Department of Sociology and Boston Area Research Initiative, Harvard University, Cambridge, MA 02138
Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 2017 Aug 22;114(34):8957-8962. doi: 10.1073/pnas.1614433114. Epub 2017 Jan 6.
The environmental fragility of cities under advanced urbanization has motivated extensive efforts to promote the sustainability of urban ecosystems and physical infrastructures. Less attention has been devoted to neighborhood inequalities and fissures in the civic infrastructure that potentially challenge social sustainability and the capacity of cities to collectively address environmental challenges. This article draws on a program of research in three American cities-Boston, Chicago, and Los Angeles-to develop hypotheses and methodological strategies for assessing how the multidimensional and multilevel inequalities that characterize contemporary cities bear on sustainability. In addition to standard concerns with relative inequality in income, the article reviews evidence on compounded deprivation, racial cleavages, civic engagement, institutional cynicism, and segregated patterns of urban mobility and organizational ties that differentially connect neighborhood resources. Harnessing "ecometric" measurement tools and emerging sources of urban data with a theoretically guided framework on neighborhood inequality can enhance the pursuit of sustainable cities, both in the United States and globally.
城市化进程加速导致城市环境脆弱性日益凸显，为了促进城市生态系统和物质基础设施的可持续发展，人们付出了诸多努力。然而，邻里之间的不平等以及公民基础设施的裂痕却较少受到关注，这些不平等和裂痕可能对社会可持续性以及城市集体应对环境挑战的能力构成挑战。本文借鉴了美国三个城市（波士顿、芝加哥和洛杉矶）的研究计划，旨在提出假设并制定方法策略，以评估构成当代城市特征的多维和多层次不平等现象对可持续性的影响。除了对收入相对不平等的关注外，本文还回顾了关于复合剥夺、种族分裂、公民参与、制度犬儒主义以及城市流动性和组织联系的隔离模式的证据，这些因素会影响邻里资源的连接程度。利用“生态计量”测量工具和新兴的城市数据资源，并结合邻里不平等问题的理论指导框架，可以促进可持续城市的发展，无论是在美国还是在全球范围内。
