New Books Network Daniel Skinner et al., "The City and the Hospital: The Paradox of Medically Overserved Communities" (U Chicago Press, 2023)
Dec 4, 2025
Sociologist Jonathan Winn, co-author of The City and the Hospital, shares insights from his collaborative research on urban health disparities. They discuss the paradox of hospitals located in struggling neighborhoods, where residents often suffer poor health outcomes. Winn explores how race, class, and history influence community trust in medical institutions and highlights the need for tighter accountability for hospitals. They also propose policy recommendations focused on community engagement and the importance of integrating public health into medical education.
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Hospitals And The Urban Health Paradox
- Hospitals often sit in neighborhoods with some of the worst health outcomes despite being seen as sites of healing.
- This spatial paradox drove the project to study how institutions and place shape health inequalities.
Project Born From Friendship
- Jonathan Winn recounts how the project began from friendship and shared curiosity rather than a preset puzzle.
- He and Daniel Skinner combined qualitative urban work with medical policy expertise to pursue the question together.
Place Shapes Institutional Meaning
- Place and culture shape how communities interpret institutions and health interventions.
- Jonathan Winn argues that studying hospitals as spatial actors reveals local meanings that policy-focused work can miss.
