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This study aimed to define better the clinical presentation, fracture patterns, and features predictive of associated injuries and need for surgery in pediatric facial trauma patients in an urban setting. Charts of patients 18 years or younger with International Classification of Disease 9th and 10th revision (ICD-9/ICD-10) codes specific for facial fractures (excluding isolated nasal fractures) at NY-Presbyterian/Weill Cornell Medical Center between 2008 and 2017 were retrospectively reviewed. Of 204 patients, most were referred to the emergency department by a physician's office or self-presented. Children (age 0–6 years) were most likely to have been injured by falls, while more patients 7 to 12 years and 13 to 18 years were injured during sporting activities ( p  < 0.0001). Roughly half (50.5%) of the patients had a single fracture, and the likelihood of surgery increased with greater numbers of fractures. Older patients with either orbital or mandibular fractures were more likely to undergo surgery than younger ones ( p  = 0.0048 and p  = 0.0053, respectively). Cranial bone fractures, CSF leaks, and intracranial injuries were more common in younger patients ( p  < 0.0001) than older patients and were more likely after high energy injuries; however, 16.2% of patients sustaining low energy injuries also sustained cranial bone, CSF leak, or intracranial injury. In an urban environment, significant pediatric facial fractures and associated injuries may occur after nonclassic low kinetic energy traumatic events. The age of the patient impacts both the injuries sustained and the treatment rendered. It is essential to maintain a high index of suspicion for associated injuries in all pediatric facial trauma patients. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Recent studies show that 85% of women have changed their traveled routes to avoid harassment and assault. Despite this, current mapping tools do not empower users with information to take charge of their personal safety. We propose SafeRoute, a novel solution to the problem of navigating cities and avoiding street harassment and crime. Unlike other street navigation applications, SafeRoute introduces a new type of path generation via deep reinforcement learning. This enables us to successfully optimize for multi-criteria path-finding and incorporate representation learning within our framework. Our agent learns to pick favorable streets to create a safe and short path with a reward function that incorporates safety and efficiency. Given access to recent crime reports in many urban cities, we train our model for experiments in Boston, New York, and San Francisco. We test our model on areas of these cities, specifically the populated downtown regions with high foot traffic. We evaluate SafeRoute and successfully improve over state-of-the-art methods by up to 17% in local average distance from crimes while decreasing path length by up to 7%. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Data on building energy use for large and dense cities is not yet available at adequate spatial and temporal scales. The energy consumption from buildings significantly influences the local climate and this impact is not adequately integrated into regional or local scale weather models. The primary objective of his study is to understand and map building energy consumption and quantify its impact on the urban environment; here, New York City (NYC) is used as a test case. The project involved a detailed classification of buildings in NYC using a high-resolution landuse/landcover dataset. The customized classification was then coupled with a single building energy model (SBEM) to estimate the building energy use. The developed model matched the annual energy use of NYC within 5% of the observed value. Coupled energy simulations were then performed with the Weather Research and Forecasting (WRF) model. The results show that heat released from building's heating and air conditioning system during extreme heat events can be as high as 18% of the overall available energy. Finally, a comparison between the average annual energy use, the urban heat island intensity (UHI) and the landcover/landuse fraction for various parcels during extreme heat events indicated that neighborhoods surrounding the highly-commercialized zones were disproportionately impacted by high UHI values. The increase was related to advection of heat. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Urban ecological history can give us a fascinating glimpse into the sometimes completely obscured natural past right under our noses. It is also an effective vehicle for reconnecting people with their urban environment. Interdisciplinary artist Edmund Mooney uses eco-history as an invitation to walk into New York City, against the grid, with an eye and an ear to land and water features long erased. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

New York City’s extensive municipal park system is home to forests, wetlands, and grasslands that provide important ecological and social benefits to the city’s population. While efforts and programs exist to restore and protect these spaces, management recommendations are complex due to variable conditions in urban natural areas. To advance the management of urban natural areas, the first comprehensive ecological assessment was conducted through a collaborative effort across 4000 ha of natural areas within New York City parkland. Field and spatial data were collected and analyzed to identify the extent of forests, the types of forests, and their conditions. This approach will help guide decision-making and prioritization of natural area management at the regional level by developing unique quantitative targets for urban forests. This project serves as an example of collaboration between private and public institutions advancing the governance of urban natural areas to achieve citywide conservation and policy goals. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

