STORY: Toxic fumes billow from a burning downtown warehouse filled with barrels of pesticides. An inner city toddler slips slivers of lead paint chips into his mouth. National statistics show that 30 to 50 percent of urban children are inadequately immunized. Life in the inner city can take a devastating toll on the health of its residents locked in neighborhoods besieged by crime, poverty, smog, urban decay and inadequate health care.
WHAT: "Unhealthy Places: The Ecology of Risk in the Urban Landscape" (Routledge, 2000) is a new book written by UAB (University of Alabama at Birmingham) sociologists Kevin M. Fitzpatrick, Ph.D., and Mark LaGory, Ph.D. The book examines the relationship between place and health demonstrating inequalities in America's cities. The authors propose a more place-specific approach to addressing these inequalities and health risks in urban communities.
WHO: Kevin M. Fitzpatrick, Ph.D., is an associate professor of sociology and has written extensively on risk-taking behavior and mental health consequences for youth and homeless. Mark LaGory, Ph.D., is a professor of sociology and urban affairs. His previous books include "The Environment for Aging: Interpersonal, Social and Spatial Contexts," "Remaking the City" and "Urban Social Space."
Fitzpatrick and LaGory argue against what they call massive, generic, federal urban renewal and health programs, in favor of a comprehensive, grassroots approach to health promotion and urban change "that would have the dual purpose of promoting healthier places, while efficiently delivering information and services to at-risk populations."
They point to the Healthy Cities Project initiated by the World Health Organization in 1987 that builds alliances between businesses, government, and other professionals to facilitate health promotion and disease prevention and address the specific health care needs of a community. The HCP is now operating in 500 European cities and 300 other cities around the world.
The authors write: "Without a comprehensive place-based strategy to address the health needs of the at-risk, underserved and unprotected in the urban core, America will continue to be a society plagued by the contradiction of great wealth and mediocre health."
CALL: Gail Short, Media Relations, (205) 934-8931 or e-mail at [email protected]
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