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Recently, post-socialist inner cities have been transforming through various processes of revitalisation and gentrification. The resulting physical and social contrasts of neighbouring localities lead to the spatial fragmentation of inner-city areas that may produce variegated effects on the everyday life of local residents. This paper examines how long-term residents of an inner-city neighbourhood in Prague undergoing residential and commercial gentrification have perceived and lived through its change. Specifically, it reveals how the ongoing changes influence residents' place attachment. The paper relies upon qualitative methodology using semi-structured in-depth interviews with long-term inhabitants (>20 years). Empirical findings point to a strong and stable place attachment, despite ambivalent attitudes towards recent changes related to gentrification. The effect of gentrification on place attachment appears to be relatively limited. Many residents acknowledge that gentrification has reversed the deterioration that characterised the neighbourhood in the past. Moreover, negatively perceived changes to the neighbourhood are often not attributed primarily to the gentrification process but understood as a natural part of residents' own ageing, wider societal changes, and historical development of the neighbourhood. The article highlights the need to investigate the personal, spatial and temporal contexts to comprehend the complex effects of gentrification on long-term residents. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Inner-city development is a key part of urban development strategies in Germany for sustainable urban development. Using comparative urbanism as a methodological and theoretical lens, this review paper reflects on Germany's experiences with inner-city development. It contextualizes the experiences as "potential lessons" for four developing countries in Asia and Africa—Pakistan, Ghana, Kenya, and Rwanda—taking into account the intricacies of inner-city development in these countries. The study identifies the principles (in the light of challenges) of inner-city development in Germany and argues that they can be spearheaded in Pakistan, Ghana, Kenya, and Rwanda for sustainable urban development. However, there must be strong commitment and firmness in planning and policy direction, grounded by sensitivity to the context realities that shape urban planning and policy analysis. The study contributes to the emerging discourse on the nexus between inner city and urban planning in developing countries and grounds future studies on inclusive urban planning interventions in the focal countries. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article by Future Hackney and the Gillett Square Community in London creates a new space for urban documentary work through a participatory project and collaborative authorship. The co-authors of the project are the photographers and the people depicted in the photographs, who also speak through the captions, allowing a wider definition of the auteur. Traditionally documentary photography involves one auteur, often male and an outsider. Wayne and I (Don Travis) are the photographers and we live and grew up around the areas we document and are therefore a part of the community that we engage and collaborate with. Future Hackney has spent the last four years working alongside residents to create images and oral histories of the Caribbean and African communities. This resulted in 'Gillett Square Stories' as a space of radical history through the Black experience and a living archive of memories and experiences, connecting past and present. The images and captions presented here express the rich stories of one inner London area that help explain our city's post and present colonial history. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The inner areas of post-socialist cities are experiencing dynamic transformation. However, changes are often selective and differ between capital, large and provincial cities, and their neighbourhoods. This article aims to analyze variations in residential change in individual localities within Holešovice, Prague's inner-city district. The analysis is performed with reference to the concepts of contextual residential change and gentrification of neighbourhoods and uses quantitative data at the micro-level of census tracts to detect physical and social changes. Supplementary interviews with local stakeholders are used to understand the factors that affect the development of the neighbourhood. Gentrification influences Holešovice simultaneously with other types of residential change. The most common type of change is incumbent upgrading related to the privatization of the housing stock. At the same time, several stagnating areas were identified. The neighbourhood development indicates the concurrent presence of diversified neighbourhood trajectories with drivers at various spatial and temporal scales. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Asthma is common among urban school-age children. Though teachers should be prepared to assist children during an asthma attack, studies show they lack self-efficacy in managing asthma. Objective: To assess feasibility of implementing an asthma workshop for elementary school teachers, describe themes of questions raised, and determine workshop's impact on teachers' comfort and self-efficacy in asthma management. Methods: We developed and implemented an asthma workshop for teachers from four Bronx elementary schools (2012–2014). Teachers completed a questionnaire evaluating their comfort and self-efficacy in asthma management before and after the workshop. Questions asked during the sessions were recorded and analyzed for themes. Paired t-test and McNemar tests compared before/after scores. Results: 65 out of 70 teachers (92.9%) participated in the educational sessions. Teachers asked questions about school policy for inhalers, medication administration guidelines, and physical activity and asthma. 64/65 (98.5%) teachers completed pre/post surveys (mean age 39.7 years; mean years at the school 8.0). Post-intervention, more teachers reported knowing how to manage an asthma attack (93.8% vs. 64.1%, p <.0001); and felt comfortable assessing (50.8% vs. 30.8%, p = 0.019) and handling an asthma attack (52.3% vs. 33.8%, p =.023). The overall mean self-efficacy score increased post-intervention (43.0 vs. 38.1, p <.0001), as did 8/12 individual self-efficacy items. Post-workshop, 95.3% of teachers agreed that teacher in-service asthma education should be done annually. Conclusions: An asthma workshop was successfully implemented in the school setting and improved teacher comfort and self-efficacy in managing asthma. Annual training may improve teachers' confidence in assisting students with asthma. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Problem, research strategy, and findings: People older than 65 are the most rapidly growing segment of the U.S. population, yet our cities and transportation systems are not age friendly. Low-income, minority, older adults residing in inner-city neighborhoods are largely transit dependent, rely significantly on walking for transportation, and thus have particular mobility needs. We used a mixed-methods approach that drew information from the California Household Travel Survey but also from direct interaction (through focus groups, interviews, and neighborhood walking audits) with 81 low-income, inner city–living older adults to understand their travel patterns and mobility challenges and needs. We find that despite some positive mobility indicators in the inner city (mixed-use environment, frequent bus service, and short travel distances), these elders face significant mobility challenges because of a deteriorated built environment, heavy traffic, homelessness, and crime. A limitation of this research is that the small sample did not allow the study of possible gender or race/ethnicity differentiation in the travel patterns and needs of older adults. Takeaway for practice: Planners should not rely only on information from the census and other aggregate data sources to understand the mobility needs of older adults but should complement this information with direct interaction with the communities for which they are planning. Although some social problems limiting the mobility of older adults are difficult to tackle, environmental and streetscape improvements can significantly enhance their mobility. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The clustering of certain social and economic problems across significant tracts of Britain's post-industrial cities was inextricably linked to the concept of an 'inner city crisis'. The ambiguously defined 'inner city' was a locus of political and media attention and was held up as an ongoing index of an unravelling social order. This article examines the ways in which pockets of inner London were represented in the context of a rhetorical 'inner city' from the 1970s onwards. It shows how 'inner city' representations endorsed existing power structures and, in concert with a growing enterprise approach to the notional 'crisis', how they fed into unjust programmes of urban renewal. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

For this paper we apply the framework of resilience as an adaptive process to examine alternative practices that assist socially vulnerable populations into the urban fabrik. The recent direction of Osaka’s inner city rental housing market for public assistance recipients is used as case study. We look on systemic aspects such as changing tenant revenues and welfare policies, and analyze the innovative housing reuse practices of local landlords and real estate agents. Our results show that the resilience-producing systemic properties are co-produced by public assitance policies, the particular condition of Osaka’s inner city and individual stakeholders' actions. While these stakeholders have benefited immensely from the housing market’s resilient response, it is structured by uneven dependencies, which ultimately affects the housing opportunities and care services for current and future tenants. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In light of ongoing shrinkage processes affecting a number of cities and regions in Europe and around the world, the planning literature has suggested a need for new planning concepts and strategies, or even a new planning paradigm. This paper aims to contribute to the debate by investigating the adaptation of the process of urban regeneration to shrinkage. Urban regeneration is a common policy in cities facing population and economic decline. However, particularly for inner-city neighbourhoods, it has not been sufficiently documented how urban regeneration responds to challenges related to shrinkage. Looking first at the evolving national policy framework and then at two local case studies, this paper identifies conditions leading to the emergence of new practices of urban regeneration in inner-city neighbourhoods in Eastern Germany. These practices are characterized by the moderate usage of public subsidies combined with 'soft' measures like cooperation with individual property owners and potential investors as well as place marketing. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In recent years, mass media representations of inner-city lives in South Africa have tended to focus on poverty and crime in ways that flatten out the subjectivity of residents. In response, a growing corpus of fiction and scholarship has sought to give voice to the complexities of life in contemporary South African cityscapes. Lauren Beukes’s 2010 thrillerZoo Citytakes up this task, challenging a glut of media images that spectacularize poverty in Hillbrow, Johannesburg. This article argues that whileZoo Cityseemingly strives to give voice to complex subjectivities amid precarious socio-economic circumstances, it simultaneously carries out a very different project. Beukes explores the stakes of the novelist’s own appropriation of suffering in a way that is markedly rare for thrillers. Through conspicuous silences,Zoo Citycalls attention to the invisibility of many forms of precarity and efforts to claim autonomy in Hillbrow. The novel simultaneously offers and destabilizes a sense of privileged knowledge that transcends mainstream media representations. In this way the text unsettles the authority of readers to pass judgment on the lives it depicts at the same time as it challenges readers to reassess their complicity in forms of structural violence they do not see. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objective:Sleep disordered breathing (SDB) has not been well studied in urban adolescents with asthma in community settings. Nor has the association of SDB symptoms and asthma severity been studied. We characterized self-reported symptoms suggesting SDB and investigated the association of SDB symptoms, probable asthma, and asthma severity.Methods:9,565 adolescents from 21 inner-city high schools were screened for an asthma intervention study. Students reported on symptoms suggesting SDB using questions from the 2007 NHANES, if they were ever diagnosed with asthma, and on asthma symptoms. Using generalized linear mixed models with logit link with school as a random intercept and adjusting for age, gender, and race/ethnicity, we examined associations of SDB symptoms, and demographic characteristics, probable asthma, and asthma severity.Results:12% reported SDB symptoms. Older and bi-racial participants (compared to Caucasian) had higher odds of symptoms suggesting SDB (p<.001). Compared to those without probable asthma, adolescents with probable asthma had 2.63 greater odds of reporting SDB symptoms (p<.001). Among those with probable asthma, the odds of reporting SDB symptoms increased with asthma severity. When exploring daytime severity and severity due to night wakening separately, results were similar. All results remained significant when controlling for age, gender, and ethnicity.Conclusions:In a large urban community cohort of predominately ethnic minority adolescents, self-reported SDB symptoms were associated with probable asthma and increased asthma severity. This study highlights the importance of SDB as a modifiable co-morbidity of asthma. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Cities have been described as masculine, but simultaneously emancipatory for women giving them the possibility to experiment with new identities. Women have gained access to the masculine sphere through working-life and financial independence. The new interest among families to live in inner cities has been interpreted as a way particularly for mothers to combine work with family life. Drawing on an in-depth qualitative study, this paper investigates mothering and fathering practices on family leave in Helsinki, Finland. It explores how parenting is incorporated into the mothers’ and fathers’ urban self-identity, and argues that while parenting in the city traditional gender roles are blurred. The paper proposes the termdomesticficationto describe how urban middle class mothering and fathering is being inscribed in Nordic contemporary urban space. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