There is growing public interest and participation in food-producing urban community gardens in North America, yet little research has examined agricultural production and ecological processes in these spaces. We describe the agroecological and social characteristics of 61 food-producing gardens in New York City, drawing on gardener interviews, land-use maps, plant species inventories, arthropod scouting, and soil sampling and analysis. Gardens contained agricultural crops, food production infrastructure, ornamental plants, and recreational areas in varying proportions, indicating that gardens serve multiple and distinct purposes depending on community needs and interests. On average, gardeners devoted the greatest proportion of garden area (44 %) to food production, and supplied a large share of their households' produce needs from their community gardens. Solanaceae, Brassicaceae, and Cucurbitaceae crops dominated food crop areas, hindering effective crop rotation to prevent disease and pest problems. Most gardeners grew crops in raised beds constructed with clean fill and compost. These soils generally had sandy textures, low water-holding capacity, high organic matter levels (with a large proportion from recent inputs) and excessive nutrient levels. Soil water content at field capacity increased exponentially with total soil carbon, suggesting that organic matter enhances water-holding capacity. Insect pest densities greatly exceeded action thresholds in nearly all gardens for aphids and whiteflies on Brassica crops, aphids on Cucurbit crops, and two-spotted spider mites on tomatoes. Predator and parasitoid densities were generally low (less than one per plant on average), perhaps partially due to low floral and woody perennial cover in most gardens (12 % and 9 % on average, respectively). Dominant groups of natural enemies were minute pirate bugs, spiders, and parasitoid wasps. A wide variety of people of differing experience levels, incomes, and ethnicities participate in community gardening in NYC, and most gardens host multiple languages. Promising directions for urban gardening research, education, and practice include: 1) Cover cropping to improve soil quality and nutrient management, and diversify crop rotations; 2) Improving access to soil testing and guidance on appropriate use of soil amendments, 3) Enhancing habitat for arthropod natural enemies that provide biological control of insect pests with floral and woody perennial plantings; and 4) Incorporating ecological knowledge and inquiry-based approaches into gardening workshops, educational materials, and technical support, and offering these resources in multiple languages. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Several social theories have been proposed to explain the uneven distribution of vegetation in urban residential areas: population density, social stratification, luxury effect, and ecology of prestige. We evaluate these theories using a combination of demographic and socio-economic predictors of vegetative cover on all residential lands in New York City. We use diverse data sources including the City's property database, time-series demographic and socio-economic data from the US Census, and land cover data from the University of Vermont's Spatial Analysis Lab (SAL). These data are analyzed using a multi-model inferential, spatial econometrics approach. We also examine the distribution of vegetation within distinct market categories using Claritas' Potential Rating Index for Zipcode Markets (PRIZM™) database. These categories can be disaggregated, corresponding to the four social theories. We compare the econometric and categorical results for validation. Models associated with ecology of prestige theory are more effective for predicting the distribution of vegetation. This suggests that private, residential patterns of vegetation, reflecting the consumption of environmentally relevant goods and services, are associated with different lifestyles and lifestages. Further, our spatial and temporal analyses suggest that there are significant spatial and temporal dependencies that have theoretical and methodological implications for understanding urban ecological systems. These findings may have policy implications. Decision makers may need to consider how to most effectively reach different social groups in terms of messages and messengers in order to advance land management practices and achieve urban sustainability. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: Objective: To evaluate the association between adult individuals' body mass index (BMI) and characteristics of parks (size and cleanliness) in an urban environment taking into account the physical and social environments of the neighborhood. Methods: Cross-sectional, hierarchical linear models were used to determine whether park effects were associated with BMI using self-reported height and weight data obtained from the Community Health Survey in New York City (2002–2006). Results: Both the proportion of the residential zip code that was large park space and the proportion that was small park space had significant inverse associations with BMI after controlling for individual socio-demographic and zip code built environment characteristics (−0.20 BMI units across the inter-quartile range (IQR) for large parks, 95% CI −0.32, −0.08; −0.21 BMI units across the IQR for small parks, 95% CI −0.31, −0.10, respectively). Poorer scores on the park cleanliness index were associated with higher BMI, 0.18 BMI units across the IQR of the park cleanliness index (95% CI 0.05, 0.30). Conclusions: This study demonstrated that proportion of neighborhoods that was large or small park space and park cleanliness were associated with lower BMI among NYC adults after adjusting for other neighborhood features such as homicides and walkability, characteristics that could influence park usage. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

An interview with geographer and urbanist Matthew Gandy is presented. Topics discussed include the process of urbanization, the interdisciplinary effort between the natural and social sciences, and the transformation of urban spaces. Also mentioned are new approaches to urban planning, partial modernity, and environmental politics in New York City.

