CIPA Research Team

Summary

It is generally understood that environmental characteristics of neighborhoods impact residents’ healthy eating, active living, and health. Within the Kansas City region, environmental health disparities have been recognized and efforts are occurring to reduce the burden of these disparities. However, there is limited local data for informing data-driven decisions that impact individual communities in the region.

To support stakeholders in community planning and development efforts, this Atlas compiles neighborhood sociodemographic, food access, walkability, and park access information, and integrates this information with childhood obesity data that are made available at the census tract level across the 6-county region. The data show that children in the region are less likely to have obesity if they live in a neighborhood that has high walkability, high park access, and/or a moderate-to-low rate of poverty. Specific communities are highlighted based on combinations of these risk factors.

This link between neighborhoods and health emphasizes the important impact city planning and development departments and parks departments have in shaping the health of our communities. Recommendations for supporting improvements in these neighborhood factors are provided, including considerations for neighborhood poverty when addressing neighborhood built environment characteristics such as walkability. Multiple sectors must work together and strive for ambitious community transformations to combat the existing environmental health disparities in the region.