ABSTRACT This paper explores neighbourhood trajectories in the inner cities in terms of social and demographic change in a comparative perspective, and analyses the role of in situ change and residential mobility in this change. The research is based on a quantitative census-based study of Prague (the Czech Republic) and Tallinn (Estonia) at a detailed neighbourhood level. The study shows that in spite of many political and historical similarities, the differences in local regulatory mechanisms and local contexts have led to different urban outcomes. Institutional rigidity and long-term resistance to adjusting physical structures to a new social system have restrained change in Prague. The inner city of Tallinn has experienced much more social restructuring, replacements and displacements. High home-ownership rates, early rent de-regulation and no major public involvement in housing all contribute to the market-led urban change in Tallinn. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Forest School approach to Early Years education, originally developed in Scandinavia, is influencing learning outside the classroom in England. An inner city primary school in Yorkshire investigated the nature and purpose of Forest Schools in Denmark, through a study visit, prior to developing their own Forest School in the midst of an urban landscape. The views of staff and parents were sought and findings suggest that the ethos and intention of Forest School were positively welcomed. The results demonstrate the need to create further opportunities for teachers, children and parents to be involved in Forest school activities together. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Despite new patterns of socio-spatial polarisation, cities are generally treated as homogenous places in analyses of alcohol consumption. To inform local alcohol policy, we compared alcohol measures for young people in inner-urban Melbourne and outer-urban growth areas using data from the 2009 Victorian Youth Alcohol and Drug Survey. Young people in inner Melbourne reported more liberal attitudes to drinking than their peers in growth areas. Regular strength beer was more usually consumed in inner Melbourne against premixed spirits in growth areas, and drinking at licensed venues was more usual in inner Melbourne. Respondents below the legal drinking age of 18 in inner Melbourne were more likely to have purchased alcohol and to have consumed alcohol in a licensed premise during the past year. As findings were only slightly altered by adjusting for age, sex and socio-economic status, it is likely that these differences relate to local drinking cultures, alcohol outlet density and the range of leisure activities available for young adults. Measures to reduce heavy episodic drinking through restricting alcohol availability are relevant to both inner and growth area settings. Enforcement of provisions banning alcohol sales to minors is particularly indicated in inner Melbourne. Growth area responses might focus on cautious outlet density planning. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Background. Overweight, obesity, and asthma are more prevalent in minority children; yet, the association of overweight and obesity with spirometric values in asthmatic minorities is not well characterized. Objective. To study the relationship between weight, ethnicity, and spirometric values in children referred for asthma evaluation to a large inner-city hospital in Bronx, NY. Methods. Retrospective review of spirometry done at the first pulmonary clinic visit of 980 asthmatic children, aged 7-20 years, was conducted. Linear regression analysis was performed to elucidate the association of overweight and obesity with pulmonary function among Whites, African Americans, and Hispanics compared with their normal weight counterparts. Results. More African Americans (58%) and Hispanics (65.4%) were overweight and obese than Whites (51.2%) ( p < .05). Compared with their normal weight counterparts, percent forced expiratory volume in the 1st second (FEV1)/forced vital capacity (FVC) ratio was lower in both overweight and obese African Americans (2.99%, p < .05 and 3.56%, p < .01, respectively) and Hispanics (2.64%, p < .05 and 2.36%, p < .05, respectively); these differences were found in obese (3.73%, p < .05) but not in overweight (0.68%, p = .7) Whites. Conclusions. FEV1/FVC ratio was lower in both overweight and obese African American and Hispanic children, while this association was present only among obese Whites compared with their normal weight counterparts. These results suggest that spirometric measures of lower airway obstruction decrease with smaller weight increments in minority children when compared with White children. In the context of the higher prevalence of overweight and obesity among African Americans and Hispanics, our findings offer one potential explanation for increased asthma among minority children. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background. Rates of preventive follow-up asthma care after an acute emergency department (ED) visit are low among inner-city children. We implemented a novel behavioral asthma intervention, Pediatric Asthma Alert (PAAL) intervention, to improve outpatient follow-up and preventive care for urban children with a recent ED visit for asthma. Objective. The objective of this article is to describe the PAAL intervention and examine factors associated with intervention completers and noncompleters. Methods. Children with persistent asthma and recurrent ED visits ( N = 300) were enrolled in a randomized controlled trial of the PAAL intervention that included two home visits and a facilitated follow-up visit with the child's primary care provider (PCP). Children were categorized as intervention completers, that is, completed home and PCP visits compared with noncompleters, who completed at least one home visit but did not complete the PCP visit. Using chi-square test of independence, analysis of variance, and multiple logistic regression, the intervention completion status was examined by several sociodemographic, health, and caregiver psychological variables. Results. Children were African-American (95%), Medicaid insured (91%), and young (aged 3-5 years, 56%). Overall, 71% of children randomized to the intervention successfully completed all home and PCP visits (completers). Factors significantly associated with completing the intervention included younger age (age 3-5 years: completers, 65.4%; noncompleters, 34.1%; p < .001) and having an asthma action plan in the home at baseline (completers: 40%; noncompleters: 21%; p = .02). In a logistic regression model, younger child age, having an asthma action plan, and lower caregiver daily asthma stress were significantly associated with successful completion of the intervention. Conclusions. The majority of caregivers of high-risk children with asthma were successfully engaged in this home and PCP-based intervention. Caregivers of older children with asthma and those with high stress may need additional support for program completion. Further, the lack of an asthma action plan may be a marker of preexisting barriers to preventive care. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

