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Journal article
A Local View of Informal Urban Environments: a Mobile Phone-Based Neighborhood Audit of Street-Level Factors in a Brazilian Informal Community
Journal of urban health, v 96(4), pp 537-548
01 Aug 2019
PMID: 30887375
Featured in Collection : UN Sustainable Development Goals @ Drexel
Abstract
Street-level environment characteristics influence the health behaviors and safety of urban residents, and may particularly threaten health within informal communities. However, available data on how such characteristics vary within and among informal communities is limited. We sought to adapt street audit strategies designed to characterize the physical environment for use in a large informal community, Rio das Pedras (RdP) located in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. A smartphone-based systematic observation protocol was used to gather street-level information for a high-density convenience sample of street segments (N = 630, estimated as 86% of all street segments in the community). We adapted items related to physical disorder and physical deterioration. Measures selected to illustrate the approach include the presence of the following: (1) low-hanging or tangled wires, (2) litter, (3) structural evidence of sinking, and (4) an unpleasant odor. Intercept-only spatial generalized additive models (GAM) were used to evaluate and visualize spatial variation within the RdP community. We also examined how our estimates and conclusions about spatial variation might have been affected by lower-density sampling from random subsets street observations. Random subsets were selected to determine the robustness of study results in scenarios with sparser street sampling. Selected characteristics were estimated to be present for between 18% (unpleasant odor) to 59% (low-hanging or tangled wires) of the street segments in RdP; estimates remain similar (+/- 6%) when relying on a random subset created to simulate lower-density spatial sampling. Spatial patterns of variation based on predicted probabilities across RdP differed by indicator. Structural sinking and low-hanging or tangled wires demonstrated relatively consistent spatial distribution patterns across full and random subset sample sizes. Smartphone-based systematic observations represent an efficient and potentially feasible approach to systematically studying neighborhood environments within informal communities. Future deployment of such tools will benefit from incorporating data collection across multiple time points to explore reliability and quantify neighborhood change. These tools can prove useful means to assess street-level exposures that can be modifiable health determinants across a wide range of informal urban settings. Findings can contribute to improved urban planning and provide useful information for identifying potential locations for neighborhood-scaled interventions that can improve living conditions for residents in Rio das Pedras.
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Details
- Title
- A Local View of Informal Urban Environments: a Mobile Phone-Based Neighborhood Audit of Street-Level Factors in a Brazilian Informal Community
- Creators
- Richard V. Remigio - Drexel UniversityGarazi Zulaika - Department of Epidemiology, Mailman School of Public Health, Columbia University, New York City, NY, USARenata S. Rabello - Fundacao Oswaldo Cruz FIOCRUZ, ENSP, Rio De Janeiro, RJ, BrazilJohn Bryan - Columbia Univ, Mailman Sch Publ Hlth, Dept Epidemiol, New York, NY USADaniel M. Sheehan - Department of Epidemiology, Mailman School of Public Health, Columbia University, New York City, NY, USASandro Galea - Boston UniversityMarilia S. Carvalho - Oswaldo Cruz FoundationAndrew Rundle - Department of Epidemiology, Mailman School of Public Health, Columbia University, New York City, NY, USAGina S. Lovasi - Drexel University
- Publication Details
- Journal of urban health, v 96(4), pp 537-548
- Publisher
- Springer Nature
- Number of pages
- 12
- Grant note
- Columbia University Urban+Health Initiative at the Mailman School of Public Health FY14-000483 / Medtronic Philanthropy
- Resource Type
- Journal article
- Language
- English
- Academic Unit
- Urban Health Collaborative
- Web of Science ID
- WOS:000478768500004
- Scopus ID
- 2-s2.0-85063224916
- Other Identifier
- 991019169646004721
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- Collaboration types
- Domestic collaboration
- International collaboration
- Web of Science research areas
- Public, Environmental & Occupational Health