Reviews
7 July 2025

Urban gentrification and infectious diseases: an interdisciplinary narrative review

Publisher's note
All claims expressed in this article are solely those of the authors and do not necessarily represent those of their affiliated organizations, or those of the publisher, the editors and the reviewers. Any product that may be evaluated in this article or claim that may be made by its manufacturer is not guaranteed or endorsed by the publisher.
0
Views
0
Downloads

Authors

Urban gentrification, the transformation of neighbourhoods by influx of new residential groups, leading to displacement of lowerincome communities, is a complex, multifaceted process with significant but generally unexplored public health implications. This study focused on the impact of this process on infectious disease dynamics investigating key factors such as sociodemographic disparities, economic conditions, housing and urban environmental changes. A systemic literature research was performed based on the search terms: gentrification and infectious disease in PubMed, Scopus, Web of Science, ScienceDirect, and Google Scholar, with additional references identified using the snowballing method. After screening the resulting 542 articles, 14 studies were selected based on relevance, with data were extracted through a consensusdriven process. This review identified the complex challenges posed by gentrification in the context of infectious disease dynamics and burdens providing valuable insights both to academic discourse and public health policy discussions. Gentrification may contribute to higher infection rates within specific urban neighbourhoods or among certain residents. For blood-borne and Sexually Transmitted Infections (STIs), gentrification leads to reduced access to essential healthcare services, including HIV and STI testing, particularly among marginalised populations, such as female sex workers and LGBTQ+ communities. For airborne diseases, gentrification can exacerbate health inequalities by increasing residential overcrowding and displacement from gentrified areas to more disadvantaged suburbs. Housing and urban planning associated with changes in the urban environment are primarily linked with vector-borne diseases, tick-borne diseases in particular, among displaced populations. We advocate the use of spatial epidemiology to examine the potential impact of gentrification on the risk for infectious diseases. Since many gentrification metrics are area-specific, mapping and visualising key indicator data can pre-emptively support practical decision-making. This approach also helps capture the complex dynamics of displacement and the within-place changes experienced by populations affected by gentrification, which might affect infectious disease dynamics. Finally, we outline key research priorities to bridge existing knowledge gaps in future multidisciplinary research on infectious diseases and gentrification.

Altmetrics

Downloads

Download data is not yet available.

