Mallory Stermon (MSGIST 2020) and Dr. Chris Lukinbeal recently published “Institutionalized Racism: Redlined Districts Then and Now in Boston, Detroit, and Los Angeles” in Yearbook of the Association of Pacific Coast Geographers.

In the article, which was adapted from her 909 project, Mallory analyzes the current demographic trends in Boston, Detroit, and Los Angeles to determine to what extent the resulting segregation from redlining practices has persisted. The study found that based on the interaction and isolation indexes, there was more exposure and less isolation for the majority demographic and less exposure and more isolation for the minority. In short, the lived experience of segregation has gotten worse for the minority in redline districts and in these cities from 1930 to 2020.

Mallory writes “My GIST 909 project started as a suggestion from Chris Lukinbeal and my advisor, Jenny Mason. Chris had found a public database of shapefiles that showed all FHA-rated districts and thought it would be good to use for a project. I'd previously taught in a neighborhood in south Phoenix that was affected by redlining. The administration educated all new hires about redline districts and how it might still affect the families we worked with.

I was interested to see how much city landscapes today are influenced by the boundaries that were set in the 1930s. Chris contacted me after my 909 presentation to ask if I would be open to publishing, and we worked together on polishing the paper for publication. The original paper included demographic information from ESRI's Community Analyst Online, which provides a detailed profile of the community within the study area. While it was interesting to compare the profile of each city, the demographics did not add much insight to redline districts. We ultimately decided to focus on the levels of segregation both inside and outside of redline districts between white and minority populations.”

Read more here: https://muse.jhu.edu/article/841795

Congratulations to Mallory on the publication and also on her new position with Actalent Services!