Content
Understanding social and environmental factors, such as public parks, that influence physical activity is essential to designing interventions to improving public health. But what role does socioeconomic status play?
Journal Article
The presence of food outlets near home is not associated with dietary intake or BMI. In general, shopping patterns are weakly related, if at all, to neighborhoods, perhaps because of easy access to cars.
Journal Article
Recent debate about the role of food deserts in the United States has prompted discussion on policies being enacted, including efforts that encourage the placement of full-service supermarkets into food deserts.
Report
This report explores how neighborhood theory and social indicators research shed light on quality of life in and around military bases, gaps in the methodology, and how a more in-depth analysis of military installations could be conducted.
Journal Article
The finding that park programming is the most important correlate of park use and park-based physical activity suggests that there are opportunities for facilitating physical activity among populations of both high- and low-poverty areas.
Report
Surveys the literature on financial sustainability for nonprofit organizations, with an emphasis on urban and lower-resourced organizations, and discusses key themes and findings that may inform such organizations' operations and decisionmaking.
Report
Inclusionary Zoning (IZ) policies require that a proportion of units in market-rate residential developments are made affordable to lower-income households in exchange for development rights or zoning variances. IZ programs provide greater access to low-poverty neighborhoods, which are often correlated with high-performing schools.
Project
PHRESH Plus explores whether making parks, playgrounds, and trails—“green space”—safer and more accessible could impact the health neighborhood residents.
Report
This briefing offers a menu of potential future activities for the nonaviation lands at Santa Monica Municipal Airport (SMO) to enhance the quality of life in Santa Monica through community-linked programs.
Tool
The Los Angeles Family and Neighborhood Survey (L.A.FANS) studies adults, teens, children, and neighborhoods in Los Angeles County. Survey data were collected in 2000-2001 and 2006-2008 and are available to researchers for public use.
Journal Article
Outdoor exercise equipment in parks seems to attract more new park users and result in a higher expenditure of energy.
Journal Article
A rich literature indicates that individuals of lower socio-economic status engage in less leisure time physical activity than individuals of higher socio-economic status.
Research Brief
Many Pittsburgh residents in the communities around Frick Park are interested in environmental issues and education, and some use the park. However, awareness of the park and its Environmental Center could be improved, and barriers to use addressed.
Report
We obtained community group and resident input into the design of the new environmental center building at Frick Park (in Pittsburgh, Pa.) and acquired information about residents' attitudes toward and use of Frick Park more generally.
Multimedia
Describes a web-based mapping tool to help healthcare decisionmakers identify neighborhood-level ''hotspots'' of suboptimal health or healthcare that may be due to low health literacy.
Report
Can a health research evaluation model be applied to social science? RAND Europe's work with the Payback Framework.
Report
Examines the contribution of family, school, and neighborhood factors to the racial achievement gap in education.
Journal Article
The authors present a new way to think sociologically about neighborhoods and place effects.
Journal Article
This study of perceptions of drinking water in a California school district found that school staff and public health officials have a range of concerns about water quality and availability; as some schools move to replace sugary drinks in schools and develop policies to promote water consumption, they should explore ways of addressing these concerns.
Journal Article
Assesses how park characteristics and demographic factors are associated with park use.
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