New UIC center will explore tools for climate equity in Chicago

Chicago's Humboldt Park neighborhood is one of many where climate change may impact health. (Photo: Martin Hernandez/UIC)

The impact of our world's changing climate will go far beyond weather. Hotter summers, more intense storms and poorer air quality will have downstream effects on human health, particularly for already vulnerable populations.

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A new University of Illinois Chicago research center will gather experts from public health, medicine, engineering, urban planning and biological sciences to measure these health impacts and test nature-based interventions such as green infrastructure to minimize the consequences of climate change on humans.

The Center for Climate and Health Equity was selected by the National Institutes of Health to participate in their Climate Change and Health Initiative.

The UIC center will receive $4 million over three years to establish research and community engagement activities.

The interdisciplinary focus reflects the complexity of the challenge, said Kristen Malecki, who will direct the center. High-risk neighborhoods may face multiple, cumulative impacts from climate change, including flooding, air pollution and heat.

"Climate change is one of the biggest issues facing public health today, and we need to work across boundaries so that we can really track and monitor true impacts on human health," said Malecki, professor and division director of environmental and occupational health sciences in the UIC School of Public Health.

The center will build on several existing UIC programs, including the Children's Environmental Health Initiative led by Chancellor Marie Lynn Miranda and the Community Research on Climate & Urban Science project, a partnership with Argonne National Laboratory and several Midwestern universities. The center also will leverage resources and ongoing work at the Chicago Center for Health and the Environment, housed at UIC and University of Chicago.

It will also strengthen government and nonprofit partnerships - including with the Chicago Department of Public Health and the Morton Arboretum - and work with communities ready to address climate change impacts at the neighborhood level. Research from the collaboration will guide the design and implementation of community-based interventions that reduce health disparities.

"What makes the center unique is its emphasis on finding solutions and working with community partners," Malecki said. "We have a lot of communities across Chicago that see environmental justice issues as a problem, but they're looking for the tools and the data and the knowledge to take that information and turn it into action."

Integrating data to define climate health impacts

Today, we collect more data than ever before about our climate, cities and health. Climate scientists use outdoor sensors to monitor weather and air quality around Chicago, urban researchers measure how infrastructure such as highways influences heat and flooding risks and hospitals gather data on patients. Connecting these data can offer insights into how climate affects health in communities around the city.

Already, UIC research in Chicago has found dramatic air temperature differences between high- and low-income sides of the same neighborhood. But to assess whether exposure to higher temperatures in the neighborhood is tied to negative health outcomes, researchers need to link the temperature data with health records.

"Urban systems are complex, and public health is complex. This center will make that complexity tractable," said Miquel Gonzalez-Meler, professor of biological sciences at UIC and deputy director of the center. "The center is going to be a good think tank to see how these disparate ways of collecting data, information and different ways of knowing can come up with more effective solutions."

The new center will establish a geospatial data and analysis core, co-led by Sanjib Basu in the UIC School of Public Health and Melissa Fiffer of the Children's Environmental Health Initiative, that will use new UIC research data infrastructure.

Researchers from several fields will work together to create health impact assessments that bring together environmental, climate and social factors. Using spatial data will allow scientists to estimate how people who live in different areas of Chicago are exposed to those influences over their lifetime.

"We have the ability to curate that data and link it across space and time to identify and address these drivers of disparities," Fiffer said.

In addition to measuring climate impacts on health, the center will also study actions outside of health care - in fields such as engineering, urban planning and forestry - that can reduce those impacts. Research will focus on green infrastructure, such as rooftop gardens, tree planting and bioswales, all of which can strengthen climate resiliency and mental health while reducing disease risk.

Honghyok Kim, assistant professor of environmental and occupational health sciences at UIC, will lead a project on the benefits of green infrastructure and where new programs would have the most impact. Kim will also work with researchers from the UIC Department of Biological Sciences and forestry experts from Morton Arboretum to determine the best plant species to use in green infrastructure.

"We know that green space is good, and that it can reduce urban heat island effects," Kim said. "The next question then is: Where should we increase green space? We have limited resources, so we need to identify priority areas."

A foundation of community partnerships and policy expertise

As the science progresses, the center will transform those discoveries into action by working with communities and policymakers.

The center's community engagement core, led by Yamilé Molina in partnership with the College of Urban Planning and Public Affairs, will catalyze opportunities for academic-community co-learning on adapting to climate change in high-risk communities. A new climate health institute will support ongoing community-academic partnerships and build capacity for climate and health work across Chicago.

"Our approach recognizes and leverages the assets inherent in communities that have been traditionally marginalized," said Molina, associate director for community outreach and engagement at the University of Illinois Cancer Center. "Our efforts focus on moving beyond traditional scientific narratives, which treat communities as passive recipients. This paradigm shift centers our work in the understanding and advancement of local community power and resilience as the most critical resources for addressing climate change and its health impacts, with the support of academic partners."

Urban planning and public policy provide additional tools for protecting people from climate change. Researchers at the center will study climate mitigation plans from cities around the country to assess how these approaches would affect health.

These insights could help cities change zoning or urban development to remove common obstacles to green infrastructure, said Jamie Chriqui, senior associate dean and professor of health policy and administration in the UIC School of Public Health.

"Unless you revise your laws or allow for exceptions, it's going to be really hard to make some of these changes," Chriqui said. "Data is the best evidence to show policymakers the impact that some of these changes could have."

Woven throughout the center's activities are workshops and training opportunities for early-career faculty and students that will equip the next generation of climate scientists with the interdisciplinary skills, such as data literacy, geospatial analysis and biostatistics, to continue this work.

"The fact that we have a diverse student population as well as these strong community partnerships really makes UIC the best place to make this happen," Malecki said.

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