Spatial spillover and the socio-ecological determinants of diabetes-related mortality across US counties

The spatial structure of diabetes-related mortality in US counties is evident from previous studies. However, it is not clear if spatial variation in diabetes-related mortality is associated with spatial variation in socioecological factors. We analyze the spatial spillover effect of changes in socioeconomic gradients (education, employment, household income), retail food environments, and access to health care, on diabetes-related mortality rates across the United States. Seven-year aggregates of multiple cause mortality data from the CDC WONDER compressed mortality database were merged with several sources of county-level data to examine mortality clusters, factors associated with the clusters, and spatial spillover effects in 3109 continuous US counties. The results suggest that high diabetes-related mortality cluster counties are located throughout the Southern Plains, Southeastern, and Appalachian regions. Lower socioeconomic status, a high density of fast food restaurants, a lack of access to grocery stores, a high proportion of Blacks, and low physical activity characterize high diabetes-related mortality rates clusters. The impacts from improvements in socioeconomic gradients and the retail food environment in neighboring counties spill over, and reduce the diabetes-related mortality rate in a particular county. This result implies that improvements in socioeconomic status and access to healthy food would significantly reduce diabetes-related mortality rates in contiguous US counties.     

The relationship between transit rich neighborhoods and transit ridership: Evidence from the decentralization of poverty

The concept of transit-rich neighborhoods (TRNs) has become a focus of more interest as it relates to rapidly growing and congested communities, and it has received national attention because of its contribution to smart growth in the United States. Although most investment in transit services has been concentrated in denser central cities, where most transit users, including those of low income, reside, the trend toward the decentralization of poverty has become evident in many metropolitan areas and underscored the need to improve suburban transit services. Many studies pertaining to transit ridership have focused on the physical characteristics of stations, their catchment areas, and equity issues for low-income riders, particularly in central cities, without accounting for the evolving socioeconomic characteristics of the neighborhoods being served. To address this issue, this paper categorizes TRNs based on changing socioeconomic and spatial characteristics and uses multiple regression to examine the relationship between types of TRNs and transit ridership in the Atlanta metropolitan area, focusing on the decentralization of poverty. The results show that suburban TRNs became more diverse in terms of income and race between 2000 and 2009, which suggests that investment in commuter rail transit is an important contribution to social and economic equality at the regional level. Furthermore, poverty rates in suburban areas, compared to those in their downtown and inner-city counterpart TRNs, positively influence the percentage of transit ridership. The increased use of suburban transit services suggests the potential presence of increased latent demand, which is further supported by the decentralization of poverty.     

Breaking the chain: Understanding the association between foreclosure intensity and neighborhood satisfaction

Extensive research has been conducted on the factors that cause foreclosure and the resulting neighborhood contagion effects. When residents see concentrated foreclosed homes in their neighborhood, their perceptions of their neighborhood are often negatively affected. Despite the potential psychological effects of foreclosures on residents, no research has looked at foreclosure intensity and impacts on other residents' satisfaction in the neighborhood.We used the 2004 Homeowner Satisfaction Survey and foreclosed property data from 2001 to 2004 in Franklin County, Ohio to explore the effect of foreclosure intensity on resident satisfaction. We used a structural equation model to capture the chain reaction of concentrated neighborhood disadvantage on foreclosure intensity and residents' neighborhood satisfaction. We found that the impacts of foreclosures are not limited to lenders and owners of mortgaged homes but extended to other residents living in the neighborhood. In this regard, we recommend housing recession recovery efforts must incorporate programs to alleviate neighbors' psychological distress.     

The harmonious relationship between land use and environment in Xi’an

In this paper we adopt annual land use conditions change data, land sifting data, social, economic and population data and environment information of nine districts and four counties in Xi’an city from 1980 to 2000 to analyze its structural and degree change of land use since the 1980s, and calculate the benefits and transformation of land use type. The results show that the non-agricultural land increased rapidly, especially the urban and rural residential spots and industrial and mining (RIM) land use increased mostly rapidly, an increase of 64%. Meanwhile, the intensity of land exploitation was accelerating, land was transformed to industries with better benefit and areas experiencing faster urbanization process. By analyzing the harmonious degree of land exploitation in economic and environmental aspects, we find out that the land use imbalance mainly existed in the municipal area of Xi’an, and the imbalance index of land use based on GDP and non-agricultural population were respectively 12.37 and 14.67 in 2000, which were far higher than those in other regions. Nevertheless the environmental harmonious degree in the municipal area of Xi’an ranges between 0.6 and 0.8, which was better than that of suburban area. Some proposals addressing to the problems of harmonious level in all scales, resources utilization, projects management and feasibility analysis and intensive urbanization are also put forward.     

