The lack of access to safe, timely, and affordable transportation can be not only detrimental to social and economic wellbeing, but also harmful to health. Physical accessibility – the ability to get to clinics and hospitals on time – can be a major challenge in obtaining healthcare, especially for people with low socio-economic status (SES), who tend to be more dependent on public transit, as well as in poorer health (Adler and Ostrove, 1999; Braveman and Gottlieb, 2014). Disparities in transportation access, therefore, may contribute to the deepening of existing health inequalities (Jiao and Dillivan, 2013; Wells and Thill, 2012).
Research will approach the issue in three steps. The first step will utilize GIS to depict healthcare deserts and locate the vulnerable populations in metro Atlanta. In the second step, we will design a research study to test the causal linkage between transportation accessibility and health outcomes. Finally, we will synthesize our findings with those from existing research and derive policy recommendations.
Research team and affiliated institutions: Fei Li (Urban Studies Institute), Chris Wyczalkowski (Urban Studies Institute)
Funders: 14k Internal Funds