UC GIS Week

Migration and Structural Transformation: The case of Mennonites in Latin America:

Using novel geospatial data on Mennonite colonies in Latin America and satellite night lights data, I study the effects of the introduction of the colonies on structural change in a host country. I find that on average, colony establishment attracts increased growth nearby, and de-growth far away from colonies. The results suggest that the colonies, which present persistent shocks to agricultural productivity, may induce a reallocation of human and economic activity in the host country.

(In)Visible Urban Geographies: Cartographic Approach to Visualizing Anti-Homeless Topography in Venice, CA:

Using Venice, CA as a case study, the lightning talk will cover the ways our urban environment is shaped to exclude unhoused people from public spaces. First, examples of physical additions to the urban topography—through the use of sleep-deterrent benches, sidewalk planters, fences, and illegally painted red curbs—will be shown to exemplify the easily visible cases of anti-homeless methods of exclusion. Next, the talk will cover a case study of Venice, CA, and its proliferation of parking restrictions that deliberately restrict overnight parking and parking of oversized vehicles through the Los Angeles Municipal Code 80.69.4. This will use the results of a mapping project conducted with volunteer field data collectors to visualize the ways the urban topography is being cultivated to increasingly exclude unhoused people from communities through invisible legal barriers that penalize those in poverty. The talk will end by emphasizing the importance of using cartographic methods to make visible the components of the urban environment targeting unhoused peoples that are often invisible to housed members of the community.

The Homelessness Hub at UC San Diego: Using GIS to understand a complex issue:

The Homelessness Hub at UC San Diego’s mission is to advance collaborative, equity-focused research, education, and policy on housing and homelessness. Our GIS/Data Team includes post-doctoral fellows and undergraduate students. The portal is powered by Esri’s ArcGIS Hub with a focus on supporting and assisting policymakers and researchers using spatial data, maps, and analysis. We started in early 2020 with a small grant and expanded in 2022 with private funding to become a research lab. In this presentation, we will provide an overview of the Homelessness Hub and highlight a few of our GIS-focused efforts. These include the creation and maintenance of the Hub data and mapping portal, data collection for a homeless encampment spatial model, and the process to create an interactive dashboard that includes over 10 years of monthly counts of people living on the street, in tents, or in cars in Downtown San Diego.