Case Study: Spatial Mobility & Healthcare Access (HATA Project)
Executive Summary
When major healthcare networks expand across urban centers, patient access is shaped by neighborhood-level transit corridors and institutional reputation. This study evaluates how transit modes, geographic distance, and qualitative care metrics dictate why patients commute to NYU Langone Hospital–Brooklyn in Sunset Park, contrasting local residents against regional transit commuters across Brooklyn.
Research Objectives
Spatial Accessibility: Compare modal transit choices between Sunset Park residents and non-local Brooklyn commuters traveling to the hospital.
Perceptual Decision-Making: Determine how institutional reputation, perceived facility quality, and gender influence a patient’s willingness to endure extended urban commutes for care.
Mixed-Methods Methodology
Field Survey Administration: Designed and deployed an 11-question mixed-methods survey capturing commute duration, transit modes, insurance coverage, and qualitative quality-of-care ratings.
Spatial & Social Cartography: Executed physical spatial mapping of arrival corridors, ambulance bays, and pedestrian circulation bottlenecks along 55th–56th Streets and 2nd Avenue.
Demographic & Contextual Mapping: Integrated NYC DOHMH Community Health Profile data to benchmark unmet medical needs across Brooklyn community districts against patient catchment origin points (e.g., Brighton Beach, East Flatbush, Sheepshead Bay).
Data Synthesis: Structured survey responses in Excel, cross-referencing quantitative transit time variables with qualitative ethnographic interview jottings and participant narratives.