Citations

Aalbers MB. 2018. Forum: revisiting the changing state of gentrification. introduction to the forum: from third to fifth‐wave gentrification. Tijdschr Voor Econ En Soc Geogr 110:1-11.
Aguilar J, Bassolas A, Ghoshal G, Hazarie S, Kirkley A, Mazzoli M, Meloni S, Mimar S, Nicosia V, Ramasco JJ, Sadilek A. 2022. Impact of urban structure on infectious disease spreading. Sci Rep 12:3816.
Albrecht L, Kaufeld KA. 2023. Investigating the impact of environmental factors on West Nile virus human case prediction in Ontario, Canada. Front Public Health 11:1100543.
Ali SH, Foster T, Hall NL, 2018. The relationship between infectious diseases and housing maintenance in indigenous australian households. Int J Environ Res Public Health 15:2827.
Alonge SK, Wadinga A. 2021. Rethinking urban renewal programmes for pandemic control in Nigeria. Afr J Health Safety Environ 2:14-24.
Anguelovski I, Cole HVS, O’Neill E, Baró F, Kotsila P, Sekulova F, Pérez Del Pulgar C, Shokry G, García-Lamarca M, Argüelles L, Connolly JJ, Honey-Rosés J, López-Gay A, Fontán-Vela M, Matheney A, Oscilowicz E, Binet A, Triguero-Mas M. 2021. Gentrification pathways and their health impacts on historically marginalized residents in Europe and North America: Global qualitative evidence from 14 cities. Health Place 72:102698.
Bandewar SVS, Bharat S, Kongelf A, Pisal H, Collumbien M. 2015. Considering risk contexts in explaining the paradoxical HIV increase among female sex workers in Mumbai and Thane, India. BMC Public Health 16:85.
Bhavsar NA, Kumar M, Richman L, 2020. Defining gentrification for epidemiologic research: A systematic review. PLoS One 15:e0233361.
Bhavsar NA, Yang LZ, Phelan M, Shepherd-Banigan M, Goldstein BA, Peskoe S, Palta P, Hirsch JA, Mitchell NS, Hirsch AG, Lunyera J, Mohottige D, Diamantidis CJ, Maciejewski ML, Boulware LE. 2022. Association between gentrification and health and healthcare utilization. J Urban Health 99;984–97.
Birri Makota R, Musenge E. 2023. Spatial heterogeneity in relationship between district patterns of HIV incidence and covariates in Zimbabwe: A multi-scale geographically weighted regression analysis. Geospat Health 18:1207.
Black F. 2017. The impact of gentrification on HIV linkage and retention in San Francisco. Accessed 10 Jan 2025. Available from: https://environment.sfsu.edu/sites/default/files/2022-05/finn_black_thesis.pdf
Brooker S, Utzinger J. 2007. Integrated disease mapping in a polyparasitic world. Geospat Health 1:141.
Bulfone TC, Blat C, Chen Y-H, Rutherford GW, Gutierrez-Mock L, Nickerson A, Buback L, Welty S, Sokal-Gutierrez K, Enanoria WTA, Reid MJA. 2022. Outdoor activities associated with lower odds of SARS-CoV-2 acquisition: a case–control study. Int J Environ Res Public Health 19:6126.
Cai W. 2022 Environment, aesthetics, technology, and gentrification from global north to global south: an integrated review of literature. J Smart Cities 7(1).
Campos R, Santos M, Tunon G, Cunha L, Magalhães L, Moraes J, Ramalho D, Lima S, Pacheco JA, Lipscomb M, Ribeiro De Jesus A, Pacheco De Almeida R. 2017. Epidemiological aspects and spatial distribution of human and canine visceral leishmaniasis in an endemic area in northeastern Brazil. Geospat Health 12:503.
Cavalcante Filho JB, Góes MADO, Araújo DDC, Peixoto MVDS, Nunes MAP. 2023. Association of socioeconomic indicators with COVID-19 mortality in Brazil: A population-based ecological study. Geospat Health 18:1206.
Cole HVS, Anguelovski I, Baró F, García-Lamarca M, Kotsila P, Pérez Del Pulgar C, Shokry G, Triguero-Mas M. 2021. The COVID-19 pandemic: Power and privilege, gentrification, and urban environmental justice in the global north. Cities Health 5:S71–5.
Cole HVS, Mehdipanah R, Gullón P, Triguero-Mas M. 2021. Breaking down and building up: gentrification, its drivers, and urban health inequality. Current Environmental Health Reports 8:157–66.
Davis J. 2022. Epidemics, planning and the city: a special issue of planning perspectives. Planning Perspect 37:1–8.
Degroote S, Zinszer K, Ridde V. 2018. Interventions for vector-borne diseases focused on housing and hygiene in urban areas: A scoping review. Infect Dis Poverty 7:96.
