Neighborhood Change Research Articles

Complex causal structures of neighbourhood change: Evidence from a functionalist model and yelp data

In this study, we articulate a functional model of neighbourhood change and continuity, adapted from a classical model proposed by Stinchcombe in 1968. We argue this model provides a relatively simple way to capture key aspects of the complex causal structure of neighbourhood change that are implicit in much neighbourhood change research but rarely formulated explicitly. To evaluate the model, we formulate six testable propositions, which we empirically test with large-scale data from Yelp.com. We illustrate our approach with the case of Toronto, but find broad support for all propositions in an analysis of six cities. A conclusion reflects on the value of incorporating functionalist models into neighbourhood research and policy.

Neighbourhood trajectories in Stockholm: Investigating the role of mobility and in situ change

This paper studies the dynamics of neighbourhood change and neighbourhood stability, using the case of Stockholm during the period 1990–2015. We employ Swedish register data and a three-step methodology to investigate to what extent and how neighbourhoods’ characteristics change over time and the factors driving those changes. Firstly, we apply k-means clustering to a set of socioeconomic, housing and demographic characteristics at the neighbourhood level, and identify a typology of neighbourhood states. Secondly, we build neighbourhood trajectories out of the states over time and use sequence analysis to obtain ideal-typical neighbourhood trajectories. Finally, we decompose the neighbourhood change into selective mobility, i.e., the differences in the characteristics of in- and out-movers, and in situ change of sitting residents. Our results reveal a mixed picture, with the role of selective mobility and in situ change varying depending on the type of neighbourhood transition and the variable under consideration. Trajectories of neighbourhood upgrading towards elite status in the Stockholm city-centre and downward trajectories ending in vulnerability in the periphery are mainly driven by selective mobility. Other typical trajectories comprise the emergence of newly built elite areas and the ageing of certain middle-class areas, the latter mostly driven by ageing of sitting residents.

Churches and Urban Regeneration in Postindustrial Amsterdam

The central focus of this article is the interaction between religious actors and urban regeneration in the former industrial area of Amsterdam North. While there is extensive literature on the structural, sociocultural, and economic impact of urban regeneration and related processes of gentrification, the role of religious groups in these processes of neighborhood change has largely been ignored. Based on ethnographic research, I examine how different Christian movements interact with their changing neighborhood in varied forms. The redevelopment of industrial buildings and the gentrification of working-class neighborhoods in Amsterdam North enable different but particular forms of Christian place-making. I focus on two forms of engagement with urban spaces: (a) the reuse of industrial buildings by Pentecostal movements and (b) the transformation of traditional Protestant church buildings into socially mixed neighborhood centers. These two different forms of urban place-making highlight how Christian organizations bring the active agency to urban regeneration and cocreate urban neighborhoods materially and socially.

Revisiting revitalization: exploring how structural determinants moderate pathways between neighborhood change and health

Vacant housing can produce many issues that affect residents’ quality of life, especially in historically segregated communities of color. To address these challenges, local governments invest in strategic, place-based revitalization initiatives focused on the regeneration of vacant housing. Yet, the outcomes of these efforts remain contested. To maximize health benefits of revitalization investments, a more nuanced understanding of pathways between neighborhood changes and residents’ responses, adaptations, and ability to thrive is necessary, though, remains largely absent in the literature. Using the Vacants to Value initiative in Baltimore, MD as a case study, we explore (1) how health manifests among certain groups in the context of vacant housing revitalization; (2) how vacant housing and its regeneration engender social and cultural environmental change i.e., gentrification; and (3) what structural determinants (cultural norms, policies, institutions, and practices) contribute to the distribution of material resources and benefits of revitalization. Results suggest that vacant housing revitalization requires more than just physical remedies to maximize health. Our findings demonstrate how vacant housing revitalization influences the physical environment, social environment, and structural determinants of material resources and community engagement that can ultimately impact residents’ physical, mental, and social health. This study recommends that because housing disparities are rooted in structural inequalities, how policies, practices, and processes moderate pathways for residents to adapt and benefit from neighborhood changes is consequential for health and health equity. Establishing shared governance structures is a promising approach to foster equitable decision-making and outcomes. Going forward in urban regeneration, pathways to retain and strengthen the social environment while revitalizing the physical environment may be promising to achieve healthy communities.

