How do you think the BeltLine will affect your health? That is the central question of a new survey released by Georgia Tech's Center for Quality Growth and Regional Development (CQGRD).

The Atlanta BeltLine-the proposed 22-mile loop of trails, parks, transit, and areas of redevelopment encompassing the city's core-is one of the largest public projects in the city's history. As such, it has the potential to significantly change the City of Atlanta.

That is why researchers at CQGRD and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) are studying the potential health effects of the BeltLine. They want to know what people who live, work and go to school near the BeltLine think about the proposed changes and how these changes might impact their physical, social, and environmental health.

The "BeltLine and Your Health Survey" was created to help researchers, elected officials, and the general public understand how people think the BeltLine, when completed, will affect their health. The results of this survey will help identify the potential health affects of the BeltLine and lead to recommendations to enhance positive impacts, and remove or minimize negative health effects of the BeltLine.

The research team is using a practice called a Health Impact Assessment, or HIA, to combine survey responses and other assessment tools to identify both positive and negative health impacts of the BeltLine. When the assessment is completed, the team will work the community and other stakeholders to develop recommendations to enhance positive impacts, and remove or mitigate negative health effects of the BeltLine. The HIA is funded by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation.

"Health Impacts Assessments have successfully been used in other countries to place health considerations at the forefront of the policy and project decision-making process," said Catherine L. Ross, Harry West Professor and Director of CQGRD.

The BeltLine HIA will be completed by the end of the year and the results will be made available to elected officials and the public.

To take the survey and to learn more about the HIA, visit www.cqgrd.gatech.edu or contact Karen Leone de Nie, CQGRD researcher, at 404.385.5125 k.leonedenie@gatech.edu.