High Line in New York City; all photos by Julie Cidell
Arts, Culture, and Transportation Infrastructure
In collaboration with Dr. Brenda Kayzar of UrbaneDrK Consulting in Minneapolis, we are currently working on a project for the Minnesota Department of Transportation (MnDOT) titled Utilizing Arts and Culture to Mitigate the Negative Impacts of Transportation Infrastructure on Communities. The project is in response to a MnDOT call for proposals on developing case studies to illustrate how transportation agencies across the U.S. have used arts and culture in creative ways to engage residents and work towards mitigating the harm of past transportation decisions.
Wal-Mart truck leaving a distribution center on the outskirts of Chicago
Electrification, Emissions, Exposure, and Equity
In collaboration with Dr. Serap Erdal and Dr. Jane Lin of the University of Illinois at Chicago, we are launching a project funded by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency to study how different scenarios for transitioning to electric freight vehicles in the Chicago area would impact air quality and human health, and quality of life. We have three main goals:
- Understanding how air quality, the environment, and public health in underserved communities might be improved through freight vehicle electrification while minimizing potential negative impacts;
- Identifying approaches or strategies to ensure that freight vehicle electrification provides air quality benefits and reduces environmental risks while meeting the energy and mobility needs of underserved communities; and
- Understanding how socioeconomic, organizational, and institutional factors affect decisions at the organizational, governmental, and community levels regarding the adoption and diffusion of electric freight vehicles in underserved communities.
Mural in Santa Fe, NM, near the Railyards
Railyard redevelopment
We also are currently working on a project on railyard redevelopment and environmental justice. Multiple projects across the country are “Yards”-based, reflecting the conversion of rail land to large-scale mixed-use projects. At the same time, many urban railyards are intensifying their transportation function, converting to intermodal yards to handle urban logistics. We’re interested in mapping the yards that are redeveloped as non-rail-related vs. those that are intensifying their intermodal functions, and to what extent the histories and demographics of the surrounding neighborhoods play a role in that decision. So far, Wataru Morioka has presented on our Chicago findings at the Transport Chicago conference, and Jinzhe Wang has presented findings from Kansas City at the West Lakes Regional Division meeting of the American Association of Geographers.
CenterPoint Intermodal Center near Elwood, IL
Freight (de)centralization
Over a decade ago, Dr. Cidell conducted a ground-breaking study that showed that freight and logistics activity was decentralizing in most U.S. metropolitan areas, confirming anecdotal understandings that warehousing and distribution centers were moving farther from the city center. Now, the SMIIL team is updating this study in the age of Amazon and intensified e-commerce: is decentralization still occurring, or has it been balanced by more distribution centers within city limits?