Understanding the Early Years - Results of the Community Mapping Study in North York

Appendix D: Results of the Neighbourhood Observations

Background and procedures

The Neighbourhood Observation instrument consisted of 19 questions to provide objective information about physical factors such as the quality of housing in the area, the lighting conditions, the noise levels and the general conditions of the streets and parks (See Connor and Brink, 1999.) for a copy of the instrument).

North York was sub-divided according to its Census EAs. Data were collected on 735 of the 795 EAs within the community (EAs with no children or populations under 40 people were excluded from the collection). Within each of these 735 EAs, one area was randomly selected for observation. Researchers were given street addresses at which to begin and complete the observations. As EAs are based on population density, many cover an extremely small area (e.g., in some cases one apartment building makes up an entire EA) and therefore only one sample within each EA was required to ensure representative results. In most cases the area assessed was approximately equivalent to two face blocks.

An EA (also a neighbourhood in this report) is the smallest standard geographic area for which census data are reported. There are 795 EAs in North York. Groups of EAs are known as Census Tracts; there are 111 Census Tracts in North York.

Two community researchers were trained to assess the neighbourhoods and completed the instrument in the summer of 1999. All observations took place during the day (between 8:00 a.m. and 6:00 p.m.).

What do the neighbourhoods look like?

The majority of neighbourhoods in North York are residential (88.3%), with close to 97% being primarily for residential or commercial use. In terms of general conditions of buildings, most were in good condition, with 50.5% of neighbourhoods having been rated as having buildings that were well kept and only 8.4% as having buildings in poor or badly deteriorated condition. In addition, most of the dwellings were in good repair, with the exception of one area in the northwest and additional pockets throughout the community in which more than half of the dwellings were in need of major repairs.

Related data on the presence of abandoned houses, stores or other buildings were also collected. Very few neighbourhoods (under two %) had any abandoned buildings, however those neighbourhoods with abandoned houses were also those with greater numbers of buildings in need of major repairs.

A bus or subway stop (or other form of public transportation) was observed in 31% of the neighbourhoods. In only 11% of neighbourhoods were there signs posted announcing community events or meetings. In interpreting this finding, however, it is important to keep the size and the population of the EAs in mind. Very small EAs for instance, may be less likely to have public transit stops, or may be able to benefit from stops in neighbouring EAs.

Figure 2 ? Perception of safety in the neighbourhoods

The streets and roads in the community

Most of the roads (54.1%) were rated as being in relatively good repair. Another 24% needed minor repairs or showed evidence of neglect. Most of the poorer roads were seen in the south and east areas of the community.

Lighting and noise

In terms of noise levels, 31.3% of the neighbourhoods were rated as having somewhat disturbing amounts of noise, and in almost an additional 10% of neighbourhoods, noise was rated as being excessive.

Only 5.3% of the neighbourhoods were rated as being poorly lit, which was defined as having few to no lights and being in need of better lighting. Only 15.9% of neighbourhoods, however, were rated on the opposite of the spectrum, that is being well lit with many street lights and other lighting sources. The remaining majority fell somewhere in the middle.

The people in the community

In 52% of neighbourhoods, at least one or two families with children were observed in the researchers' short visit to the area. In one-third of these, several children/families were seen. In only two of the 735 neighbourhoods assessed did the researchers observe one or more people exhibiting anti-social behaviours (e.g., intoxication, fighting).

The two researchers were also asked to rate their feelings of safety and overall comfort levels when wandering through the community.¹⁷ Very few neighbourhoods generated feelings of being "unsafe" (see Figure 2).

Parks and playgrounds in the community

The presence of good parks and play spaces in children's neighbourhoods have been linked to increased participation rates in supervised and unsupervised sports activities. This participation, in turn, has been associated with better psychosocial adjustment in children (Offord, Lipman, and Duku, 1998). Nevertheless, the usefulness of the parks and playgrounds may be limited if the equipment present is deteriorating. Of the neighbourhoods observed, only 23% contained a park or playground. Most of them were in a good state of repair and 23.5% were rated as excellent, with new or well-maintained equipment and buildings and a safe and clean play area. Just over 50% received a rating of very good, indicating the equipment was kept in good repair or condition. Only 4.1% had play equipment that was badly deteriorated and showed signs of neglect.

¹⁷ It is recognized that this is a subjective assessment of the safety of the community.

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