Energy Transfer and Restructuring in Amorphous Solid Water upon Consecutive Irradiation.

Interstellar and cometary ices play an important role in the formation of planetary systems around young stars. Their main constituent is amorphous solid water (ASW). Although ASW is widely studied, vibrational energy dissipation and structural changes due to vibrational excitation are less well understood. The hydrogen-bonding network is likely a crucial component in this. Here, we present experimental results on hydrogen-bonding changes in ASW induced by the intense, nearly monochromatic mid-IR free-electron laser (FEL) radiation of the FELIX-2 beamline at the HFML-FELIX facility at the Radboud University in Nijmegen, The Netherlands. Structural changes in ASW are monitored by reflection-absorption infrared spectroscopy and depend on the irradiation history of the ice. The experiments show that FEL irradiation can induce changes in the local neighborhood of the excited molecules due to energy transfer. Molecular dynamics simulations confirm this picture: vibrationally excited molecules can reorient for a more optimal tetrahedral surrounding without breaking existing hydrogen bonds. The vibrational energy can transfer through the hydrogen-bonding network to water molecules that have the same vibrational frequency. We hence expect a reduced energy dissipation in amorphous material with respect to crystalline material due to the inhomogeneity in vibrational frequencies as well as the presence of specific hydrogen-bonding defect sites, which can also hamper the energy transfer.

Our Voice NOLA: Leveraging a Community Engaged Citizen Science Method to Contextualize the New Orleans Food Environment.

We employed the Our Voice citizen scientist method using a mobile application (app) to identify and contextualize neighborhood-level features influencing food access and wellbeing in New Orleans, Louisiana. A three-phase, multi-method study comprised of: (1) a researcher-assisted tag-a-long neighborhood walk (referred to as a 'journey') with the Discovery Tool (DT) app to document neighborhood-level features via geo-coded photos and audio-recorded narratives; (2) a post-journey interview to enable citizen scientists to share their lived experiences; and (3) a community meeting with citizen scientists and local stakeholders. Various neighborhoods in New Orleans, Louisiana, USA. Citizen Scientists (i.e., residents) aged 18 years and older. Features that influence food access and health behaviors. Descriptive statistics and a thematic content analysis were conducted to assess survey and app data. Citizen scientists (N = 14) captured 178 photos and 184 audio narratives. Eight major themes were identified: safety; walkability; aesthetics; amenities; food; health services; neighborhood changes; and infrastructure/city planning. The post-journey interview provided insights around the abovementioned themes. The community meeting demonstrated the willingness of citizen scientists and stakeholders to convene and discuss issues and relevant solutions. Findings demonstrate the ability of technology and citizen science to help better understand the complexities of New Orleans' past, present and distinct culture-and implications for food access and wellbeing in the context of trauma in an urban ecosystem.

Longitudinal neighbourhood determinants with cognitive health and dementia disparities: protocol of the Multi-Ethnic Study of Atherosclerosis Neighborhoods and Aging prospective cohort study

IntroductionThe burden of Alzheimer’s disease (AD) and AD-related dementias (ADRD) is increasing nationally and globally, with disproportionate impacts on lower-income, lower education and systematically marginalised older adults. Presence of inequalities...

The Association between Changes in Built Environment and Changes in Walking among Older Women in Portland, Oregon.

