Equality of Opportunity and the Importance of Place

The National Research Council (NRC) recently conducted several projects concerning urban poverty, racial disparities, and opportunities to change metropolitan areas in ways that have positive effects on residents’ well-being. In reports such as Governance and Opportunity in Metropolitan America (1999), place, space, and neighborhood have become important lenses through which to understand the factors affecting opportunity and well-being. After the publication of Governance and Opportunity, the Office of the Assistant Secretary for Planning and Evaluation (ASPE) of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services became interested in what insights research focused on place might offer in terms of improving the conditions of vulnerable families-a population about whom ASPE is particularly concerned. Because of its interest in the topic, ASPE provided generous support to the NRC to hold a workshop on the importance of place and to produce a report based on the findings of the workshop. This report, Equality of Opportunity and the Importance of Place, is the culmination of the NRC’s work on behalf of ASPE.