Regional Plan Association - Healthy Communities


			The Healthy Communities initiative in Stamford, Connecticut, has three primary objectives: to initiate a longitudinal study of the impacts on activity levels of a new strategically located greenway and park design interventions; to raise awareness of health and activity issues in a largely minority and disadvantaged neighborhood in Stamford, Connecticut, (a typical “first ring suburban neighborhood”); and to build new partnerships between town planning and health professionals. Project partners include the Yale-Griffin School of Public Health, The City of Stamford Health Department and other city agencies, and the Connecticut State Department of Health. Stamford Healthy Communities Report [PDF, 1.8 MB] Stamford West Side Healthy Communities Interim Report [PDF, 723 KB]

Why the West Side?

The West Side community was chosen for several reasons. First, it is an at-risk population that can benefit the most from design interventions. Second, it is a well-defined study area with strong edges (see Edges in the Physical Environment section). Third, it is a typical “inner-ring” suburb in terms of its well-connected network of streets that form reasonably sized blocks in a irregular grid.
The more important reason, however, is that the design intervention – the new Mill River Park and Greenway – is at a strategic location in the West Side that facilitates various new connections and types of mobility to Downtown, the Transporation Center, and the open space activities within the Park. In addition, there is a severe lack of connections from the West Side to the Mill River Greenway, allowing for recommendations to correct the problem.

Study Details
To develop this study, RPA, Yale-Griffin, and Stamford Health Department, collected and reviewed some 25 survey instruments. The final questionnaire was organized into three categories of questions: neighborhood bikability/walkability; context-specific question; and physical activity. The questionnaire was then administered to residents of the area in March 2003.

Conclusions
Overall, residents of the West Side consider it to be walkable. Noticably, over half the respondents strongly agreed that safety, condition of sidewalks, protection from traffic, pleasant walking experiences, ease in crossing the street, and drivers yielding to pedestrians were all factors that supported the walkability of the area. Topography in the area, about which not much can be done, was an issue for some correspondents. However, there were other obstacles to walking that the redevelopment plan considers and addresses:

• Respondents felt that if the Mill River Park had more activities, was better maintained, and felt safer, they would visit it more.

• Nearly half of respondents felt that if the park was along a more convenient route, they would be more likely to walk through it. About a tenth of them felt the park was unsafe, and 17% said they felt that the park was not well-maintained.

• Also, the majority of residents interviewed agreed that additional facilities would add to the attraction of the park: picnic areas, play equipment, basketball courts, etc.

The study also considered the extent to which people can be persuaded to walk to the Transporation Center and the Downtown:

• 15.8% of respondents said they walk through or along the Mill River Park to go to the Transportation Center

• About half of respondents who walk to Downtown use the Mill River Park to get there

The 27% of respondents who drive to Downtown could also be a target for the intervention. Fourteen and a half percent of all respondents said they chose the most pleasant route to Downtown, indicating that streetscape improvements to Downtown can have a positive impact on activity levels.
About half of the respondents find the West Side to be a walkable environment. Many indicated that they would walk to the park more often and walk along the Mill River Park Greenway to get to downtown Stamford or the Transportation Center more often if certain design and programming changes were implemented. This suggests that when the survey is re-administered after the greenway is complete, it may show some impact on activity levels due to the interventions.