scholarly journals Global Harmonization of Urbanization Measures: Proceed with Care

2021 ◽  
Vol 13 (24) ◽  
pp. 4973
Author(s):  
Deborah Balk ◽  
Stefan Leyk ◽  
Mark R. Montgomery ◽  
Hasim Engin
Keyword(s):  
Remote Sensing ◽  
Urban Areas ◽  
The United States ◽  
Population Census ◽  
Urban Rural ◽  
Global Harmonization ◽  
United States Mexico ◽  
Remote Sensing Methods ◽  
Urban Places ◽  
Derived Data

By 2050, two-thirds of the world’s population is expected to be living in cities and towns, a marked increase from today’s level of 55 percent. If the general trend is unmistakable, efforts to measure it precisely have been beset with difficulties: the criteria defining urban areas, cities and towns differ from one country to the next and can also change over time for any given country. The past decade has seen great progress toward the long-awaited goal of scientifically comparable urbanization measures, thanks to the combined efforts of multiple disciplines. These efforts have been organized around what is termed the “statistical urbanization” concept, whereby urban areas are defined by population density, contiguity and total population size. Data derived from remote-sensing methods can now supply a variety of spatial proxies for urban areas defined in this way. However, it remains to be understood how such proxies complement, or depart from, meaningful country-specific alternatives. In this paper, we investigate finely resolved population census and satellite-derived data for the United States, Mexico and India, three countries with widely varying conceptions of urban places and long histories of debate and refinement of their national criteria. At the extremes of the urban–rural continuum, we find evidence of generally good agreement between the national and remote sensing-derived measures (albeit with variation by country), but identify significant disagreements in the middle ranges where today’s urban policies are often focused.

scholarly journals Integrating Satellite-Derived Data as Spatial Predictors in Multiple Regression Models to Enhance the Knowledge of Air Temperature Patterns

Urban Science ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 3 (4) ◽  
pp. 101 ◽  
Author(s):  
Lucille Alonso ◽  
Florent Renard
Keyword(s):  
Remote Sensing ◽  
Air Temperature ◽  
Urban Areas ◽  
Land Development ◽  
Explanatory Variables ◽  
Dense Networks ◽  
Urban Heat ◽  
Derived Data ◽  
Computer Resources

With the phenomenon of urban heat island and thermal discomfort felt in urban areas, exacerbated by climate change, it is necessary to best estimate the air temperature in every part of an area, especially in the context of the on-going rationalization weather stations network. In addition, the comprehension of air temperature patterns is essential for multiple applications in the fields of agriculture, hydrology, land development or public health. Thus, this study proposes to estimate the air temperature from 28 explanatory variables, using multiple linear regressions. The innovation of this study is to integrate variables from remote sensing into the model in addition to the variables traditionally used like the ones from the Land Use Land Cover. The contribution of spectral indices is significant and makes it possible to improve the quality of the prediction model. However, modeling errors are still present. Their locations and magnitudes are analyzed. However, although the results provided by modelling are of good quality in most cases, particularly thanks to the introduction of explanatory variables from remote sensing, this can never replace dense networks of ground-based measurements. Nevertheless, the methodology presented, applicable to any territory and not requiring specific computer resources, can be highly useful in many fields, particularly for urban planners.

scholarly journals Demographic and Disease Characteristics of People With Multiple Sclerosis Living in Urban and Rural Areas

2006 ◽  
Vol 8 (3) ◽  
pp. 89-97 ◽  
Author(s):  
Robert J. Buchanan ◽  
Randolph Schiffer ◽  
Alexa Stuifbergen ◽  
Li Zhu ◽  
Suojin Wang ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
Multiple Sclerosis ◽  
Rural Areas ◽  
Urban Areas ◽  
The United States ◽  
Primary Progressive ◽  
Disease Characteristics ◽  
Urban Rural ◽  
Disease Modifying ◽  
Urban And Rural Areas

This study compares demographic and disease-related characteristics of people with multiple sclerosis (MS) living in urban and rural areas. The data analyzed for this study were collected from a survey of 1518 people with MS living throughout the United States from October 2004 through January 2005. We found significant urban-rural differences in various MS characteristics, including type of MS. A significantly larger proportion of people with MS in remote rural areas than their urban counterparts responded that they had primary progressive MS. People with MS in rural areas were significantly more likely than those in urban areas to report that MS symptoms interfered with their independence. A significantly larger proportion of people with MS in remote rural areas than in urban areas were not receiving disease-modifying medications. Our results suggest that MS disease expression varies across urban-rural gradients. Although the findings are not definitive, we hope that other investigative groups will build on these results and work toward confirming and understanding them.

scholarly journals Sexuality and the city: The geography of LGBT participation in the United States

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jack Thompson ◽  
Stuart James Turnbull-Dugarte
Keyword(s):  
Rural Areas ◽  
Urban Areas ◽  
Local Level ◽  
The United States ◽  
Lower Percentage ◽  
Critical Gap ◽  
Level Data ◽  
Urban Rural ◽  
Using Data ◽  
Lgbt Individuals

