“Placing” Health in an Urban Sociology: Cities as Mosaics of Risk and Protection

Central to urban sociology is the assumption that place matters. Yet, urban sociology has virtually ignored the role of place in understanding a critical aspect of personal and collective well–being—health. This article attempts to synthesize major sociological theories of health, within an urban ecological framework, in an effort to provide insight into how the distinct spatial qualities of neighborhoods impact the health risks, beliefs, and behaviors of their residents. Because the ecology of metropolitan regions is a landscape of uneven risk, hazard, and protection, it produces dramatic differences in the physical and mental health of its residents. Most affected by this process have been inner–city, disadvantaged populations who have shouldered the primary weight of the “urban health penalty.”