Events

Brown Bag Series: Vehicles, Travel Demand, and Income: Responses to Subways and Bus Rapid Transit in Mexico City

November 02, 2021 @ 12:30 pm - 1:30 pm

Register here.

Dr. Paulina Oliva, Associate Professor of Economics and Spatial Sciences, with Christopher Severen, Ph.D., Senior Economist, Federal Reserve Bank of Philadelphia, and Danae Hernandez-Cortes, Ph.D., Assistant Professor, Arizona State University, will discuss their research about how different modes of public transportation interact to meet demands for mobility across the income spectrum. Dr. Oliva will share results from their study about how expansions to the subway and bus rapid transit (BRT) networks shift travel behavior in Mexico City, a dynamic, middle income megacity.

Dr. Oliva specializes in the fields of environmental economics and development. In particular, she is interested in the relationship between air pollution and health and on environmental policy effectiveness in the developing world.

Her work uses a variety of microeconometric techniques to study individual incentives and human impacts of air pollution. Oliva’s research shows that high levels of air pollution can be especially lethal to vulnerable populations in low- and middle-income countries such as Mexico, China, India and Brazil. She also studies costs of air pollution measured in infant mortality and work hours lost.

In addition to finding that effects of air pollution on infant mortality are much higher in developing countries when compared with the U.S., she has found poor air quality to be the culprit for substantial losses in worker productivity.

Please register to attend the talk in person in the USC Spatial Sciences Institute conference room (AHF B57J) or by Zoom.

SSI Celebrates GIS Day: "Climate Justicescape"

November 17, 2021 @ 12:00 pm - 1:00 pm

“Climate Justicescape: Mapping Social-Ecological-Technological Vulnerability to Climate Change”

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Chingwen Cheng, PhD, PLA, LEED AP
Program Head and Associate Professor of Landscape Architecture, Urban Design and Environmental Design, The Design School, Arizona State University
Senior Global Futures Scientists, Julie Ann Wrigley Global Futures Laboratory

Climate change has aggravated extreme hazard events such as floods, droughts, extreme heat and fires that threaten livelihood of communities, especially for vulnerable populations. Climate Justicescape applies an integrated social-ecological-technological systems vulnerability assessment framework to identify vulnerable communities to climate change impacts. Climate Justicescape has implications in policy-making for prioritizing resources in investing green infrastructure and nature-based solutions to address climate justice and enhance community resilience.

Dr. Chingwen Cheng is Program Head and Associate Professor of Landscape Architecture, Urban Design, and Environmental Design at The Design School, Arizona State University. Dr. Cheng directs Hydro-GI Lab applying spatial mixed methods and modeling to create Climate Justicescape measuring social-ecological-technological vulnerability to climate change impacts. Currently, Dr. Cheng leads NATURA Design for Justice thematic working group and APRU SCL Vulnerable, Resilient, and Climate Justice working group to investigate the gap between theory and practices in implementing Nature-based Solutions for climate justice. Dr. Cheng is a licensed Landscape Architect and LEED Accredited Professional with twenty years of professional practice, research, education and community services dedicated to co-designing with communities for sustainable, resilient and healthy environments for all.