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Today, for the first time in the history of human civilization, over half of the world’s population lives in urban areas. Due to this global urbanization, the United Nations included sustainable urban development in its recent Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) agenda. SDG Goal 11 is one of 17 comprehensive SDGs, and it pays specific attention to making “cities and human settlements inclusive, safe, resilient and sustainable”. This study comparatively analyzes the current state of participatory urban planning processes in three cities: Chicago, Illinois, U.S.; São Paulo, Brazil; and Delhi, India. Utilizing the cities’ most recent master plans, a content analysis found that public engagement was a key instrument that they adopted in the production of their planning documents, but the level of engagement and tools used to engage the public differed among cities, with Chicago and São Paulo demonstrating more robust public engagement than Delhi. The historical context of the comparative countries’ political, cultural, and socioeconomic development also plays a role in the degree to which a landscape for public engagement and participation exists. The study finds that the ideals of a just city can be determined by the level of participation with which cities engage their citizens during the planning process, and that sustainable urban development is further determined by the level of social equity that currently exists in a city itself.

This article argues that the integration of race-conscious dialogues in public administration programs will promote racial and social justice, as well as improve service delivery for a wide array of constituents. Scholars have acknowledged the challenges associated with incorporating racial justice into public sector practices. However, if racial divisions are to subside, academic and professional training programs need to purposefully include discussions of race, racism, and racial equity. This article concludes with a discussion of way to incorporate an antiracist pedagogy in public administration curriculum. This strategy can begin preparing future administrators to thoughtfully engage in difficult dialogues around topics of race and racism.

This study investigated the impact of high-speed rail (HSR) on social equity, utilizing information from a stated preference survey conducted in Vietnam. Social equity was examined across the population of four cities representing the northern, central, and southern areas of Vietnam. In general, the high price of HSR is one of the barriers to using HSR over inter-city buses and conventional trains. Low-income groups (less than VND 6 million per month) have 4.894 and 4.725 times the likelihoods, compared to higher income groups, of retaining the use of an inter-city bus or conventional train, respectively, after introducing HSR. Our findings reveal the fact that social inequity may occur, with the low-income group being especially vulnerable, due to the existence of HSR in the future. Furthermore, our results indicate that the interest of people towards inter-city buses and conventional trains varied among the four cities before and after the presence of HSR. More specifically, low-income groups in Vinh and Nha Trang were observed to have a higher feeling of staying away from HSR, as they prefer to use inter-city buses. The findings of this study suggest that planners and policymakers need to consider various components of HSR ticket planning, in order to achieve sustainable evolution of the passenger rail system.

Bile acids (BAs) facilitate nutrient digestion and absorption and act as signaling molecules in a number of metabolic and inflammatory pathways. Expansion of the BA pool and increased exposure to microbial BA metabolites has been associated with increased colorectal cancer (CRC) risk. Bile acids (BAs) facilitate nutrient digestion and absorption and act as signaling molecules in a number of metabolic and inflammatory pathways. Expansion of the BA pool and increased exposure to microbial BA metabolites has been associated with increased colorectal cancer (CRC) risk. It is well established that diet influences systemic BA concentrations and microbial BA metabolism. Therefore, consumption of nutrients that reduce colonic exposure to BAs and microbial BA metabolites may be an effective method for reducing CRC risk, particularly in populations disproportionately burdened by CRC. Individuals who identify as Black/African American (AA/B) have the highest CRC incidence and death in the United States and are more likely to live in a food environment with an inequitable access to BA mitigating nutrients. Thus, this review discusses the current evidence supporting diet as a contributor to CRC disparities through BA-mediated mechanisms and relationships between these mechanisms and barriers to maintaining a low-risk diet.

Generations of colonialism, industrialization, intensive agriculture, and anthropogenic climate change have radically altered global ecosystems and by extension, their environmental microbiomes. The environmental consequences of global change disproportionately burden racialized communities, those with lower socioeconomic status, and other systematically underserved populations. Generations of colonialism, industrialization, intensive agriculture, and anthropogenic climate change have radically altered global ecosystems and by extension, their environmental microbiomes. The environmental consequences of global change disproportionately burden racialized communities, those with lower socioeconomic status, and other systematically underserved populations. Environmental justice seeks to balance the relationships between environmental burden, beneficial ecosystem functions, and local communities. Given their direct links to human and ecosystem health, microbes are embedded within social and environmental justice. Considering scientific and technological advances is becoming an important step in developing actionable solutions to global equity challenges. Here we identify areas where inclusion of microbial knowledge and research can support planetary health goals. We offer guidelines for strengthening a reciprocal integration of environmental justice into environmental microbiology research. Microbes form intimate relationships with the environment and society, thus microbiologists have numerous and unique opportunities to incorporate equity into their research, teaching, and community engagement.

