Project 2: Big City Tobacco Control Study An estimated 36.5 million US adults still smoke cigarettes and nearly 7 in 10 want to quit but only 7 in 100 succeed. Smoking is concentrated in lower income and certain racial/ethnic groups who face additional obstacles to quitting: living in areas that are disproportionately saturated with tobacco retailers, that contain a larger volume of marketing cues, and offer markedly cheaper tobacco products. Two types of population-based interventions in the retail environment are increasing rapidly at the local level. Place-based strategies limit the location, type and density of tobacco retailers (e.g., limit proximity to schools, tobacco-free pharmacies, a cap on retailers per population). Consumer-focused strategies increase price through non-tax mechanisms (e.g., establish minimum price and pack size) and restrict which tobacco products are sold (e.g., flavored products in tobacco-only shops). However, the overall benefits of these interventions for tobacco control, and specific benefits to disadvantaged and racial/ethnically diverse communities, are not firmly established. The goal of Project 2 is to address this critical gap in tobacco control research by evaluating an on-going natural experiment in retail interventions in 30 large cities across the US. With engagement of Big Cities Health Coalition, Project 2 proposes to evaluate whether and how local interventions affect the tobacco retail environment and the potential consequences for adult tobacco use. A multilevel, spatial dataset will integrate unique data sources for each city: 1) legal research to characterize the presence, type and strength of interventions; 2) marketing observations in a longitudinal cohort of tobacco retailers (n=1800, 60 per city), 3) city-specific data on sales volume of tobacco products; 4) a longitudinal cohort survey of adult smokers to assess quit attempts (n=2400, 80 per city); 5) spatial analyses of tobacco retailer density in census tracts as well as store- and person-centered buffers. Generalized linear mixed models that adjust for smoke-free air laws and tobacco tax levels will be estimated for three primary aims. Aim 1 examines whether place-based interventions are associated with lower density of tobacco retailers at baseline, decreases in tobacco retailer density over time, and with narrower inequities in lower-income neighborhoods. Aim 2 examines whether consumer-focused interventions are associated with higher tobacco prices at baseline, greater increases in price over time, and with narrower inequities in lower-income neighborhoods. Aim 3 examines whether stronger retail interventions are associated with tobacco use reduction at the city level (sales volume) and individual level (quit attempts). The public health significance of Project 2 is to inform the evidence base that guides best practices for state and local programs aiming to counter tobacco industry influence at the point of sale. In the context of thi...