Table 1. Characteristics of the studied cities by urban landscape profiles.
| Total | Scattered Pixels | Proximate Stones | Proximate Inkblots | Contiguous Large Inkblots | p-Value * | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| p50 (iqr) | p50 (iqr) | p50 (iqr) | p50 (iqr) | p50 (iqr) | ||
| Number of cities | 208 | 55 | 70 | 64 | 19 | |
| City characteristics | ||||||
| Sociodemographic characteristics | ||||||
| Total population (hab) | 407,845.4 (684,555.4) | 196,360 (117,804) | 323,763.6 (212,514) | 899,117(511,916) | 3,697,687 (6,483,998) | <0.001 |
| Population density (hab/km2) | 7010.4 (4567.9) | 7063 (7801) | 7062 (4682.1) | 6615 (3338) | 7442.4 (4258.6) | 0.655 |
| Census age ≥ 65 years (%) | 10.2 (3.1) | 10.5 (3.5) | 10.2 (3.8) | 9.7 (2.3) | 10.7 (2.3) | 0.127 |
| Census females (%) | 52.5 (1.7) | 52.1 (1.9) | 52.4 (1.9) | 52.7 (1.5) | 52.9 (0.9) | 0.021 |
| Social Environment Index | 0.1 (0.9) | −0.03 (1.3) | 0.1 (1.0) | 0.1 (0.7) | 0.4 (0.4) | 0.015 |
| Urban Landscape Metrics | ||||||
| Total built-up area (hectares) | 5967.7(11,069.4) | 2798.3 (2486.4) | 4214.9 (3353) | 14,240 (9041) | 55,997.5 (27,081.8) | <0.001 |
| Number of Urban Patches (N) | 485 (726.5) | 276 (349) | 363 (242) | 954 (634.5) | 2888 (2281) | <0.001 |
| Patch Density (N/km2) | 0.3 (0.5) | 0.1 (0.1) | 0.3 (0.3) | 0.4 (0.4) | 0.8 (0.3) | <0.001 |
| Area-weighted Mean Patch Size (km2/N) | 2372 (4452) | 1082.2 (630.6) | 1950.6 (1705.3) | 6052.2 (5526.8) | 24,567.9 (19,677.7) | <0.001 |
| Effective Mesh Size (km2) | 78.2 (286.6) | 8.6 (11) | 57.5 (66.5) | 313.5 (560) | 3319.1 (6472.9) | <0.001 |
| Area-weighted Mean Shape Index (from 1 to infinity) | 5.2 (2.4) | 4.2 (1) | 5 (1.4) | 6.6 (2.2) | 9.6 (3) | <0.001 |
| Area-weighted Mean Nearest Neighbor Distance (m) | 83.1 (39.1) | 122 (65.8) | 80.3 (19) | 76.6 (27.4) | 65.4 (5.3) | <0.001 |
| Other measures | ||||||
| Country | <0.001 | |||||
| Argentina | 15.4% | 25.5% | 12.9% | 10.9% | 10.5% | |
| Brazil | 13.0% | 0.0% | 5.7% | 21.9% | 47.4% | |
| Colombia | 14.9% | 25.5% | 17.1% | 6.3% | 5.3% | |
| Costa Rica | 0.5% | 0.0% | 0.0% | 0.0% | 5.3% | |
| El Salvador | 1.4% | 0.0% | 2.9% | 1.6% | 0.0% | |
| Guatemala | 0.5% | 0.0% | 0.0% | 1.6% | 0.0% | |
| Mexico | 43.3% | 34.6% | 47.1% | 51.6% | 26.3% | |
| Peru | 11.1% | 14.6% | 14.3% | 6.3% | 5.3% | |
| Environmental outcomes | ||||||
| Lack of greenness (1-NDVI) | 0.2 (0.2) | 0.2 (0.3) | 0.2 (0.2) | 0.2 (0.2) | 0.2 (0.1) | 0.503 |
| PM2.5 (μg/m3) | 16.7 (7.8) | 15.8 (6.0) | 17.6 (5.4) | 16.2 (9.5) | 17.4 (8.7) | 0.294 |
| NO2 (ppb) | 0.2 (0.3) | 0.2 (0.2) | 0.3 (0.2) | 0.3 (0.4) | 0.6 (1.5) | <0.001 |
| Carbon footprint (CO2 emissions/hab) | 3.8 (1.5) | 3.8 (1.8) | 3.8 (1.6) | 3.9 (1.3) | 3.8 (1.4) | 0.786 |
| Health outcomes (age adjusted) | ||||||
| NCDs mortality rate (per 100,000 hab) | 524.9 (155.8) | 489.2 (160.1) | 536.2 (150) | 557.2 (135.1) | 495.7 (142.8) | 0.045 |
| Non-intentional injuries mortality rate (per 100,000 hab) | 42.3 (13.4) | 42.2 (14) | 42.7 (12.1) | 44.1 (14.3) | 38.3 (14.8) | 0.210 |
| Hypertension prevalence (%) | 10.8 (3.7) | 10.1 (4.8) | 10.4 (3.2) | 11.5 (3.4) | 13.8 (7.1) | <0.001 |
| Diabetes prevalence (%) | 7.7 (4) | 6.4 (5) | 8 (4.3) | 7.8 (3.1) | 6.5 (3.1) | 0.330 |
| Obesity prevalence (%) | 26.5 (12.9) | 23 (14.9) | 29.1 (13.9) | 28.9 (12.6) | 23 (10.2) | 0.216 |
*
iqr, interquartile range; NDVI, Normalized Difference Vegetation Index; PM2.5, Particulate Matter that have a diameter of less than 2.5 μm; NO2, Nitrogen dioxide; CO2, Carbon dioxide; SD, standard deviation. * Chi2 test for categorical variables, Kruskal Wallis test for continuous variables, comparing whether proportions or medians are similar across groups.