Search Results (740)

Solid waste for incineration and wastewater from the country’s largest city, Mexico City (CDMX), is transported to the southern region of Valle del Mezquital (MV). This area also hosts an oil refinery, a thermoelectric plant (PEMEX-CFE), cement factories, industrial corridors, and mining operations, all of which harm environmental and public health. From a Political Ecology (PE) perspective, we examine the mechanisms of accumulation, emphasizing the allocation of property titles and the extraction of rent as an environmental reservoir. We also explore the power of socio-environmental movements to provide a comprehensive understanding of environmental conflict. Based on economic power structures, we identify a geopolitical configuration that deepens the spatial divisions between labor in the MV and consumption in CDMX, exacerbating health disparities. We conclude that an unequal geography has been built that has produced capitalist and rentier landowners who are exempt from the externalities that have produced a sacrifice zone. The Mexican State is a key stakeholder, collaborating with the industrial elite in both legal and illegal spheres. Within this sacrifice zone, the inhabitants of the MV have resisted pollution and industrial accidents for over 50 years. Despite publicizing their struggle internationally and collaborating with academics, members of the movement have been assassinated. Full article

Climate change poses significant challenges to the economic and social sustainability of urban dwellers, particularly in the real estate market, where rising temperatures are affecting property values. While most research focuses on how climate change impacts buyers and sellers, this study shifts attention to renters, who may be more vulnerable to climate-induced price increases. By analyzing rental price and climate data, this study uses ordinary least squares (OLS) and fixed-effects regressions to assess the impact of temperature fluctuations on rental rates across 50 major U.S. metropolitan areas. The findings reveal a positive and significant relationship between rising temperatures and rental rates, particularly in the Northeastern and Southern U.S. These results suggest that targeted policy interventions may help ease financial pressures on vulnerable renters and support more sustainable urban development over time. The analysis also highlights the potential role of energy efficiency measures in rental housing to lower energy costs and alleviate rent burdens. Additionally, the findings indicate that local policymakers may consider rent stabilization strategies and investments in urban green infrastructure to protect low-income renters, reduce localized heat exposure, and promote long-term urban resilience. Full article

Agricultural waste poses significant environmental and economic challenges, with the UK generating 135,000 tonnes annually. Upcycling plant-derived waste offers a sustainable approach to enhancing agricultural productivity while producing innovative, health-promoting foods. Cherries, particularly rich in anthocyanins and quercetin, possess antioxidant and anti-inflammatory properties linked to numerous health benefits. In this study researchers and a small agricultural business in Kent, the UK’s largest cherry-producing region, collaborated to quantify the bioactive compounds in products derived from waste cherries and evaluate their health potential. We find that cherry juice, pulp, and pomace retain high anthocyanin content, particularly Cyanidin-3-O-rutinoside, and contain quercetin. Using Caenorhabditis elegans as a model, we demonstrate that cherry pulp supplementation is protective in an Alzheimer’s disease model. Our study highlights the potential to upcycle agricultural waste to produce foods with health benefits while reducing waste. Full article

In a collaborative effort with private agents of the oilseed industry, INIA conducted a research study to determine the feasibility of framing soybean production in Uruguay into a sustainable development pathway. A spatial model based on land suitability analysis and the imposition of other soil restrictions (risk erosion, current regulations, and permanent soil uses) was adopted to estimate potential soybean yields and the most suitable cropping areas in the country. Assuming a national average production cost for soybeans, total costs were calculated by adding location-specific logistics and land rent costs. Crop economic margins were estimated using a combination of price, technology, and climate-change scenarios. Only areas exhibiting non-negative margins were considered suitable for sustainable cultivation. With all restrictions imposed, the potential soybean area on rotation with other crops and pastures in Uruguay would range between 2.1 and 2.9 million hectares, depending on the prevailing producer price level. Climate change effects did not show significant differences on their own. This ad-hoc approach can be useful for private and public decision-makers. It can be applied to any crop situation or region where the objective is to define how far it is possible to expand and intensify production sustainably, without compromising the environment. Full article

