Neighborhoods affect health. In 3 adjoining inner-city Cleveland, Ohio, neighborhoods, residents have an average life expectancy 15 years less than that of a nearby suburb. To address this disparity, a local health funder created the 2010 to 2013 Francis H. Beam Community Health Fellowship to develop a strategic community engagement process to establish a Healthy Eating & Active Living (HEAL) c...

Motivated by recent increases in population density and changes in urban development patterns, I give an update to Schelling’s landmark spatial segregation model. Inspired by the rapid construction of high-rise condominiums and apartments, I show a correlation between population density and racial diversity in San Diego neighborhoods. Using this as a basis, I give a modified high-density versio...

Segregation studies suggest that the health of blacks in the United States is poorer in majority-black compared with mixed-race neighborhoods. However, segregation studies have not examined black immigrants, who may benefit from social support and country-of-origin foods in black immigrant areas. The authors used 1995-2003 New York City birth records and a spatial measure of ethnic density to c...

Since the period of bank deregulation in the 1980s, deferred deposit loan operations, better known as payday lenders, have become commonplace in the landscapes of many American cities. At the same time, traditional banking facilities have become less common, especially in the inner city. Growing disparities in the type of and accessibility to credit in the inner city has generated calls for gre...

BACKGROUND The concept of walkable neighborhoods is increasingly important in physical activity research and intervention. However, limited theoretical understanding and measurable definitions remain a challenge. METHODS This paper reviews theories defining neighborhoods and offers an empirical approach to identify measurable attributes and thresholds of walkable neighborhoods. Bivariate and ...

BACKGROUND Given the rapid pace of urbanization and Westernization and the increasing prevalence of obesity, there is a need for research to better understand the influence of the built environment on overweight and obesity in world's developing regions. Culturally-specific food environment survey instruments are important tools for studying changing food availability and pricing. Here, we pres...