Urban Health

Abandoned Home

Blight-Busting Demolitions Reduced Gun Injuries, Deaths in Detroit Neighborhoods

New Research from Marc Zimmerman

For the past half-decade, Detroit’s government and community groups have worked to tear down abandoned houses and buildings in the city’s most blight-stricken neighborhoods. A new University of Michigan and Harvard University study shows an 11% drop in homicides and serious injuries caused by firearms in the areas where more than a few demolitions took place

man reading book

IN THE NEWS: How To Recapture Peace and Quiet In a Noisy World

New Contribution from Rick Neitzel

It is estimated that 30 million Americans are exposed to dangerous noise levels on a regular basis—up 10 million from just a few years ago. Research has shown that being strongly annoyed by noise is associated with increased depression and anxiety, can spike blood pressure, heart rate, and cause stress.

smoke stack

Departments Collaborate on Panel Discussing Future Climate Change and Health

Collaboration and Leadership from Trish Koman and Dean Bowman

The Michigan Center on Lifestage Environmental Exposures and Disease recently sponsored its annual “Climate Change and Health: What the Science Says and What We Can Do” forum in collaboration with the Environmental Health Sciences department of the School of Public Health and the School for Environment and Sustainability of the University of Michigan.

New York Fire Trucks

IN THE NEWS: Which Blare Project: Noisy New York Ponders Switch to Gentler Sirens

Rick Neitzel Quoted in the Guardian

New Yorkers are accustomed to hearing the rapid, pulsating “wail” and “yelp” sirens that echo around town. But for those who live near fire stations, police stations and hospitals, the sirens can seem like torture. Now a fresh campaign is under way to introduce softer, two-tone, European-style sirens.

Foreclosure sign

University of Michigan Launches New Projects to Fight Poverty

On any given day across Michigan nearly 100 homeowners or renters could be evicted—a rate almost one-and-a-half times the national average. That is a problem one of nine new projects funded by Poverty Solutions and with support from the Detroit Urban Research Center aims to tackle in 2019.

Empowering Populations

Empowering Populations

Pursuing a healthier, more equitable world for all, Michigan Public Health researchers are accompanying vulnerable individuals and communities on our way to designing a world that is a good deal healthier for everyone in it.