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Densely populated urban areas are particularly susceptible to disasters, crime, accidents and other risks to life, health and property. This project explores how application of geographic information science could help urban policy makers identify and address these problems.

The goal of the project’s research program is to improve the ability of urban planners and managers to help inform public decision making in creating and sustaining more healthful and safer urban environments.

Faculty and graduate student research at Rutgers University addresses a variety of important questions:

• Health risks. What are the demographic and geospatial factors related to asthma? Are there spatial associations between asthma cases and contaminants from point sources of air and water pollution, and ozone and other air quality patterns? Are there issues of environmental equity that should be addressed?

• Disaster planning and management. What are the roles of geospatial data and GIScience in planning for natural disasters in cities? How can potential damage and losses from disasters be modeled. to permit better contingency planning and disaster preparation? How can GIScience technology and internet delivery of geospatial information and modeling capabilities be used to prepare for disaster conditions through consensus-building among the agencies involved, and in real time in disaster management control rooms?

• "Brownfields". How can we use geospatial databases and field data to help inventory existing "brownfield" sites in cities? What are the environmental risks to urban residents of these abandoned and often polluted sites? What is the role of GIScience in encouraging public participation in prioritizing remediation and redevelopment of these sites? What is the role of GIScience in marketing these sites to potential developers?

Addressing these questions requires progress in data acquisition and integration, spatial modeling and analysis, distributed computing, collaborative computing via the internet, and data visualization. Research contributions include a emphasis on the design and evaluation of planning support systems, and on the delivery and collaborative use of geospatial data by decision makers and the public via the Internet.

Funding has come from partnerships between federal and state funding sources, including federal (FEMA, DOE, EPA) and state agencies (New Jersey’s Department of Environmental Protection, State Police, and Office of State Planning).

For more information:

Dr. Lyna L. Wiggins

Chair and Graduate Director

Department of Urban Planning and Policy Development

Rutgers University

New Brunswick, NJ 08901

732-932-3822 x568, FAX 732-932-2253,

Email: lyna@rci.rutgers.edu