Table 6.
Physical and built environment domains and indicators
| Domain | Definition | Indicators | Level | Data source |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Urban form and population metrics | ||||
| Population | Measure of the number of people living per unit of an area or within a geographic boundary | Total population, population density, Gini coefficient of the population distributions | L1–L2 | Census or population projectionsa |
| Population distribution | Measure of concentration population within geographic boundary | Gini coefficient of population distribution | L2–L3 | WorldPopb [69] |
| Neighborhood centrality | Measure of the distance to the city center | Neighborhood centrality | L2–L3 | Local sources |
| Urban landscape metrics | ||||
| Area | Measure of the urbanized area inside a geographic boundary | Total urban area, percentage of urban area, coefficient of variation of urban patchb area, area-weighted mean urban patch area, mean urban patch area, effective mesh size | L1–L3 | Global Urban Footprint (GUF) Dataset derived by TerraSAR-X and TanDEM-X images [28, 29] |
| Shape | Measure of compactness and complexity | Area-weighted mean shape index | ||
| Fragmentation | Measure of fragmentation of urban expansion. It is the relative share of open space in the urban landscape | Number of patches, patch density, mean patch size, effective mesh size | ||
| Isolation | Measure of the tendency for patches to be relatively clustered or isolated in space. It is the mean distance to the nearest urban patch within the geographic boundary | Area-weighted mean euclidean nearest neighbor distance | ||
| Edge | Measure of fragmentation and shape complexity. It is the boundary between urban and non-urban patches | Edge density, area-weighted edge density | ||
| Aggregation | Measure of the tendency of clumping of urban patches | Aggregation index | ||
| Street design and connectivity metrics | ||||
| Street density | Measure of street network density | Street density, large road density | L1–L3 | OpenStreetMap and OSMNx [70] |
| Intersection density | Measure of the amount of intersections within the street network | Intersection density, intersection density 3-way, intersection density 4-way, streets per node average, streets per node standard deviation | ||
| Street network length and structure | Measure of street network structure | Street length average, circuity average | ||
| Transportation metrics | ||||
| Bus rapid transit | Bus-based transit system that includes dedicated lanes, traffic signal priority, off-board fare collection, elevated platforms, and enhanced stations | Presence of BRT, BRT length, BRT daily users, BRT price per ride, BRT supply length, BRT demand, BRT payment capacity | L1–L3 | BRTData, OpenStreetMap, minimum wage of Latin America and local sources |
| Subway, light rail, and/or elevated train (SLRET) transport systems | Mass rapid transit, including heavy rail, metro or subway | Presence of SLRET, SLRET length, SLRET daily users, SLRET price per ride, SLRET supply length, SLRET demand, SLRET payment capacity | OpenStreetMap and local sources | |
| Aerial Tram transport system | Transport lift systems integrated into the city’s public transport network that provide mobility options for those living in hillside neighborhoods | Presence of aerial tram, aerial tram length | OpenStreetMap and local sources | |
| Bicycle facilities | Public infrastructure for exclusive or shared use of bicycles | Total length of bike lanes, bike lane km per population, presence of Open Streets program and length of Open Streets programs | OpenStreetMap, CAF data, and local sources | |
| Urban travel delay index | Measure of congestion | Measures the increase in travel times due to congestion in the street network | L2 | OpenStreetMap and Google Maps Distance Matrix API |
| Gasoline price | Adjusted gasoline price | Price per gallon adjusted by minimum wage | L1 | Local sources |
| Air pollution and green space metrics | ||||
| Parks and green space | Measures of parks or green space availability | Parks area, parks density | L1–L3 | Local sources |
| PM10, NOx, SO4, O3 | Annual mean value by existing monitoring station | Annual average in μg/m3 | L1–L3 | Local sourcesd |
| PM2.5 | Annual mean value from satellite measurements | Annual average in μg/m3 | L1–L3 | Dalhousie University [71–73] |
| Food environment | ||||
| Density of chain supermarkets | Large food stores with availability of processed foods, frozen foods and fresh produce | Number of supermarkets /area | L1–L3 | Online searches of chain company websites |
| Density of chain convenience stores | Stores with long opening hours and high availability of ultra-processed foods | Number of convenience stores/area | L1–L3 | Online searches of chain company websites |
aPopulation for the urban extent (L1UrbExt) was estimated based on the ratio of built area in the urban extent to the total built area in each L2 unit. Estimated populations for each built-up L2 unit were then aggregated up to the L1UrbEx
bAlthough we found that WorldPop’s downscaled data performed poorly in a few cases, we assumed that WorldPop’s relative concentration of population within a given unit would be representative of the actual population concentration. A measure of disagreement between WorldPop and Census data is included in our data to describe uncertainty in the Gini coefficient resulting from WorldPop population data
cA patch is defined as a homogeneous region of a specific land cover type that differs from its surrounding
dThese air pollution measures are from air quality monitors maintained by local governments