建成环境对北京市郊区居民工作日汽车出行的影响

郊区化导致的汽车出行增加及相关的城市环境与社会问题日益成为城市研究关注的焦点,但目前国内对建成环境与汽车出行行为的研究刚刚起步。基于GPS与活动日志相结合的居民一周活动与出行数据,利用GIS空间分析分别以居住地、工作地和活动空间作为地理背景,分析建成环境对于郊区居民汽车出行距离的影响因素。研究发现,建成环境对工作日汽车出行的影响因地理背景的选择而有不同。整日出行受到工作地和活动空间的影响,工作地与活动空间建设密度增高汽车出行减少,但是居住空间的影响不显著;通勤出行受到居住地、工作地和活动空间的影响,居住地商业密度提高和建设密度降低、工作地和活动空间建设密度提高,汽车出行减少;非工作活动出行也受到居住地、工作地和活动空间的影响,居住地、工作地和活动空间的公交密度低、工作地和活动空间建设密度高,汽车出行少。基于研究结果,本文对地理背景不确定性问题进行了探讨,提出出行行为的研究需要考虑居住地以外其他地理背景的影响,并对控制汽车使用的公共政策提出了建议。     

Multilevel built environment features and individual odds of overweight and obesity in Utah

Based on the data from the Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System (BRFSS) in 2007, 2009 and 2011 in Utah, this research uses multilevel modeling (MLM) to examine the associations between neighborhood built environments and individual odds of overweight and obesity after controlling for individual risk factors. The BRFSS data include information on 21,961 individuals geocoded to zip code areas. Individual variables include BMI (body mass index) and socio-demographic attributes such as age, gender, race, marital status, education attainment, employment status, and whether an individual smokes. Neighborhood built environment factors measured at both zip code and county levels include street connectivity, walk score, distance to parks, and food environment. Two additional neighborhood variables, namely the poverty rate and urbanicity, are also included as control variables. MLM results show that at the zip code level, poverty rate and distance to parks are significant and negative covariates of the odds of overweight and obesity; and at the county level, food environment is the sole significant factor with stronger fast food presence linked to higher odds of overweight and obesity. These findings suggest that obesity risk factors lie in multiple neighborhood levels and built environment features need to be defined at a neighborhood size relevant to residents' activity space.     

职住建成环境对郊区居民通勤方式的影响

郊区化带来的职住空间分离与机动化出行问题受到了城市地理与城市规划界的广泛关注。汽车依赖已经成为大城市郊区空间发展过程中面临的现实问题,如何减少汽车通勤比例、鼓励公共交通和非机动化通勤,已经成为城市交通可持续发展的重要目标。基于城市兴趣点数据（POI）与2017年上海市郊区居民活动日志调查数据,通过多项logit模型分析了居民居住地与工作地周边建成环境对通勤方式的影响,并建立中介效应模型探讨长距离通勤对通勤方式产生的间接效应。研究发现提升居住地的地铁站可达性、土地混合利用程度,控制居住地和工作地的设施密度等措施有利于减少汽车出行,而建成环境特征差异对通勤方式的影响要大于对通勤距离的影响。通勤距离对通勤方式选择具有显著的中介效应,对于步行和自行车通勤的影响最为明显。社区环境的提升应从增加设施多样性和公共交通可达性,营造良好的步行、骑行环境等方面来促进居民的绿色通勤行为。     

Scale effects in food environment research: Implications from assessing socioeconomic dimensions of supermarket accessibility in an eight-county region of South Carolina

Choice of neighborhood scale affects associations between environmental attributes and health-related outcomes. This phenomenon, a part of the modifiable areal unit problem, has been described fully in geography but not as it relates to food environment research. Using two administrative-based geographic boundaries (census tracts and block groups), supermarket geographic measures (density, cumulative opportunity and distance to nearest) were created to examine differences by scale and associations between three common U.S. Census–based socioeconomic status (SES) characteristics (median household income, percentage of population living below poverty and percentage of population with at least a high school education) and a summary neighborhood SES z-score in an eight-county region of South Carolina. General linear mixed-models were used. Overall, both supermarket density and cumulative opportunity were higher when using census tract boundaries compared to block groups. In analytic models, higher median household income was significantly associated with lower neighborhood supermarket density and lower cumulative opportunity using either the census tract or block group boundaries, and neighborhood poverty was positively associated with supermarket density and cumulative opportunity. Both median household income and percent high school education were positively associated with distance to nearest supermarket using either boundary definition, whereas neighborhood poverty had an inverse association. Findings from this study support the premise that supermarket measures can differ by choice of geographic scale and can influence associations between measures. Researchers should consider the most appropriate geographic scale carefully when conducting food environment studies.     