China's urban growth is phenomenal, but some studies tend to see it as a consistent macro process without much turbulence at the micro levels. This article examines inner-city redevelopment in China by analyzing the cases of three types of neighborhoods: a work-unit compound, a historic quarter, and an urban village. It discusses how these projects were implemented, which actors were involved, and who the beneficiaries were. It argues that different patterns of redevelopment were applied in individual redevelopment projects, although all of these projects were property led. The local state's considerations when applying a particular pattern depends on institutional abilities, arrangements, recourses, and aims, as well as the power relations between the state, market, and community. A comparison of processes and outcomes shows that a top-down approach applied through delegated agencies or the immediate authority of the local state tends to implement redevelopment in a coalition with developers instead of considering the benefits for the affected residents and the preservation of the values of historic neighborhoods. In contrast, the bottom-up approach to the redevelopment of urban villages empowers the collective and villagers and enables them to benefit relatively more from the project. The local state has changed its role from an administrator to a facilitator, and has made significant economic concessions to advance the project in the context of significant policy changes in recent years. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

This article explores the emergence of ‘outer-inner cities’ located on the periphery of London and New York. As traditional ‘zones in transitions’ and inner city districts of both cities have gentrified, these neighbourhoods no longer offer an affordable entry point to the low-waged immigrants whose work is necessary to keep the global city working. Moreover neoliberal practices of immigrant and working class dispersal in addition to the manipulation of fear regarding the ethnic and ‘racial’ other and the threat of deportation exert considerable centrifugal pressure making the central an increasingly hostile environment for immigrants. As such devalued sections of the periphery, such as suburbs suffering from disinvestment, are emerging as unlikely meeting points for new immigrants, those displaced from the central city and descendents of previous waves of suburbanisation. Common to both forms of inner city is the racialization of antagonistic community relations. Yet in contrast to the ‘inner city’ of the Fordist metropolis the outer-inner city is more fragmented, characterized by informal and flexible arrangements of labour and dwelling and most crucially lacks symbolic resonance on a government and policy level. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Having concurrent sexual partners is a risk factor for STIs and HIV/AIDS, yet few studies have investigated the cultural meanings and functions of concurrency. A multi-method qualitative/quantitative study of sexual ideas, attitudes, and behaviors among inner-city Puerto Rican and African American emergent adults (age 18–25) in Hartford, Connecticut, USA, suggests that having concurrent partners is common in this population. Using data from 12 focus groups and 40 participants in systematic data collection techniques (e.g., pile sorts), the underlying cognitive structure of concurrency and cheating/infidelity are explored. Results suggest that participants are less tolerant of multiple partners in more committed relationships, but that very few relationships can be considered committed. Furthermore, participants see cheating as inevitable even in committed relationships. Sexual transgressions are considered the most severe form of cheating. Having an outside partner for emotional reasons or to have access to one's child were seen as more acceptable/forgivable than doing so for sexual satisfaction, social status or material goods. Multiple partnerships must be seen in the context of the inner city where resources and opportunities are scarce and young adults attempt to protect themselves from emotional injury. Documenting new and changing social constructions of infidelity is important for understanding the social context of sexual behavior in our global world and for designing culturally appropriate health interventions. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Background and aims: Children living in the inner city are particularly vulnerable to asthma. While we know much about factors that affect near-term outcomes in inner-city children, there is little evidence to guide clinicians on what to expect in the coming years, especially in preschool children. The purpose of our study was to determine which clinical and environmental factors are predictive of poor long-term asthma control in preschool inner-city children. Materials and methods: Baseline characteristics determined to be potential predictors of asthma severity were examined: demographics, asthma symptoms, medication use, healthcare utilization, early life medical history, family history, allergen exposure and allergic disease, and pollutant exposure. Bivariate and multivariate analyses were performed using logistic regression to examine the association of predictors of asthma severity with healthcare utilization at 2 years. Results: Of the 150 children at baseline, the follow-up rate was 83% at 2 years; therefore, 124 children were included in final analyses. At baseline, the mean age was 4.4 years and participants were predominantly African-American (90%). Most of the children were atopic and 32.5% reported using inhaled corticosteroids. Nighttime awakening from asthma and a history of pneumonia were predictive of future poor control. Conclusion: Preschool children with nighttime awakening from asthma and a history of pneumonia may deserve closer monitoring to prevent future asthma morbidity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article discusses the impact of continuing professional development on the knowledge of urban elementary students. It examines the proposed major purposes of schools which include educating students in academic and cognitive skills and knowledge and educating students in the development of individual and social skills. It also explores the attempt of urban school district in revising the physical education offerings of elementary schools.

