Understanding Cumulative Hazards in a Rustbelt City: Integrating GIS, Archaeology, and Spatial History

Dan Trepal, Michigan Technological University
Don Lafreniere, Michigan Technological University

We combine the Historical Spatial Data Infrastructure (HSDI) concept developed within spatial history with elements of archaeological predictive modeling to demonstrate a novel GIS-based landscape model for identifying the persistence of historically-generated industrial hazards in postindustrial cities. This historical big data-based approach draws on over a century of both historical and modern spatial big data to project the presence of specific persistent historical hazards across a city. This research reveals the historical origins of numerous specific contemporary pollution hazards, and in doing so augments traditional archaeological site prospection and analysis. I demonstrate how my GIS-based methodology links archaeology to urban heritage, redevelopment, and environmental sustainability efforts in postindustrial cities.

No extended abstract or paper available

 Presented in Session 240. Hazards, Risks and Disasters