The significance of the physical environment of the Macquarie Marshes

This paper explores the significance of the Macquarie Marshes, in particular providing an overview of their physical attributes. Previous literature has generally been restricted to specific fields and much is unpublished ‘grey’ literature. This paper emphasises the importance of this internationally recognised wetland, both as a complete ecosystem, and for specific landscape, water‐quality filtering, vegetation and fauna attributes. It provides an extended summary of the area and of its 1997 status. By summarising previous research, it provides a base from which future research can be scoped.     

中国区域开发强度与资源环境水平的耦合关系演化

揭示区域开发强度与资源环境水平互动演化的一般规律,通过定量分析1995-2009年中国区域开发强度与资源环境水平的耦合关系,得到以下结论:1995年以来中国区域开发强度不断增长,资源环境水平小幅波动下降。中国区域开发强度与资源环境水平的耦合度呈现出逐年增大趋势,表明二者的耦合程度不断提高;同期中国区域开发强度不断增长对资源环境水平演变产生明显的"胁迫"影响,但胁迫程度逐渐减小。区域开发效率提升、资源环境政策和制度不断完善、经济结构优化、单位能耗GDP产出提高以及环保投入增加等因素对胁迫程度减小具有推动作用,其中区域开发效率提升是主要影响因素。     

旧石器时代至商周时期贵州遗址空间分布及其自然环境背景

根据对贵州230 处遗址的时空变化分析发现, 贵州旧石器时代遗址集中分布在中部、西北部和黔西南等喀斯特发育的高海拔区域。至新石器时代, 遗址仍集中分布在中部、西北部和黔西南地区, 但南部、东部等沿河地带和中西部的山间坝子开始有遗址分布。到商周时期, 遗址主要分布在沿河地带和山间坝子里。其中, 东部和南部海拔低于1000 m的地区遗址多分布在沿河地带, 而西部和北部海拔高于1000 m的地区遗址则分布在山间坝子。贵州位于亚热带湿润气候区, 气候环境的冷暖干湿波动对从事渔猎、采集及原始农业生产的古人类影响不大, 人类居住空间变化更多的与贵州特殊的自然地理背景有关, 特别是喀斯特地貌发育及适宜农业生产地方的空间差异, 对贵州旧石器至商周时期的遗址分布影响显著。旧石器时代人类以采集和渔猎为生, 临近水源的天然溶洞是人类居住的首选。随农业的出现和发展, 便于农耕的沿河地带和山间坝子成为人类的生活居住地。故新石器时代, 贵州先民居住呈现洞穴和河流阶地或山间坝子并存;至商周时期, 农业成为人类的主要经济生产方式, 人类主要居住在沿河地带和山间坝子里。     

基于倾向值匹配法的城市建成环境对居民生理健康的影响

伴随着城市化和机动化进程,肥胖及其引致的慢性疾病已成为中国严峻的社会问题。本文利用2010年中国社会综合调查、空间兴趣点POI、道路网等数据,探究城市建成环境对居民生理健康状况的影响,并通过倾向值匹配法控制自选择机制的干扰。研究发现：① 高密度的土地利用对居民总体的身体健康状况具有负向影响,而功能混合、支路网通达的城市肌理、以及充足的健康设施在降低身体质量指数BMI、抑制超重和减少慢性病方面发挥着积极作用。② 各类建成环境特征对中高社会阶层的影响集中在主观的健康感知,对中低阶层人群的影响则主要作用于客观的健康指标。③ 小尺度范围内的建成环境与中低阶层群体的身体健康水平存在更为密切的关联,但这一规律在中高社会阶层并不明显。本研究证明了主动式空间干预手段在促进居民生理健康过程中的有效性,进而就建成环境的优化策略提出了初步建议。     

黄河流域兰州段生态环境与高质量发展耦合协调关系研究

环境保护作为新常态时代下我国推进生态流域文明体系建设的关键环节,推进黄河流域地区生态环境治理已成为生态文明建设的重要内容。通过选取我国黄河流域唯一被干流贯通的省会城市兰州市为研究对象,根据2010—2019年黄河流域兰州段统计资料,构建了黄河流域兰州段生态环境及高质量发展水平评价指标体系,并利用熵权法构建耦合度模型,全面解析和综合评估了生态环境与高质量发展的耦合水平特征。结果表明：黄河流域兰州段生态环境水平并不高,呈“恶化-好转-恶化-好转”的态势,而高质量发展水平呈“降-升-降-升-降-升”的波动态势。总体来看,兰州市生态环境与高质量发展协调性有待加强,应充分考虑黄河流域整体性特征,坚持生态保护优先原则,同步推进产业的专业化整合与转型升级,提升城市综合治理能力,在城乡融合发展基础上优化城市功能结构布局,最终实现人居生态环境可持续发展。     

The distribution of capital forms between cities and suburbs and their impact on social justice in space

