In the US, the car is an unkind king to its citizens. Cars mobilize, but also blast out pollutants and promote a sedentary and lonelier lifestyle. Conversely, walkable cities—where reaching local amenities on foot is both feasible and pleasant—bring myriad hea... More »
Kadambari Shah is a Research Associate at the Energy Policy Institute at the University of Chicago. She holds a Masters in International Development and Policy from the Harris School of Public Policy.The COVID-19 pandemic has exposed numerous flaws in our worl... More »
Budgets are the new battlegrounds. While cities debate how to spend unprecedented amounts of federal relief funds and activists demand reallocation of police budgets to social services, decisions about how to allocate public dollars are drawing increased publi... More »
As urbanization increases across the globe, it is important for policymakers and local leaders to ensure that urban residents find affordable, sustainable produce that positively impacts local and global ecosystems. One solution is community gardening and priv... More »
With the Atlanta spa shootings earlier this year, and the pandemic exacerbating incendiary rhetoric about Asian Americans, violence has become a regular conversation topic in my circles. My Asian-American friends share stories about street harassment, while my... More »
After a century of increasing life expectancy in the United States, 2020 witnessed a decline of 1.5 years. Although primarily attributable to COVID-19, the pandemic only exacerbated the persistent health crises of the “before-times,” further contributing to th... More »
Public bikeshare systems (PBS) have become increasingly popular in cities, prompting studies on their relationship with different forms of transit, including cars, rideshare, walking, and public transit such as buses and rail. Many of these studies have found ... More »
Even before the outbreak of the novel coronavirus, socioeconomic inequality plagued cities across the globe. The pandemic itself has both deepened those existing wounds and ripped open new ones. In the United States, neighborhoods predominantly inhabited by pe... More »
More than a third of incarcerated individuals in the United States today have a diagnosed mental illness. In the 1960s, this population constituted fewer than 5% of all inmates. How did having a mental health condition become criminalized? A well-meaning polic... More »
At their best, cities are places where people of all income levels take the same train and play with their kids in the same park, bridging the gap and fostering a sense of community. In reality, the “tale of two cities” often seen in the differences between gl... More »
Demographic and economic trends like suburbanization, deindustrialization, white flight, and foreclosures have resulted in an increase in vacant properties in cities like Chicago. High vacancy rates pose many challenges for cities and residents, including decr... More »
Lockdowns and stay at home orders from Chicago to London to Beijing have resulted in fewer cars on roads and reduced public transit ridership. The nosedive in daily commuters has transformed large swaths of cities around the world into a sea of deserted asphal... More »