The literature on LGBT participation is growing, but there is still little empirical analysis on the importance of urbanicity in shaping Queer activism. In this paper, we address this critical gap by examining how patterns of participation among LGBT Americans vary by geographic context. Using data from the 2020 Cooperative Election Study (CES) to explore how patterns of LGBT participation differ across the urban-rural interface, we find that individuals identifying as LGBT living in urban areas exhibit higher rates of participation than those living in rural areas, and that these results hold across multiple urban-rural classification schemes. Estimating a multilevel model that leverages local-level data on the density of the LGBT population, we also provide strong empirical validation of the theoretical effects of intragroup contact and mobilization on LGBT participation in large metro areas. When we limit our sample to respondents living in the 55 largest metro areas in the US but vary the metro-level percentage of LGBT individuals, we find that LGBT individuals living in metro areas with a higher percentage of LGBT individuals exhibit higher rates of participation relative to metro areas with a lower percentage of LGBT individuals. The results indicate that urban contexts foster Queer participation by engendering intragroup contact and mobilization among LGBT populations.

scholarly journals Urban-rural differences in COVID-19 exposures and outcomes in the South: A preliminary analysis of South Carolina

PLoS ONE ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 16 (2) ◽  
pp. e0246548
Author(s):  
Qian Huang ◽  
Sarah Jackson ◽  
Sahar Derakhshan ◽  
Logan Lee ◽  
Erika Pham ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
South Carolina ◽  
Rural Areas ◽  
Urban Areas ◽  
Temporal Patterns ◽  
The United States ◽  
Mortality Rates ◽  
Small Towns ◽  
Spatial And Temporal Patterns ◽  
Urban Rural ◽  
State And Local

As the COVID-19 pandemic moved beyond the initial heavily impacted and urbanized Northeast region of the United States, hotspots of cases in other urban areas ensued across the country in early 2020. In South Carolina, the spatial and temporal patterns were different, initially concentrating in small towns within metro counties, then diffusing to centralized urban areas and rural areas. When mitigation restrictions were relaxed, hotspots reappeared in the major cities. This paper examines the county-scale spatial and temporal patterns of confirmed cases of COVID-19 for South Carolina from March 1st—September 5th, 2020. We first describe the initial diffusion of the new confirmed cases per week across the state, which remained under 2,000 cases until Memorial Day weekend (epi week 23) then dramatically increased, peaking in mid-July (epi week 29), and slowly declining thereafter. Second, we found significant differences in cases and deaths between urban and rural counties, partially related to the timing of the number of confirmed cases and deaths and the implementation of state and local mitigations. Third, we found that the case rates and mortality rates positively correlated with pre-existing social vulnerability. There was also a negative correlation between mortality rates and county resilience patterns, as expected, suggesting that counties with higher levels of inherent resilience had fewer deaths per 100,000 population.

scholarly journals Sexuality and the city: The geography of LGBT political participation in the United States

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jack Thompson ◽  
Stuart James Turnbull-Dugarte
Keyword(s):  
Rural Areas ◽  
Urban Areas ◽  
Local Level ◽  
The United States ◽  
Lower Percentage ◽  
Critical Gap ◽  
Level Data ◽  
Urban Rural ◽  
Using Data ◽  
Lgbt Individuals

The literature on LGBT participation is growing, but there is still little empirical analysis on the importance of urbanicity in shaping Queer activism. In this paper, we address this critical gap by examining how patterns of participation among LGBT Americans vary by geographic context. Using data from the 2020 Cooperative Election Study (CES) to explore how patterns of LGBT participation differ across the urban-rural interface, we find that individuals identifying as LGBT living in urban areas exhibit higher rates of participation than those living in rural areas, and that these results hold across multiple urban-rural classification schemes. Estimating a multilevel model that leverages local-level data on the density of the LGBT population, we also provide strong empirical validation of the theoretical effects of intragroup contact and mobilization on LGBT participation in large metro areas. When we limit our sample to respondents living in the 55 largest metro areas in the US but vary the metro-level percentage of LGBT individuals, we find that LGBT individuals living in metro areas with a higher percentage of LGBT individuals exhibit higher rates of participation relative to metro areas with a lower percentage of LGBT individuals. The results indicate that urban contexts foster Queer participation by engendering intragroup contact and mobilization among LGBT populations.

scholarly journals The heterogeneity and change in the urban structure of metropolitan areas in the United States, 1990–2010

2019 ◽  
Vol 6 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Stefan Leyk ◽  
Deborah Balk ◽  
Bryan Jones ◽  
Mark R. Montgomery ◽  
Hasim Engin
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
Urban Form ◽  
Urban Areas ◽  
The United States ◽  
Data Series ◽  
Urban Structure ◽  
Change Analysis ◽  
Block Level ◽  
Urban Places ◽  
Over Time

AbstractWhile the population of the United States has been predominantly urban for nearly 100 years, periodic transformations of the concepts and measures that define urban places and population have taken place, complicating over-time comparisons. We compare and combine data series of officially-designated urban areas, 1990–2010, at the census block-level within Metropolitan Statistical Areas (MSAs) with a satellite-derived consistent series on built-up area from the Global Human Settlement Layer to create urban classes that characterize urban structure and provide estimates of land and population. We find considerable heterogeneity in urban form across MSAs, even among those of similar population size, indicating the inherent difficulties in urban definitions. Over time, we observe slightly declining population densities and increasing land and population in areas captured only by census definitions or low built-up densities, constrained by the geography of place. Nevertheless, deriving urban proxies from satellite-derived built-up areas is promising for future efforts to create spatio-temporally consistent measures for urban land to guide urban demographic change analysis.

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