IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/eee/socmed/v64y2007i7p1407-1419.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Quantifying the urban environment: A scale measure of urbanicity outperforms the urban-rural dichotomy

Author

Listed:
  • Dahly, Darren L.
  • Adair, Linda S.

Abstract

The rapid urbanization of the developing world has important consequences for human health. Although several authorities have called for better research on the relationships between urbanicity and health, most researchers still use a poor measurement of urbanicity, the urban-rural dichotomy. Our goal was to construct a scale of urbanicity using community level data from the Cebu Longitudinal Health and Nutrition Survey. We used established scale development methods to validate the new measure and tested its performance against the dichotomy. The new scale illustrated misclassification by the urban-rural dichotomy, and was able to detect differences in urbanicity, both between communities and across time, that were not apparent before. Furthermore, using a continuous measure of urbanicity allowed for better illustrations of the relationships between urbanicity and health. The new scale is a better measure of urbanicity than the traditionally used urban-rural dichotomy.

Suggested Citation

  • Dahly, Darren L. & Adair, Linda S., 2007. "Quantifying the urban environment: A scale measure of urbanicity outperforms the urban-rural dichotomy," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 64(7), pages 1407-1419, April.
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:socmed:v:64:y:2007:i:7:p:1407-1419
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0277-9536(06)00601-0
    Download Restriction: Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. McDade, Thomas W. & Adair, Linda S., 2001. "Defining the "urban" in urbanization and health: a factor analysis approach," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 53(1), pages 55-70, July.
    2. Mutatkar, R. K., 1995. "Public health problems of urbanization," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 41(7), pages 977-981, October.
    3. Ruel, Marie T. & Haddad, Lawrence & Garrett, James L., 1999. "Some Urban Facts of Life: Implications for Research and Policy," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 27(11), pages 1917-1938, November.
    4. Ruel, Marie T. & Haddad, Lawrence James & Garrett, James L., 1999. "Some urban facts of life," FCND discussion papers 64, International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI).
    5. Yach, Derek & Mathews, Catherine & Buch, Eric, 1990. "Urbanisation and health: Methodological difficulties in undertaking epidemiological research in developing countries," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 31(4), pages 507-514, January.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Ruel, Marie T. & de la Briere, Benedicte & Hallman, Kelly & Quisumbing, Agnes R. & Coj, Nora, 2002. "Does subsidized childcare help poor working women in urban areas?," FCND discussion papers 131, International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI).
    2. Laurent Parrot & Clovis Dongmo & Michel Ndoumbé & Christine Poubom, 2008. "Horticulture, livelihoods, and urban transition in Africa: evidence from South‐West Cameroon," Agricultural Economics, International Association of Agricultural Economists, vol. 39(2), pages 245-256, September.
    3. Haddad, Lawrence & Oshaug, Arne, 1998. "How does the human rights perspective help to shape the food and nutrition policy research agenda?," Food Policy, Elsevier, vol. 23(5), pages 329-345, October.
    4. Ecker, Olivier & Mabiso, Athur & Kennedy, Adam & Diao, Xinshen 22905, 2011. "Making agriculture pro-nutrition: Opportunities in Tanzania," IFPRI discussion papers 1124, International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI).
    5. Ellen van de Poel & Owen O'Donnell & Eddy van Doorslaer, 2007. "Are Urban Children really healthier?," Tinbergen Institute Discussion Papers 07-035/3, Tinbergen Institute.
    6. Gutner, Tammi, 1999. "The political economy of Food subsidy reform in Egypt," FCND briefs 1, International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI).
    7. Suchá, Lenka & Schlossarek, Martin & Dušková, Lenka & Malan, Naudé & Šarapatka, Bořivoj, 2020. "Land tenure security and its implications for investments to urban agriculture in Soweto, South Africa," Land Use Policy, Elsevier, vol. 97(C).
    8. Díaz-Bonilla, Eugenio & Ron, Juan Francisco, 2010. "Food Security, Price Volatility and Trade: Some Reflections for Developing Countries," Price Volatility and Beyond 320195, International Centre for Trade and Sustainable Development (ICTSD).
    9. Gómez, Miguel I. & Ricketts, Katie D., 2013. "Food value chain transformations in developing countries: Selected hypotheses on nutritional implications," Food Policy, Elsevier, vol. 42(C), pages 139-150.
    10. Deb, Surajit, 2020. "Can the Gap between Infant and Child Mortality be explained by Malnutrition Prevalence in India?," Conference papers 333212, Purdue University, Center for Global Trade Analysis, Global Trade Analysis Project.
    11. Suchá, Lenka & Dušková, Lenka, 2022. "Land access mechanisms of Soweto farmers: Moving beyond legal land tenure for urban agriculture," Land Use Policy, Elsevier, vol. 119(C).
    12. Laura B. Nolan, 2015. "Slum Definitions in Urban India: Implications for the Measurement of Health Inequalities," Population and Development Review, The Population Council, Inc., vol. 41(1), pages 59-84, March.
    13. Ng, Shu Wen & Norton, Edward C. & Popkin, Barry M., 2009. "Why have physical activity levels declined among Chinese adults? Findings from the 1991-2006 China health and nutrition surveys," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 68(7), pages 1305-1314, April.
    14. Walsh, E. & Babakina, O. & Pennock, A. & Shi, H. & Chi, Y. & Wang, T. & Graedel, T.E., 2006. "Quantitative guidelines for urban sustainability," Technology in Society, Elsevier, vol. 28(1), pages 45-61.
    15. Didem Kara & Gülden Demet Oruç, 2021. "Evaluating the Relationship between Park Features and Ecotherapeutic Environment: A Comparative Study of Two Parks in Istanbul, Beylikdüzü," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(9), pages 1-23, April.
    16. Jean-Pierre Lachaud, 2004. "Urbanisation, malnutrition des enfants et sexe au Burkina Faso : une analyse économétrique spatiale," Revue d’économie du développement, De Boeck Université, vol. 12(1), pages 35-70.
    17. Ng, Jonathan Cho Kin, 2020. "Factors Affecting Family Business Succession In The Food Hawking Business In Malaysia," FrenXiv 8mdxe, Center for Open Science.
    18. Jirawan Sopsuk & Virasakdi Chongsuvivatwong & Vorasith Sornsrivichai & Supat Hasuwanakit, 2013. "Development and Application of Environmental Quality of Life Scale Among People Residing Near Three Types of Industrial Areas, Southern Thailand," Social Indicators Research: An International and Interdisciplinary Journal for Quality-of-Life Measurement, Springer, vol. 110(3), pages 863-872, February.
    19. Monda, Keri L. & Gordon-Larsen, Penny & Stevens, June & Popkin, Barry M., 2007. "China's transition: The effect of rapid urbanization on adult occupational physical activity," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 64(4), pages 858-870, February.
    20. Scanlan, Stephen J., 2004. "Women, Food Security, and Development in Less-Industrialized Societies: Contributions and Challenges for the New Century," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 32(11), pages 1807-1829, November.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:eee:socmed:v:64:y:2007:i:7:p:1407-1419. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Catherine Liu (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.elsevier.com/wps/find/journaldescription.cws_home/315/description#description .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.