ABSTRACT
This chapter evaluates the mix of public safety, economy, transportation, amenities, and housing that affect the quality of life, and the variation in walkability and food access that shape health outcomes in Atlanta. The Neighborhood Planning Unit (NPU) was chosen as the unit of analysis to assess quality of life and health in Atlanta. The Atlanta Quality of Life and Neighborhood Health Index controls for socioeconomic characteristics of a population by constructing a Socioeconomic Conditions (SEC) Index that evaluates social and economic neighborhood conditions with four indicators: unemployment, education, poverty, and income. The five indicators that were chosen for developing the Neighborhood Quality of Life (NQoL) Index are public safety, economy, transportation, neighborhood amenities, and housing. The Neighborhood Health (NH) Index considers four key dimensions in assessing the capacity of populations to effectively prevent and decrease the prevalence of obesity: nutrition, physical activity, mortality, and morbidity.
