measures to better protect citizens' health.Through hot spot analysis, we identified the neighbourhood-scale spatial pattern of heat-related cardiorespiratory mortality in the elderly, during the yearly warmest five months of a three years period. Potential associations between spatial variability in heat-related mortality and several independent factors in each neighbourhood were investigated and their predictions. Two approaches were adopted: one is eminently statistical, using Generalized Linear Models (GLM) and another using Geographically Weighted Regression (GWR). This new recent regression technique is increasing in international attention on spatial modelling.The spatial model explains about 60% of the spatial variations in elderly's heat-related cardiorespiratory mortality. The two-analyses produced an overlapping set of predictor variables, with emphasis on the elderly, vegetation cover and employment. The results also show that the areas where heat-related mortality is high, are also the areas where the number of deaths is higher than expected. These neighbourhoods should be considered as the most vulnerable to heat-related mortality.We concluded that studying human health outcomes at neighbourhood-scale is relevant for public health heat-related plans. Essential suggestions are provided to decision-making support and city planners designing strategies to reduce heat-related mortality.

Coordination of sanitation investment decisions with broader water resources management

Water pollution affects water security, reducing water supply to economic water uses and threatening environmental preservation and human health. Controlling water pollution depends on efforts on two main sectors. One is water management, which provides regulatory instruments, including water quality standards, water abstraction and water discharge permits, as well as economic instruments, like water and wastewater charges. Another is sanitation, which is responsible for expansion of water and wastewater infrastructure and faces challenges in financing extensive infrastructure. While water management defines broader (watershed scale) strategies to address water quality, other decisions regarding infrastructure investment are made by the sanitation sector at the municipality scale, with limited perception of broader watershed context on water availability and pollution. When water management and sanitation decisions are not coordinated there are missed opportunities to (a) meet water quality standards at given river reaches due to lacking investment upstream and (b) find least cost investment solutions across municipalities, at the watershed scale. In this paper, we present methods and solutions to coordinate wastewater infrastructure expansion planning with water management instruments in the long-term planning to maximize economic returns and improve water quality. Our methods identify the regions where investments could be prioritized, coordinated with the distribution of water permits and definition of water quality targets. Results show that restricting water permits on some watershed regions results in a small water availability trade-off for economic uses but a significant reduction in costs to sanitation investments, while also meeting the water quality targets. We conclude that while there are several ways to reach predefined water quality targets, each way requires well-coordinated decisions from the water management perspective (where and when to allocate water permits) and the sanitation sector (where and when to concentrate investments in wastewater treatment). Thus, as important as the decisions to improve water management instruments and to increase investments in sanitation is their coordination towards a common watershed goal

Scalar Claims, Worker Strategies, and ‘South Africa’s Labour Empire’ in Namibia, 1943–1979

This article seeks to place Namibia’s contract labour system, and those whose lives it shaped, in histories of labour migration and South African empire-building in southern Africa. In order to do so, it traces South African and South West African (SWA) officials’ attempts to re-scale a trans-colonial migrant labour system to fit nominally decolonised, national scales. Secondly, it examines how African contestations of state power on a municipal scale undermined officials’ scalar projects. In asserting a transnational zone of migrant labour recruitment that straddled the SWA–Angola boundary and articulated with the sprawling recruitment networks of the Witwatersrand Native Labour Association (WNLA), the SWA Native Labour Association (SWANLA) laid claim to the same scale of practice as recruiters for the Rand mines. Labour shortages in SWA and South Africa in the 1950s led then Minister of Native Affairs Hendrik Verwoerd to place the ‘controlled bringing in and sending away’ of foreign Africans at the centre of South Africa’s labour empire. In the 1960s, in response to African migration and international pressures, South African and SWA officials sought to replace SWANLA with a territory-wide labour bureau system, run partly out of bantustan governments, that would support claims of decolonisation through ‘separate development’. The article then examines African engagements with urban influx control infrastructures and practices on a small scale, in the port and fishing town of Walvis Bay. Whether leveraging house rental payments as a promise of secure urban tenure or using beer to escape infrastructural ties to the state, African Walvis Bay residents emphasised the importance of the urban scale in the colonial exercise of power. Since these contestations had African urbanisation at their core, they proved the lie of bantustans as the physical and political homes of essentially rural Africans.