Some cross-sectional evidence suggests that the objectively measured built environment can encourage walking among older adults. We examined the associations between objectively measured built environment with change in self-reported walking among older women by using data from the Study of Osteoporotic Fractures (SOF). We evaluated the longitudinal associations between built environment characteristics and walking among 1253 older women (median age = 71 years) in Portland, Oregon using generalized estimating equation models. Built environment characteristics included baseline values and longitudinal changes in distance to the closest bus stop, light rail station, commercial area, and park. A difference of 1 km in the baseline distance to the closest bus stop was associated with a 12% decrease in the total number of blocks walked per week during follow-up (eβ = 0.88, 95% CI: 0.78, 0.99). Our study provided limited support for an association between neighborhood transportation and changes in walking among older women. Future studies should consider examining both objective measures and perceptions of the built environment.

Designing the Socio-Spatial Context Urban Infill, Liveability, and Conviviality

This study tackles the design challenge of urban in fill development which arises from changes in the urban form and daily living experiences. Using the Web of Science to review relevant literature published over the last decade, we found a signi ficant gap in the study of in fill development: it overlooks liveability and conviviality. To fill this gap, an in fill project in Ard el Golf, Cairo, Egypt, was surveyed using ethnographic research comprising two surveys and semi-structured interviews with site visitors, workers, and residents, and spatial analysis of the changes before and after the project. The results highlight the critical role of functional neighbourhood changes based on their impact on residents', site workers', and users' perceptions of their environment. A six-step strategic framework is presented aggregating the social and morphological dimensions that can off er designers a be er means of confronting the consequences of urban in fill projects with respect to the socio-spatial context for liveable and convivial urban living.

Patchy neighbourhood changes from street micro level: an insight from residents and businesses

ABSTRACT Despite the rich literature dealing with urban changes in former socialist cities, little attention has been paid to residents’ perceptions of these transformations. This ethnographic study of a street in the centre of Bucharest tells two different stories that do not come together: one has to do with the urban environment, buildings, and local businesses, the other with the residents and their understanding of the street. The empirical evidence reveals surprising and puzzling features for theorizing neighbourhood changes related to Romania’s social and cultural context, which can probably be endorsed in other cities as well.

School-centered community development: Lessons from Baltimore’s 21st century school buildings program

ABSTRACT This article uses the case of Baltimore’s 21st Century School Buildings Program (21CSBP) to investigate the potential of leveraging a school facilities investment for community development. We find that school facilities investments have the potential to catalyze community development along four domains: social, institutional, economic, and physical. However, existing market conditions and community trust and social cohesion can facilitate or constrain whether and how schools catalyze community development. Leveraging school building investments for community development hinges on a clear vision and staff capacity for implementation. Finally, definitional, geographic, and jurisdictional divides between school districts and city agencies can complicate the potential for cross-sector connections at the neighborhood level. Our findings underscore the possibilities of school facilities investments and community schools for supporting community development and affirm the deep-seeded challenges that stakeholders face to work as collective stewards of a shared social agenda for school and neighborhood change.

Association of Neighborhood Economic Trajectories With Changes in Weight Status Among Black and White Adults in the Southeastern US