Housing unaffordability and widening socio-spatial polarization continue to pervade US cities today. Driving this phenomenon, in part, is the increasing investment of rental housing stock by corporate landowners who rely on firms like RealPage, Inc. to employ advanced algorithms that determine the highest possible rent to charge tenants. RealPage is currently being sued for violating US antitrust law. This study critically examines the evidence against and in defense of RealPage to identify the firm’s practices as a technologically advanced strategy of pursuing class monopoly rent (CMR). In the process, the study brings scholarship on platform real estate into closer dialogue with land rent theory and criticism of existing antitrust law in the US to establish a more nuanced understanding of intentionality. We argue that the treatment of intentionality by the existing legal framework is limited in terms of recognizing the myriad ways in which CMR is realized in the rental housing sector, especially in contexts where CMR is realized without entailing explicit collusive intent among the market players. Our analysis also reveals that RealPage’s algorithmically enabled pursuit of CMR potentially widens the scale of impact across submarket boundaries that might not have otherwise been possible, exacerbating existing and entrenched patterns of socio-economic segregation and socio-spatial inequality. We conclude by discussing the implications of the study’s findings for policy with an emphasis on the kinds of policies intended (or designed) to suppress the pursuit of CMR in the first place. Full article

Widespread job losses and economic disruptions during the COVID-19 pandemic led to significant housing payment insecurity, disproportionately affecting various demographic groups and regions across the United States (US). While previous studies have explored the pandemic’s impact on housing insecurity, they all focused on specific periods, populations or areas. No study has yet provided a comprehensive analysis of inequality in housing insecurity throughout the pandemic, particularly in terms of spatial disparities. Our study addresses this gap by analyzing individual-level and aggregated data from the Household Pulse Survey (HPS) (N = 2,062,005). The findings reveal heightened vulnerability among individuals aged 40–54, those with lower education and income, Black and Hispanic/Latino populations, women, households with children, individuals who experienced job loss, the divorced, and larger households. Renters experienced greater housing insecurity than homeowners. A hotspot analysis identified the southeastern US as a region of acute housing insecurity, revealing that insecurity cannot be solely measured by affordability. The regression results show that poverty is the main reason for differences in housing insecurity across places, and rent burden is also important. The geographically weighted regression (GWR) model shows stronger coefficients in southern states, highlighting that poverty and rent burden are particularly influential factors in these areas. This study shows the multifaceted nature of housing insecurity, calling for targeted group or location policy interventions. Full article

Common prosperity serves as a pivotal condition for achieving sustainable development by fostering social equity, bolstering economic resilience, and promoting environmental stewardship. Differential land revenue, as a crucial form of property based on spatial resource occupation, significantly contributes to the achievement of common prosperity, though empirical evidence of its impact is limited. This study explores the potential influence of land utilization revenue disparity on common prosperity from the perspective of urban macro differential rent (UMDR). Utilizing panel data from 280 Chinese cities spanning 2007 to 2020, we discover that UMDR and common prosperity levels exhibit strikingly similar spatiotemporal evolution. Further empirical analysis shows that UMDR significantly raises urban common prosperity levels, with a 0.217 standard unit increase in common prosperity for every 1 standard unit rise in UMDR. This boost stems from enhanced urban prosperity and the sharing of development achievements, encompassing economic growth, improved public services, enhanced ecological civilization, and more equitable distribution of development gains between urban and rural areas and among individuals. Additionally, we observe that UMDR has a more pronounced effect on common prosperity in eastern cities and those with a predominant service industry. This study enhances the comprehension of the relationship between urban land revenue disparities, prosperity, and equitable sharing, presenting a new perspective for the administration to contemplate the utilization of land-based policy tools in pursuit of the common prosperity goal and ultimately achieve sustainable development. Full article

To solve the present housing crisis, the Support for Access to Housing Program, in the context of PRR, mainly focuses on social housing to be built or on housing of social interest to be regenerated. To approach this problem, a research question was raised: “What is the significance of the existing cooperative housing in solving the current housing crisis?” To analyze this issue, a multiple case study was adopted, comparing a collective dwelling of cooperative promotion at controlled costs in Caselas (1980s–1990s) with Expo Urbe (2000–2007) in Parque das Nações, a symbol of the new sustainable cooperative housing, which targets a population with a higher standard of living and thus is excluded from the PRR plan. These cases revealed the discrepancy created by the Cooperative Code of 1998 and its consequences for the urban regeneration of this heritage. They show that Caselas, built in a residential urban neighborhood, is strongly attached to a community, provides good social inclusion for vulnerable groups at more affordable prices, and it is eligible for urban regeneration and reuse (for renting or buying). However, the reuse of Caselcoop’s edifices cannot compromise their cultural and residential values or threaten the individual integrity. Full article