Australian feature films featuring gay male characters have consistently defined the inner-city - and particularly the inner-city of Sydney - as a gay space. This article examines a range of such films within the historical context of the emergence of gay male community and culture in Sydney. While this history reveals the complex and contested nature of gay men's connections to the city, on-screen depictions have tended to mask such complexity in favour of a simplistic urban/gay versus rural/straight divide. By repeatedly exploring gay life in inner-city spaces through the eyes of heterosexual, rural visitors, Australian films have developed and replicated discourses that have seen Sydney defined as the 'true' home of gay male community and culture. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The potential transformative impact of university-based entrepreneurship programs on local economic development is examined using the example of a multifaceted inner city initiative. Using complex adaptive systems theory as a guiding framework, core elements of the South Side Entrepreneurial Connect Program (SSECP) are summarized. The emergence of parallel and interacting effects within the community and on the university campus are described, while underlying properties of the SSECP initiative contributing to these effects are specified. Qualitative and quantitative outcomes are specified at a number of levels within the community and the university. Based on the SSECP experience, ten principles are derived for use by entrepreneurship programmes and others involved with economic development and community engagement initiatives. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Durban has embarked on an ambitious programme to re-make the city into a preferred destination for mega-sports events. In order to achieve this it has earmarked the area closest to the central beachfront to build sporting facilities and related infrastructure. This article looks at the consequences of this re-making by focusing on how the poor in the inner city have been affected. The article concentrates on two areas - Albert Park where African immigrants reside and Warwick Junction, the site of a century-old market. It shows that rather than the city having been re-made from the top, it has had to contend with resistance from below. The article concludes by raising some important theoretical concerns in comprehending the major changes unfolding in post-apartheid cities like Durban. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

With a brilliance that captures 'places photographed in all their fucked-up grandeur,' (Alvarez, 2009, p. 414), the HBO series The Wire has seared unforgettable images of Baltimore and American urbanism into the imaginations of a vast, transnational audience. But we have known, ever since Benjamin and Sontag, that cinematography and photography can reinforce stereotypes, appropriate identities, and violate people and places through the assertion of epistemological power. Today, critical visual theory is going mainstream. Almost no-one views photographs anymore as unproblematic reflections of reality, and popular culture has become a fragmented and politicized media landscape of niche audiences that have learned the lessons of postpositivist cynical sophistication all too well. In this hostile climate, can we redeem the simple, innocent snapshot? I think we should try. Armin Lobek's (1956) Things Maps Don't Tell Us provides the inspiration for a simple, constructive, and critical approach that acknowledges the limits of visual representation while avoiding the costs of innovative yet negative theories defined by disillusionment. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background. The role of allergen sensitization has been well established among children and young adults with asthma. Some studies have suggested that allergens play a less important role among older patients with asthma. However, whether older asthmatics have a lower prevalence of allergen sensitization than younger adults remains controversial. The aim of this study was to access the prevalence of sensitization to indoor allergens in older compared to younger inner-city adults with persistent asthma. Methods. The authors used data collected as part of a cohort study of inner-city adults with persistent asthma. Sensitization to indoor allergens (specifically Dermatophagoides pteronyssinus, D. farinae, cat, mouse, Aspergillus fumigates, Alternaria, German and American cockroaches) was evaluated by specific immunoglobulin E (IgE) antibodies measured from peripheral blood. Univariate and multiple regression analyses were used to compare ratios of sensitization according to age (≤35, 36–59, ≥60 years of age). Results. Of the 245 patients in the study, 19% were over the age of 60 years. Overall 73%, 61%, and 41% of patients ≤35, 36–59, and ≥60 years old, respectively were sensitized to at least one indoor allergen ( p = .01). Multivariate analysis showed that patients ≥60 years of age were significantly less likely to be sensitized (odds ratio 0.32, 95% confidence interval 0.11 to 0.89) compared to younger adults after controlling for potential confounders. Conclusions. Allergen sensitization is less common in older patients with persistent asthma. However, sensitization to any indoor allergen is relatively frequent in the elderly. Physicians should consider routinely accessing exposure and sensitization to these allergens as part of the evaluation of older inner-city patients with persistent asthma. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article examines the potential impact of social enterprise on disadvantage. The case study research involved participant observation over a 2-year period. Selection of cases was based on a preliminary typology for social enterprise and disadvantage was conceptualized using the European concept of social exclusion. This sees exclusion as multidimensional and relative to the standards of the society in which a person lives. The existing research literature suggests that the aggregate economic impact of social enterprise upon exclusion is marginal. This is a consequence of a mismatch between policy expectations and what is happening in the field. This study found that different forms of social enterprise impacted on exclusion in different ways. This article outlines these different impacts in order to open up a more balanced perspective on the potential and limitation of social enterprise in combating disadvantage. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

At the turn of the millennium, professionals and wealthy suburbanites moved into the inner city--a transition that led to an influx of profit-driven urban development. In the case of San Francisco, I argue that one central factor triggering this development process has been the increasing urban vitality of the inner city: diverse populations engaged in multiple economic, social, and political activities enacting lively streets of strong character. This wide range of urban actors has produced a variety of goods and services through the broadening and strengthening of their social networks, resulting in the construction of unique places. Thus it is at the intersection of these diverse activities, multiple networks, and unique places that the inner-city neighborhoods produce major urban vitality. This study focuses on the work of two dance troupes in San Francisco, Flyaway Productions and De Rompe y Raja, as producer of urban vitality and as a window of observation for a broader development process. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this article we review practical and research applications for the use of geographic information systems (GIS) in the program development and evaluation of a community-building initiative designed to improve economic and educational outcomes in a Midwestern city. We discuss the use of GIS for targeting neighborhoods for program selection, random selection of survey respondents, verification of stratification and representativeness of survey samples, and linking survey data to data regarding physical and demographic characteristics of the community. We explore the benefits and challenges of using GIS with community audiences and highlight additional quantitative analysis tools for future use in this ongoing initiative. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Innovation drives productivity in the nonprofit sector as well as in the commercial sector. The greatest advances come not from incremental improvements in efficiency but from new and better approaches. The most powerful way to create social value, therefore, is by developing a new means to address social problems and putting it into widespread practice. The expertise, research capacity, and reach that companies bring to philanthropy can help nonprofits create new solutions that they could never afford to develop on their own. Corporate managers sometimes work directly with faculty and community residents to implement local business projects. These projects often have significant societal benefits, especially since student collaboration and involvement extend to communities in many different inner cities. These projects are incredibly diverse and through such initiatives, management education not only provides an educationally rewarding outlet for students but also endows and enriches inner city communities. Management students sometimes work directly with faculty and community residents to implement local business projects. These projects often have significant societal benefits, especially since student collaboration and involvement extend to communities in many different inner cities. These projects are incredibly diverse and through such initiatives, management education not only provides an educationally rewarding outlet for students but also endows and enriches inner city communities. This article looks at how to use corporate social responsibility and service learning to drive innovation for local inner-city economic development. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

To determine if patterns of predominant asthma disease activity are more closely related than baseline asthma severity to measures of morbidity (acute asthma attack, emergency room visit/hospitalization, missed school days, and/or steroid burst). Retrospective analysis was performed for inner-city Los Angeles asthmatic children (3 to 18 years of age) during their first year of enrollment in an asthma-specific disease management program. All measures of morbidity were more closely related to patterns of predominant disease activity than baseline severity. We conclude that patterns of predominant disease activity are a more significant predictor of asthma morbidity than is baseline severity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Conceptual inconsistencies in routine activities theory are illustrated by demonstrating how gang membership, gun carrying, and employment can be categorized as both risk and protective factors in a high-poverty context. Two waves of longitudinal data from a high-poverty sample of African American youth were used to examine the determinants of victimization risk. Bivariate analyses indicated that gang membership, gun carrying, and employment status are significant risk factors for violent victimization, but these effects were mediated by measures of lifestyles (e.g., demographic and family factors, deviant lifestyles) included as controls in the full multivariate model. In other words, the strong positive relationship between gang membership and gun carrying found in previous studies may be due to model misspecification and/or the lack of research on high-poverty samples of inner city youth from the Deep South. Additional logistic regression analyses also indicate that the number of hours employed per week (but not employment status) is a risk factor for violent victimization. Finally, the theoretical implications of these findings for routine activities theory are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Drawing on the narratives of housing providers (planners, architects and developers) this paper describes views of "home" attributed to medium-density housing in the inner suburbs of Melbourne. The principal dimension of home envisaged for those living in medium-density housing is their close encounter with diverse neighbours and environments. This contrasts with the "home" seen as appropriate for "families" (understood as adults with dependant children) which is the suburban house with surrounding bounded land, and with the form of belonging claimed for high-rise apartment dwellers in the city, which is the exciting world outside the apartment, of lifestyle and cosmopolitan consumption. We explore three case studies of medium-density housing developments in inner Melbourne, focusing on the ways the housing providers see the material, physical form of this housing as contributing to residents being at home with diversity in the inner city. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Over the past few decades many urban leaders have searched for an appropriate policy response to tackle urban decay. Various kinds of flagship projects emerged in many cities as the products of a property-led approach to the regeneration strategies adopted by local governments in North American and European cities. It was expected that the creation of high-profile milieux would launch chain reactions which would eventually lead to the regeneration of declining neighbourhoods. The focus of this study lies in the anatomy of physical transformation in an inner city neighbourhood within the context of post-socialist transition. In particular, the paper discusses the flagship role of the Golden Angel commercial centre in the physical upgrading of the Smíchov district in Prague. The case study contributes to the understanding of complex circumstances and mechanisms of revitalization in the post-socialist inner city. The empirical material is based on field observations, expert opinions and existing documents. The paper shows that a high-profile project can be one of the driving forces in physical revitalization through the provision of symbolic power, credibility and appeal to a declining neighbourhood. At the same time, it is emphasize that physical transformation is a multi-conditional and context-related process rather than an automatic and straightforward outcome of flagship developments. Successful revitalization depends on a favourable constellation of various factors. On the local level, the key factors include the development potential of the location, the attitude of the local authorities and the commitment of all involved actors. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Contemporary cities in East Central Europe (ECE) represent a hybrid type of urban development which is still generally considered to be a special case and is only exceptionally referred to in the recently intensified debate over the European city. Our paper argues that such exclusion is short-sighted because ECE cities face structural problems similar to those of their Western pendants. Therefore, the contextual frame of urban research needs to be widened and can no longer be restricted to post-socialist transition. In this regard, one of the main challenges for future urban development will be the consequences of demographic change. Ageing, new patterns of fertility behaviour and more diversified household structures in line with the Second Demographic Transition (SDT) will have significant implications for urban structures and housing markets, as already known for Western Europe. The purpose of this paper is to work out new questions and hypotheses for future urban research with special respect to Polish and Czech cities. Besides West European experience, recent developments in eastern Germany are taken as a frame of reference, assuming that this specific transition case may, in many respects, be regarded as a forerunner for similar developments in its neighbouring countries. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper presents a case example of the new ‘geometry of care’ (Rier and Indyk, this volume), by examining selected examples from five facets of a program developed by the lead author and in operation since 1989. This program is designed to understand, build, revise, and maintain the organizational infrastructure with which to link diverse players and sites, and combine these into a web for producing, assessing, and exchanging the information needed to combat HIV/AIDS. Each example demonstrates how opportunities were exploited for developing and linking resources within and between systems of care and prevention. The program began as an iterative and systems approach to improve access of high-risk, hard-to-reach inner city New York populations to HIV/AlDS services, treatment, and research. The approach is also currently being further elaborated and applied in Argentina and India (see Boylan et al., this volume), and is adaptable to other local and global public health challenges (see Indyk & Rier, this volume). