For many years, Miami Law’s Environmental Justice Clinic has been an advocate for vulnerable minority communities facing development pressure. Now, the Frost Institute for Data Science and Computing (IDSC) has partnered with the clinic team to develop a user-friendly tool, supported by rich data sets, that empowers grassroots organizations.

“Greater Miami has experienced cycles of higher-density and
mixed-use development that have exacerbated gentrification
and displaced existing residents”

“Greater Miami has experienced cycles of higher-density and mixed-use development that have exacerbated gentrification and displaced existing residents,” said Abigail Fleming, Associate Director of the Environmental Justice Clinic. “Now, local organizations can access a powerful web-based tool to assess the risk of displacement and offer suggestions for mitigating that impact.”

Christopher Mader, senior director, Systems + Data Engineering at IDSC, led the team who developed the web-based Displacement Vulnerability Mitigation Tool (DVMT), which brings together approximately 50 data sets of geospatial and demographic information relating to properties and neighborhoods in the Miami area. The data is maintained with the Geospatial Digital Special Collections (GDSC), the result of a cent IDSC initiative to develop a UM resource for maintaining structured collections of geospatial datasets.

“In addition to keeping the data sets current, we record them so researchers in the future will be able to track changes,” he said. “We use IDSC’s  advanced computing resources (including the TRITON supercomputer) to run these applications.” Mader added that the DVMT could be replicated in other areas, provided rich data sets are available. However, any mitigation options would need to be aligned with local regulations and state laws.

Calculating the Risk

With this new tool, community organizations can select specific parcels targeted for development. “The DVMT will then calculate the risk of displacement,” Mader said. “But we have taken this a step further by presenting a set of mitigation options in different categories for highly vulnerable areas.” For example, a multifamily developer could scale down the size of a project or designate a certain number of affordable units for local residents.

“It’s a great tool to start conversations with policymakers
about the need to protect neighborhood cultures
as well as housing in historically marginalized communities”

Being armed with timely, relevant, and current data allows community leaders to be more effective advocates at permitting and zoning meetings, said Fleming, noting that the law school clinic works closely with the UM Office of Community and Civic Engagement. “It’s a great tool to start conversations with policymakers about the need to protect neighborhood cultures as well as housing in, historically marginalized communities.”

Fleming said the Environmental Justice Clinic had been using a paper-based spreadsheet system that was inefficient and resource-intensive. “Automating the data collection and aggregation processes was a tremendous step forward,” she said. “But is just the start of how IDSC has helped with this initiative. The coding work lets us see specific scores for assessing vulnerability, and the mitigation options are another real benefit. I have enjoyed working with the IDSC team to bring this tool to life and give me a fresh perspective on using local data.”