Do Publicly Funded Neighborhood Investments Impact Individual-Level Health-Related Outcomes? A Longitudinal Study of Two Neighborhoods in Pittsburgh, PA from 2011 to 2018

Abstract

Research examining the relationship between a neighborhood’s built environment and resident health has largely either used a static, cross-sectional research design or focused on the neighborhood in its entirety, making it difficult to understand the relationship between specific dynamic neighborhood characteristics and individual well-being. We use longitudinal data from the Pittsburgh Research on Neighborhood Change and Health (PHRESH) studies to assess the relationship between publicly funded neighborhood investments between 2011 and 2018 and five health-related outcomes: food insecurity, stress, perceived neighborhood safety, neighborhood satisfaction, and dietary quality. We additionally determine whether the distance between an individual’s place of residence and the investment affects the magnitude of associations. Using individual and year fixed effects models, we find that when measured at the neighborhood level, an increase by one standard deviation (SD) in investments (about $130 million) is associated with decreased food insecurity (−0.294 SD), increased safety (0.231 SD), and increased neighborhood satisfaction (0.201 SD) among adults who remain in the study for at least two waves of data collection. We also analyze specific investment types and find that commercial investments are largely driving the changes in food insecurity, safety, and neighborhood satisfaction, while business and residential investments are correlated with the decrease in stress.