Problem, research strategy, and findings: Historical patterns of discrimination and disinvestment have shaped the current landscape of vulnerability to heat in U.S. cities but are not explicitly considered by heat mitigation planning efforts. Drawing upon the equity planning framework and developing a broader conceptualization of what equity means can enhance urban heat management. Here I ask whether areas in Baltimore (MD), Dallas (TX), and Kansas City (MO) targeted for disinvestment in the past through practices like redlining are now more exposed to heat. I compare estimates of land surface temperature (LST) derived from satellite imagery across the four-category rating system used to guide lending practices in cities around the United States, summarize the demographic characteristics of current residents within each of these historical designations using U.S. Census data, and discuss the connection between systematic disinvestment and exposure to heat. LST and air temperatures are not equivalent, which makes it difficult to reconcile existing research on the human health impacts of heat exposure that rely on a sparse network of air temperature monitoring stations with more granular LST data. Areas of these cities that were targeted for systematic disinvestment in the past have higher mean land surface temperatures than those that received more favorable ratings. Poor and minority residents are also overrepresented in formerly redlined areas in each of the three study cities. Takeaway for practice: By examining areas that have experienced sustained disinvestment, cities may be able to more quickly narrow the focus of heat mitigation planning efforts while furthering social equity. Efforts to mitigate the negative impacts of rising temperatures in U.S. cities must be tailored to the local climate, built environment, and sociodemographic history. Finally, geospatial data sets that document historical policies are useful for centering and redressing current inequalities when viewed through an equity planning lens.

This article reviews studies published in English language planning journals since 2001 that focus on the environmental impacts of sprawl. We organise our analysis of the reviewed literature around: (1) the conceptualisation or measurement of sprawl; (2) a comparison of research methods employed and findings with respect to four categories of environmental impacts—air, energy, land, and water; and (3) an exploration of emergent and cross-cutting themes. We hypothesise that the trend towards breaking down silos observable in other areas of planning scholarship is also reflected in the recent sprawl literature and structure our review to test this proposition. International in scope, our work demonstrates how focusing on outcomes can facilitate balanced comparisons across geographic contexts with varying rates of urbanisation and affluence. We find that the sprawl research published in planning journals over the past decade frequently engages with broader themes of resilience and justice, increasingly considers multiple environmental outcomes, and suggests a convergence in the way sprawl is studied that transcends national boundaries as well as the developing-developed country dichotomy.

Civic technology is an emerging field that typically leverages open data—and sometimes open source software—to address challenges that may be invisible to or neglected by government in a collaborative, problem-centered way. This article describes the goals and values of civic technology, identifies its raw materials and products, and outlines its most visible modalities. We use key informant interviews with stakeholders in Chicago’s robust civic technology ecosystem and a brief discussion of the Array of Things (AoT) project to evaluate claims that civic technology can be an effective mechanism for democratizing the Smart City. We conclude with recommendations for urban planners interested in engaging with civic technology to enhance quality of life and further social equity.

In this paper, we develop an approach for identifying the location of populations most vulnerable to extreme heat events and how those locations change over time. We scan the literature on measuring vulnerability, especially sensitivity and adaptive capacity of populations. We employ Census data for metropolitan Chicago for the years 1990, 2000, and 2010, and maximum likelihood factor analysis to derive an index and map the distribution of Census tracts where residents exhibit greater sensitivity and/or lower adaptive capacity to extreme heat. Our findings show a pattern of deconcentration and decentralization of these populations within the city and region over time, with gentrification and the suburbanization of poverty trends observed in many US metropolitan regions as possible contributing factors. Finally, we discuss the implications of these findings for planning efforts in the study area and offer suggestions for further research.

(2018). Race and Spatial Imaginary: Planning Otherwise/Introduction: What Shakes Loose When We Imagine Otherwise/She Made the Vision True: A Journey Toward Recognition and Belonging/Isha Black or Isha White? Racial Identity and Spatial Development in Warren County, NC/Colonial City Design Lives Here: Questioning Planning Education’s Dominant Imaginaries/Say Its Name – Planning Is the White Spatial Imaginary, or Reading McKittrick and Woods as Planning Text/Wakanda! Take the Wheel! Visions of a Black Green City/If I Built the World, Imagine That: Reflecting on World Building Practices in Black Los Angeles/Is Honolulu a Hawaiian Place? Decolonizing Cities and the Redefinition of Spatial Legitimacy/Interpretations & Imaginaries: Toward an Instrumental Black Planning History. Planning Theory & Practice: Vol. 19, No. 2, pp. 254-288.