Quality of Life and Civic Involvement in Three Urban Knoxville Neighborhoods

This thesis, contributes to the methodology and operationalization for measurement of neighborhood quality of life. Three neighborhoods in Knoxville, TN were surveyed via a mail-in questionnaire in order to analyze residents cognitive perceptions of life quality. Descriptive statistics related to Quality of Life and Civic Engagement were calculated and a regression model with a neighborhood quality of life dependent variable was estimated. It was concluded that affluence was closely related to life quality and civic participation. Furthermore, two distressed federally designated Empowerment Zone neighborhoods displayed differing levels of attachment to their community and perceptions of their life quality. Race was determined to be a contributing factor with these phenomena.