Friedman MS, Powell KE, Hutwagner L, Graham LM, Teague WG. Impact of changes in transportation and commuting behaviors during the 1996 summer Olympic Games in Atlanta on air quality and childhood asthma. JAMA 2001; 285: 897-905.
Summary: This article examines the first study of the impact of city wide transportation changes in air quality and childhood asthma during a four week period surround the 1996 Atlanta Olympics.
General Concensus: Most students felt this study was a solid example of how researchers of the built environment must take advantage of natural experiments. There was little critique of the methodologies. A few commented on the lack of qualitative information from residents. How did they feel about the temporary changes in transportation infrastructure?
Additional Comments:
"I think that this is an example of how cities frequently choose to have air pollution (due to increased vehicular use) and omit physical activity, and how these health effects are self-inflicted as opposed to being due to fundamental infrastructure problems." (ENV H)
It is likely that all of the people who were in town for the games were not there only for the days that the games were taking place, and it seems as if the researchers did not factor this into their studies of the weeks before and the weeks after the event. (ENV H)
"I was actually a bit surprised to see the lack of significant findings (Table 2), though it is still a rather convincing article. " (UDPL)