Abstract
Reconstructing a GIS of 19th Century Urban Environmental Conditions
Track: Census and Statistical
Author
In 1800 US cities contained only 6.1% of the country's population. By 1940, 56% of the US was urban. This unprecedented growth in cities was associated with the deterioration of the urban health environment, especially among infants and children. In 1900 life expectancy of those born in a city was 10 years less than those born in rural areas. Researchers at the Center for Population Economics (CPE) have made substantial investments in discovery and collection of data describing the development of urban public health infrastructure and neighborhood health conditions during this period. This presentation will discuss our efforts to utilize GIS technology to reconstruct the evolution of neighborhood-level environmental conditions in major US cities and analyze the resulting lifetime health and economic outcomes of 19th- and early-20th-century city dwellers.
Brian Bettenhausen
Center for Population Economics
CPE / Booth School of Business
5807 S Woodlawn Ave
Chicago, Illinois 60637
United States
Phone: 303-328-5775
E-mail: bbett@cpe.uchicago.edu
Carlos Villarreal
University of Illinois at Chicago
CPE / Booth School of Business
5807 S. Woodlawn Avenue
Chicago, Illinois 60637
United States
Phone: 815-212-4556
E-mail: carlos@cpe.uchicago.edu