Construction and Older Adults
Older adults living in dense urban neighborhoods may be especially vulnerable to the environmental and psychosocial impacts of prolonged construction activity, including air pollution, noise, stress, and disruptions to daily life. In neighborhoods such as Manhattan’s Chinatown, where many residents live in close proximity to major development projects, community concerns about construction-related health impacts have continued to grow.
In 2019, a coalition of community partners, led by Neighbors United Below Canal, Chung Pak LDC, and Hamilton-Madison House, reached out to NYU Center for the Study of Asian American Health (CSAAH) to collaborate on activities to examine the effects of long-term construction and environmental exposures on older adults and other vulnerable populations in Chinatown. Our collaborative work includes reports on construction-related health impacts and air quality around the Manhattan Detention Complex (MDC) construction site, as well as community-engaged environmental monitoring, literature reviews, community education and outreach, storytelling, mitigation recommendations and testimonies to city agencies, community boards and policymakers.
- One-page Summary Report in Chinese
- The Long-Term Impact of Construction on the Health of Older Adults in New York City’s Chinatown (2019)
Digital Story (2019)
Construction projects have the potential to pose serious health risks related to environmental and neighborhood changes, air quality, noise, and health-related quality of life. CSAAH collaborated closely with our local community partner Hamilton-Madison House, to also create a video narrative to visually tell the story of how construction affects the lives of older adults in Chinatown.
**NEW** Chinatown Environmental Health Impact Assessment Report (2026)
