ANN ARBOR—Killer commutes that make us crazy. Friendly neighbors. Lots of trees. Feeling safe enough to walk under the stars.

As Detroit’s 300th birthday approaches, a University of Michigan survey team is busy finding out about these and other factors affecting the quality of life in the seven-county metro Detroit area.

Findings from the study, to be released later this year, are designed to provide a benchmark for regional changes throughout the 21st century and reliable data for decisions on a wide range of public policy issues, from recreation and transportation to the environment and urban sprawl.

“The quality of community life is an issue of critical importance to the city of Detroit and the entire region,” says lead investigator Robert W. Marans, U-M professor of architecture and urban planning and senior research scientist at the U-M Institute for Social Research, the world’s largest academic survey and research organization.

“Both have changed dramatically over the past few decades, with more people moving from the central city to the suburbs, a loss of farmland and open space, and an expanding highway system. Crime has decreased and living standards have increased. But inequities persist in housing, public services, access to jobs, and environmental quality. All of these factors have an impact on the quality of life throughout the region.”

According to Marans, the survey, now in the field, will illuminate the relationship between objective quality-of-life indicators such as commuting time, crime rates, housing conditions, and population density, and subjective feelings of safety and satisfaction, both with life as a whole and with various aspects of where people live, work, and play.

In 1974, Marans notes, a similar survey showed that a quarter of the region’s population was dissatisfied with living in their particular community. By 1980, only 12 percent expressed dissatisfaction. Whether local conditions improved over the years, or whether people adapted to static or even worsening external conditions remains uncertain, he notes. But in the 2001 study now under way, Marans plans to compare what people think and do to the objective, environmental conditions under which they live.

Started 50 years ago as a “hands-on” training vehicle for graduate students interested in learning scientific techniques of survey research, the Detroit Area Study is jointly administered by the U-M Institute for Social Research and the Department of Sociology. The study has become a model for comparable studies planned or under way in many cities around the world. These include Beijing, China; Belo Horizonte, Brazil; Brisbane, Australia; Warsaw, Poland; Durban, South Africa, and Ibaden, Nigeria.

Funding for the 2001 survey comes from the U-M, the U.S. Forest Service, the Southeastern Michigan Council of Governments, the Michigan Economic Development Corporation, and Washtenaw County, among other government agencies, non-profit groups, and corporations. More information on the study is available at the following Web site: http://www.caup.umich.edu/urp/research/Marans-DAS2001/index.html

Established in 1948, the Institute for Social Research (ISR) is among the world’s oldest survey research organizations, and a world leader in the development and application of social science methodology. ISR conducts some of the most widely-cited studies in the nation, including the Survey of Consumer Attitudes, the National Election Studies, the Monitoring the Future Study, the Panel Study of Income Dynamics, the Health and Retirement Study, and the National Survey of Black Americans. ISR researchers also collaborate with social scientists in more than 60 nations on the World Values Surveys and other projects, and the Institute has established formal ties with universities in Poland, China, and South Africa. Visit the ISR Web site at www.isr.umich.edu for more information.

city of DetroitDepartment of SociologyU.S. Forest ServiceSurvey of Consumer Attitudes