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UCF Urban and Regional Planning Students Look At Parramore Air Quality  Findings from a Health Impact Assessment of the Parramore neighborhood suggest even simple solutions could improve conditions for residents there. A group of University of Central Florida graduate students looked at air quality in Parramore as part of a larger comprehensive neighborhood plan. [UCF Urban and Regional Planning graduate students present their findings at VHB Miller Sellen] Parramore is bordered by major roads on all four sides- so the Urban and Regional Planning graduate students expected to find poor air quality- which can contribute to asthma. Adjunct professor Lisa Portelli says outdoor air quality wasn’t too bad- but her students are recommending more testing. She says the students also found that something as simple as planting trees could help really improve the neighborhood’s air quality. “As well as the sound, I think that was the surprising feature for us when we went down to do the air quality testing was just how loud the highway noise was,” she says. Graduate student Jeff Chamlis says few Parramore residents own cars, but the neighborhood isn’t bike or pedestrian friendly. He says plans to change that are resident-driven. “I thought that was really interesting, the cooperation between residents and the city on that,” he says. The graduate project also looked at indoor air quality and found that 60-percent of Parramore code violations could result in health problems. |
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