Abstract   Background: Inequalities in health are ever increasing among different communities   of either affluent or disadvantaged especially in urban areas. To identify and address inequalities in health and its determinants among societies, urban health equity assessment and response tool (Urban HEART) in four 'policy domains' related to social determinants of health, has been developed by...

In spite of decades of reform attempts urban education remains an intractable policy issue for educators. National and state level data continue to show disparities in educational achievement and attainment between students from affluent and poor urban communities. If past policies have not proven to be effective in substantially improving urban educational systems the question is why? In this ...

How and why is urban agriculture taken up into local food policies and sustainability plans? This paper uses a case study of urban agriculture policymaking in New York City from 2007 to 2011 to examine the power-laden operation of urban environmental governance. It explores several ‘faces of power,’ including overt authority, institutionalized ‘rules of the game,’ and hegemony. It also investig...

INTRODUCTION This study assessed correlates of self-reported local health department (LHD) participation in community policy/advocacy activities that support physical activity. METHODS In 2014, cross-sectional data from the nationally representative 2013 National Profile of Local Health Departments study administered by the National Association of County and City Health Officials were analyze...

Understanding cities comprehensively as systems is a costly challenge and is typically not feasible for policy makers. Nevertheless, focusing on some key systemic characteristics of cities can give useful insights for policy to advance health and well-being outcomes. Moreover, if we take a coevolutionary systems view of cities, some conventional assumptions about the nature of urban development...

Malapportionment of state legislatures before the mid-1960s gave urban and suburban voters much less representation than they deserved. This Essay documents that suburban and urban voters had markedly different policy preferences, party identifications, and partisan voting behaviors than voters in rural areas, who were overrepresented. However, the patterns were not uniform. In the Northeast an...

Urban integration is seemingly on the lips of all involved with urban development in South Africa. One can be forgiven for thinking it is the magic bullet that will resolve the many intractable problems that mark South Africa’s cities. Urban integration is the core idea that underpins the unfolding Urban Renewal Strategy of the government. The notion emerges strongly in the recently published D...