While IPV is often studied as a predictor of housing insecurity, few U.S. studies explore how different forms of housing instability may contribute to intimate partner violence (IPV) risk. Using a mixed-methods approach and a cross-sectional design, this study examined the association between four housing instability domains and IPV among a sample of tenants that had either experienced eviction or were at high risk for eviction. Tenants in Harris and Travis counties (Texas, USA) completed an online survey (n = 1085; March–July 2024). Housing instability was assessed across four domains: homelessness, lease violations, utility hardship, and poor housing quality. IPV was measured using the Hurt, Insult, Threaten, Scream Screener. Covariate-adjusted logistic regression models suggest indicators within the four housing instability domains were associated with IPV risk. Within the homelessness domain, experiences with lifetime homelessness (AOR = 1.92, 95%CI 1.61–2.28), in the past 12 months living in unconventional spaces (AOR = 2.10, 95%CI 1.92–2.29), and moving in with others (AOR = 1.20, 95%CI 1.06–1.36) were associated with IPV. Within the lease violations domain, missed rent payments (AOR = 1.69, 95%CI 1.68–1.71) and non-payment lease violations (AOR = 2.50, 95%CI 2.29–2.73) in the past 12 months were associated with IPV. Utility shutoffs (AOR = 1.62, 95%CI 1.37–1.91) and unsafe housing (AOR = 1.65, 95%CI 1.31–2.09) in the past 12 months were associated with IPV. Homelessness, housing-related economic hardships and substandard living conditions predict an elevated risk of IPV. Full article

Public–private partnership (PPP) logistics infrastructure projects have become increasingly prevalent globally. Consequently, the effective management of these projects as their concession periods expire presents a crucial challenge for governments, vital for the sustainable management of PPP logistics infrastructure. This study addresses this challenge by focusing on the pivotal post-concession decision: whether the government should self-operate the mature logistics infrastructure or re-delegate its management to a private entity. Our theoretical model, built on a principal–agent framework, first establishes a social welfare baseline under government self-operation and then analyzes delegated operation under symmetric information, identifying efficiency frontiers. Under symmetric information, we find that government self-operation is more advantageous when its own operational efficiency is sufficiently high, irrespective of the private enterprise’s efficiency; conversely, delegating to an efficient private enterprise is optimal only when government operational efficiency is low. We also demonstrate that if the government can directly specify the demand quantity and service level and delegates operation via a fixed fee, the enterprise can be incentivized to align with the social optimum. However, under asymmetric information, potential welfare gains from delegation are inevitably offset by informational rent and output distortion. We further uncover non-monotonic impacts of parameters like the proportion of low-cost firms on social welfare loss and demonstrate how information asymmetry can indirectly compromise the long-term resilience of the infrastructure. Ultimately, our work asserts that delegation is only superior if its potential efficiency gains sufficiently offset the inherent losses stemming from information asymmetry. Full article

In sustainable development studies, a key question is how the abundance of natural resources influences long-run economic growth. However, there is no consensus on this issue. Some literature suggests a negative impact, while other studies find no effect at all, and other research indicates a positive impact. This study aims to examine the relationship between natural resource rents, renewable energy, and economic growth in the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) countries over the period from 1990 to 2023. The study utilizes the Method of Moments Quantile Regression (MMQR) to provide reliable findings across different quantiles. We also incorporate a series of control variables, including capital, labor force participation, non-renewable energy, and trade openness. The findings indicate that natural resources rent enhances economic growth in GCC countries, supporting the Rostow hypothesis. Although renewable energy has a positive impact on economic growth, it does not have an effect on natural resource rents. Additionally, capital, labor force participation, non-renewable energy, and trade openness play a critical role in raising economic growth in these countries. Based on the empirical results, this study provides several valuable recommendations for policymakers to enhance the management of natural resources in GCC countries. Full article

Urban greening initiatives, including the incorporation of street trees, have been widely recognized for a variety of environmental benefits. However, their economic impact on retail, in particular, the impact of street trees on the visibility of signs, has been underexplored. Street trees can obscure retail signs, potentially reducing customer engagement and discouraging retailers from paying higher rents for such locations. This paper investigates how the blocking of retail signage by street trees affects monthly rent in developed commercial districts in Seoul. It identifies, through Google Street View and state-of-the-art deep-learning-based semantic segmentation methods, environmental elements such as street trees, sidewalks, and buildings; quantifies their proportions; and analyzes their impact on rent using OLS regression, controlling for socio-economic variables. The results reveal that rents significantly diminish when street trees blocking views of retail signs increase. Our findings require more nuanced consideration by planners and policymakers in balancing both environmental and economic demands toward sustainable street design and planning. Full article

