Deep Driver: Quality of Place
Louisville’s identity as a desirable place to live and work benefits from several assets,including its arts and cultural attractions, parklands, affordability of housing in distinctive neighborhoods, and low crime — and suffers from several liabilities, including negative health indicators, traffic congestion, and environmental quality.
Its notable commitment to stand out as a “City of Parks” extends to other forms of greenspace, ranking it first among its peer cities in the number of community gardens and 9th in park playgrounds per capita.
The vibrancy of Louisville’s arts and cultural scene was documented in an analysis by The Brookings Institution, which identified more performing arts groups here than in most cities, and a local study ranked it 5th among its peer cities in the number of visits to all forms of art and cultural attractions.
Although Louisville still measures well on housing affordability, the percentage of families paying more
than 30% of total income for housing has increased. Median home values had increased more than in most peer cities before the housing crisis, although not at the torrid pace of some.
Environmental and transportation issues remain a challenge. Louisville’s transportation and residential energy use produce a larger carbon footprint than in all but two of the peer cities. Its on-going battle against air pollution has reduced levels of two key pollutants, ozone and PM 2.5, a fine particle pollutant identified as a health threat. The time lost to traffic delays by the average rush-hour commuter here - 38 hours in 2007 - continued to exceed the average in Louisville’s peer cities, as it has for 25 years. But about 7% of local workers commute by public transportation, biking or walking — the second highest rate among Louisville’s peer cities.
Data from the National Center for Health Statistics continue to document higher mortality rates in Louisville than in the nation as a whole and higher incidence of both heart disease and cancer. Almost a third of Louisville adults are obese, the 5th highest among its peer cities, but its rate of infant mortality is among the lowest.
Deep Driver: Quality of Place
Louisville’s identity as a desirable place to live and work benefits from several assets,including its arts and cultural attractions, parklands, affordability of housing in distinctive neighborhoods, and low crime — and suffers from several liabilities, including negative health indicators, traffic congestion, and environmental quality.
Its notable commitment to stand out as a “City of Parks” extends to other forms of greenspace, ranking it first among its peer cities in the number of community gardens and 9th in park playgrounds per capita.
The vibrancy of Louisville’s arts and cultural scene was documented in an analysis by The Brookings Institution, which identified more performing arts groups here than in most cities, and a local study ranked it 5th among its peer cities in the number of visits to all forms of art and cultural attractions.
Although Louisville still measures well on housing affordability, the percentage of families paying more
than 30% of total income for housing has increased. Median home values had increased more than in most peer cities before the housing crisis, although not at the torrid pace of some.
Environmental and transportation issues remain a challenge. Louisville’s transportation and residential energy use produce a larger carbon footprint than in all but two of the peer cities. Its on-going battle against air pollution has reduced levels of two key pollutants, ozone and PM 2.5, a fine particle pollutant identified as a health threat. The time lost to traffic delays by the average rush-hour commuter here - 38 hours in 2007 - continued to exceed the average in Louisville’s peer cities, as it has for 25 years. But about 7% of local workers commute by public transportation, biking or walking — the second highest rate among Louisville’s peer cities.
Data from the National Center for Health Statistics continue to document higher mortality rates in Louisville than in the nation as a whole and higher incidence of both heart disease and cancer. Almost a third of Louisville adults are obese, the 5th highest among its peer cities, but its rate of infant mortality is among the lowest.