Urban Edge

There has been a lot of discussion and speculation about the future of cities and how they will change following the pandemic. What will that future look like for Black Americans, who have been abused, exploited, ground down and lied to in the past? As we move into the future, what will change? And what will stay the same?

From 1980 to 2015, homes in white neighborhoods increased in value, on average, $194,000 more than in neighborhoods of color, according to new research. And the rate of the gap in assessed values of these comparable homes in comparable neighborhoods is getting larger over time.

Using a random sample designed by Rice University researchers, the results of the COVID-19 antibody testing survey will provide an accurate count of infections among the 2.3 million people living in Houston.

Researchers at the Kinder Institute estimated the annual cost of evictions to Harris County, where more people are evicted each year than anywhere in the U.S., with the exception of New York. The increasing costs of evictions eat up funding that could go toward improving the county’s public health, transportation, public safety and education infrastructure.

Overall, 63% of Houston households have faced serious financial problems related to the COVID-19 crisis. And the overwhelming majority of Black (81%) and Latino (77%) households report having major financial troubles, according to a recent survey.

Our public transportation systems were built on a foundation of racism, and the only way to truly fix them may be to raze them and rebuild from the ground up.

In the past decade, as home prices and rents have increased faster than incomes for many residents of Houston and Harris County, buying a home has become increasingly difficult, according to Kinder Institute research.   

Janis Scott cares deeply about transit equity. Known in the community as the “Bus Lady,” Scott has been riding METRO all of her life and considers public transit her lifeline to the world.

Racial segregation still prevails in most U.S. cities, but it varies widely across the nation, according to a report from City Observatory.

A new study shows that while fine particle air pollution has declined nationwide over the past 40 years, the health and environmental benefits haven't been shared evenly.

All transit agencies must grapple with committing the resources necessary to effectively identify inequity and address it. In 2020, the mandate to ensure an equitable transportation system is more urgent than ever.

By design, Houston is car-dependent. Yet, Kinder Surveys have shown that half of Houstonians want to live where they can walk more and drive less. Recently approved ordinances that promote walkability in neighborhoods should help. Importantly, in certain areas, the new regulations will eliminate and reduce minimum parking requirements, which are considered costly, unfair and inefficient by many experts.

As Hurricane Laura makes landfall in Texas, many Houston-area residents — particularly in the Northeast part of the city — are still trying to recover from the devastation Harvey brought three years ago. An upcoming study suggests several changes to improve the disaster recovery system and make it more just and equitable.

From funding, planning and infrastructure, to design and policing, many transit agencies essentially have built two systems with different standards for “choice” and “dependent” riders (that is to say white and Black).

In many places, the public library often functions as a community center — a free and shared space that provides crucial social infrastructure for neighborhoods. That’s especially true when a disaster such as Hurricane Harvey hits. But what happens when a crisis like COVID-19 keeps libraries closed for five months and counting.

NIMBY opposition alone isn’t enough to counter the harmful effects of air pollutants emitted by concrete batch plants located in underserved and over-polluted communities in Harris County, which is home to more of these facilities than any county in Texas. Too often, much of the pollution and many of the polluters largely go unchecked by the state.

A new report measuring the damage done to America’s creative economy by COVID-19 shows the South, Texas and Houston are among the most devastated. At the metropolitan level, the Houston area is the largest metro suffering the worst losses.

The Kinder Institute’s Community Bridges program provides Rice University students an opportunity to both study and work to address urban inequality in Houston. Here’s Susanna Yau’s story of how working with the Fifth Ward Community Redevelopment Corporation changed her life.

To ensure Houston ISD schools don’t miss out on important census-guided funding in the next decade, there needs to be a full and accurate local population count. Unfortunately, the city’s self-response rate trails that of the nation by close to 10%. And on top of that, the counting is now set to end a month earlier than originally planned.

For the average Harris County household, the combined costs of housing and transportation are at the edge of affordability. Add to that the growing distance between home locations and jobs, and the costs quickly can become unsustainable, particularly for lower-income households.