Mobility, Urban Systems and Equity
Welcome to the Mobility, Urban Systems and Equity Lab – Nebiyou Tilahun’s research group based in the Department of Urban Planning and Policy at University of Illinois Chicago. We are interested in travel behavior, accessibility, equity and the social and economic dimensions of place and urban transportation. Please see our recent activities below and use the tabs at the top to explore our work.
Recent Activities
- The racial composition of road users, traffic citations, and police stops. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. Volume 121 Number 24, 2024 (with Wenfei Xu, Michael Smart, Sajad Askari, Zachary Dennis, Houpu Li, and David Levinson)
- Some press coverage of the paper: Chicago Tribune; NBC Chicago; Block Club Chicago; Scienmag; The Mirage
- Chicago Sun-Times published an op-ed by Kate Lowe, Stacey Sutton and Nebiyou Tilahun calling for a more equitable and effective approach to Chicago traffic safety.
- Propublica cites work by Stacey Sutton and Nebiyou Tilahun on Chicago’s automated speed and red light cameras: Chicago’s “Race-Neutral” Traffic Cameras Ticket Black and Latino Drivers the Most.
Recent Report
The evaluation of Chicago’s Red-Light and Speed Cameras, authored by Stacey Sutton and Nebiyou Tilahun, is out: Red-Light and Speed Cameras: Analyzing the Equity and Efficacy of Chicago’s Automated Enforcement Program. [Executive Summary][Full Report]
Recent Papers
Xu, W., Smart, M., Tilahun, N., Askari, S., Dennis, Z., Li, H. and D. Levinson (2024) The racial composition of road users, traffic citations, and police stops. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. Volume 121 Number 24. [link]
Tilahun, N. (2023). Safety Impact of Automated Speed Camera Enforcement: Empirical Findings Based on Chicago’s Speed Cameras. Transportation Research Record. [link]
Kim, S. J., Shin, J., & Tilahun, N. (2022). Racial disparities in the pattern of intergenerational neighbourhood mobility. Urban Studies. [link]
Eisenberg, Y., Hofstra, A., Tilahun, N. and Shanley, J. (2022) Rideshare use among people with disabilities: Patterns and predictors based on a large nationally representative survey. Travel Behaviour and Society, Volume 29, Pages 246-256. [link]
Maharajan, S., Tilahun, N. and A. Ermagun (2022) Spatial equity of modal access gap to multiple destination types across Chicago. Journal of Transport Geography, Volume 104. [link]
Shin, J., & Tilahun, N. (2022). The role of residential choice on the travel behavior of young adults. Transportation Research Part A: Policy and Practice, 158, 62-74. [link][preprint]
Recent Presentations
Tilahun, N. (2022) Automated Speed Camera Enforcement: Notes on Its Acceptability and Empirical Findings on Effectiveness Based on Chicago’s Speed Cameras. Presented at the 101st Annual Meeting of the Transportation Research Board.
Ermagun, Alireza, Maharjan, S. and N. Tilahun. (2022) Modal Access Gap Across Chicago. Presented at the 101st Annual Meeting of the Transportation Research Board.
Yochai Eisenberg, Y., Hofstra, A., Tilahun, N., and J. Shanley (2022) Rideshare Use Among Adults with Disabilities: Patterns and Predictors Based on a Large Nationally Representative Survey. Presented at the 101st Annual Meeting of the Transportation Research Board.
Chicago Region Metropolitan Accessibility Explorer
We released the Metropolitan Chicago Accessibility Explorer, an interactive web based platform to visualize transit, walking, bicycle, and automobile accessibility in the Greater Chicago Metropolitan Area.
Edited Volume
Seeing Cities through Big Data, consisting of selected peer-reviewed papers from the Big Data and Urban Informatics workshop, and co-edited with Vonu Thakuriah and Moira Zellner, is now available from Springer.
Big Data and Urban Informatics Conference
Along with colleagues, we organized the 2014 NSF sponsored Big Data and Urban Informatics Workshop. The proceedings from this workshop can be accessed here.
Older News etc.
- Crain’s Chicago Business cites the Accessibility Explorer: Transit deserts limit job prospects
- Cook County’s 2040 long range transportation plan, Connecting Cook County, uses data from the Accessibility Explorer in its discussion of Promoting Equal Access to Opportunities.
