Community assessment project: understanding the built environment within a neighborhood health context
Date
2009-04-24
Author
Advisors
Miranda, Marie Lynn
Reiter, Jerome
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Abstract
Purpose: Research shows evidence of associations between the built environment (BE)—housing,
commercial buildings, community resources, and infrastructure—and health outcomes.
However, there is less research describing the spatial variation of BE conditions.
This master’s project demonstrates the impact of this variation with a database describing
the BE within a neighborhood health context.
Hypothesis: The hypothesis tested is two-fold: 1) the assessment tool enables the
quantification of BE conditions, and 2) the data generated offer a comprehensive index
for relating the BE to public health.
Methods: Trained assessors canvassed over 17,000 tax parcels in Central Durham, NC
using a standardized visual assessment of 40 distinct BE variables. Data were summed
into 8 indices—housing damage, property damage, security level, tenure, vacancy, crime
incidents, amenities, and nuisances. Census blocks were assigned an index based on
the summary score of primarily and secondarily adjacent blocks.
Results: The indices describe the spatial distribution of both community assets and
BE conditions that are likely to affect the health of residents. Housing damage,
property damage, security level, vacancy, crime incidents, and nuisances all contained
higher scores for blocks located in areas characterized by high minority and low socioeconomic
status. Similarly, a low tenure score described those same blocks, indicating that
the majority of residential properties within those blocks are renter-occupied.
Conclusions: The community assessment tool offers a comprehensive inventory of the
BE, facilitating the generation of indices measuring neighborhood health. These resulting
data are useful to community members, researchers, and government leaders.
Type
Master's projectPermalink
https://hdl.handle.net/10161/1043Citation
Kroeger, Gretchen (2009). Community assessment project: understanding the built environment within a neighborhood
health context. Master's project, Duke University. Retrieved from https://hdl.handle.net/10161/1043.Collections
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