Between Dec 19, 2024 and Jan 2, 2025, datasets can be submitted to DRUM but will not be processed until after the break. Staff will not be available to answer email during this period, and will not be able to provide DOIs until after Jan 2. If you are in need of a DOI during this period, consider Dryad or OpenICPSR. Submission responses to the UDC may also be delayed during this time.

Browsing by Subject "Urban & Regional Planning"

Now showing 1 - 8 of 8
  • Thumbnail Image
    Item
    Episode 10: Examining Racially Concentrated Areas of Affluence in the US
    (2017-12-13) Goetz, Ed; Conners, Kate
    "Contemporary federal housing policy in the United States has largely focused on racially segregated areas with high levels of poverty, known as racially concentrated areas of poverty (RCAPs). In this podcast, Ed Goetz, professor at the Humphrey School of Public Affairs, examines the other side of this dynamic—concentrated areas of white affluence. Goetz, director of the Center for Urban and Regional Affairs, discusses his work to identify and understand racially concentrated areas of affluence (RCAAs). ""When we started our study, we were actually responding to advocates for low income communities who maintained that this single-minded focus on their communities problematized their communities, stigmatized their communities, and ignored the other half of the segregation formula—which is of course the ability and tendency of white people to seclude themselves into neighborhoods,"" says Goetz. ""So we tried to look at the other side of the coin."""
  • Thumbnail Image
    Item
    Episode 12: Circular Economies and Low-Carbon Urban Infrastructure Planning
    (2017-12-21) Ramaswami, Anu; Conners, Kate
    What is the unique role that urban infrastructure planning can play in national carbon mitigation? In this podcast, Anu Ramaswami, professor at the Humphrey School of Public Affairs, discusses how cities are positioned to plan infrastructure systems using circular economy principles that reduce material and energy reuse across sectors to deliver a low-carbon future.
  • Thumbnail Image
    Item
    Episode 16: Financing Urban and Rural Infrastructure
    (2018-04-26) Zhao, Jerry; Conners, Kate
    Infrastructure is not often at the forefront of policy discussions until something goes wrong, says Jerry Zhao, associate professor at the Humphrey School of Public Affairs and director of the Institute for Urban and Regional Infrastructure Finance. Zhao's research explores how federal, state, and local entities pull together the resources to fund critical infrastructure investments in areas such as transportation, water, and education. These investments are complex. They typically involve big money, multiple decision makers, and have uncertain long-run benefits. To help address this, Zhao stresses the importance of using infrastructure finance research to inform policy makers of possible problems and solutions before issues arise.
  • Thumbnail Image
    Item
    Episode 19: Advancing Roadway Safety in American Indian Reservations
    (2019-01-14) Quick, Kathy; Conners, Kate
    "Nationally, motor vehicle crashes are the leading cause of unintentional injury for American Indians aged 1 to 44 and their motor vehicle death rate is higher than for any other ethnic or racial group in the United States. To better understand these high fatality rates, Humphrey School of Public Affairs Associate Professor Kathy Quick and University of Minnesota researcher Guillermo Narváez conducted an in-depth study of roadway safety on American Indian reservations. Four case studies were carried out in partnership with tribal governments in Minnesota: the Red Lake Band of Chippewa, Fond du Lac Band of Lake Superior Chippewa, Leech Lake Band of Ojibwe, and the Mille Lacs Band of Ojibwe. Researchers collected extensive data from the reservations through fieldwork observations, interviews with key stakeholders, focus groups with expert drivers, and in-person surveys of residents. They also collaborated with the Federal Highway Administration to design and analyze results of the 2016 Tribal Transportation Safety Data Survey, a national online survey with responses from 151 representatives of tribal governments and 45 representatives of state governments. Of the five high-priority concerns the researchers identified, one in particular stood out: the safety of pedestrians on tribal lands. "
  • Thumbnail Image
    Item
    Episode 23: New Directions for Disaster Planning Research
    (2019-04-29) Jacobs, Fayola; Conners, Kate
    “Talking about some of the theoretical underpinnings that have devalued the lives of oppressed communities worldwide is a really important conversation to have,” says Fayola Jacobs, an assistant professor in the urban and regional planning area at the Humphrey School of Public Affairs. Jacobs' recent work explores how disaster planning has engaged—or failed to engage—oppressed communities. Using the lenses of black feminism and radical planning theory, Jacobs breaks down the concept of "social vulnerability" and its implication for environmental planning and policy. “When we pretend that the field is even and we can just ignore race ... then we implement policies that continue to exacerbate inequities,” she says.
  • Thumbnail Image
    Item
    Episode 24: Hungry to Get There: Food Access and Transportation in Immigrant Communities
    (2019-12-09) Burga, Fernando; Conners, Kate
    Fernando Burga's recent work seeks to "imagine food as a central aspect of our lives and cities," investigating the intersection of urban planning with immigration, equity, and food systems. Despite the immense disparities faced by immigrant groups and communities of color when it comes to accessing healthy and culturally relevant food, Burga found a relative dearth of qualitative data in how these communities actually experience getting to food access points. Burga, an assistant professor in the urban and regional planning area at the Humphrey School of Public Affairs, carried out research workshops with Latino immigrants in both rural Minnesota and the Twin Cities metro region, using a focus group, a graphic survey, and participatory mapping exercises to identify patterns of accessibility and actualize the "foodscapes" within participants' daily lives. Burga urges planners to consider a multidimensional approach to food systems and transportation policy work: "Qualitative research can lead planners to consider agency, empathy, and advocacy as mechanisms to reconsider how cities are made."
  • Thumbnail Image
    Item
    Episode 25: Green Infrastructure and Stormwater Utility Fees
    (2020-01-27) Sarmiento, Camila Fonseca; Conners, Kate
    Deep below St. Paul, Minnesota, 450 miles of storm sewers and funnels snake throughout the city. Invisible to everyday life, underground pipeline systems such as these are called gray infrastructure. Camila Fonseca Sarmiento, a research associate at the Humphrey School's Institute for Urban and Regional Infrastructure Finance (IURIF), has been working with the City of St. Paul to identify ways to fund more green infrastructure—a more resilient, sustainable approach to managing stormwater that combines gray infrastructure with natural ecological systems. Governments in the US and abroad have begun to fund stormwater management via a new financial model as an alternative to taxes: stormwater utility fees. Stormwater credits, which reward properties implementing best practices, are also increasing in popularity. With her research, Fonseca Sarmiento aims to help local governments make informed decisions about the tools available to fund stormwater management.
  • Thumbnail Image
    Item
    Episode 26: The CREATE Initiative: Research at the Intersection of Environment and Equity
    (2020-02-17) Keeler, Bonnie; Foy, Melanie Sommer
    Bonnie Keeler, assistant professor in the science, technology, and environmental policy area at the Humphrey School of Public Affairs, discusses her work with the CREATE Initiative. In founding the initiative, Keeler and University of Minnesota geography professor Kate Derickson sought to combine their research areas in a program that addresses issues at the intersection of environment and equity using interdisciplinary, community-engaged, mission-driven scholarship. Groups of CREATE graduate researchers have partnered with members of the Policy Think Tank—a team of community leaders from Minnesota, Atlanta, and elsewhere—to consider the context of historic racial inequality in cities and understand community members' concerns as cities increasingly invest in policies to address climate change and improve urban sustainability. The CREATE Initiative has also developed an action-oriented policy toolkit to help community members advocate for the benefits of greening initiatives to reach their communities without engendering displacement.