Urban Residents’ Priorities for Neighborhood Features: A Survey of New Orleans Residents After Hurricane Katrina

BackgroundEfforts to promote physical activity through environmental changes in low-income, urban, and minority areas should be informed by an understanding of the value that residents place on different neighborhood features and characteristics.MethodsNeighborhood rebuilding preferences among 442 New Orleans residents after the damage from Hurricane Katrina were assessed by a random-digit-dialed telephone survey conducted between April 25, 2006 and May 2, 2006. The survey instrument assessed the importance (on a 5-point Likert-type scale on which 1=not at all important and 5=extremely important) for 24 neighborhood features and characteristics. Ratings of neighborhood features were compared by race and income.ResultsOverall, residents rated most highly the features that reflected low levels of neighborhood crime and disorder. There was moderate support for features that promote physical activity, specifically sidewalks and crosswalks, neighborhood grocery stores, and parks or playgrounds. Blacks rated more highly than whites 13 neighborhood features such as good schools, lack of noise, a park or playground, affordable housing, health clinics, and the absence of liquor stores. The low-income group rated the following features as being more important than the high-income group: affordable housing, a bus or streetcar line, and the presence of a corner store.ConclusionsNew Orleans residents’ top neighborhood priority is reducing crime and disorder, but all groups otherwise support neighborhood features that promote physical activity.