Neighborhood environment is an important factor associated with population disparities in obesity. However, few studies have examined whether and in what ways long-term trajectories of neighborhood conditions may be associated with weight outcomes. Moreover, there is a lack of research focusing on multidimensional and nuanced measures that make distinctions between multiple types of neighborhood change (eg, gentrification vs overall growth). To examine the association between long-term neighborhood economic trajectories and changes in weight status among Black and White adults residing in predominantly low-income communities in the southeastern US. This study was a longitudinal analysis of participants in the Southern Community Cohort Study. Five types of neighborhood economic trajectories (stability, growth, displacement, abandonment, and poverty concentration) were measured using data from the US Census and the American Community Survey from 2000 to 2016. Data were analyzed from December 12, 2021, to July 16, 2022. A total of 33 621 Black and White adults in the southeastern US were included in the analytic sample. Neighborhood economic trajectory. Substantial weight gain and substantial weight loss (ie, gaining or losing ≥10% of baseline weight) between baseline (March 2002 to September 2009) and follow-up (November 2008 to January 2013) periods were assessed using self-reported information. Among 33 621 participants, the mean (SD) age was 53.4 (8.8) years; 22 116 participants (65.8%) were women, 21 782 (64.8%) were Black, and 11 839 (35.2%) were White. Compared with residents in neighborhoods with stable trajectories, those in neighborhoods with growth trajectories that did not displace original residents were less likely to experience substantial weight gain (odds ratio [OR], 0.75; 95% CI, 0.58-0.97), whereas those in neighborhoods with poverty concentration trajectories were more likely to experience substantial weight gain (OR, 1.08; 95% CI, 1.00-1.17). These patterns appeared stronger among Black participants (eg, substantial weight gain in poverty concentration group: OR, 1.10 [95% CI, 1.00-1.22]; in growth group: OR, 0.76 [95% CI, 0.56-1.02]) compared with White participants (eg, substantial weight gain in poverty concentration group: OR, 1.03 [95% CI, 0.90-1.18]; in growth group: OR, 0.84 [95% CI, 0.52-1.36]). Differences in patterns were also observed among men (eg, substantial weight gain in poverty concentration group: OR, 1.02 [95% CI, 0.88-1.17]; in growth group: OR, 0.58 [95% CI, 0.35-0.96]) compared with women (eg, substantial weight gain in poverty concentration group: OR, 1.12 [95% CI, 1.02-1.23]; in growth group: OR, 0.83 [95% CI, 0.62-1.12]). However, none of the interaction terms between Black vs White participants and men vs women were statistically significant. Neighborhood trajectory was not associated with substantial weight loss (poverty concentration group: OR, 1.00 [95% CI, 0.93-1.09]; abandonment group: OR, 1.01 [95% CI, 0.84-1.15]; displacement group: OR, 1.04 [95% CI, 0.83-1.23]; growth group: OR, 0.88 [95% CI, 0.69-1.12]). In this cohort study, neighborhood economic trajectories were associated with weight gain. These findings highlight the importance of using more nuanced and multidimensional measures of neighborhood change in public health research.

Exploring Residents' Perceptions of Neighborhood Development and Revitalization for Active Living Opportunities.

IntroductionCommunity fears of gentrification have created concerns about building active living infrastructure in neighborhoods with low-income populations. However, little empirical research exists related to these concerns. This work describes characteristics of residents who reported 1) concerns about increased cost of living caused by neighborhood development and 2) support for infrastructural improvements even if the changes lead to a higher cost of living.MethodsData on concerns about or support for transportation-related and land use–related improvements and sociodemographic characteristics were obtained from the 2018 SummerStyles survey, an online panel survey conducted on a nationwide sample of US adults (n = 3,782). Descriptive statistics characterized the sample, and χ2 tests examined associations among variables.ResultsOverall, 19.1% of study respondents agreed that development had caused concerns about higher cost of living. Approximately half (50.7%) supported neighborhood changes for active living opportunities even if they lead to higher costs of living. Prevalences of both concern and support were higher among respondents who were younger and who had higher levels of education than their counterparts. Support did not differ between racial or ethnic groups, but concern was reported more often by Hispanic/Latino (28.9%) and other non-Hispanic (including multiracial) respondents (25.5%) than by non-Hispanic White respondents (15.6%). Respondents who reported concerns were more likely to express support (65.3%) than respondents who did not report concerns (47.3%).ConclusionThe study showed that that low-income, racial, or ethnic minority populations support environmental changes to improve active living despite cost of living concerns associated with community revitalization.

