Understanding and Harnessing the Health Effects of Rapid Urbanization in China

Abstract

China is undergoing a rapid transition from a rural to an urban society. This societal change is a consequence of a national drive toward economic prosperity. Rapid urbanization impacts on infrastructure, environmental health and human wellbeing. Unlike many cases of urban expansion, Chinese urbanization has led to containment, rather than to increase, in the spread of infectious diseases. Conversely, the incidence of chronic conditions such as cardiovascular and metabolic diseases has risen, with higher rates occurring in urban regions. This ruralÀurban gradient in disease incidence seems not to be a reflection simply of more aggressive diagnosis or healthcare access. Other diseases exhibit little rural versus urban differences (e.g., liver cancer or respiratory disease), or even occur at a higher rate in the rural population (e.g., esophageal cancer). This article examines the impact of this changing demographic on environmental health and human wellbeing in China. Lessons learned from epidemiological studies mostly carried out in Europe and the U.S. may not be directly transferable to China. We advocate that there is now a need to establish robust systems of accurate data collection, a Chinese biobank network to facilitate the profiling of human health effects, and relevant randomized controlled trials to identify effective interventions in the Chinese urbanized setting. Such studies could allow for the future implementation of disease-preventive strategies.

Insecticides in sediment cores from a rural and a suburban area in South China: A reflection of shift in application patterns

“…Wang et al (2013) reported that chlordane usage in South China strongly correlated to rise of newly constructed building (again a product determined by local economic conditions). As mentioned earlier, a rise in economic conditions in rural Longyan region appeared in the 1990s (Zhu et al, 2011), and subsequently led to an increase in the construction of buildings. For this reason, chlordanes may have been applied at greater frequency, resulting in the peak OCP concentration in 1995.…”

“…Poor economic conditions in the past have limited pesticide use in this area, however starting in the 1990s, much of South China saw increases in industrial jobs, and as such many people from underdeveloped areas moved to nearby cities. Consequently, these underdeveloped areas, such as Longyan, saw decreases in population with improved economic conditions (Zhu et al, 2011;Li et al, 2014b). With improved economic conditions along with a lack of available labor, perhaps not surprisingly, the farmers' willingness and economic ability to use more pesticides increased, explaining the sudden rise of insecticide concentrations in the rural core (RLY) in the 1990s (Fig.…”

City as a major source area of fine particulate (PM2.5) in China

“…Along with the booming economy, the urbanization level has increased from 18% in 1978 to 52% in 2012, and is projected to be 65% in 2030 (Zhu et al, 2011). China's rapid urbanization in such a short period has not only improve the material wealth and living standard, but also caused several environmental problems, particularly air pollution in recent decades (Han et al, 2014;Chan and Yao, 2008;Huang et al, 2009).…”

Association of soil polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbon levels and anthropogenic impacts in a rapidly urbanizing region: Spatial distribution, soil–air exchange and ecological risk

“…Urbanization, an inevitable consequence of rapid economic development, is a multi-dimensional process with complicated outcomes (Zhu et al, 2011), such as increased domestic waste discharge (Wang et al, 2007), and water and air pollution (Cheung et al, 2003;Wang et al, 2007Wang et al, , 2011aPan et al, 2012;Zhang et al, 2012). As an important matrix in urban terrestrial environment, soil has been a major sink of contaminates (Jones, 1994;Hippelein and Mclachlan, 1998;Manzetti, 2013) and well interacts with other environmental compartments.…”