Exploring relationship between some environmental factors and skin cancer rate

Introduction: Skin cancer rate has been associated to UV exposure. According international literature, No report on specific environmental influence on skin cancer in Cuba has been presented. Goal: To search some possible moderator factors, epidemiologically significant, of skin cancer in Cuba. Methods: Information gathered for Cuba was assessed using GIS and least square modelling. Raw Skin cancer rate at municipal scale, possible function of Insolation data obtained from national Network records, demographic, biologic and urbanizing variables was intended to be modelled for the Cuban territory. So, possible linkage between raw skin cancer rate and geophysical, demographic and urbanistic variables were tested. Results: Raw Skin cancer rate did not show a synchronous spatial connection to average skin insolation during time lapse studied, but it was pointed out that proportions of white individuals, elderly and urbanization degree presented moderate strength relationship in Cuba at a municipal level basis, 2000 – 2011. Conclusions: It is possible that some individual and environmental factors may influence disease features in Cuban population, according empirical epidemiological relationships modelled.

Applied aspects of human geography. A critical approach to traditionalist views

Traditionally, applied aspects of human geography are mainly associated with economic geography, regional development and spatial planning. 
 In the debate on the application potential of the discipline, a number of important problems of social, political and cultural geography, relevant to various contemporary processes on a global and regional scale, are marginalized. For this reason, the author undertakes a critical rethinking of the current debate on the applied aspects of research in human geography. 
 A brief review of the conceptual and institutional development of applied geography in the world and in selected national schools is made. The author also distinguishes two research orientations: 1) strategic orientation – connected to studies carried out at the international, national and macro-regional spatial levels; 2) operational orientation – concerning applied studies undertook on a scale of separate municipalities, cities, neighbourhoods or even separate streets and buildings.
 Taking an attempt to overcome the narrow understandings of the frameworks of applied human geography, the author presents a new definition and tries to identify the main challenges for geographers that work in the field of Human Geography. Applied aspects of basic directions of human geography from the point of view of their broader interdisciplinary ties are also indicated.

The Coexistence of Local and Global Food Supply Chains: The Lombardy Region Case Study

Over the last years, the trust of consumers in the quality and sustainability of the food system has weakened due to the disconnection between producers and consumers. Alternative Food Networks (AFNs) and Short Food Supply Chains (SFSCs), born out of the perceived loss of trust in the globalized food system, are trying to shorten the gap between farmers and consumers. Nowadays, many scholars agree that local and global food systems coexist, and consumers usually buy both in local and in global food chains. Our study aims to understand the factors that affect the development of AFNs with a specific focus on the interactions with small- and large-scale food retailing in the Lombardy region in the north of Italy. We employ an Ordinary Least Square (OLS) model, on a municipal scale, in which the dependent variable measures the number of participatory activities carried out by farmers and consumers in AFNs. The main results highlight that conventional large retailers and alternative food networks are linked, and that the coexistence of the two market channels may lead to the development for both of them. Contrarily, where small stores exist, they may compete with an alternative food channel, as they offer similar products and services.

