New paper: Availability of healthy foods may decrease hypertension
March 28, 2009 at 8:28 am | Posted in amenities, food deserts, grocery stores, health, hypertension, neighborhoods, supermarkets | Leave a comment“Neighborhood Characteristics and Hypertension,” authored by Mahasin Mujahid and others, was recently published in Epidemiology. From the abstract: The goal of this study was to investigate cross-sectional associations between features of neighborhoods and hypertension and to examine the sensitivity of results to various methods of estimating neighborhood conditions. We used data from the Multi-Ethnic Study of Atherosclerosis on 2612 individuals 45-85 years of age…. Neighborhood (census tract) conditions potentially related to hypertension (walking environment, availability of healthy foods, safety, social cohesion) were measured using information from a separate phone survey conducted in the study neighborhoods…. Residents of neighborhoods with better walkability, availability of healthy foods, greater safety, and more social cohesion were less likely to be hypertensive.
Two new studies find that supplementary educational settings and ethnoburbs important for Chinese immigrant incorporation
March 17, 2009 at 10:24 am | Posted in amenities, churches, immigrants, neighborhoods, non-profits | Leave a commentIn, “The Ethnic System of Supplementary Education: Non-profit and For-profit Institutions in Los Angeles’ Chinese Immigrant Community,” Min Zhou examines how particular types of informal social settings created and structured within ethnic communities generate resources for school success. By looking specifically at non-profit and for-profit institutions serving youth in Los Angeles’ Chinese immigrant community, Zhou highlights an ethnic system of supplementary education that not only offers tangible support but also reinforces cultural norms in pushing immigrant children to succeed in school. The full citation for the piece is:
Zhou, Min. 2008. “The Ethnic System of Supplementary Education: Non-profit and Forprofit Institutions in Los Angeles’ Chinese Immigrant Community.” Pp. 229-251 in Beth Shinn and Hirokazu Yoshikawa, eds., Toward Positive Youth Development: Transforming Schools and Community Programs. New York: Oxford University Press.
In addition, Min Zhou and her co-authors have published a piece looking at new patterns of residential assimilation through the case of a sprawling Chinese ethnoburb in the San Gabriel Valley of California. Using U.S. Census data, field observations, and previous literature, the authors demonstrate that new patterns of immigrant settlement are reshaping Chinese American commercial investment, real estate, educational institutions, and other organizations. The full citation for the piece is:
Zhou, Min, Yen-fen Tseng, and Rebecca Y. Kim. 2008. “Rethinking Residential Assimilation through the Case of Chinese Ethnoburbs in the San Gabriel Valley, California.” Amerasia Journal 34 (3): 55-83.
New paper finds that fast food restaurants in neighborhood may increase child obesity
February 17, 2009 at 8:38 pm | Posted in amenities, food deserts, neighborhoods, obesity, what to read | Leave a comment“The Effect of Fast Food Restaurants on Obesity,” by Janet Currie and her colleagues, was recently released by the NBER. Using a massive dataset, the authors find a strong association between proximity to a fast food restaurant and obesity levels among school children. From the abstract: “We investigate the health consequences of changes in the supply of fast food using the exact geographical location of fast food restaurants. Specifically, we ask how the supply of fast food affects the obesity rates of 3 million school children and the weight gain of over 1 million pregnant women. We find that among 9th grade children, a fast food restaurant within a tenth of a mile of a school is associated with at least a 5.2 percent increase in obesity rates. There is no discernable effect at .25 miles and at .5 miles. Among pregnant women, models with mother fixed effects indicate that a fast food restaurant within a half mile of her residence results in a 2.5 percent increase in the probability of gaining over 20 kilos. The effect is larger, but less precisely estimated at .1 miles. In contrast, the presence of non-fast food restaurants is uncorrelated with obesity and weight gain. Moreover, proximity to future fast food restaurants is uncorrelated with current obesity and weight gain, conditional on current proximity to fast food. The implied effects of fast-food on caloric intake are at least one order of magnitude smaller for mothers, which suggests that they are less constrained by travel costs than school children. Our results imply that policies restricting access to fast food near schools could have significant effects on obesity among school children, but similar policies restricting the availability of fast food in residential areas are unlikely to have large effects on adults”
Study finds Chicago low-income black neighborhoods lack supermarkets
November 13, 2008 at 10:00 pm | Posted in amenities, food deserts, neighborhoods, organizational density, supermarkets, what to read | Leave a commentDaniel Block, Noel Chavez, and Judy Birgen find that low-income black neighborhoods in Chicago cities and suburbs have lower access to supermarkets than other neighborhoods. Their work adds to a growing literature on “food deserts,” neighborhoods with a scarcity of supermarkets and other suppliers of fresh or healthful foods. For the report, click here.
Terry Clark’s research on ammenities in the news
January 30, 2008 at 6:00 am | Posted in amenities, neighborhoods, news | Leave a comment
“Bohemian Rapsody,” a long feature in the newspaper New City examines Terry’s work on the role of amenities in the migration of hipsters.
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