The article discusses how the paradigm of cooperation, rather than competition, emerging in the field of ecology in the mid-20th century gave urban intellectuals in New York City a new way to frame the city's social issues. In particular, the publication of the work of nature writer Rachel Carson in "The New Yorker" magazine is seen as encouraging the rise of urban and community ecology, which in turn fueled the work of urban activists like Jane Jacobs, whose 1961 book "The Death and Life of Great American Cities" opposed the destruction of neighborhoods through urban renewal.

Abstract: This study, informed by phenomenology and ethnography, explores urban children’s relationship with their urban environment: In what ways do urban children exhibit “insideness” in their sense of place? This study proposes “insideness” as a conceptual construct to understand urban children’s sense of place in its ecological and dynamic nature. Employing qualitative research methods, the study explores place stories of urban children who live in low-income, immigrant neighborhoods in New York City. The study finds that as children cultivate their sense of place, they construct “insideness” in their sense of place including 1) environmental understanding (i.e., contextualized, comprehensive, and critical understanding of a place), 2) environmental competence (i.e., knowing how to navigate and engage in a place), and 3) diverse, strong affective relationships with a place. Using “insideness” as a conceptual tool, this study discusses children’s emplaced understanding and active and dialogical positionality in the development of their sense of place. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article discusses African American geographies and bodies on Northern urban public transportation from 1915 to 1940. The article focuses on public transportation in the cities of Chicago, Illinois and New York. The author explains that public transportation forced African Americans to share a space with whites. The frequency with which African Americans used public transportation in New York following the 1935 Harlem riot is addressed. The author argues that public transportation helped to breach communal geographical boundaries and test individual physical boundaries.

We examine New York's SoHo and Chelsea districts for evidence of how art and place interact over time. More specifically, we trace the decline of New York's SoHo as a gallery district and the concomitant rise of nearby Chelsea, concluding that such a transition cannot simply be explained, as it usually is, by rises in property rents that ‘force out’ the art. Of equal significance, and following a different trajectory, is the change in art prices — particularly for the kind of art with which these places have been in reciprocal relation. A final factor in determining neighborhood fates is how difficult or easy it is to reassemble social scenes from one place to another. We show how artifact specifics, including their shape, form and aesthetic appeal, conjoin with property markets and scene sociality to affect urban morphology. Résumé Dans le cadre des recherches consacrées aux liens entre économie créative et processus urbains, cet article s'intéresse à la manière dont art et lieu interagissent sur le long terme dans les quartiers new-yorkais de Soho et Chelsea. Plus précisément, il retrace le déclin de Soho en tant que haut-lieu des galeries et l'ascension simultanée du quartier voisin de Chelsea devenu un marché d'art. On ne peut se contenter de l'explication habituelle de cette transition, selon laquelle l'augmentation des loyers a ‘expulsé’ l'art. Sur un même plan, quoique sur un axe différent, se trouve l'évolution du prix des œuvres – en particulier dans le type d'art auquel ces lieux ont été associés réciproquement –, évolution qui se reflète sur l'occupation des terrains. Ce qui influe également sur le destin de ces quartiers est la plus ou moins grande difficultéà reconstituer les scènes sociales d'un lieu à l'autre. L'article montre comment les spécificités des objets d'art, qu'il s'agisse de leur valeur financière ou de leur forme, se combinent aux marchés immobiliers et à la nature sociale des scènes pour modifier la morphologie urbaine. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article examines the work of four documentary photographers: Gordon Parks, Helen Levitt, Walter Rosenblum and Jerome Liebling. During the late-1930s and 1940s, they photographed, in unique ways, the children and adolescents living in New York City. Their distinctive forms of street photography explore a sub-terrain of attitudes about child behaviour in an urban environment. The study is based upon interviews conducted by the author and a close examination of the work of the photographers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article presents the picture of New York City during 1930's as captured by real property survey of the city, done by a governmental body, Works Progress Administration. This survey was divided into two systematic projects of documentary photography. One of these, Berenice Abbott's Changing New York, is well known. It produced over 300 views of a rapidly changing urban environment. The second major photographic portrait of the city during the Great Depression also records the changing cityspace, but this is generally unknown. It is comprised of over 700 000 black and white photographs depicting every real state in the city. The purpose of this project, named as "Real Property Tax Card Record System for the City of New York," was to collect and record information about every piece of real estate in the city in order to assess and levy property taxes in an equitable manner. These photographic collections now serve as one of the most interesting record of the history and the tax photographs are used by architects, historic preservationists, historians and film consultants as documentary evidence of the state of the building and the state of the city during 1930 and 1940.