Beyond the map: evidencing the spatial dimension of health inequalities

BackgroundSpatial inequalities in health result from different exposures to health risk factors according to the features of geographical contexts, in terms of physical environment, social deprivation, and health care accessibility. Using a common geographical referential, which combines indices measuring these contextual features, could improve the comparability of studies and the understanding of the spatial dimension of health inequalities.MethodsWe developed the Geographical Classification for Health studies (GeoClasH) to distinguish French municipalities according to their ability to influence health outcomes. Ten contextual scores measuring physical and social environment as well as spatial accessibility of health care have been computed and combined to classify French municipalities through a K-means clustering. Age-standardized mortality rates according to the clusters of this classification have been calculated to assess its effectiveness.ResultsSignificant lower mortality rates compared to the mainland France population were found in the Wealthy Metropolitan Areas (SMR = 0.868, 95% CI 0.863–0.873) and in the Residential Outskirts (SMR = 0.971, 95% CI 0.964–0.978), while significant excess mortality were found for Precarious Population Districts (SMR = 1.037, 95% CI 1.035–1.039), Agricultural and Industrial Plains (SMR = 1.066, 95% CI 1.063–1.070) and Rural Margins (SMR = 1.042, 95% CI 1.037–1.047).ConclusionsOur results evidence the comprehensive contribution of the geographical context in the constitution of health inequalities. To our knowledge, GeoClasH is the first nationwide classification that combines social, environmental and health care access scores at the municipality scale. It can therefore be used as a proxy to assess the geographical context of the individuals in public health studies.

ARPEGES: A Bayesian Belief Network to Assess the Risk of Pesticide Contamination for the River Network of France.

Pesticides are priority concerns in aquatic risk assessment due to their widespread use, ongoing development of new molecules, and potential effects from short- and long-term exposures to aquatic life. Water quality assessments are also challenged by contrasting pesticide behaviors (e.g., mobility, half-life time, solubility) in different environmental contexts. Furthermore, monitoring networks are not well adapted to the pesticide media transfer dynamics and therefore fail at providing a reliable assessment of pesticides. We present here a Bayesian belief network that was developed in a cooperative process between researchers specializing in Bayesian modeling, soil sciences, agronomy, and diffuse pollutants to provide a tool for stakeholders to assess surface water contamination by pesticides. It integrates knowledge on dominant transfer pathways according to basin physical context and climate for different pesticides properties, such as half-life duration and affinity to organic C, to develop an assessment of risks of contamination for every watershed in France. The resulting model, ARPEGES (Analyse de Risque PEsticide pour la Gestion des Eaux de Surface; trans. Risk analysis of contamination by pesticides for surface water management), was developed in R. A user-friendly R interface was built to enable stakeholders to not only obtain ARPEGES' results, but also freely use it to test management scenarios. Though it is applicable to any chemical, its results are illustrated for S-Metolachlor, a pesticide that was widely used on cereals crops worldwide. In addition to providing contamination potential, ARPEGES also provides a way to diagnose its main explaining factors, enabling stakeholders to focus efforts in the most potentially affected basins, but also on the most probable cause of contamination. In this context, the Bayesian belief network allowed us to use information at different scales (i.e., regional contexts for climate, pedology at the basin scale, pesticide use at the municipality scale) to provide an expert assessment of the processes driving pesticide contamination of streams and the associated uncertainties. Integr Environ Assess Manag 2021;17:188-201. © 2020 SETAC.

Mapping Mexican COVID-19 vulnerability at municipal scale

This paper presents an interactive map related to the population vulnerability concerning COVID-19 at the municipal level for Mexico. A vulnerability index was modeled using seven socioeconomic/sociodemographic variables and one health-care related variable, all with relevance to a health contingency such as COVID-19. The resulting indicator expresses the municipal vulnerability to face a sanitary crisis such as COVID-19 in five categories. Data for each of the eight variables were first categorized in quintiles. A pairwise comparison matrix was used to weight these variables in relation to their estimated relevance for the municipal vulnerability. With respect to COVID-19 vulnerability, Mexican municipalities show the following results: 1.6% (very low), 18.7% (low), 46.6% (medium), 24.6% (high), 8.5% (very high).
 The map forms part of a dashboard providing daily information on the development of the pandemic in Mexico, and is complemented by a digital atlas visualizing information for each variable of the indicator.