Quantifying a concept as individualized as "quality of life" is a complicated task. Nevertheless, in order to assess all aspects of what makes a community a desirable, safe, and socially healthy place to live, it is necessary to reduce the complex idea of "quality of life" to a manageable set of measurable information. This information can, in turn, be used to assess community characteristic and improve neighborhoods across the city.
For this study, it was determined that a strong, healthy neighborhood or NSA has few social needs, low crime rates, low levels of physical deterioration, and low levels of economic stress. These are important aspects of any healthy community. However, these qualities do not occur independently. For example, neighborhoods with high crime rates typically have relatively high rates of social need or physical deterioration. This type of situation illustrates the need to address quality of life from many different perspectives, utilizing the talents and resources of many people and organizations in a cooperative effort with neighborhood residents.
Strong, healthy residential communities throughout a jurisdiction are the backbone of a successful city. Acknowledging the interrelated issues of quality of life is the first step in creating a program to routinely assess progress towards healthy neighborhoods and focus efforts on strengthening the residential structure.
In 2004 the 173 NSAs in Charlotte, 92 were classified as stable, 54 were classified as threatened and 27 were classified as fragile. Citywide, stable neighborhoods were concentrated in the southeast and the peripheral southwest, northwest and east areas of Charlotte and the Sphere of Influence. Threatened neighborhoods were generally west, and east portions of Charlotte. Fragile neighborhoods were concentrated in the west, northeast and north sections of inner city Charlotte.
