UPP 462 | Spring 2023

This project visualizes census tracts with the highest risk of lead exposure from lead service lines in Chicago. Although the federal government prohibited lead-based paint in 1973, lead service lines in new housing construction were not banned in Chicago until 1986. Historically, prior Chicago mayors have not addressed this problem and today there are an estimated 400,000 service lines, the most of any U.S. city. This study develops a vulnerability index to measure risk of lead exposure in households’ water supply based on sociodemographic and housing data (Median Household Income, Residences Built Pre-1980, Single Family or Two Flat Residences, Population without Health Insurance, People of Color (Black and/or Latinx), Presence of Children).

Social determinants of health (SDOH) are the “conditions in the environments where people are born, live, learn, work, play, worship, and age that affect a wide range of health, functioning, and quality-of-life outcomes and risks” as defined by  Healthy People 2030. One of the social determinants of health is  Economic Stability . When you have a stable income, you are more likely to be healthy since you are more likely to afford healthy foods, safe housing, adequate health care, and appropriate education. The research question of this study: is there a correlation between density of banks, check cashing, and payday lenders and demographic indicators of social determinants of health?

In recent years, Chicago has employed 20,000 – 30,000 youth during Summer through the One Summer Chicago program. Mayor Johnson’s push for doubling this number in his first 100 days is ambitious (Brandon Johnson’s teen employment goal could be tough | WBEZ Chicago), though it sends a strong signal of strategies the city is taking to set strong foundations for the future of our youth and communities. Unemployment among Chicago’s youth is a roadblock for building better communities. While about half of Chicagoans live in areas where youth unemployment average 7.5%, the other half sees rates of youth unemployment that often exceed 20%, and median wages that trail wealthier parts of the city by nearly 30%. (Engel, Keller, & O’Dell, 2018). These disparities follow racial and ethnic lines. In areas with high youth unemployment, 45 percent of the population is black, 33 percent is Hispanic, and only 16 percent is non-Hispanic white. Tackling youth unemployment is a nested challenge of public safety, equity, and economic resilience.

We map statistically significant areas of growth and decline in manufacturing employment from 2011 to 2021. This analysis, alongside a Hispanic population density map, provides a spatial representation of potential focus areas for programming. The goal of this research is to provide a data-driven snapshot of trends that might inform the City of Chicago’s priority initiatives to serve the future of our youth, communities, and address unemployment.

As urban areas grow in number and extent, urban plant diversity is becoming more important to understand and preserve. Urban plant communities provide ecosystem services to residents and habitat for many species of wildlife. Residential land may be especially important for plant diversity, as the amount of land and vegetation in private yards and gardens is often greater than the amount preserved as urban open space. We argue that front yards are significant to study because they cover a lot of land in urban spaces. Further, front yards provide habitat for a variety of wildlife found in urban areas. Finally, we argue that by paying attention to the front yard management through identifying choice of species, maintenance schedules etc. can help understand social and economic conditions of the resident through markers such as income, education and decision-making.

Between 2015 to 2022 there were over 10,000 bike crashes in Chicago. With biking becoming an increasingly popular mode of transportation in Chicago, there is a need to better understand the prevalence and trends of bicycle accidents that could potentially inform future infrastructure or safety initiatives. The aim of this research was to create a visual representation of the locations of bicycle accidents that took place in Chicago from 2015 to 2022. The study also aimed to identify any possible patterns or clusters of accidents. Initially, it was hypothesized that severe and fatal injuries would be more likely to happen outside of bike lane service areas. However, the findings of the study disproved this assumption.