Using 311 data to develop an algorithm to identify urban blight for public health improvement.

The growth of administrative data made available publicly, often in near-real time, offers new opportunities for monitoring conditions that impact community health. Urban blight-manifestations of adverse social processes in the urban environment, including physical disorder, decay, and loss of anchor institutions-comprises many conditions considered to negatively affect the health of communities. However, measurement strategies for urban blight have been complicated by lack of uniform data, often requiring expensive street audits or the use of proxy measures that cannot represent the multifaceted nature of blight.