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Inner-city trauma centers often provide care for disproportionately indigent populations who are victims of violence. Many of these victims of violence often return to the trauma center with more violent injuries. Research has shown that a majority of these individuals who return to the trauma center for care are expensive to treat, are uninsured and have significant social problems. Two potential policy approaches are discussed: (1) the use of violence prevention programs to attempt to reduce violence in the immediate community and subsequently reduce the number of victims of violence who are treated in trauma centers and (2) the use of aftercare and discharge models that form an alliance between the trauma center and social service providers in the community. Nontraditional interventions will require the collaboration with hospital departments (emergency medicine, surgery, trauma, social work) and outside agencies, such as the courts and probation and parole. Case management, discharge planning, continuous care treatment teams, and violence intervention models offer positive alternatives to the current method of addressing the multiple problems of victims of violence who frequent the ED. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Ecstasy use has spread beyond the rave and club scenes into other arenas of party culture, and from middle-class America to working-class and low-income neighborhoods of large cities. In order to explore ecstasy use among inner city adolescents and young adults, we conducted in-depth interviews with 23 poly-drug users who had used ecstasy, in Hartford, CT. Most users reported positive experiences while on the drug. Negative experiences were most often related to poly-drug mixing. However, heavy users (40+ times ever used) experienced negative aftereffects, which led them to decide to decrease or halt their use. Some participants discussed using ecstasy during sex, and irregular use of condoms. These findings point to the heed for more in-depth research on MDMA use within inner city settings, with a particular focus on ethnic and cultural context, self-controlled drug use, poly-drug mixing, and sex risk behaviors. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Over the last decade, inner-city Melbourne has experienced a dramatic growth in the construction of high-rise housing, a relatively unfamiliar housing form in Australia. In this paper we examine narratives concerning ethnicity that circulate among those involved in the planning and construction of this new high-rise housing. Our aims are two-fold: first, we wish to show that part of the ‘making sense’ of things that goes on in the developers' narratives in this context concerns the ethnicity of the occupants envisaged for the housing. High rise is an alien housing form in Melbourne, and attributing alternative characteristics, including ethnicities, to potential occupants, allows developers to ‘place’ people as a natural fit for the new housing form. Second, we wish to demonstrate how developers' narratives about the probable occupants of the new housing, and their reasons for being there, are complexly situated in the processes leading to the production of this housing in the places it is located. The narratives, as we see it, are part of the political economy of the housing production. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: To determine the effectiveness of a community-based intervention to increase the use of screening mammography among disadvantaged women at an inner-city drop-in center. Methods: This study involved women 50 to 70 years old who were clients of an inner-city drop-in center in Toronto, Canada, during the years 1995-2002 (N = 158 in 1995-2001 and N = 89 in 2002). In 2002, the drop-in center and a nearby hospital initiated a collaborative breast cancer screening project in which a staff member of the drop-in center accompanied small groups of women for mammography visits at a weekly pre-arranged time. Interrupted time series analysis was used to examine the effect of this intervention on the annual rate of screening mammography, as determined by review of medical records. Results: More than half of the women 50 to 70 years old who used the drop-in center in 2002 had been diagnosed with a major mental illness, and one-third were either homeless or living in supportive housing. In the 7 years before the introduction of the intervention, annual mammography rates among women using the drop-in center averaged 4.7%. During the intervention year, 26 (29.2%) of 89 women underwent mammography (p = 0.0001 for the change from pre- to post-intervention). Conclusions: The introduction of accompanied small-group visits was associated with significantly increased use of mammography in a group of disadvantaged women who were clients of an inner-city drop-in center. This approach may be useful to promote breast cancer screening among women affected by mental illness or homelessness who have contact with community-based agencies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The purpose of this study was to determine whether asthma status and severity have an impact on the quality of life of urban elementary school children. Participants were 1292 caregiver-child dyads from six schools serving low-income, ethnic minority, urban families; 53% of the children were female. Caregivers provided data on the children's asthma diagnosis and frequency in the last 12 months of asthma symptoms, use of medication for asthma, emergency room visits, and hospitalizations. Using the KINDL, a generic quality of life instrument, children reported on their health-related quality of life (HRQL). Results revealed a high prevalence of current asthma (18%). No differences were found in HRQL based on having current asthma or the severity of asthma as assessed by proxy measures of health care utilization and limited functioning. These findings are consistent with previous research indicating that HRQL is influenced by several factors other than asthma status and severity. The implications of these results for intervention are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

OBJECTIVE: Because children attend school daily, school-based interventions for children with persistent asthma could provide effective disease management for inner-city asthmatic children. The Kunsberg School in Denver, Colorado, enrolls children with chronic diseases, including asthma, into a daily program of school-based disease management. This study sought to determine the impact of the Kunsberg program on asthma utilization. METHODS: Children attending Kunsberg (n = 18) who received primary care at Denver Health were compared with a group of matched control children who also received primary care at Denver Health, but did not attend Kunsberg (n = 36). Asthma-related utilization for an average of 2.9 years before and after Kunsberg enrollment was assessed. RESULTS: The 18 Kunsberg and 36 control subjects were mostly minority children in low-income families, without significant demographic differences between groups. Compared with controls, the Kunsberg cohort experienced fewer hospitalizations (0.5 vs. 0.9 hospitalizations/subject/year, p = 0.05), fewer emergency department (ED) visits (1.4 vs. 2.8 ED visits/subject/year, p = 0.04), and fewer follow-up visits for asthma (3.7 vs. 5.0 visits/subject/year, p = 0.01) in the time period (mean 2.9 years; range 1–6 years) following the intervention. Hospital- and clinic-based asthma utilization costs decreased 80% following enrollment in the school ($8122/year to $1588/year per child), compared to a 19% decrease in the control group. Among the Kunsberg children with hospitalizations prior to school enrollment (n = 8), hospital days decreased from 3.5 days to 0.1 days annually (p < 0.01), ED visits decreased from 2.1 to 0.6 visits annually (p = 0.02), and follow-up visits decreased from 6.8 to 2.1 visits annually (p = 0.02). As part of their school program, 89% of Kunsberg enrollees received inhaled corticosteroids daily on a monitored basis while at school. CONCLUSIONS: The Kunsberg school program improved asthma control and reduced disease severity for at-risk inner-city asthmatic children, leading to cost reduction for asthma management. Directly observed controller therapy at school can be an important component of a school-based program for children with chronic conditions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Housing in-affordability is a growing problem within Canadian urban areas. This research asks an as-yet unanswered spatial question: where do those suffering high rates of housing affordability stress reside and what do the spatial patterns imply about policies intended to address this housing problem? This paper tabulates and maps the spatial distribution of households that pay excessive amounts of their income for rent in order to identify locations within metropolitan regions where housing affordability stress is greatest. It is found that significant unevenness characterises the spatial distribution of housing affordability problems in major Canadian census metropolitan areas (CMAs). Only a minority of places conform to the North American stereotype that concentrates this problem near the city centre. Where some CMAs have concentrations of the problem in the inner city or, alternatively inner suburb, other metropolitan areas exhibit a more diffuse pattern of housing in-affordability. The locus of the problem is also variable depending on whether the household is of the family or non-family type. The interpretation of the uneven patterns relates broadly to features of supply and demand that have been identified in previous research. From both a policy and theoretical perspective this work demonstrates that greater attention needs to be paid to the spatial aspects of housing affordability and to the related, economically-induced risk of homelessness in Canadian metropolitan areas. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

