Citizen Information - Neighborhood Quality of Life Study

Developing, Sustaining, and Revitalizing Neighborhoods

The Chesapeake Neighborhood Quality of Life Index classifies 117 Neighborhood Statistical Areas (NSAs) into three categories: Developing, Sustaining, and Revitalizing. In general terms, the three-part grouping broadly reflects the community-level character of a small-scale geography, the NSA. The grouping of NSAs is intended to be a policy tool. It plays this role by classifying Chesapeake’s varied neighborhoods into broadly, homogenous groups and identifying their attendant neighborhood characteristics. Moreover, this framework facilitates comparisons between groups of similar neighborhoods, as well as allowing for citywide service provision and infrastructure assessments.

The categories reflect the structural and socio-economic character of the NSAs comprising the category. The NSAs were assigned to groups using the methodology outlined earlier in this report. In descriptive terms, the categories exhibit the following general trends.

Developing: These are NSAs that have concentrations of newer housing stock and higher rates of home ownership. They are, however, less well provided with infrastructure. They have significant youthful populations, but fewer youth-oriented services. The community development challenges facing these neighborhoods are centered on infrastructure provision issues.

Sustaining: These NSAs are mature communities, generally well served with infrastructure and community resources. Their populations are evenly balanced across the age spectrum. The potential service and infrastructure difficulties facing these neighborhoods are often related to the age of the community and the changes that occur in neighborhoods as they mature.

Revitalizing: These are older residential communities. They are served by infrastructure, but the age of infrastructure leads to challenges. Demographically, these communities have significant concentrations of youth and senior populations. These NSAs are experiencing various levels of pressures associated with community change. The age of housing and the infrastructure provide opportunities to be proactive in meeting community challenges.