Preserving Neighborhoods: How Urban Policy and Community Strategy Shape Baltimore and Brooklyn by Aaron Passell

Reviewed by: Preserving Neighborhoods: How Urban Policy and Community Strategy Shape Baltimore and Brooklyn by Aaron Passell Kevin P. Block (bio) Aaron Passell Preserving Neighborhoods: How Urban Policy and Community Strategy Shape Baltimore and Brooklyn New York: Columbia University Press, 2021 272 pages, 2 black-and-white photographs, 19 figures ISBN: 9780231194075, $35 PB ISBN: 9780231194068, $120 HC ISBN: 9780231550635, $29.99 EB In cities across the United States, vernacular structures of all kinds—from row houses and churches to vacant factories and schools— exist within urban landscapes of opportunity and decline. Often the preservation of these structures for study, rehabilitation, or adaptive reuse depends upon the protections and financial incentives associated with historic district designation. For this reason alone, the relationship between historic districts and neighborhood change should interest readers of Buildings & Landscapes, whether or not they are professional preservationists. In Preserving Neighborhoods, author Aaron Passell compares the effects of historic district designations in Baltimore and Brooklyn, which he views as the polar ends of a contemporary urban growth spectrum. Baltimore is a legacy city in which preservationists and commercial developers have created historic districts to access rehabilitation tax credits and revitalize neighborhoods such as Canton and Locust Point. Brooklyn, in contrast, is now a global city in which members of volunteer community organizations utilize historic district protections and review procedures to fortify their neighborhoods from the adverse effects of intense speculative development and what urban historians now categorize as “super-gentrification.”1 Writing as a sociologist rather than a preservationist, Passell is careful to describe the basic mechanics and implications of historic districting, which should make his analysis accessible to a wide variety of readers, including students in urban studies, architectural and cultural landscape studies, public history, and planning courses. Understanding what exactly constitutes Passell’s sociological framework, however, might be difficult for some readers, although he briefly attempts to address this framework in the book’s introduction. From Harvey Molotch, for example, Passell assumes that the city is fundamentally a “growth machine,” controlled by members of a land-based elite who are interested in maximizing the exchange value of their property, with government authorities serving to coordinate their interests.2 He also follows a lineage of urban sociologists who are interested in the neighborhood as a metonym for all those contextual factors beyond the family that reproduce differences in life outcomes. To define a neighborhood and control its development with a preservation planning tool such as a historic district is thus one way to perpetuate or disrupt the enduring effects that are correlated with a given place.3 Pas-sell’s sociological analysis of historic districts is a welcome addition to the field because— while there are already assessments of historic districts from the perspective of public history and the history of preservation, as well as several in-depth historical accounts of the gentrification–preservation nexus in particular cities (including Brooklyn)—few authors have possessed both the quantitative and ethnographic skills necessary to create a compelling model of the historic districting process as a whole.4 Following a “kaleidoscopic approach” that combines extensive statistical analysis with qualitative interviews, Passell develops his comparison over four chapters that alternate between Baltimore and Brooklyn (212). He highlights the book’s major conclusion in his introduction: Contra the preservation skeptics, the author has found no evidence of a direct relationship between historic district designation and gentrification. “What preservation does,” he writes, “depends substantially on where it is doing it and the particular history and contemporary conditions of that place” (1). Passell characterizes this claim as “radically contingent” (2), with variability depending upon “the age of the city, its demographic composition (and racial history), its redevelopment history, the strength (or weakness) of the real estate market, and who is involved in the preservation process, among other things” (8). For the philosophically adventurous, one might also characterize his account as nominalist. Although municipalities often copy the same preservation legislation verbatim and adopt similar rationales for historical significance, historic districts do different things in different places and thus “the historic district,” in a universalist sense, does not exist, only the social process of historic districting in all its manifold particularity. This insistence upon, or...