DelaPaz-Ruíz N, Augustijn E-W, Farnaghi M, Abdulkareem SA, Zurita Milla R. 2025. Integrating agent-based disease, mobility and wastewater models for the study of the spread of communicable diseases. Geospat Health 20:1326.
Fernández-Barrés S, Perez G, Piñero M, Reyes A, Pérez K, Artazcoz L, Borrell C. 2023. Effect of COVID-19 prevention as part of an urban renewal programme. Public Health 223:179–82.
Finio N. 2022. Measurement and definition of gentrification in urban studies and planning. J Planning Lit 37:249–64.
Firouraghi N, Mohammadi A, Hamer DH, Bergquist R, Mostafavi SM, Shamsoddini A, Raouf-Rahmati A, Fakhar M, Moghaddas E, Kiani B. 2022. Spatio-temporal visualisation of cutaneous leishmaniasis in an endemic, urban area in Iran. Acta Tropica 225:106181.
Firth CL. 2021. Gentrification, Urban Interventions and Equity (GENUINE): A map-based gentrification tool for Canadian metropolitan areas. Health Reports, 32:00500002.
Frank DH, Fish D, Moy FH. 1998. Landscape features associated with lyme disease risk in a suburban residential environment. Landscape Ecol 13:27-36.
Fullilove MT. 2003. Neighborhoods and infectious diseases. In I. Kawachi & L. F. Berkman (Eds.), Neighborhoods and Health (1st ed., pp. 211–222). Oxford University PressNew York.
Gigantino, A. (n.d.). Suburban sprawl: the greatest social change of post-World War II America. Histories 5:35.
Goldenberg SM, Amram O, Braschel M, Moreheart S, Shannon K. 2020. Urban gentrification and declining access to HIV/STI, sexual health, and outreach services amongst women sex workers between 2010-2014: Results of a community-based longitudinal cohort. Health & Place 62;102288.
Gulson KN. 2009. Wither the neighborhood? Education policy, neoliberal globalization and gentrification. Teachers College Record 111:148-59.
Hackworth J, Smith N. 2001. The changing state of gentrification. Tijdschrift Voor Economische En Sociale Geografie 92:464–77.
Halsey SJ. 2022. The public health implications of gentrification: tick‐borne disease risks for communities of color. Frontiers Ecol Environ 21:2549.
Han S, Bohannon CL, Kwon Y. 2021. Degentrification? Different Aspects of Gentrification before and after the COVID-19 Pandemic. Land 10:1234.
Horstick O, Runge-Ranzinger S. 2019. Multisectoral approaches for the control of vector-borne diseases, with particular emphasis on dengue and housing. Trans Royal Soc Trop Med Hygiene 113:823–8.
Howell KL. 2016. Planning for empowerment: Upending the traditional approach to planning for affordable housing in the face of gentrification. Plann Theory Pract 17:210-26.
Hubbard P, Brooks A. 2021. Animals and urban gentrification: Displacement and injustice in the trans-species city. Progress Human Geogr 45:1490–511.
Hwang J, Shrimali BP. 2023. Shared and crowded housing in the bay area: where gentrification and the housing crisis meet COVID-19. Housing Policy Debate 33:164–93.
Hyra D, Lees L. 2021. De-gentrification or disaster gentrification? Debating the impact of COVID-19 on Anglo-American urban gentrification. In B. Doucet, P. Filion, & R. Van Melik (Eds.), Volume 2: Housing and Home (1st ed., pp. 31–40). Bristol University Press.
Ilic L, Sawada M, Zarzelli A. 2019. Deep mapping gentrification in a large Canadian city using deep learning and Google Street View. PLoS One 14:e0212814.
Jenson D, Szabo V. 2011. Cholera in Haiti and other caribbean regions, 19th century. Emerging Infectious Diseases, 17:110958.
Karon JM. 2002. HIV in the United States at the turn of the century: An epidemic in transition. Am J Public Health 91:1060–8.
Kelly S. 2014. Taking Liberties: Gentrification as Neoliberal Urban Policy in Dublin. In: Neoliberal Urban Policy and the Transformation of the City (pp. 174–188). Palgrave Macmillan UK.
Kiani B, Mamiya H, Thierry B, Firth C, Fuller D, Winters M, Kestens Y. 2023. The temporal sequence between gentrification and cycling infrastructure expansions in Montreal, Canada. Habitat Int 139:102899.
Kiani B, Raouf Rahmati A, Bergquist R, Hashtarkhani S, Firouraghi N, Bagheri N, Moghaddas E, Mohammadi A. 2021. Spatio-temporal epidemiology of the tuberculosis incidence rate in Iran 2008 to 2018. BMC Public Health 21:1093.
