What is the goal of the project?
The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has identified many areas near the Great Lakes where past actions have increased the toxicity of local water ways. Our goal is to use social science research to help understand two things:
1. Are the concerns communities have about the waterfront being addressed during clean-up efforts?
2. How do different groups decide if clean-up is successful?
As a result of this work, we hope to improve communication between residents and technical experts managing clean-up so that both people and the environment are better off.
To accomplish our goals, we will study patterns of change using government data sources like the US Census and use video recordings to collect the stories of residents, community organizers, and other experts who have lived near and thought about the water ways for a long time.
Who is involved in the project?
This research effort is being led by Bethany Cutts, Ph.D. and Andrew Greenlee, Ph.D., who are both faculty at University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. However, the approach we take is participatory, which means that we want community residents to help determine project goals and procedures. This research is funded by the Illinois-Indiana Sea Grant, and Sea Grant staff are working closely with the researchers to develop and refine research questions and to make sure that the results are useful to future remediation and the process of working with local communities.
Why do you want to record interviews on video?
Video allows you to communicate your knowledge and experience to people you might never meet face to face. It provides a valuable record about what’s important to you and how environmental remediation by the EPA fits in to the things you care about related to health, community, and the environment. By capturing different ideas about what people think and feel, we can better understand how communities affected by environmental remediation processes can inform the work that technical experts are doing. This could help your community and provide lessons to help other neighborhoods and communities or the government hear your voice.
Who else will you interview?
We are interested in talking with a wide variety of experts. We want to hear from residents, business owners and operators, community organizers, local church leaders, environmentalists, and government officials to learn more about the many ways people value the waterfront, the type of changes they have seen, and the future they envision. We hope to fit together the diverse perspectives that we capture to create a broader narrative about the social impacts of environmental remediation going on in our two locations of study.
What happens to the video after my interview?
The videos are an opportunity for us to listen. They will be analyzed to identify common themes and questions. We will synthesize the interviews to produce a documentary film. Themes and transcribed content from the videos will also appear in future scientific publications. You will have an opportunity to offer feedback before we help to organize public meetings and identify opportunities to inform and energize action to meet the social, economic, and environmental goals of the region and its residents.
Where are you doing this research?
This research focuses on neighborhoods and communities located in two U.S. EPA-designated Areas of Concern: the Grand Calumet River AOC in northwest Indiana, and the Milwaukee Estuary AOC in Wisconsin.
Who do I contact for more information?
For more information, please e-mail the research team at urbanequity@illinois.edu, or use our contact form.
