October 7, 2022 at 3:30 - 4:45pm in 1535 North Classroom

Understanding Intersectionality: overlapping burdens of gender, race and ethnicity, and class disparities in urban transportation

Jieun Lee, PhD, Associate Professor, Faculty DEI Fellow, Department of Geography, GIS, and Sustainability, College of Humanities and Social Sciences, University of Northern Colorado

Socially disadvantaged populations in U.S. cities face a multitude of inequities associated with gender, race and ethnicity, and income. These disparities, often overlapping, contribute to persistent geographic patterns of unequal access to urban amenities, and adverse health risks. Despite an increasing interest on the social determinants of health and inequities in public health domain, critical geographical exploration of overlapping disparities remains under-represented in the literature. Moreover, detailed exploration of socially disadvantaged communities characterized by rapid decline, as evident across U.S. Midwest cities, is even rarer. This presentation interrogates transportation inequity in Detroit, MI by examining travel behaviors, built environment, and intersecting social disparities, with a particular focus on gender. Discussions of overlapping burdens will offer insights on critically investigate urban transportation disparities experienced by urban minorities in the Denver Region.