Welcome to the Mobility and Urban Systems Lab – Nebiyou Tilahun’s research group in the Department of Urban Planning and Policy at the University of Illinois Chicago. We work on issues related to travel behavior, accessibility, equity and the social and economic dimensions of place and urban transportation.
Recent Activities
- Transportation Research Board Presentations (2025)
- Tilahun, N., Askari, S. and D. Levinson. Determinants of Speed Camera Location Choice.
- Tilahun, N., Askari, S. and D. Levinson. The Racial Composition and Volume of Tickets at Red Light Cameras.
- Police stop more Black drivers, while speed cameras issue unbiased tickets − new study from Chicago. The Conversation with Wenfei Xu, David Levinson, Michael Smart. September 2024.
- The racial composition of road users, traffic citations, and police stops. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences with Wenfei Xu, Michael Smart, Sajad Askari, Zachary Dennis, Houpu Li, and David Levinson.
- Some press coverage of the paper: Chicago Tribune; NBC Chicago; Block Club Chicago; Scienmag; The Mirage
- Chicago Sun-Times published an op-ed by Kate Lowe, Stacey Sutton and Nebiyou Tilahun calling for a more equitable and effective approach to Chicago traffic safety.
- Propublica cites work by Stacey Sutton and Nebiyou Tilahun on Chicago’s automated speed and red light cameras: Chicago’s “Race-Neutral” Traffic Cameras Ticket Black and Latino Drivers the Most.
Reports
The evaluation of Chicago’s Red-Light and Speed Cameras, authored by Stacey Sutton and Nebiyou Tilahun, is out: Red-Light and Speed Cameras: Analyzing the Equity and Efficacy of Chicago’s Automated Enforcement Program. [Executive Summary][Full Report]
Recent Papers
Xu, W., Smart, M., Tilahun, N., Askari, S., Dennis, Z., Li, H. and D. Levinson (2024) The racial composition of road users, traffic citations, and police stops. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. Volume 121 Number 24. [link]
Tilahun, N. (2023). Safety Impact of Automated Speed Camera Enforcement: Empirical Findings Based on Chicago’s Speed Cameras. Transportation Research Record. [link]
Kim, S. J., Shin, J., & Tilahun, N. (2022). Racial disparities in the pattern of intergenerational neighbourhood mobility. Urban Studies. [link]
Eisenberg, Y., Hofstra, A., Tilahun, N. and Shanley, J. (2022) Rideshare use among people with disabilities: Patterns and predictors based on a large nationally representative survey. Travel Behaviour and Society, Volume 29, Pages 246-256. [link]
Maharajan, S., Tilahun, N. and A. Ermagun (2022) Spatial equity of modal access gap to multiple destination types across Chicago. Journal of Transport Geography, Volume 104. [link]
Shin, J., & Tilahun, N. (2022). The role of residential choice on the travel behavior of young adults. Transportation Research Part A: Policy and Practice, 158, 62-74. [link][preprint]
Recent Presentations
Jang, J., Tilahun, N. and P.S. Sriraj (2024) Transit Deserts and First-Mile Interventions to Improve Access: A Case Study Based on Chicago. Presented at the 103rd Annual Meeting of the Transportation Research Board.
Tilahun, N. (2022) Automated Speed Camera Enforcement: Notes on Its Acceptability and Empirical Findings on Effectiveness Based on Chicago’s Speed Cameras. Presented at the 101st Annual Meeting of the Transportation Research Board.
Ermagun, Alireza, Maharjan, S. and N. Tilahun. (2022) Modal Access Gap Across Chicago. Presented at the 101st Annual Meeting of the Transportation Research Board.
Yochai Eisenberg, Y., Hofstra, A., Tilahun, N., and J. Shanley (2022) Rideshare Use Among Adults with Disabilities: Patterns and Predictors Based on a Large Nationally Representative Survey. Presented at the 101st Annual Meeting of the Transportation Research Board.
Chicago Region Metropolitan Accessibility Explorer
We released the Metropolitan Chicago Accessibility Explorer, an interactive web based platform to visualize transit, walking, bicycle, and automobile accessibility in the Greater Chicago Metropolitan Area.
Edited Volume
Seeing Cities through Big Data, consisting of selected peer-reviewed papers from the Big Data and Urban Informatics Workshop is available from Springer.
Big Data and Urban Informatics Conference
Along with colleagues, we organized the 2014 NSF sponsored Big Data and Urban Informatics Workshop. The proceedings from this workshop can be accessed here.
Older News etc.
- Crain’s Chicago Business cites the Accessibility Explorer: Transit deserts limit job prospects
- Cook County’s 2040 long range transportation plan, Connecting Cook County, uses data from the Accessibility Explorer in its discussion of Promoting Equal Access to Opportunities.
The Mobility & Urban Systems Lab 