The purpose of this study is to synthesize existing peer-reviewed literature on fashion renting and provide insights into its role within the broader framework of sustainable consumption and business practices within different cultural contexts, while also guiding future research efforts. This review includes only peer-reviewed journal articles and book chapters in English, with the search conducted up to 31 March 2025. A total of 95 academic papers published between 2010 and 2025 were analyzed to explore the evolving landscape of fashion rental consumption and business practices. NVivo 14 was used for the analysis of the collected literature. The findings revealed six key motivating benefits and six significant barriers that influence consumer participation in fashion renting. Additionally, five success factors and four critical challenges were identified as shaping the development of the fashion rental market. This research represents the first attempt to synthesize literature from both the consumer and business perspectives of fashion renting. The findings provide a comprehensive understanding of market dynamics related to fashion rental consumption and business practices, shedding light on the key factors that support the sustainability of fashion rental businesses as well as the challenges they face. Both theoretical and practical implications are discussed, offering valuable guidance for researchers and fashion industry stakeholders. Full article

This study investigates the evaluation of housing policies for migrants in China, focusing on the interplay between rental and purchase decisions under the rent-and-purchase policy (RPP) framework. Employing a system dynamics model, we simulate migrant housing choices from 2001 to 2023 and forecast market trends from 2024 to 2030. The results indicate that RPPs significantly improve housing quality and reduce costs for migrants by mitigating institutional disparities and market distortions. Scenario analyses demonstrate that a coordinated approach combining supply-side interventions (e.g., affordable housing expansion) with rights-based policies (e.g., equalizing renter and buyer rights) effectively balances affordability and demand stability. The findings emphasize the critical role of addressing rights inequalities and advocate for a holistic policy framework to tackle migrant housing challenges, offering actionable insights for policymakers in system science and urban planning. Full article

Background: Influenza is a significant global respiratory infection, and vaccinating reproductive-age women, particularly in densely populated countries like China, cannot be overlooked. In this study, we aimed to determine influenza vaccination coverage, vaccine hesitancy, as well as associated factors among Chinese women aged 18–49 years old. Methods: A cross-sectional survey among women aged 18–49 years was conducted in China from 15 to 30 March 2023. We collected information such as past-year influenza vaccination, demographic characteristics, health-related factors, COVID-19-related factors, and perceived susceptibility and severity of influenza. Influenza vaccine acceptance among participants who did not receive influenza vaccination in the past year was also investigated. Multivariable logistic regression analyses were employed to investigate the influencing factors of vaccine coverage and vaccine hesitancy. Results: A total of 1742 reproductive-aged women were included in the final analysis. The past-year influenza vaccine coverage among women aged 18–49 years old was only 39.32% in China. Age ≥ 35 years (aOR = 0.72, 95% CI: 0.56–0.94), renting accommodation (aOR = 0.57, 95% CI: 0.44–0.75), and history of COVID-19 infection (aOR = 0.65, 95% CI: 0.47–0.89) and COVID-19 vaccine hesitancy (aOR = 0.39, 95% CI: 0.29–0.54) were all identified as negative correlates of influenza vaccine coverage among Chinese reproductive-aged women, while participants with a history of chronic diseases (aOR = 1.57, 95% CI: 1.23–2.01) and noticeable pandemic fatigue due to COVID-19 (aOR = 1.45, 95% CI: 1.05–2.00) were prone to have higher vaccination rates. Among reproductive-aged women who did not receive influenza vaccination in the past year, the hesitancy rate regarding future influenza vaccination was 31.79%. Factors such as older age, urban residence, living with others, poor self-rated health status, absence of chronic diseases, completion of full COVID-19 vaccination, COVID-19 vaccine hesitancy, pandemic fatigue, and failure to perceive the susceptibility and severity of influenza might increase influenza vaccine hesitancy. Discussion: Overall, a lower coverage rate of influenza vaccine was notably observed among Chinese reproductive-age women, as well as the hesitancy regarding future vaccination. To effectively mitigate the impact of influenza and reduce the incidence of associated diseases, it is imperative to devise targeted intervention strategies and policies tailored to reproductive-age women. Full article