Summary of Research Interests:
My research focuses on the environmental and health implications of urban development and transportation systems. I am interested in how the distribution of opportunity and environmental risk is related to urban form and activity patterns, and in developing and evaluating planning and policy strategies to address the harmful impacts of the built environment and to promote livable communities. My recent work draws from the fields of urban planning, environmental health sciences, and public health to assess the environmental and land use implications of vehicle-related air pollution for urban inhabitants who occupy areas near major roadways, with a focus on community impacts in goods movement corridors near the Ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach and downtown Los Angeles. This work has received support from the California Air Resources Board, the University of California Transportation Center, and the California Endowment and uses activity surveys and real-time location and pollution tracking techniques to develop highly-revolved insights into activity and exposure patterns and environmental perceptions which can be used to develop land use, housing and transportation policies that more effectively mitigate near-roadway air pollution hazards for diverse and low-income communities. My work also examines the extent to which neighborhoods with high densities, mixed land use patterns, high street connectivity, and transit accessibility can help encourage more active lifestyles and decrease household vehicle miles traveled and associated vehicle greenhouse gas emissions.
Selected Publications:
Houston, D., Li, W., Wu, J. (2013). Disparities in exposure to automobile and truck traffic and vehicle emissions near the Los Angeles-Long Beach port complex. American Journal of Public Health. Forthcoming.
Houston, D., Basolo, M. V., Yang, D. (2013). Walkability, Transit Access, and Traffic Exposure for Low-Income Residents; Built Environment Implications of Affordable Housing Programs. American Journal of Public Health. 103(4): 673-678.
Houston, D., Ong, P. (2013). Arts Accessibility to Major Museums and Cultural/Ethnic Institutions; Can School Tours Overcome Neighborhood Disparities? Environment and Planning A. 45: 728-748.
Houston, D., Wu, J., Jaimes, G., Yang, D. (2013) Particle-Bound Polycyclic Aromatic Hydrocarbon Concentrations in Transportation Microenvironments. Atmospheric Environment. 71: 148-157.
Pan, H., Bartolome, C., Gutierrez, E., Princevac, M., Edwards, R. D., Boarnet, M. G., Houston, D. (2013) Investigation of Roadside Particulate Matter Concentration Surrounding Major Arterials in Five Southern Californian Cities. Journal of the Air & Waste Management Association. 63(4):, 482-498.
Houston, D., P. Ong. (2012). Neighborhood Determinants of Participation in Voluntary Sub-Municipal Governance. The Nonprofit and Voluntary Sector Quarterly, 41(4): 686-703.
Houston, D., Jaimes G., Ong P., Winer A. (2011). Daily Activity Patterns, Travel Behavior, and Traffic Exposure in Communities near the Los Angeles-Long Beach Port Complex. Journal of Transport Geography, 19: 1399–1409
Wu, J, Jiang, C., Houston, D, Baker, D., Delfino, R. (2011). Automated time activity classification based on global positioning systems (GPS) Tracking Data. Environmental Health
Boarnet, M. G., Houston, D., Edwards, R. D., Princevac, M., Ferguson, G., Pan, H., Bartolome, C. (2011). Fine Particulate Concentrations on Sidewalks in Five Southern California Cities. Atmospheric Environment, 45: 4025-4033.
Boarnet, M.G., Houston, D., Ferguson, G., Spears, S. (2011). “Land use and vehicle miles of travel in the climate change debate: Getting smarter than your average bear.” Chapter 7 in: Urban Form, Transportation and Emissions. Cambridge, MA: Lincoln Institute of Land Policy, pp. 151-187.
Wu, J., Jiang, C., Liu, Z., Houston, D., Jaimes, G., McConnell, R. (2010). Comparison of Global Positioning System Devices in Epidemiological Studies. Environmental Health Insight, 4: 93–108.
Wu, J., Houston, D., Lurmann, F., Ong, P., Winer, A. (2009). Exposure of PM2.5 and EC from Diesel and Gasoline Vehicles in Communities near the Ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach, California. Atmospheric Environment, 43: 1962–1971.
Houston, D., Krudysz, M., Winer, A. (2008). Diesel Truck Traffic in Port-Adjacent Low-Income and Minority Communities; Environmental Justice Implications of Near-Roadway Land Use Conflicts. Transportation Research Record: Journal of the Transportation Research Board, 2076: 38-46.
Houston, D., Ong, P., Wu, J., Winer, A. (2006). Proximity of Licensed Childcare to Near-Roadway Vehicle Pollution. American Journal of Public Health, 96(9): 1611-1617.
Ong, P., Graham, M., Houston, D. (2006). The Policy and Programmatic Importance of Spatial Alignment of Multiple GIS Data Sources. American Journal of Public Health, 96(3): 499-504.
Houston, D., Wu, J., Ong, P., Winer, A. (2004). Structural Disparities of Urban Traffic in Southern California: Implications for Vehicle-Related Air Pollution Exposure in Minority and High-Poverty Neighborhoods. Journal of Urban Affairs, 25(5): 565-592.
Miller, D., Houston, D. (2003). Distressed Asian American Neighborhoods. AAPI Nexus; Asian Americans & Pacific Islanders Policy, Practice and Community, 1(1): 67-84.
Lejano, R. P., Piazza, B., Houston, D. (2002). Rationality as social justice and the spatial distributional analysis of risk. Environment and Planning C: Government and Policy, 20: 871-888.
Ong, P., Houston, D. (2002). Transit, Employment, and Women on Welfare. Urban Geography, 23(4): 344-364.