Keeping Tabs on the Effects of Urban Sprawl
Russell Lopez, SPH assistant professor, monitors urban effects on the environment on the U.S.-Canadian border.
Russell Lopez, a research assistant professor of environmental health at the School of Public Health, was recently appointed to the Health Professionals Task Force of the International Joint Commission (IJC). The IJC is an independent binational organization established in 1909 by the Boundary Waters Treaty between the United States and Canada. It aims to prevent and resolve disputes regarding the use and quality of U.S.-Canadian boundary waters and related environmental issues.
As one of five U.S. representatives on the task force, Lopez will contribute his knowledge on how built environments — the structure of regions, cities, and neighborhoods — affect the environment along the U.S.-Canadian border.
“When you think about it, the built environment doesn’t end at the border,” says Lopez. “What happens in the Great Lakes also happens in Toronto.” Lopez, whose research interests include environmental justice, urban sprawl, and income inequality, will advise the IJC on how urbanization affects health along the border. He will focus on issues such as the ways urban sprawl is threatening water quality and how highways and other infrastructure can be improved.
The task force is currently discussing methods to increase cooperation between local governments on both sides, according to Lopez. “If one town or one city does something, it really affects other cities and towns in the region,” he says. “You need to think regionally.”
The Health Professionals Task Force, established by the IJC in 1995, provides advice about current and emerging clinical and public health issues along the border and develops recommendations for improving communication of transboundary environmental health knowledge, according to the IJC Web site.