Unearthing Providence
A platform for historical data-driven analyses of industrial land use, story-mapping, and community organizing.
Featured sites
The industrial sites catalogued include both currently operating and long-closed factories, jewelry manufacturers, gas stations, laundromats, and many other land uses which may have a lasting impact on the land.
Recipes for Dyes: Chemicals, Metals, and Acids at Cranston Print Works
Post by @srgonsalves1 0 | over 4 years ago
Related work
Related projects
This work comes out of an ongoing collaboration and has engaged the OneCranston project as a partner.
About the project
The Socio-Ecological City Project (SECP) is an intensive data collection effort focused on assembling a comprehensive longitudinal geospatial dataset to better understand the changing relationships between people, industrial hazards, and nature. Focused on socio-environmental change in the city of Providence, RI over the past century, the SECP has compiled information on every manufacturing facility operating in the state since 1953. We have also collected information on all parks, playgrounds, cemeteries and schools that have existed in Providence since 1915. Currently, we are compiling additional geospatial data that inventories hazardous retail sites such as gas stations, dry cleaners, and auto repair shops.
When complete, the data and related visual and statistical analyses will become available to the public through this website. Our hope is that by making visible a treasure trove of lost historical knowledge about urban land use (residential, industrial, and commercial) the website will function as a platform and research tool for strengthening and forging new relationships with policymakers, planners, regulatory agencies, and community and social justice organizations. The SECP is committed to working toward environmental justice and the reduction or elimination of environmental exposures, and promoting public health by assisting state regulators and legislators with systematic analyses of proposed and existing environmental health policies and regulations.
Support
This project has been made possible through support from the Brown University Superfund Research Program and the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences, the Institute at Brown for Environment and Society, and seed grants from Brown University Office of the Vice President for Research, and Social Science Research Institute. This website is the result of a collaboration between Public Lab and the Brown University team.
Feedback
This site is under development, and we would love your feedback; please use the form below. Thank you!