ITS Berkeley

Is City-Level Travel Time by Car Associated with Individual Obesity or Diabetes in Latin American Cities? Evidence from 178 Cities in the SALURBAL Project

Delclos-Alió, X
Rodríguez, D
Olmedo, N
Ferrer, C
Moore, K
Stern, D
Menezes, M
Cardoso, L
Wang, X
Guimaraes, J
Miranda, J
Sarmiento, O
2022
There is growing evidence that longer travel time by private car poses physical and mental risks. Individual-level obesity and diabetes, two of the main public health challenges in low- and middle-income contexts, could be associated to city-level travel times by car. We used individual obesity and diabetes data from national health surveys from individuals in 178 Latin American cities, compiled and harmonized by the SALURBAL project. We calculated city-level travel times by car using the Google Maps Distance Matrix API. We estimated associations between peak hour city-level travel time by...

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...

Modelo de Aseguramiento de la Calidad y Perfil de Rector Universitario: Análisis de Criterios de Calidad

Hernández, A
Martel, K
Pérez, F
Rodríguez, D
2022

El aseguramiento de la calidad en educación superior es una tendencia a nivel mundial (UNESCO, 2016), que surge como respuesta a una serie de demandas, tales como: evaluar el impacto de la oferta educativa, justificar el aporte público y privado al sistema, proteger a los estudiantes e identificar perfiles de egreso (Lemaitre, 2015). Por esto, algunos sistemas educativos del mundo han establecido sus propios sistemas de aseguramiento de la calidad, destacando dentro de sus enfoques el que entiende el aseguramiento de la calidad como un proceso permanente (improvement), relacionado al...

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-...

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 (...

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,...