Questions of justice have been raised in recent years when contending with the social costs of urban sprawl. But this field of inquiry suffers from the difficulty of translating the abstract notion of justice into measurable spatial indices. The aim of this paper is to empirically measure the liberal notion of justice in the metropolitan region of Tel Aviv by adopting Pierre Bourdieu’s theory of three forms of capital. Under this theory, the formation of economic, cultural, and social capital in the individual’s living environment determines the person’s exposure to different sets of life-chances (i.e., capabilities), thus influencing equality of opportunity (i.e., social justice) in space. The analysis reveals that suburban inhabitants benefit from a larger accumulation of the three forms of capital than do urban inhabitants. Accumulation of these capitals has a positive effect on exposure to life-chances, thus enhancing spatial segregation between cities and suburbs.     

两千年来中国自然与人文地理环境变迁及启示

科学理解中国自然与人文地理环境变迁的历史逻辑、基本规律和发展趋势,有助于找准历史方位,确立国土空间开发保护格局优化方向,推进“美丽中国”建设与经济社会可持续发展。本文集成现有研究成果,梳理了两千年来中国自然与人文地理环境变迁过程,总结了主要要素的变迁特点,探讨了这些历史变迁对“美丽中国”建设的启示。研究表明,两千年来中国自然地理环境变化主要表现为气候的多尺度准周期波动、黄土高原破碎化、北方地区沙漠化土地扩张、河口三角洲海岸在泥沙沉积作用下逐步外移、黄河和长江中下游湖泊萎缩、森林和温带草原面积下降。人文地理环境变迁突出表现在人口增长和格局变化、经济中心向东南迁移、耕地向外围扩张、交通网络由道路网和运河网向立体化综合交通网转变。依据上述变化的历史逻辑,未来基本自然地理格局和地理界线仍将长期存在,长江和黄河中下游星罗棋布的湖泊水系已难再现,南粮北运成为历史,但森林覆盖率仍有较大提升空间,交通网络建设仍需进一步推进,同时还要加强沿海城市应对气候变化威胁的防控体系建设。     

历史时期关中地区都城迁移的资源环境驱动力分析

关中地区是中华文明的重要发源地,也是当前引领和辐射西北地区快速发展、落实西部大开发战略的重要区域.借助历史文献资料、孢粉和土壤剖面等分析的相关结论,从以气候、水、土三大要素为主导的资源环境状况演变的角度,对西周至唐朝灭亡这段历史时期内(公元前1059-705年),我国关中地区都城的迁移历史及其资源环境驱动力进行系统分析...     

基于网络形态的街道空间环境与“两抢一盗”犯罪的关系研究——以HS市原DP区为例

城市街道网络是承载人们日常行为的空间载体,街道网络及其中人的日常行为共同构成了主要的街道网络空间环境,并影响着犯罪行为的发生。既有研究表明街道空间中多发“两抢一盗”侵财类案件,并且街道网络形态和日常行为主体与犯罪存在联系,但对这一问题的深入探究较少。本文基于HS市原DP区的派出所辖区单元,使用路网数据、人口统计数据、手机信令数据等相关资料,采用空间分析和统计分析方法,对街道网络的几何形态和拓扑形态、动态人口和静态人口等因素与犯罪分布的关系展开分析,尝试探索街道网络空间环境对“两抢一盗”犯罪的影响。结果表明,街道网络空间环境中影响盗窃和两抢犯罪的要素存在较大差异。“X形单元”式街道网络、路网密度、低速交通的路网渗透性、静态人口密度和动态人口密度均对盗窃犯罪产生重要影响,与两抢犯罪相关的仅有“T形单元”式街道网络、静态人口中的实际居住户籍人员和外来人员密度,街道网络形态没有表现出与两抢犯罪的显著相关。最后提出,由于街道网络的通达性和危险性往往并存,如何通过调控或改善整体的街道网络空间环境来尽可能减少犯罪风险,是未来规划建设安全的街道网络空间需要思考的话题。     

生态建设促进经济发展的实践及启示——以新疆乌鲁木齐县为例

在工作实践及实地调研的基础上,总结了乌鲁木齐县为保护生态环境,通过生态建设促进经济发展的成功经验。乌鲁木齐县通过挖掘自然和文化资源,实施“两居”工程为主导的生态移民工程,发展高效生态农业和观光农业,以及开展大规模的退耕还林还草工程,促进了生态产业的发展,改善了乌鲁木齐县的生态环境,加快了全县生态文明建设。对于就生态建设促进经济发展的途径,提出要实现经济与生态环境的协调发展,必须以保护生态环境为前提,以规划控制为引导,发挥政府的主导作用,并充分利用当地的资源优势,将生态价值转化为经济发展的动力,实现经济发展和环境保护的双赢。