Urban environmental analysis

The study involves urban analysis, both historical and present, in order to provide a deeper understanding of the impact of the urban environment on individuals who are daily exposed.

Since the choices of the past shape the city as it is today, reconstructing key historical events, such as its industrial legacy, is crucial to gain critical insights on critical issues, strength, and planning future actions. Instead, the urban analysis in the present, consisting in urban mapping of people’s life habits collected through detailed individual GPS tracking, provides information on how people actually use and interact with the city (i.e., if they are spending most of their time in town or mostly living as commuters, what mean of transport they use for commuting, how much time they spend in green areas or in traffic, etc.).

These urban lifestyle habits are tightly connected and inevitably affect people’s quality of life and wellbeing, both positively and negatively. “The Urban Exposome” has been therefore addressed in the MAMELI study in order to provide evidence on how the way people use the city changes not only the quality of life but also life expectancy, by producing direct effects on DNA methylation.