Research Project: Evaluating Green Infrastructure Impacts on Climate Change Related Heat, Air Quality, Flooding, and Cardiopulmonary Outcomes in Chicago

PROJECT SUMMARY RESEARCH PROJECT There is an urgent need to develop scientific evidence in support of effective strategies that will reduce climate impacts on vulnerable urban populations. This research project of the UIC Center for Climate and Health Equity (CECHE) is a direct response to community-partner

concerns regarding the need for action-oriented solutions to address climate change impacts in Chicago’s overburdened environmental justice (EJ) communities. While there is a great deal of research on green space broadly defined, detailed assessments of specific green infrastructure (GI) features (tree canopy, biodiversity,

grass, non-native plantings) are often lacking. Consequently, there is limited epidemiologic evidence examining detailed elements of GI and their variable influence on climate and health parameters including temperature, air pollution, and flooding. Analogous to this, there is a need to identify how GI can alleviate cardiovascular and

respiratory responses in relationship with other climate related factors including heat and air pollution. Industrialization, transportation, and structural racism have shaped the quality of the built environment and led to a greater proportion of minority communities living in EJ communities throughout Chicago with significant

health disparities. Further, our research has found disparities in GI. In-depth assessments of potential causal pathways linking climate and health outcomes have accounted for GI and environmental exposures are needed. The Greater Chicago Region is an ideal study location. In 1995, the City of Chicago was the site of the

worst heat wave disaster in recent US history. More recently, Chicago received over nine inches of rain in less than 24 hours, with greater impact in EJ communities. Despite recent gains, fine particulate matter (PM2.5) levels have started to increase in recent years, and ground-level ozone (O3) levels are projected to rapidly

increase again. These concerning trends are compounded by Chicago’s aging and inadequate infrastructure. Over the past 20-years, the many agencies in Chicago have made concerted efforts to promote GI without a strong evidence base. To address these policy-relevant gaps, we will use a highly resolved spatiotemporal

data architecture linking multiple fine-scaled (~30 meter or ~1ft scale) GI, climate related environmental hazards (PM2.5, O3, heat, flooding), and patient-level hospital admissions and emergency department visit data from 2010–2023. We hypothesize that the specific quantity and type of GI is associated with reductions in the

risk of heat, air pollution, and flooding and may alter the risk of cardiovascular and respiratory diseases outcomes. We will determine associations of fine-scaled urban GI with high temperatures, PM2.5, and O3 (Aim 1), examine associations between GI and spatiotemporal incidence of flooding (Aim 2), and evaluate

association of short-term exposure to ambient PM2.5, O3, heat, and flooding with emergency department visits and hospitalizations and identify whether these associations are modified or mediated across different types of GI (Aim 3). Outcomes will provide foundational evidence for policy, and lead to new translational research.