Kiani B, Sartorius B, Lau CL, Bergquist R. 2024. Mastering geographically weighted regression: Key considerations for building a robust model. Geospat Health 19:1271.
Krings A, Schusler TM. 2020. Equity in sustainable development: Community responses to environmental gentrification. Int J Social Welfare 29:321–34.
Legge H, Pullan RL, Sartorius B. 2023. Improved household flooring is associated with lower odds of enteric and parasitic infections in low- and middle-income countries: A systematic review and meta-analysis. PLOS Global Public Health 3:e0002631.
Lim S, Chan PY, Walters S, Culp G, Huynh M, Gould LH. 2017. Impact of residential displacement on healthcare access and mental health among original residents of gentrifying neighborhoods in New York City. PLoS One 12:e0190139.
Linton SL, Cooper HL, Kelley ME, Karnes CC, Ross Z, Wolfe ME, Friedman SR, Jarlais DD, Semaan S, Tempalski B, Sionean C, DiNenno E, Wejnert C, Paz-Bailey G. 2017. Cross-sectional association between ZIP code-level gentrification and homelessness among a large community-based sample of people who inject drugs in 19 US cities. BMJ Open 7;e013823.
Linton SL, Corrigan AE, Sisson LN, Cooper HLF, Kramer MR, Curriero FC. 2024. Mapping gentrification, segregation, rental cost burden and sexually transmitted infections in Atlanta, Georgia, 2005–2018. Spatial Spatio-Temporal Epidemiol 51;100680.
López-Morales E 2015. Gentrification in the global South. City 19:564–73.
Maantay JA, Maroko AR. 2018. Brownfields to Greenfields: environmental justice versus environmental gentrification. Int J Environ Res Public Health 15;2233.
Mamelund S-E, Shelley-Egan C, Rogeberg O. 2021. The association between socioeconomic status and pandemic influenza: Systematic review and meta-analysis. PLoS One 16:e0244346.
MohammadEbrahimi S, Kiani B, Rahmatinejad Z, Baral S, Hashtarkhani S, Dehghan-Tezerjani M, Zare E, Arian M, Kiani F, Gouya MM, Dadras MN, Karamouzian M. 2022. Geospat epidemiology of hospitalized patients with a positive influenza assay: A nationwide study in Iran, 2016–2018. PLoS One 17:e0278900.
MohammadEbrahimi S, Mohammadi A, Bergquist R, Dolatkhah F, Olia M, Tavakolian A, Pishgar E, Kiani B. 2021. Epidemiological characteristics and initial spatiotemporal visualisation of COVID-19 in a major city in the Middle East. BMC Public Health 21:1373.
Mohammadi A, Pishgar E, Fatima M, Lotfata A, Fanni Z, Bergquist R, Kiani B. 2023. The COVID-19 mortality rate is associated with illiteracy, age, and air pollution in urban neighborhoods: a spatiotemporal cross-sectional analysis. Tropical Med Infect Dis 8:85.
Mullenbach LE, Baker BL. 2020. Environmental justice, gentrification, and leisure: a systematic review and opportunities for the future. Leisure Sci 42:430–47.
Neiderud CJ. 2015. How urbanization affects the epidemiology of emerging infectious diseases. Infect Ecol Epidemiol 5:27060.
Niu X, Yue Y, Zhou X, Zhang X, 2020. How urban factors affect the spatiotemporal distribution of infectious diseases in addition to intercity population movement in China. ISPRS Int J Geo-Information 9:615.
Oh J, Lee H-Y, Khuong QL, Markuns JF, Bullen C, Barrios OEA, Hwang S, Suh YS, McCool J, Kachur SP, Chan C-C, Kwon S, Kondo N, Hoang VM, Moon JR, Rostila M, Norheim OF, You M, Withers M, … Gostin LO. 2021. Mobility restrictions were associated with reductions in COVID-19 incidence early in the pandemic: Evidence from a real-time evaluation in 34 countries. Sci Rep 11:13717.
Pagkas-Bather J, Ozik J, Millett G, Schneider JA. 2020. The last Black man with HIV in San Francisco: The potential role of gentrification on HIV getting to zero achievements. Lancet HIV 7:e853–6.
Park S, Mullenbach L, Kim J. 2023. Short-term rentals, resilience, and gentrification. Ann Tourism Res 101:103610.
Parry CM. 2006. Epidemiological and clinical aspects of human typhoid fever. In P. Mastroeni (Ed.), Salmonella Infections (1st ed., pp. 1–24). Cambridge University Press.
Pearsall H, Anguelovski I. 2016. Contesting and resisting environmental gentrification: responses to new paradoxes and challenges for urban environmental justice. Sociol Res Online 21:121–7.
Pegler C, Li H, Pojani D. 2020. Gentrification in Australia’s largest cities: A bird’s-eye view. Australian Planner 56:191–205.