Neighborhood Greenspace and Changes in Pediatric Obesity During COVID-19

IntroductionPediatric obesity rates increased during the COVID-19 pandemic. This study examined the associations of neighborhood greenspace with changes in pediatric obesity during the pandemic.MethodsElectronic health record data from a large pediatric primary care network were extracted to create a retrospective cohort of patients aged 2–17 years with a visit in each of 2 periods: June 2019–December 2019 (before pandemic) and June 2020–December 2020 (pandemic). Multivariable longitudinal generalized estimating equations Poisson regression estimated the associations of census tract‒level Normalized Difference Vegetation Index with (1) changes in obesity risk during the pandemic and (2) risk of new-onset obesity among children who were not obese prepandemic. Analyses were conducted between November 2021 and May 2022.ResultsAmong 81,418 children (mean age: 8.4 years, 18% Black), the percentage of children who were obese increased by 3.2% during the pandemic. Children in Normalized Difference Vegetation Index Quartiles 2–4 had smaller increases in obesity risk during the pandemic than those in Quartile 1 (risk ratio=0.96, 95% CI=0.93, 0.99; Quartile 3 risk ratio=0.95; 95% CI=0.91, 0.98; Quartile 4 risk ratio=0.95, 95% CI=0.92, 0.99). Among the subset who were not obese before the pandemic, children in Normalized Difference Vegetation Index quartiles 3–4 had a lower risk of new-onset obesity during the pandemic (Quartile 3 risk ratio=0.82, 95% CI=0.71, 0.95; Quartile 4 risk ratio=0.73, 95% CI=0.62, 0.85). Higher Normalized Difference Vegetation Index was associated with smaller increases in obesity risk and lower risk of new-onset obesity among children in urban and suburban areas, but results were in the opposite direction for children in rural areas.ConclusionsChildren living in greener neighborhoods experienced smaller increases in obesity during the pandemic than children in less green neighborhoods, although findings differed by urbanicity.

O5-5 Neighbourhood Walkability and Physical Activity: Moderating Role of a Physical Activity Interventions in Overweight and Obese Older Adults with Metabolic Syndrome

BackgroundWhile urban built environments might promote active ageing, an infrequently studied question is how the neighbourhood walkability modulates physical activity changes during a physical activity intervention program in older adults. We assessed the influence of objectively assessed neighbourhood walkability on the change in physical activity during the intervention program used in the ongoing PREvención con DIeta MEDiterránea (PREDIMED)-Plus trial. PREDIMED-Plus is a parallel-group, randomized trial which tested the effect of an intensive lifestyle intervention on cardiovascular disease prevention, in overweight and obese participants with the metabolic syndrome.MethodThe present study involved 228 PREDIMED-Plus senior participants aged between 55 to 75, recruited in Palma de Mallorca (Spain). Overweight/obese older adults with metabolic syndrome were randomized to an intensive weight-loss lifestyle intervention or a control group (106 intervention group and 122 control group). A home neighborhood environment walkability index (residential density, land use mix, intersections density) was calculated using geographic information systems (1km sausage-network buffer). Physical activity was assessed using accelerometer for seven days, and a REGICOR validated physical activity questionnaire, at baseline and 2 follow-up visits (six-months and one-year later). Generalized Additive Mixed Models (GAMMs) were fitted to estimate the association between the neighbourhood walkability index and changes in physical activity during follow-up.ResultsHigher neighbourhood walkability (1 z-score increment) was associated with moderate-to-vigorous accelerometer assessed physical activity duration, (ß = 3,44; 95% CI = 0.52;6.36 minutes per day). When analyses were stratified by intervention arm, the association was only observed in the intervention group (ß = 6.357; 95% CI = 2.07;10.64 minutes per day) (p for interaction = 0.055). There were no statistically significant associations between neighbourhood walkability and self-reported physical activity nor brisk walking duration.ConclusionsThe results indicate that the walkability of the neighbourhood could support a physical activity intervention, helping to maintain or increase older adults' objectively measured physical activity. This research may modify evidence on whether environmental factors modify habits acquisition during physical activity intervention programs.

