In a UCLA Urban Humanities Initiative Capstone titled “Exposing Freeway Inequalities,” urban humanities students discussed critically examined the history of freeways in minority neighborhoods to identify physical, social, economic, environmental, and political impacts. Students conducted in-depth qualitative research to describe the circumstances around freeway construction in Southern California and connect it to outcomes. For their research project, students were asked to employ Urban Humanities research methods learned during the Fall and Winter quarters, such as Thick Mapping, Digital Storytelling, and Spatial Ethnography. The research was translated into a critical counter-narrative case study, which exposes unknown or underrepresented histories of freeway impact.
Often celebrated as an extraordinary accomplishment of modernity and transportation planning, the American freeway has recently come under scrutiny for the disproportionately negative effects it has on certain populations. Transportation and planning authorities have often routed major freeways through minority neighborhoods, ignoring alternative routes through adjacent areas inhabited by wealthier, primarily white residents. Traces of environmental degradation and social injustice are still visible today, many of which have prompted civic movements across the country demanding that cities tear down existing expressways.
