Urban Health and Society: Interdisciplinary Approaches to Research and Practice

Preface xi

The Contributors xiii

PART ONE INTRODUCTION 1

1 FRAMEWORKS FOR INTERDISCIPLINARY URBAN HEALTH RESEARCH AND PRACTICE 3
Nicholas Freudenberg, Susan Klitzman, Susan Saegert

Introduction 4

The Implications of Urban Life for Health 6

Levels and Types of Interdisciplinarity 8

Conundrums in Interdisciplinarity 10

Interdisciplinarity and Theories of Knowledge 11

Methodological Challenges and Approaches to Interdisciplinarity 12

Interdisciplinarity: Which Disciplines When? 12

Role Defi nitions in Interdisciplinary Research and Practice 13

Multiple Levels of Intervention 14

Summary 15

2 ENVIRONMENTAL JUSTICE PRAXIS: IMPLICATIONS FOR INTERDISCIPLINARY URBAN PUBLIC HEALTH 19
Tom Angotti, Julie Sze

Environmental Justice and Public Health 22

The Built Environment, Urban Planning, and Urban Public Health 23

Environmental and Social Justice, Interdisciplinarity, and the Politics of Knowledge 26

Asthma and the Environmental Justice Campaign for a Solid Waste Plan in New York City 29

Asian Immigrant and Refugee Organizing for Environmental Health and Housing in the Bay Area 34

Conclusion 37

Summary 38

PART TWO INTERDISCIPLINARY APPROACHES TO STUDYING CAUSES OF URBAN HEALTH PROBLEMS 43

3 INTERDISCIPLINARY, PARTICIPATORY RESEARCH ON URBAN FOOD ENVIRONMENTS AND DIETARY BEHAVIORS 45
Shannon N. Zenk, Amy J. Schulz, Angela M. Odoms-Young, Murlisa Lockett

Introduction 46

Determinants of Retail Food Environments in Cities 47

Using CBPR to Understand the Health Implications of Detroit’s Food Environment 48

Directions for Future Research 54

Summary 56

4 AN ECOLOGICAL MODEL OF URBAN CHILD HEALTH 63
Kim T. Ferguson, Pilyoung Kim, James R. Dunn, Gary W. Evans

Introduction 64

An Ecological Model 64

Bronfenbrenner’s Bioecological Model 65

Influences on Children’s Health in the Urban Context 68

Research Across Multiple Levels 76

Agenda for Future Research and Practice 78

Summary 80

5 GEOGRAPHIC INFORMATION SYSTEMS, ENVIRONMENTAL JUSTICE, AND HEALTH DISPARITIES 93
Juliana Maantay, Andrew R. Maroko, Carlos Alicea, A. H. Strelnick

Introduction 94

Community-Based Participatory Research 95

Multilevel Models of Causation 96

Role of Geographic Information Systems 96

Environmental Justice and Health in the Bronx 97

Methods 101

Findings 110

Implications of Findings 111

Lessons on Interdisciplinary Approaches to Urban Health Research 117

Conclusion 119

Summary 119

6 RACIAL INEQUALITY IN HEALTH AND THE POLICY-INDUCED BREAKDOWN OF AFRICAN AMERICAN COMMUNITIES 127
Arline T. Geronimus, J. Phillip Thompson

Introduction 128

Racialized Ideologies: Developmentalism, Economism, and the American Creed 131

Implications for Public Policy 138

Building a Movement for Policy Reform 144

Summary 148

7 AN INTERDISCIPLINARY AND SOCIAL-ECOLOGICAL ANALYSIS OF THE U.S. FORECLOSURE CRISIS AS IT RELATES TO HEALTH 161
Susan Saegert, Kimberly Libman, Desiree Fields

Housing and Health: What’s the Connection? 162

The Social Ecology of Foreclosure 164

The Research and Its Context 166

Focus Group Analysis and the Emergence of Health as an Issue 170

Foreclosure and Public Health 173

Neoliberalism, the Foreclosure Crisis, and Health Consequences 174

Conclusion 176

Summary 178

PART THREE INTERDISCIPLINARY APPROACHES TO INTERVENTIONS TO PROMOTE URBAN HEALTH 183

8 TRANSDISCIPLINARY ACTION RESEARCH ON TEEN SMOKING PREVENTION 185
Juliana Fuqua, Daniel Stokols, Richard Harvey, Atusa Baghery, Larry Jamner

Introduction 186

Review of Transdisciplinary Action Research 186

Transdisciplinary Action Research Cycle 187

Translating Transdisciplinary Research into Community Intervention and Policy 189

Factors Facilitating or Impeding Collaboration Among TPC Members 196

Implications and Additional Lessons Learned from the TPC Study 205

Future Directions 207

Summary 211

9 HOW VULNERABILITIES AND CAPACITIES SHAPE POPULATION HEALTH AFTER DISASTERS 217
Craig Hadley, Sasha Rudenstine, Sandro Galea

Social and Economic Determinants of Health After Disasters 218

Humanitarian Crises in Angola and the Balkans 223

Hurricane Katrina 224

September 11, 2001, Terrorist Attacks on New York City 226

Implications for Prevention and Intervention 229

Summary 231

10 IMMIGRANTS AND URBAN AGING: TOWARD A POLICY FRAMEWORK 239
Marianne Fahs, Anahí Viladrich, Nina S. Parikh

The New Urban Demography: Baby Boomers and Immigrants 240

Economic and Social Influences on Aging and Health Policy 242

Social and Environmental Considerations 246

Toward a Conceptual Framework 254

A Public Health Research and Policy Agenda 255

Summary 258

11 REVERSING THE TIDE OF TYPE 2 DIABETES AMONG AFRICAN AMERICANS THROUGH INTERDISCIPLINARY RESEARCH 271
Hollie Jones, Leandris C. Liburd

A Dialogue Between Two Disciplines: Psychology and Medical Anthropology 273

Ethnic Identity and the Experience of Being African American with Type 2 Diabetes 278

Interdisciplinary Research Methods 281

Integrating Social Psychology and Medical Anthropology to Reduce the Burden of Diabetes 284

Summary 285

PART FOUR PUTTING INTERDISCIPLINARY APPROACHES INTO PRACTICE 293

12 USING INTERDISCIPLINARY APPROACHES TO STRENGTHEN URBAN HEALTH RESEARCH AND PRACTICE 295
Nicholas Freudenberg, Susan Klitzman, Susan Saegert

Doing Interdisciplinary Research and Practice 296

Defining the Problem 299

Creating a Process for Interdisciplinary Work 302

Choosing Institutional and Community Partners 305

Influencing Policy and Practice 309

Evaluating Impact 311

Wanted: Interdisciplinary Researchers and Practitioners 312

Summary 314

GLOSSARY 319

INDEX 325