Associations between urban metrics and mortality rates in England

Fecht, Daniela; Fortunato, Lea; Morley, David; Hansell, Anna L.; Gulliver, John

doi:10.1186/s12940-016-0106-3

Environmental Health

Table 1 Description of urban metrics quantifying patterns of population, road network, land cover and geographical characteristics

From: Associations between urban metrics and mortality rates in England

Theme	Urban characteristic	Urban metrics	Data source	Potential health related benefits	Potential health related concerns
Population	Population density	Population density (pop/km²): total city population over city area in square kilometres	ONS, Census 2001	High population density: easy to walk/cycle increase of physical activity [15]	High population density: spread of infectious diseases elevated air pollution levels potential loss of green space social stress
Road network	Walkability of cities	Minor road density (km/km²): length in kilometres of minor roads and B roads over city area (km²)^a	OS, Meridian 2	High minor road density: easy to walk/cycle increase of physical activity [15]	High minor road density: elevated pollution levels higher road traffic noise levels
	Connectivity of road network	Junction density (N/km²): number of A roads, B roads and minor road junctions over city area (km²)^a	OS, Meridian 2	High junction density: easy to walk/cycle increase of physical activity [15]	High junction density: elevated air pollution levels higher road traffic noise levels increased number of road traffic accidents related to road junctions
	Urban sprawl	Population within 100 m of major roads (%): proportion of postcode headcount population within 100 m of A roads^a	OS, Meridian 2; ONS, Census 2001		High population density close to major roads: higher noise and air pollution exposure across city population less likely to walk/cycle and reduction in physical activity [27] increased number of road traffic accidents related to higher speed
Land cover	Land cover mix	Shannon’s diversity index (SDI) [31]: $H = - \sum_{i = 1}^{s} p_{i} \ln p_{i}$ where p _i is the proportion of land cover i relative to the total number of land cover classes	CEH, Land Cover Map 2000; EEA, CORINE Land Cover 1990 (vs 12/2000)	High land cover mix: easy to walk/cycle increase of physical activity [15] less car usage lower air pollution levels	High land cover mix: residential areas potentially close to polluted areas
Geographical characteristics	Terrain	Altitude range (m)	OS, Land-Form PANORAMA	Hilly terrain: increase in physical exercise if walking or cycling	Hilly terrain: Less likely to walk/cycle

^aRoad classification in the UK is classified by the Department of Transport (DfT) as follows: A roads connect areas of regional importance, B roads connect places of local significance and minor roads are roads without classification by the DfT, mostly local roads intended for local traffic [28]

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ISSN: 1476-069X

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