Pini A, Stenbeck M, Galanis I, Kallberg H, Danis K, Tegnell A, Wallensten A. 2019. Socioeconomic disparities associated with 29 common infectious diseases in Sweden, 2005–14: An individually matched case-control study. Lancet Infect Dis 19:165–76.
Pulvirenti J, Muppidi U, Glowacki R, Cristofano M, Baker L. 2007. Changes in HIV-related hospitalizations during the HAART era in an inner-city hospital. AIDS Read 17:390-4, 397-401.
Sax DL, Nesbitt L, Quinton J. 2022. Improvement, not displacement: A framework for urban green gentrification research and practice. Environ Sci Policy 137:373–83.
Schnake-Mahl AS, Jahn JL, Subramanian SV, Waters MC, Arcaya M. 2020. Gentrification, neighborhood change, and population health: a systematic review. J Urban Health 97:1–25.
Shaw KS, Hagemans IW. 2015. ‘Gentrification without displacement’ and the consequent loss of place: the effects of class transition on low‐income residents of secure housing in gentrifying areas. Int J Urban Regional Res 39:323–41.
Shi J, Duan K, Xu Q, Li J. 2021. Effect analysis of the driving factors of super-gentrification using structural equation modeling. PLoS One 16:e0248265.
Simon Rosser BR, West W, Weinmeyer R. 2008. Are gay communities dying or just in transition? Results from an international consultation examining possible structural change in gay communities. AIDS Care 20:588–95.
Smith GD. 2002. Commentary: Behind the Broad Street pump: aetiology, epidemiology and prevention of cholera in mid-19th century Britain. Int J Epidemiol 31:920-32.
Smith GS, Breakstone H, Dean LT, Thorpe RJ. 2020. Impacts of gentrification on health in the US: a systematic review of the literature. J Urban Health 97:845–56.
Snow SJ. 2002. Commentary: Sutherland, Snow and water: the transmission of cholera in the nineteenth century. Int J Epidemiol 31:908–11.
Thurber A, Krings A, Martinez LS, Ohmer M. 2021. Resisting gentrification: The theoretical and practice contributions of social work. J Social Work 21:26–45.
Toan DTT, Hoat LN, Hu W, Wright P, Martens P. 2015. Risk factors associated with an outbreak of dengue fever/dengue haemorrhagic fever in Hanoi, Vietnam. Epidemiol Infect 143:1594–8.
Tulier ME, Reid C, Mujahid MS, Allen AM. 2019. “Clear action requires clear thinking”: A systematic review of gentrification and health research in the United States. Health & Place, 59, 102173.
Valli C. 2015. A sense of displacement: long‐time residents’ feelings of displacement in gentrifying Bushwick, New York. Int J Urban Reg Res 39:1191-208.
Van Gent WPC. 2013. Neoliberalization, housing institutions and variegated gentrification: how the ‘third wave’ broke in Amsterdam. Int J Urban Reg Res 37:503–22.
Van Leeuwen B. 2024. What is wrong with gentrification-related displacement? Progress Human Geography 03091325241289546.
Wimalasena NN, Chang-Richards A, Wang KI-K, Dirks KN. 2021. Housing risk factors associated with respiratory disease: a systematic review. Int J Environ Res Public Health 18;2815.
Wong JO, Benjamin M, Arnold EA. 2020. ‘I want the heart of fierceness to arise within us’: Maintaining public space to promote HIV-related health with House Ball Community members in an era of gentrification. Culture Health Sexuality 22:444–58.
Wyly EK, Hammel DJ. 2004. Neoliberal housing policy and the gentrification of the american urban system. Environment and Planning A 36:1215–41.
Yang L, Iwami M, Chen Y, Wu M, Van Dam KH. 2023. Computational decision-support tools for urban design to improve resilience against COVID-19 and other infectious diseases: A systematic review. Progress Plann 168:100657.
Youm Y, Mackesy-Amiti ME, Williams CT, Ouellet LJ. 2009. Identifying hidden sexual bridging communities in Chicago. J Urban Health 86:107–20.
Zhu Y, Ye C. 2024. Urban renewal without gentrification: Toward dual goals of neighborhood revitalization and community preservation? Urban Geogr 45:201–33.
Zuk M, Bierbaum AH, Chapple K, Gorska K, Loukaitou-Sideris A. 2018. Gentrification, Displacement, and the Role of Public Investment. J Planning Literature 33:31–44.

How to Cite



Urban gentrification and infectious diseases: an interdisciplinary narrative review. (2025). Geospatial Health, 20(2). https://doi.org/10.4081/gh.2025.1388