An Ecological Economics Capital Stock Approach to Quality of Life Assessment in Burlington, Vermont,

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An Ecological Economics Capital Stock Approach to
Quality of Life Assessment in Burlington,
Vermont, USA

• Andrews, C., Antonucci, J., Augeri, S., Berliet,
  E., Birkby, M., Brennan, W., Brown, E., Brundige,
  M., Buechler, M., Cohen, M., Coleman, C., Coogan,
  C., Cooper, A., Costello, K., Crane, M.,
  D'Aversa, A., Davis, A., DeCelles, J., Delgado,
  A., DiBiccari, M., Dudley, H., Dye, J., Effler,
  A., Egbers, M., Freeman, P., Gilmartin, M.,
  Graves, E., Hall, M., Hancock, C., Harrison, E.,
  Hartz, E., Hayes, K., Herold-Lind, C., Holthaus,
  R., Hubbard, D., Johansson, H., Junger, L.,
  Kelly, B., Kelly, J., Kirschner, A., Klein, A.,
  Martin, M., Marvin, I., McCreight, C.,
  O'Donoghue, B., Palmer, M., Parke, B.,
  Pearlstein, A., Randall, J., Reeves, C., Rosa,
  D., Smith, C., Smith, J., Sterling, R., Sullivan,
  C., Van Etten, T., Verinis, A., Virchick, P.,
  Voinov, A., Waters, J.

Photo Anton Voinov
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Previous Surveys
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Eight Neighborhoods
Thanks to Margaret Bozik from CEDO Burlington,
and Eric Brown our resident pizza guy!
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Survey Questions

• Neighborhood Identity
• Built Capital
• Natural Capital
• Human Capital
• Social Capital
• Total Quality of Life
• Demographics

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Neighborhood Identity

• Please rank the top five regions according to
  which ones you most identify with as your home,
  from 1 (most identify) to 5 (least identify).

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Importance vs. Happiness

• For questions rating For questions rating
• importance happiness
• 1 Very important 1 Very happy
• 2 Important 2 Happy
• 3 Neither important 3 Neither happy
• or unimportant or unhappy
• 4 Unimportant 4 Unhappy
• 5 Very unimportant 5 Very unhappy

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Built Capital

• How important are the things you own or rent (for
  example, your home, car, furniture, clothes,
  etc.) to your happiness and quality of life?

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Mean Importance Home 1.58 Food
Drink 1.85 Transportation 2.24 Entertainment 2.64
Cons. Durables 2.67 Pers. Access. 2.67
Mean Happiness Food Drink 1.77 Home 1.85 Enter
tainment 2.08 Transportation 2.12 Pers.
Access. 2.16 Cons. Durables 2.19
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City Wide Built Capital Happiness
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Are you happy with your current family or
personal yearly income?
Percent Yes for Burlington 66
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If not, how much more income per year would you
need to be satisfied?
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Natural Capital

• How important is the quality of the natural
  environment in which you live (for example, air,
  water, open space, cleanliness) to your happiness
  and quality of life?

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Human Capital

• How important are investments made in yourself
  (for example, education, job skills, health,
  spirituality) to your happiness and quality of
  life?

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Social Capital

• How important are relationships with your family
  and friends to your happiness and quality of
  life?
• How important are interactions with people in
  your neighborhood to your happiness and quality
  of life?

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Total Quality of Life

• How would you rate your overall quality of life
  (on a scale from 1 very high to 5 very low)?
• Please distribute 100 points across the following
  four categories according to their importance to
  your overall quality of life.
• Personal and public investments in your home,
  lifestyle, and neighborhood
• Investments and access to the natural
  environment in or near your neighborhood
• Your personal well-being and investments made
  in yourself
• Your relationship with your family, friends,
  and community

Photo Anton Voinov
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Testing the Income Effect
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Testing the Income Effect
Without Students 21 of respondents
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Neighborhood Analysis
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Time Allocation

• Please distribute 100 points across the following
  four categories according to their importance to
  your overall quality of life.
• Personal and public investments in your home,
  lifestyle, and neighborhood
• Investments and access to the natural
  environment in or near your neighborhood
• Your personal well-being and investments made
  in yourself
• Your relationship with your family, friends,
  and community

