Healthy Infrastructure
Learning Lab
Welcome to the Healthy Infrastructure Learning Lab (HILL), a research collaboration aimed at understanding policy, planning and infrastructure implementation challenges of the 21st century.
in·fra·struc·ture
the basic equipment and structures needed for a region or organization to function properly
the system of public works of a country, state or region and the resources required for specific activities
Merriam-Webster Dictionary, 2021
is both relational and ecological; is part of the balance of action, tools, and the built environment, inseparable from them.
Susan Leigh Star, 1999
im·ple·men·ta·tion
the process of making something active or effective
Merriam-Webster Dictionary, 2021
a struggle over the realization of ideas
Pressman and Wildavsky, 1973
The lab’s work interrogates three types of infrastructures – mobility, regulatory and environmental – from an integrated and multidisciplinary perspective. We work on mobility research focused on air quality and pollution mitigation, analyze land use policy in relation to tree canopies, employing protocols that engage varied ways of understanding and knowing. Throughout our work, we seek to learn from existing practices in order to identify barriers and nurture opportunities to build sustainable and equitable communities for the 21st century and beyond.
Mobility Infrastructure
The lab works on projects related to new urban mobility, transport governance and infrastructure financing. Current projects are guided by several questions: How do local (sub-state) government and community actors respond to new responsibilities and burdens of 21st century transportation? How do they finance and govern new technologies to enhance the movement of people? How does implementation of policy solutions interact with patterns of segregation and marginalization?
You can find recent articles based on this research in the Journal of Transport Geography, Journal of Planning Education and Research, and Journal of the American Planning Association.
Regulatory Infrastructure
HILL’s second major area of focus is on regulatory infrastructure, with an emphasis on zoning and municipal land use. In past projects – on redlining and buy-out programs, zoning relief, and a textbook on zoning practice – HILL researchers have examined how historical and institutional factors influence the contemporary management of land and it’s social and economic outcomes. We have also analyzed the growing trend of state preemption of municipal zoning, identifying the important role played by media in shaping these debates.
HILL helped assemble the North Texas Zoning Atlas, through a partnership with National Zoning Atlas and funding from the Mercatus Center at George Mason University. The data is available in OZFS (open zoning feed specification) format online via a partnership with the VIBE lab at Harvard. HILL’s analysis of regulatory infrastructures asks: How do approaches to land regulation vary across municipalities, and over time? How do local regulatory processes correlate with ecological, socio-demographic and land value outcomes?
Environmental Infrastructure
HILL has a body of work that examines and evaluates environmental sustainability and resiliency using interdisciplinary research. In partnership with the city of Lewisville, Texas we completed the award winning Healthy Infrastructure Plan to integrate equity and environmental monitoring into infrastructure planning. HILL members have also analyzed municipal landscaping and conservation policies for the Dallas-Fort Worth region, worked on a NSF-funded project on Blue Green Infrastructure.
H.I.L.L.
University of North Texas
Questions about our work?
lauren.fischer@unt.edu
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Lauren Ames Fischer, Ph.D. 