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

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]

In the News

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 Papers

Kim, S. J., Shin, J., & Tilahun, N. (2022). Racial disparities in the pattern of intergenerational neighbourhood mobility. Urban Studies. [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. [preprint]

Tilahun, N., Persky, J., Shin, J., & Zellner, M. (2021). Childhood Poverty, Extended Family and Adult Poverty. Journal of Poverty, 1-14. [preprint]

Tilahun, N., Persky, J., Shin, J., & Zellner, M. (2021). Place Prosperity and the Intergenerational Transmission of Poverty. Review of Regional Studies, 51(2), 208-220. [pdf]

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.