The Development of the Forsyth County Neighborhood Opportunity Atlas (FCNOA)

Benchmarking a Community’s Progress Towards Spatial Justice

Abstract

In the Summer of 2021, the Spatial Justice Studio (SJS) was contracted to develop a Neighborhood Opportunity Atlas (NOA). The focus of the proposal was to provide a holistic analysis of conditions across Forsyth County that can be used to identify, compare, and assess neighborhoods now and into the future for planning, programming, budgeting, and evaluation. The atlas is an innovative, statistical, and geographic product that provides quantitative census tract level information for a wide range of community indicators and began a process to identify, target, and tackle underperforming neighborhoods. The NOA uses a combination of the knowledge of urban studies and the power of data science to explore opportunities and challenges at the census tract level. By combining these two areas, Forsyth County can get an accurate baseline for existing conditions within communities throughout the County and target programs, policies and budgets to help all neighborhoods achieve a level of spatial justice.  This paper seeks to share the process, problems, and potential of a “Neighborhood Opportunity Atlas” for communities who are dealing with a myriad of issues and are searching for quantitative methods by which to tackle these issues.