Loading...
Rooted Forward Research
Report
An analysis of Home Owners' Loan Corporation grading maps and their correlation with present-day vacancy rates, school closures, and grocery store access in Austin, North Lawndale, and East Garfield Park.
Published by Zain Zaidi
December 14, 2025
Loading archive…
Interested in collaborating on research or accessing our primary source collections? Reach us at contact@rooted-forward.org.
Filter
14 entries
Edited oral histories from ten Austin, North Lawndale, East Garfield Park, and West Garfield Park residents documenting the lived experience of the West Side's grocery gap. Companion to our geographic and economic analysis of West Side food access.
Published by Zain Zaidi·April 2026
Economic Development·Chicago·Oral History
An analysis of ten years of Cook County property tax appeal data finds that homeowners in majority-white census tracts file appeals at 2.4x the rate of majority-Black tracts and succeed at 1.8x the rate. The combined effect is a measurable racial disparity in effective property tax burden.
Published by Zain Zaidi·April 2026
Housing·Chicago·Data Analysis
A brief on the seven-decade history of Fair Park's acquisitions in south Dallas, the neighborhoods cleared for the 1936 Texas Centennial Exposition and the 1958-1966 expansions, and the contemporary Fair Park First redevelopment framework.
Published by Zain Zaidi·March 2026
Displacement·Dallas·Brief
A practical guide for Austin community organizations preparing to negotiate community benefits agreements with developers. Covers coalition building, negotiation strategy, enforcement mechanisms, and post-signing monitoring.
Published by Zain Zaidi·March 2026
Economic Development·Chicago·Report
A data analysis of every dollar raised and spent by the Bronzeville Tax Increment Financing district from its 2002 designation through the 2025 reporting year. Finds that 40 percent of the district's $318 million in revenue has been spent inside Bronzeville, with the balance transferred to adjacent districts or reclassified as regionally significant.
Published by Zain Zaidi·February 2026
Economic Development·Chicago·Data Analysis
A year-over-year analysis of asking rents on Zillow, Craigslist, and city rental listing data in the half-mile ring around the Obama Presidential Center site, 2020 through 2025.
Published by Zain Zaidi·February 2026
Displacement·Chicago·Brief
A fresh analysis of the Cross-Bronx Expressway using 1945 condemnation records, 1960-1980 census data, and 2023 air quality, noise, and asthma hospitalization records. Documents the continuous causal chain from the 1948 planning decision to the present-day health and environmental burden on adjacent Bronx neighborhoods.
Published by Zain Zaidi·January 2026
Housing·New York·Report
A review of what happened after City Council tabled the 2025 application to rezone sixty-two parcels along the Pilsen Industrial Corridor from M2 manufacturing to B3 commercial. Documents the public comment pressure, the alderperson vote whip count, and the current status of the corridor.
Published by Zain Zaidi·January 2026
Zoning·Chicago·Brief
A retrospective on the San Francisco Redevelopment Agency's Fillmore and Western Addition urban renewal program (1948-1973), tracing the forty years that followed the demolition and examining the partial remedies, including the Certificates of Preference program, that have been implemented since.
Published by Zain Zaidi·December 2025
Displacement·San Francisco·Report
Chicago Police Department published quarterly traffic stop data for the first time in 2025. This analysis of the 2024 records documents the geographic concentration of stops, the racial composition of stopped drivers, and the contraband recovery rate across all twenty-two police districts.
Published by Zain Zaidi·November 2025
Policing·Chicago·Data Analysis