What makes places different from one another in the context of globalization? An analysis of 17 emblematic practices in two global cities, Los Angeles and Sydney, provides the empirical basis for answering this question. Evidence from the built environment, the social geography, and the patterns of disorder in the inner cities of these two global places shows that these cities were more alike in the late 1960s than they are today. The differentiation of the two places has increased as the effects of globalization have become more pervasive. The evidence presented in this paper suggests that there is nothing inherent in contemporary globalization that requires global cities to have inner city slums, ghettoes, massive homelessness, residential disinvestment, White flight, relict or suboptimally-utilized brownfields, illegal prostitution, a war on drugs, public spaces awash with guns, and so forth. Places are viewed here as constellations of distinctive practices configured in particular geographical settings at the intersection of specific conjunctures of historical change. Places matter in the epoch of globalization as differentially embedded, bounded particularities consisting of a mixed assortment of human practices forming causally consequential fields of effects. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

OBJECTIVE: East Harlem in New York City, a community with a large Puerto Rican population, has among the highest rates of asthma hospitalizations and mortality in the United States, but it is not known if the high rates are related to the ethnic composition, environmental or community factors, or if the higher rates reflect differentials in access to appropriate asthma care. A survey was conducted to: (a) estimate the prevalence of current asthma by ethnicity among school-age children, (b) assess indoor environmental risk factors for childhood asthma, and (c) assess health care utilization and school absences associated with childhood asthma. DESIGN: A cross-sectional survey of parents of elementary school children, using a self-administered questionnaire with a 12-month recall on asthma symptoms based on the International Study of Asthma and Allergies in Childhood. SETTING: Two public elementary schools in East Harlem (n = 1615 students 5–12 years of age). RESULTS: Among the 1319 respondents (response rate 82%), the prevalence for current asthma (doctor or nurse diagnosis at any time plus wheezing in the past 12 months) was 23%. Puerto Rican children had a prevalence of 35%. Puerto Rican children reported both higher symptomatic frequencies and higher rates of physician diagnosis. Living in a home where cockroaches, rats, or mice had been seen in the past month and with a dust-enhancing heating system also was associated with having asthma, regardless of ethnicity. Compared with other children with asthma, Puerto Rican children with asthma were more likely to live in homes where rats or mice had been seen in the past month. Regardless of ethnicity, children with more frequent, more severe asthma symptoms and incomplete asthma action plans were more likely to have visited the emergency department in the past year. Puerto Rican children were more likely to have missed school because of their asthma in the past year. CONCLUSION: The prevalence of current asthma was significantly higher among Puerto Ricans, who had higher symptomatic frequency and greater diagnosis rates. Although all children with asthma in the East Harlem study appear to be sensitive to selected indoor environmental risk factors, only Puerto Rican children with asthma appear to be sensitive to the presence of rodents in their buildings. However, their higher school absence rate suggests problems with routine asthma management that could be addressed by improved medical management, programs to help parents manage their children's asthma, or school staff assistance with medications. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article is written from the perspective of marginal people and places in the inner city of Pretoria, South Africa. Using a narrative- contextual approach to pastoral care and counselling, this chapter describes the socio-cultural context of ministry, and the story of a changing inner city community. The stories of the authors, their story of journeying with Siena-a young woman at-risk, and the emerging story of an ecumenical pastoral community, defining itself in relation to people and situations on the margins, form the soil for reflection. Based on the different but overlapping stories, the nature and identity of pastoral care and counselling are described within a postmodern paradigm, proposing the pastoral worker as a facilitator, companion, or co-participant in a pastoral journey. It calls for a humbler approach to care and counselling, acknowledging the limitations of the pastoral worker, and that knowledge and meaning are co-constructed through relational conversations, and in communities of concern. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

This study highlights some of the main arguments raised in my latest book, When Work Disappears (19%), and discusses their implications for understanding issues related to race and urban poverty in Britain and other European countries. I emphasize that public understanding of these issues has been hindered by two pernicious effects of racial ideology in America: (1) a tendency among those on both the left and the right to disassociate the high inner-city jobless and welfare receipt rates from the impact of changes in the global economy, and (2) weak support for government programmes to alleviate economic distress in the inner city. I argue for a vision that acknowledges racially distinct problems and the need for certain race-specific remedies, but at the same time emphasizes the importance of transracial solutions to share problems. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Within the rapidly expanding literature on inner-city revitalization (or gentrification), there has been no attempt to assess in a comparative and systematic manner a range of explanations that have emerged from studies of single cities or even single neighborhoods. Four major explanations of gentrification are reviewed here and then made operational in a correlation and regression analysis of inner-city gentrification in the Canadian urban system between 1971 and 1981. Several of the posited explanations are not supported. Economic and urban amenity factors perform most strongly in the analysis, but demographic and housing factors have less effect. I develop an integrated model and discuss its theoretical implications, including its consistency with staple theory and the interrelatedness demonstrated between housing and labor markets. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Wall graffiti can be indicators of attitudes, behavioral dispositions, and social processes in settings where direct measurement is difficult. The autographed inscriptions of inner city "graffiti kings" in Philadelphia are analyzed in terms of their style, motivation, and preferred setting. Graffiti written by teenage gangs delineate their turf or area of control: their content may indicate contested space and gang violence. Graffiti in an ethnic neighborhood identify tension zones related to social change. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]