Windsor-Essex Quality of Life Index
The Windsor-Essex Quality of Life Index is a mapping tool that aids with an initial understanding on disparities between neighbourhoods. The tool was developed by the City of Windsor’s Social Policy & Planning and Geographic Information System (GIS) divisions in collaboration with residents, local experts and practitioners across the Windsor-Essex community. The tool evaluates neighbourhoods within Windsor-Essex, including City of Windsor, Town of LaSalle, Town of Amherstburg, Town of Essex, Town of Kingsville, Municipality of Leamington, Municipality of Lakeshore and Town of Tecumseh.
Development of the index was initiated in 2024 to support the following P2P strategic priority:
- Goal 1: Strengthening Priority Neighbourhoods
- Initiative 2: Develop a framework for neighbourhood strengthening.
- Engage with partners to define and identify neighbourhoods.
- Develop criteria for priority neighbourhoods.
- Develop and publish neighbourhood profiles for selected neighbourhoods.
- Initiative 2: Develop a framework for neighbourhood strengthening.
The Windsor-Essex Quality of Life Index identifies neighbourhoods as Social Planning Districts (SPDs). Social Planning Districts are neighbourhood-level geographic planning areas that are experiencing similar quality of life and have a population size of 1,500 to 7,500. Windsor consists of 52 SPDs, and across Essex County there are 45 SPDs.
The index utilizes a set of quality of life indicators to evaluate SPDs and produce a composite score reflecting each SPD’s overall quality of life. SPDs in Windsor are evaluated separately from SPDs across Essex County. The clickable maps displayed below are the resulting quality of life scores across SPDs.
To learn more about the development of the Windsor-Essex Quality of Life Index, please visit the Windsor-Essex Quality of Life Index Project Report in the Resources section below.
Resources
Windsor-Essex Quality of Life Index Project Report