7.0. Conclusion
Urban cities are polarized environments combining risks and protective behaviors. This polarization tends to follow the distribution of goods and resources in our society. Racial/ethnic minority groups occupy the lower end of our society and are concentrated in areas with a high level of people living below poverty, high unemployment, high proportion of people on pubic assistance, lack of health insurance, and limited access to health care. Therefore, minorities occupy a higher risk position in our society and particularly so in urban areas. Minority groups’ exposures to health damaging circumstances and promotion of negative health behaviors are a function of their social position. Therefore, to understand the contribution of the urban environment in shaping the health of their residents, the structures and processes driving the racial/ethnic relationships of our society needs to be placed in the context of the historic, economic, and social forces creating and ultimately shaping these relationships in our day-to-day life. Specifically, the historic meaning of race, and more recently ethnicity, needs to be deconstructed to provide equal opportunities to all racial/ethnic groups in our society and to eventually eliminate the health damaging effects of the urban environment.
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Borrell, L.N., Hatch, S.L. (2005). Racial/Ethnic Minorities and Health. In: Galea, S., Vlahov, D. (eds) Handbook of Urban Health. Springer, Boston, MA . https://doi.org/10.1007/0-387-25822-1_4
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