Project Team: PI Ashish Sharma (Discovery Partners Institute, University of Illinois System); Co-I Matthew Turk (University of Illinois Urbana Champaign); Co-I Edith Makra (Metropolitan Mayors Caucus); Postdoc Carolina Veiga (Discovery Partners Institute, University of Illinois System); Postdoc Peiyuan Li (Discovery Partners Institute, University of Illinois System); Grad Student Gustavo Moreira (University of Illinois Chicago); Collaborator Fabio Miranda (University of Illinois Chicago);Collaborator Trent Ford (University of Illinois Urbana Champaign); Collaborator Milan Budhathoki (Univ of Maryland)
Executive Summary: This project is developing a web GIS-based “e-JUST — Environmental Justice using Urban Scalable Toolkit.” In addition to NASA Earth science data, e-JUST utilizes complementary environmental and social datasets to co-identify extreme heat and air quality threats to health, equity, and crime to improve urban decision-making. The e-JUST architecture development, outreach, and education focus on equity, environmental justice (EEJ), and community engagement. Our research aims to integrate health and equity focus into municipal planning and operations by utilizing an open-source GIS framework to co-produce knowledge. The project, after completion, will provide EJ communities in Chicago with a weather and air quality forecasting system that will guide decision-making. Following are a few components of the project.