Got any citations on this? My apartment has an outside door and the hallways are open to the outdoor air so there is no buildup of stale air. There are no elevators either.
General tenet of epidemiology. You're also forgetting simple contact vectors - commonly handled implements like entry doors and keypad buttons become vectors. High density housing does not have to be low-quality to increase the spread of disease. Tuberculosis is a fun one, if you care to Google about the serious fight public health officials in the US are having with the resurgance of that disease in high density urban centers.
Here are some citations for you.
http://books.google.com/books?id=Vl...nepage&q=high density housing disease&f=false
From the
Australian government:
At the same time, high rates of international travel (due to increased globalisation) combined with high density living has resulted in frequent episodes of sudden and rapid disease transmission.
From the
British government:
The distribution and density of urban centres is also relevant to contingency planning for the spread of new ?emerging? diseases, whether arising ?naturally?, for example an influenza pandemic, or by deliberate release in an act of terrorism. In addition to the gen- eral issues of numbers and densities, the proximity of major urban areas to hubs of international travel, such as major airports, can be significant. It was through air travel that SARS cases were intro- duced into cities such as Toronto and Singapore in 2003 (McLean et al., 2005).
The challenges of containing the spread of disease in high den- sity urban areas is amplified if cities attract individuals who are of greater than average susceptibility or who have a contact structure that facilitates the spread of disease.
Princeton University has this comment on the spread of malaria.
In summary, the combination of high human density, high vector density, and lack of immunity in colonization areas is destined to produce malaria outbreaks.
The University of Nebraska at Lincoln also mentions this, with regards to the bedbug scourge (which again proves my point):
Bed bugs are non-discriminatory and will feed on anyone, but people in high-density housing are more likely to be infested.
Again, basic epidemiology. Let's also not forget this
little paper, published in a peer-reviewed journal:
The superspreading events that occurred within hospital, hotel and high-density housing estate opens a new chapter in the mechanisms and routes of virus transmission.
I would also point out the following text which touches on your own field, Maxcy-Rosenau-Last's
Public Health & Preventative Medicine, which I suggest you examine. Say around, oh, page 922, where they touch on social pathology and high-density housing.
Kitty Genovese was a problem with people, not with housing. My friends live in a part of town where everyone minds their own business and barely meets their neighbors, let alone getting involved in a crime in progress; however, my apartment complex had a series of car burglaries last year and everyone pulled together to look out for car prowls and people who don't live in the complex being there at odd hours. Minding your own damn business is not unique to high-density housing.
Seriously? You, of all people are invoking terrorist fearmongering? I expected better of you, Spectre.
I'm no fan of high-density living. I love my apartment, but I'm not in the middle of the city either. I'm not proposing a switch to high-density housing, merely stating that such a switch is an option. Some people love high-rise living, I'm just not one of them, I have the dream of someday owning my own house. I only bring this up because you are grasping at straws. If you can offer some real data to back up your claims of disease, I'll take a look at it. The security issue is crap, the case of Kitty Genovese is mandatory study to any first year undergraduate psych student and not once has the type of housing been brought up as a cause of her murder. If anything her case has become so well known that now half the people with cell phones dial 911 and the other half start filming it.
Not what I was getting at. Was pointing out that Kitty Genovese was made possible because of the usual architectural features of high density housing - namely blind corners and service areas (such as emergency stairwells) that are generally out of regular observation. The tactical rather than strategic issues of the case, as it were.
Wikipedia has this to say:
When Robert Mozer, one of the neighbors, shouted at the attacker, "Let that girl alone!" Moseley ran away and Genovese slowly made her way toward the rear entrance of her apartment building.She was seriously injured, but now out of view of those few who may have had reason to believe she was in need of help...
...Eventually he found Genovese who was lying, barely conscious, in a hallway at the back of the building where a locked doorway had prevented her from entering the building. Out of view of the street and of those who may have heard or seen any sign of the original attack, he proceeded to further attack her, stabbing her several more times.
This
is a problem endemic to high density housing, also high density office complexes.
However, since you appear to want to go there, if you think that because the case is well known people would think about it and respond accordingly,
think again.
According to The New York Times, in an article dated December 28, 1974, ten years after the murder, 25-year-old Sandra Zahler was beaten to death early Christmas morning in an apartment of the building that overlooked the site of the Genovese attack. Neighbors again said they heard screams and "fierce struggles" but did nothing.
It isn't fearmongering if it's a clinical assessment of the factors involved. My point is simple - you eliminate some issues with a move to high density housing but at the same time you create or increase the chances of other issues, which can be just as serious if not more so. "Move everyone and everything to be closer together" has its own price.