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New North End
Ranking (Data) Avg. Quality of Life 6
(1.95) Avg. Happiness with Built
Capital 4 (1.99) Natural Capital 4
(2.01) Human Capital 4 (2.11) Social
Capital 2 (2.01) Avg. Time Spent doing
Employment 4 (33) Volunteer Activities 3
(9) Household Chores 1 (21)
Family Activities 2 (19) Personal
Activities 8 (20) Percent with Health Ins. 4
(93) Home Ownership 1 (73) Satisfied with
Yrly Income 2 (75)
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Old North End
Ranking (Data) Avg. Quality of Life 8
(2.10) Avg. Happiness with Built
Capital 7 (2.11) Natural Capital 8
(2.35) Human Capital 2 (2.00) Social
Capital 4 (2.25) Avg. Time Spent doing
Employment 2 (37) Volunteer Activities 5
(7) Household Chores 3 (19)
Family Activities 8 (16) Personal
Activities 6 (23) Percent with Health Ins. 8
(81) Home Ownership 4 (55) Satisfied with
Yrly Income 7 (52)
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Downtown
Ranking (Data) Avg. Quality of Life 7
(2.10) Avg. Happiness with Built
Capital 8 (2.29) Natural Capital 7
(2.34) Human Capital 5 (2.13) Social
Capital 8 (2.38) Avg. Time Spent doing
Employment 7 (26) Volunteer Activities 7
(7) Household Chores 4 (18)
Family Activities 6 (18) Personal
Activities 2 (33) Percent with Health Ins. 5
(93) Home Ownership 7 (15) Satisfied with
Yrly Income 5 (64)
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Collegetown
Ranking (Data) Avg. Quality of Life 3
(1.88) Avg. Happiness with Built
Capital 5 (2.07) Natural Capital 6
(2.31) Human Capital 7 (2.22) Social
Capital 7 (2.33) Avg. Time Spent doing
Employment 5 (28) Volunteer Activities 8
(6) Household Chores 8 (14)
Family Activities 3 (19) Personal
Activities 1 (33) Percent with Health Ins. 7
(85) Home Ownership 6 (17) Satisfied w/
Yrly Income 8 (51)
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Northeast
Ranking (Data) Avg. Quality of Life 5
(1.95) Avg. Happiness with Built
Capital 3 (1.92) Natural Capital 5
(2.21) Human Capital 3 (2.08) Social
Capital 6 (2.27) Avg. Time Spent doing
Employment 6 (27) Volunteer Activities 2
(11) Household Chores 2 (20)
Family Activities 7 (17) Personal
Activities 4 (27) Percent with Health Ins. 1
(100) Home Ownership 8 (7) Satisfied with
Yrly Income 3 (68)
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The Hill
Ranking (Data) Avg. Quality of Life 1
(1.50) Avg. Happiness with Built
Capital 2 (1.88) Natural Capital 1
(1.78) Human Capital 1 (1.96) Social
Capital 1 (2.01) Avg. Time Spent doing
Employment 8 (24) Volunteer Activities 4
(8) Household Chores 7 (14)
Family Activities 1 (26) Personal
Activities 3 (29) Percent with Health Ins. 2
(98) Home Ownership 2 (73) Satisfied w/
Yrly Income 1 (77)
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Pine Street
Ranking (Data) Avg. Quality of Life 4
(1.89) Avg. Happiness with Built
Capital 6 (2.08) Natural Capital 3
(1.98) Human Capital 8 (2.22) Social
Capital 3 (2.14) Avg. Time Spent doing
Employment 3 (33) Volunteer Activities 6
(7) Household Chores 5 (17)
Family Activities 5 (18) Personal
Activities 5 (24) Percent with Health Ins. 6
(90) Home Ownership 5 (51) Satisfied with
Yrly Income 6 (63)
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South End
Ranking (Data) Avg. Quality of Life 2
(1.85) Avg. Happiness with Built
Capital 1 (1.82) Natural Capital 2
(1.92) Human Capital 6 (2.22) Social
Capital 5 (2.26) Avg. Time Spent doing
Employment 1 (37) Volunteer Activities 1
(13) Household Chores 6 (15)
Family Activities 4 (19) Personal
Activities 7 (21) Percent with Health Ins. 3
(95) Home Ownership 3 (61) Satisfied with
Yrly Income 4 (67)
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Burlington v. EcoVillages
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Thanks to

• Burlington Legacy Project (www.cedo.ci.burlington.
  vt.us/legacy/)
• In particular the Community Indicators committee,
  Betsy Rosenbluth, and Sandra OFlaherty.
• Community and Economic Development Office
  (www.cedoburlington.org)
• In particular Margaret Bozik and Beth Ruzansky.
• UVM and Gund Faculty
• In particular, Bob Costanza, Josh Farley, Lynne
  Bond, Matthew Wilson, Gary Flo, and Roel Boumans.

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Evolving analysis and results posted at

• www.uvm.edu/jdericks/QOL/

Photo Anton Voinov
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