The Relationship between Geographic Accessibility to Neighborhood Facilities, Remote Work, and Changes in Neighborhood Satisfaction after the Emergence of the COVID-19 Pandemic

The emergence of the COVID-19 pandemic and working remotely may decrease the advantages of residing in populated areas. This study aims to test the relationship between remote work and changes in neighborhood satisfaction and to discern the difference according to both the status of remote work and the centrality of areas where people live in the relationships between geographic accessibility to neighborhood facilities and changes in neighborhood satisfaction. By using an ordinal logistic regression, we analyzed data from a questionnaire completed by residents of the 23 wards of Tokyo. Working remotely was found to increase neighborhood satisfaction of people living in a central (OR = 1.31) and a noncentral area (OR = 1.50). Remote workers living in single-family homes were found to be less satisfied with their neighborhoods. Less decrease (or increase) in geographic accessibility to eating facilities was found to be related to increase in neighborhood satisfaction for both remote and nonremote workers regardless of the centrality of areas where they live. The findings suggest that populated areas continue to provide benefits which will improve neighborhood satisfaction even after the start of a pandemic; however, there could be a shift of demand for facilities in central areas to noncentral areas beyond the emergence of the pandemic.

Is Gentrification a Carcinogen? Neighborhood Change and Cancerous Vehicle Emissions in Los Angeles County

Neighborhood disadvantage erodes residents’ mental and physical health. But whether rapid reductions in disadvantage spurred by gentrification attenuate or exacerbate these effects remains unknown due to mixed theoretical expectations and empirical results. To help clarify these dynamics, I propose a novel hypothesis that casts gentrification as a carcinogen. As neighborhoods receive inflows of affluent, White residents, influxes of private vehicles may come with them. In turn, stationary residents become exposed to higher vehicular emissions, and their risk of cancer—especially lung cancer—climbs. As an initial empirical test of these theoretical possibilities, I link Urban Displacement Project data identifying Los Angeles County neighborhoods that gentrified during the 2000s to tract-level data on vehicle ownership and cancer risk profiles—the latter from the Environmental Protection Agency’s National Air Toxics Assessment. Descriptive regressions that include a lagged dependent variable and municipal fixed effects suggest gentrifying tracts’ levels of cancer risk factors increased by ∼0.5 standard deviations more than those of disadvantaged neighborhoods that did not gentrify. Sobel tests of mediation indicate nearly half of this association may be explained by a pathway related to increasing vehicle density. The study thus motivates future research leveraging individual-level data and quasi-experimental methods to solidify whether gentrification is indeed a carcinogen.

Ownership of change: Participatory development of a novel latent construct for neighborhoods and health equity research

Processes of neighborhood change are important determinants of health. One salient dimension of the experience of neighborhood changes is a person's evolving sense of empowerment over the changes around them, such as development of new housing or shifts in economic opportunity. Community residents collaborating on a Participatory Action Research study developed the novel construct “ownership of change” to capture this psychosocial process, and hypothesized that it may help explain the relationship between neighborhood change and health. In this paper, we describe our participatory process for developing a way to measure ownership of change, explore the construct's validity, test the hypothesis that it is associated with health, and analyze qualitative data to understand the process through which one's sense of ownership of change is produced. We argue that the construct is useful for studying the role of neighborhood changes in shaping health, and that building ownership over neighborhood change must be a key dimension of urban planning and policy for health equity.

Mutational robustness changes during long-term adaptation in laboratory budding yeast populations.

As an adapting population traverses the fitness landscape, its local neighborhood (i.e., the collection of fitness effects of single-step mutations) can change shape because of interactions with mutations acquired during evolution. These changes to the distribution of fitness effects can affect both the rate of adaptation and the accumulation of deleterious mutations. However, while numerous models of fitness landscapes have been proposed in the literature, empirical data on how this distribution changes during evolution remains limited. In this study, we directly measure how the fitness landscape neighborhood changes during laboratory adaptation. Using a barcode-based mutagenesis system, we measure the fitness effects of 91 specific gene disruption mutations in genetic backgrounds spanning 8000-10,000 generations of evolution in two constant environments. We find that the mean of the distribution of fitness effects decreases in one environment, indicating a reduction in mutational robustness, but does not change in the other. We show that these distribution-level patterns result from differences in the relative frequency of certain patterns of epistasis at the level of individual mutations, including fitness-correlated and idiosyncratic epistasis.