Several studies have documented low life expectancy (LE) for residents in formerly redlined urban areas across the United States (US). However, these studies typically compare residents of redlined neighborhoods to their peers in non-redlined suburbs, a strategy that may gloss over a nontrivial group of formerly redlined communities that are positive outliers in LE today. Addressing this gap, my study poses the following three key questions: (1) How many redlined areas are positive outliers in LE today? (2) Which neighborhood characteristics distinguish these positive outlier areas from other redlined areas with lower LE? (3) Do racial-ethnic inequities in LE persist even in these positive outlier areas? To answer these questions, my study will merge and analyze the following five contextual data sources: (1) historical redlining maps from the Mapping Inequality Project; (2) US small-area LE estimates from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention; (3) resident composition data from the US Census Bureau; (4) Uniform Crime Reports data from the Federal Bureau of Investigation; and (5) neighborhood environmental measures from the National Neighborhood Data Archive. By conducting a detailed within-group analysis of formerly redlined areas, my study aims to reveal overlooked processes of urban change and community resilience, with potentially critical implications for urban health science and policy in the twenty-first century.
Funding:
University of Southern California
Funding Period:
10/01/2024 to 05/31/2025