Reducing emissions from deforestation and forest degradation (REDD+) to address climate change has historically included little evaluation of how heterogeneous local communities respond to REDD+ interventions and new land-use activities. We assessed differences in the acceptance of new land-use activities as a function of livelihoods of the Hmong and Khmu ethnic groups in northern Lao People’s Democratic Republic, where REDD+ was implemented between 2011 and 2018. Our socioeconomic data, collected by a questionnaire-based survey and focal group discussions, showed that the Hmong more effectively incorporated support from REDD+ than the Khmu because the Hmong owned grazing land. Our findings highlight the importance of understanding the capabilities and characteristics of each ethnic group when implementing new land-use activities (i.e., designing and implementing alternative livelihoods) within a target area to ensure distributional equity in heterogeneous communities. Such a consideration should be included in land-use policy and also be a part of the social safeguards in the land-use sector.

As evidenced by classroom experiences in the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic, microbes are “good to teach with” not only within microbiology and related fields but across a variety of academic disciplines. Thinking with microbes is not a neutral process but one shaped by social, political, and economic processes. The coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic introduced unique challenges to teaching at the university level, while also heightening awareness of existing social and health disparities as these shaped interactions and influenced learning outcomes in class settings. Based on ethnographic and autoethnographic data, this article reflects on teaching about human-microbial relations in the context of the course “Anthropology of Food” and specifically at the start of the pandemic. Data demonstrate how students shifted from demystifying microbes to distrusting microbes to reacquainting with microbes through a hands-on experiment with fermentation. The article introduces a microbiopolitical perspective in interpreting students' learning trajectories and ultimate course outcomes. IMPORTANCE As evidenced by classroom experiences in the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic, microbes are “good to teach with” not only within microbiology and related fields but across a variety of academic disciplines. Thinking with microbes is not a neutral process but one shaped by social, political, and economic processes. Imploring students to contemplate how power dynamics and patterns of inequality are detectable at the microbial level may offer a unique opportunity for transforming one’s view of the world and our relatedness with both humans and nonhumans.

Human exposure to floods continues to increase, driven by changes in hydrology and land use. Adverse impacts amplify for socially vulnerable populations, who disproportionately inhabit flood-prone areas. This study explores the geography of flood exposure and social vulnerability in the conterminous United States based on spatial analysis of fluvial and pluvial flood extent, land cover, and social vulnerability. Using bivariate Local Indicators of Spatial Association, we map hotspots where high flood exposure and high social vulnerability converge and identify dominant indicators of social vulnerability within these places. The hotspots, home to approximately 19 million people, occur predominantly in rural areas and across the US South. Mobile homes and racial minorities are most overrepresented in hotspots compared to elsewhere. The results identify priority locations where interventions can mitigate both physical and social aspects of flood vulnerability. The variables that most distinguish the clusters are used to develop an indicator set of social vulnerability to flood exposure. Understanding who is most exposed to floods and where, can be used to tailor mitigation strategies to target those most in need.

Street-level workers' judgments, decisions, and actions touch on questions of social equity, a dominant theme of H. George Fredericksons deep contributions to public administration scholarship. Based on empirical work, the authors question the dominant implementation-control-discretion narrative and suggest an alternative framing based on the concepts of agency and pragmatic improvisation. Street-level workers are often conservers of institutional norms and practices, but their work surfaces tensions between practice and the goals of social equity.

Social equity is rooted in the idea that each person is equal and has inalienable rights. Because of America's unique blend of social, religious, economic, and political characteristics, we value this concept despite, or perhaps because of the simultaneous tensions of a capitalist economy, which requires inequality, set within a democratic constitutional system, which assumes equality. The impossibility of simultaneously achieving inequality and equality produces episodic \"corrections.\" This was the case in the tumultuous 1960s, a period when the usually tame notion of equity gave rise to heated debate and resulted in calk for social change. Now, tumult in the form of economic inequality, unemployment, and globalization is a harbinger of renewed interest. This article explains the roots of the concept, its contemporary understandings, and its relevance to emerging issues.