ITS Berkeley

The Urban Built Environment and Adult BMI, Obesity, and Diabetes in Latin American Cities

Anza-Ramirez, C
Lazo, M
Zafra-Tanaka, J
Avila-Palencia, I
Bilal, U
Hernández-Vásquez, A
Knoll, C
Lopez-Olmedo, N
Mazariegos, M
Moore, K
Rodriguez, D
Sarmiento, O
Stern, D
Tumas, N
Miranda, J
2022

Latin America is the world’s most urbanized region and its heterogeneous urban development may impact chronic diseases. Here, we evaluated the association of built environment characteristics at the sub-city —intersection density, greenness, and population density— and city-level —fragmentation and isolation— with body mass index (BMI), obesity, and type 2 diabetes (T2D). Data from 93,280 (BMI and obesity) and 122,211 individuals (T2D) was analysed across 10 countries. Living in areas with higher intersection density was positively associated with BMI and obesity, whereas living in...

Modification of Temperature-Related Human Mortality by Area-Level Socioeconomic and Demographic Characteristics in Latin American Cities

Bakhtsiyarava, M
Schinasi, LH
Sánchez, BN
Dronova, I
Kephart, JL
Ju, Y
Gouveia, N
Caiaffa, WT
O'Neill, MS
Yamada, G
Arunachalam, S
Roux, AV Diez
Rodriguez, D
2023

In Latin America, where climate change and rapid urbanization converge, non-optimal ambient temperatures contribute to...

Cars in Latin America: An Exploration of the Urban Landscape and Street Network Correlates of Motorization in 300 Cities

Delclòs-Alió, X
Kanai, C
Soriano, L
Quistberg, D
Ju, Y
Dronova, I
Gouveia, N
Rodriguez, D
2023
Car use creates significant externalities for urban residents worldwide. City characteristics such as the configuration of the urban landscape and street network likely influence the use and attractiveness of automobiles, especially in rapidly urbanizing areas such as Latin America. The understanding of factors associated with motorization can inform planning measures to reduce car usage, and to promote healthier, safer, and more sustainable urban lifestyles. We harmonized official passenger vehicle data from 300 cities with >100,000 inhabitants in Brazil, Chile, Colombia, and Mexico, and...

Bicycle Use in Latin American Cities: Changes Over Time by Socio-Economic PositionBicycle Use in Latin American Cities: Changes Over Time by Socio-Economic Position

Avila-Palencia, I
Gouveia. N
Jáuregui, A
Mascolli, M
Rodriguez, D
Slovic, A
Sarmiento, O
2023

We aimed to examine utilitarian bicycle use among adults from 18 large Latin American cities and its association with socio-economic position (education and income) between 2008 and 2018. Data came from yearly cross-sectional surveys collected by the Development Bank of Latin America (CAF). A total of 77,765 survey respondents with complete data were used to estimate multilevel logistic regression models with city as random intercept and year as random slope. Individuals with high education and high-income levels had lower odds of using a bicycle compared with participants with lower...

Assessing Area Under the Curve as an Alternative to Latent Growth Curve Modeling for Repeated Measures Zero-Inflated Poisson Data: A Simulation Study

Rodriguez, Daniel
2023
Researchers interested in the assessment of substance use trajectories, and predictors of change, have several data analysis options. These include, among others, generalized estimating equations and latent growth curve modeling. One difficulty in the assessment of substance use, however, is the nature of the variables studied. Although counting instances of use (e.g., the number of cigarettes smoked per day) would seem to be the best option, such data present difficulties in that the distribution of these variables is not likely normal. Count variables often follow a Poisson distribution,...

Evaluating the Effects of a Classroom-based Bicycle Education Intervention on Bicycle Activity, Self-Efficacy, Personal Safety, Knowledge, and Mode Choice

Nachman, Elizabeth R.
Rodríguez, Daniel A.
2019

This study provides an evaluation of the impacts of classroom-based adult bicycle education on bicycling activity, confidence and competency self-perceptions while bicycling, knowledge of the bicycling rules of the road, and mode choice in a sample of residents of the San Francisco Bay Area in the US. Changes were measured with self-administered surveys completed before and six weeks after the course intervention. Self-reported data were validated using objective data collected using the Ride Report app. We used multivariable regression analyses to examine changes in self-...

Social Disparities in Flood Exposure and Associations with the Built Environment in 47,187 Urban Neighborhoods in Eight Latin American Countries

Kephart, JL
Bilal, U
Ferreira, A
Gouveia, N
Rodriguez, DA
Barbieri, IS
Miranda, J
Roux, AV Diez
2023
BACKGROUND AND AIM: Climate change is expected to greatly increase population exposure to flooding and related health impacts, particularly in urban areas of the Global South. We aimed to examine within-city social disparities in exposure to flooding within 326 Latin American cities and associated features of the neighborhood environment. METHOD: We used a high spatial resolution dataset of historical flood events from 2000-2018 to describe flood exposure at the neighborhood level for all cities with 100,000+ residents in eight Latin American countries (Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Colombia,...

Effects of an Urban Cable Car Intervention on Physical Activity: The TrUST Natural Experiment in Bogotá, Colombia

Baldovino-Chiquillo, L
Sarmiento, OL
O’Donovan, G
Wilches-Mogollon, M
Aguilar, A
Florez-Pregonero, A
Martinez, M
Arellana, J
Guzman, L
Yamada, G
Rodriguez, D
Roux, AV Diez
2023

Cable cars are part of the transport system in several cities in Latin America, but no evaluations of their effects on physical activity are available. TransMiCable is the first cable car in Bogotá, Colombia, and the wider intervention includes renovated parks and playgrounds. We assessed the effects of TransMiCable and the wider intervention on physical activity. The Urban Transformations and Health natural experiment was a prospective quasi-experimental study conducted from Feb 1, 2018, to Dec 18, 2018 (baseline, pre-intervention) and from July 2, 2019, to March 15, 2020 (...

Greenness and Excess Deaths from Heat in 323 Latin American Cities: Do Associations Vary According to Climate Zone or Green Space Configuration?

Schinasi, LH
Bakhtsiyarava, M
Sánchez, BN
Kephart, JL
Ju, Y
Arunachalam, S
Gouveia, N
Caiaffa, WT
O'Neill, MS
Dronova, I
Roux, AV Diez
Rodriguez, D
2023
Green vegetation may protect against heat-related death by improving thermal comfort. Few studies have investigated associations of green vegetation with heat-related mortality in Latin America or whether associations are modified by the spatial configuration of green vegetation. We used data from 323 Latin American cities and meta-regression models to estimate associations between city-level greenness, quantified using population-weighted normalized difference vegetation index values and modeled as three-level categorical terms, and excess deaths from heat (heat excess death fractions [heat...

Recent Greening May Curb Urban Warming in Latin American Cities of Better Economic Conditions

Ju, Y
Dronova, I
Rodriguez, D
Bakhtsiyarava, M
Farah, I
2023
Rising temperatures have profound impacts on the well-being of urban residents. However, factors explaining the temporal variability of urban thermal environment, or urban warming, remain insufficiently understood, especially in the Global South. Addressing this gap, we studied the relationship between city-level economic conditions and urban warming, and how urban green space mediated this relationship, focusing on 359 major Latin American cities between 2001 and 2022. While effect sizes varied by economic and temperature measures used, we found that better economic conditions were...