• Street-level greenery adds value to commercial buildings as evidenced by transaction price and rental premiums in NYC. • In addition to residential buildings, we identify the financial impact of visual green density for commercial buildings. • Demonstrates the use of image recognition algorithms to include street greenness into commercial building valuation in the US. • Investments in urban landscape are further aligned with corporate and institutional investments in office buildings. Urban street-level greenery is empirically documented to improve mental and physical health, increase productivity, increase urban environmental equality and reduce carbon footprints. In addition, these benefits raise residents' welfare, which has been correlated with increases in residential house prices. We measure street-level greenness in New York City through a novel Green View Index (GVI) using Google Street View images, and assess the impacts of greenness on commercial real estate prices. Using a sample of office transactions, we spatially correlate Google Street View Images for New York City over the 2010 to 2017 period. We find an 8.9% to 10.5% statistically, economically and positive transaction premium and a 5.6% to 7.8% rent premium for offices with low to high street-level greenness relative to those building transactions spatially correlated with very low greenness. Estimations are robust t with proximity to parks, subway stations, sidewalk widths, household income levels and investments by Building Improvement Districts, as well as other vital and standard office valuation features. By documenting the role of greenery in commercial building valuations, our results give a more complete understanding of the value of greenness in urban environments, as well as the economic role that urban landscape architecture, planning and development has upon cities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Cities are increasingly focused on expanding tree canopy cover as a means to improve the urban environment by, for example, reducing heat island effects, promoting better air quality, and protecting local habitat. The majority of efforts to expand canopy cover focus on planting street trees or on planting native tree species and removing nonnatives in natural areas through reforestation. Yet many urban canopy assessments conducted at the city‐scale reveal co‐dominance by nonnative trees, fueling debates about the value of urban forests and native‐specific management targets. In contrast, assessments within cities at site or park scales find that some urban forest stands harbor predominantly native biodiversity. To resolve this apparent dichotomy in findings, about the extent to which urban forests are native dominated, between the city‐scale canopy and site‐level assessments, we measure forest structure and composition in 1,124 plots across 53 parks in New York City's 2,497 ha of natural area forest. That is, we assess urban forests at the city‐scale and deliberately omit sampling trees existing outside of forest stands but which are enumerated in citywide canopy assessments. We find that on average forest stand canopy is comprised of 82% native species in New York City forests, suggesting that conclusions that the urban canopy is co‐dominated by nonnatives likely results from predominantly sampling street trees in prior city‐scale assessments. However, native tree species' proportion declines to 75% and 53% in the midstory and understory, respectively, suggesting potential threats to the future native dominance of urban forest canopies. Furthermore, we find that out of 57 unique forest types in New York City, the majority of stands (81%) are a native type. We find that stand structure in urban forest stands is more similar to rural forests in New York State than to stand structure reported for prior assessments of the urban canopy at the city scale. Our results suggest the need to measure urban forest stands apart from the entire urban canopy. Doing so will ensure that city‐scale assessments return data that align with conservation policy and management strategies that focus on maintaining and growing native urban forests rather than individual trees. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article discusses the aerial photography and psychogeographic view of a situationist-inspired map of imaginary New York City containing digital collages by graduate student Melissa Schultheis. It states that the inspiration is drawn from a psychogeographic map 'The Naked City' by Guy Debord and Asgar Jorn who mapped how Paris, France was rationalizing urban space after World War II. It states that Schultheis's map is based on revolutionary energy in the U.S. including Black Lives Matter.

Despite the concern of early psychologists with the content of human thoughts, relatively little work has been carried out in recent years to determine what thoughts actually pass through the minds of persons. Singer's studies appear most comprehensive, but are limited to daydreaming and its effects on task performance. The present study, an investigation of what people thought while carrying out their normal daily activities, was carried out simultaneously at two New York City locations--Union Square (Ss = 91), a lower-middle-class shopping area near two major universities, and 57th Street and Fifth Avenue (Ss = 96), an upper-class shopping and tourist area. Ss (82 or 43.9% male, and 105 or 56.1% female) who approached the stand of the Es were asked to write down the thought they had just prior to encountering the Es. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]