# Impact of Built, Social, and Housing Environments on Obesity in Low-Income Children

> **NIH NIH R01** · UNIVERSITY OF SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA · 2021 · $523,031

## Abstract

ABSTRACT
Childhood obesity is a top public health concern and its prevalence continues to increase in disadvantaged
populations. Evidence suggests that obesity is associated with neighborhood built and social environment
characteristics. These include walkability, exercise opportunities, green space, food outlets and social cohesion.
But it is not clear whether these characteristics themselves cause obesity. Establishing causality is important to
inform public health efforts to reduce health disparities. We propose to address this gap by studying a natural
experiment in a low-income urban community. The city of Los Angeles is redeveloping Jordan Downs (JD), an
obsolete 700-unit public housing project. Over 5 years, the redevelopment will build–(1) 700 new units for
existing residents, (2) 700 units for new mixed-income housing residents that will alter the social environment,
(3) a new community center with a gymnasium, (4) retail space that will offer healthy eating opportunities, (5)
green space that will increase opportunities for physical activity, and (6) additional built environment
enhancements that will promote physical activity and healthy eating (e.g. walking and bike lanes, street
lighting). In Dec 2017, we will begin a study to examine the effects of these improvements on adult residents'
BMI and obesity. It is important to extend this work to children because childhood obesity is associated with
poor life-long health outcomes. Our goal is to study the effect of the JD redevelopment on children's BMI,
overweight and obesity using a similar research design as for the Adult Study. In Aim 1, we will compare
changes in these outcomes for JD children and a control group (children from 2 similar public housing
projects) for 5 years. In Aim 2, we will disentangle the effects of three major components of the redevelopment:
built environment, social environment and new housing. We will do this by taking advantage of the fact that
the redevelopment will occur in several phases. In Aim 3, we will assess why, or why didn't, the redevelopment
affect children's BMI outcomes. To do this, we will track diet, activity, and potential mediators (utilization of
new spaces, parent modeling, perceived safety, home environment). Finally, in Aim 4 we will explore the
moderating effects of child sex, race-ethnicity and age. Our data collection from children will include in-person
surveys, body measurements, dietary recalls, and accelerometry. In addition, a wealth of data about the parent
will be available from the Adult Study. Our study is time-sensitive because the first phase of redevelopment will
be completed by fall of 2018. Thus, recruitment and baseline data collection from children must be completed
along with the Adults before Oct 2018.

## Key facts

- **NIH application ID:** 10151461
- **Project number:** 5R01HD096293-04
- **Recipient organization:** UNIVERSITY OF SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA
- **Principal Investigator:** ASHLESHA DATAR
- **Activity code:** R01 (R01, R21, SBIR, etc.)
- **Funding institute:** NIH
- **Fiscal year:** 2021
- **Award amount:** $523,031
- **Award type:** 5
- **Project period:** 2018-07-24 → 2023-04-30

## Primary source

NIH RePORTER: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/10151461

## Citation

> US National Institutes of Health, RePORTER application 10151461, Impact of Built, Social, and Housing Environments on Obesity in Low-Income Children (5R01HD096293-04). Retrieved via AI Analytics 2026-05-27 from https://api.ai-analytics.org/grant/nih/10151461. Licensed CC0.

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