Mapping and Environmental Data Visualization

WAREHOUSE AND AIR QUALITY MAPPING

Warehouse CITY, a powerful new tool for regional land use planning, is now in its 10th iteration and has two new addition: pending warehouse projects and job numbers. These data demonstrate a low acre to jobs ratio as well as an over saturation of the region and some cities in a single economic sector. Spatial analysis and data also demonstrate that VMT will increase with more added warehousing, as forecasted employment numbers are outstripped by the numbers of jobs that will be brought to the region.

In conjunction with The Guardian, the Redford Conservancy and Radical Research, LLC are pleased to announce the launch of Warehouse CITY, an interactive cumulative impact tool that allows users to map the regional footprint of warehouses in Los Angeles, Riverside, and San Bernardino Counties. Measuring everything from acreage and square footage to diesel particulate matter and carbon emissions, Warehouse CITY is a tool for planners, municipalities, community-based organizations, and neighborhood residents who are interested in community and environmental health.

FMI: [email protected]

NEW! Click Here for CARBON CAPTURE STORAGE MAPS

On Tuesday January 24, over sixty organizations joined The Robert Redford Conservancy, The Center for Community Action and Environmental Justice, and Sierra Club’s San Gorgonio Chapter in sending a open letter to Governor Newsom, Attorney General Rob Bonta, and California Department of Education Superintendent Tony Thurmond requesting they take action in addressing the public health emergency faced in the Inland Region due to unchecked warehouse growth. Included with the letter is an extensive 80 page report detailing the cumulative effects pollution has had on the region. The requested actions are as follows:

  • Declare a regional warehouse moratorium of one to two years that allows time to implement policy changes.
  • Identify communities of high exposure from warehouse and/or industrial land uses; create higher standards supported by the state for project approval in high exposure, environmental justice, and disadvantaged communities.
  • Work collaboratively with the Office of Planning and Research, CARB, and impacted communities to codify best practices resulting from guidance documents and settlements that regulatory bodies, the Attorney General, or other litigants have established for warehouse projects. These should include but not be limited to project and fleet electrification, solar energy generation, siting truck, rail, and airplane routes away from sensitive receptors, mitigation, limiting of vehicle miles traveled, community benefits agreements, and setbacks from sensitive receptors. Authorize the Attorney General to enforce these provisions within the Inland Empire.
  • Expand or enforce existing regulations that are inconsistently enforced or unenforced at a local level.

FMI: [email protected]

Involving students, faculty, and community in the fight for environmental justice and climate resilience.

OVER A BILLION SQUARE FEET. AND COUNTING.

Redford Conservancy Map of Warehouse Growth Puts a New Lens on the Inland Empire
Estimated Warehouse Distribution in San Bernardino and Riverside Counties
Based on County data and includes areas of the county not pictured above. All numbers should be considered an estimate. Map by Graham Brady ’21. With thanks to Lani Fox. The first published iteration of this analysis used warehouse as the sole keyword with which to subselect the polygons. Future versions have used revised keywords that more aptly select known warehouses from the datasets. This analysis is ongoing and relies on dynamic data that are updated periodically. We recognize how publishing workflows improves transparency in methods. Revisions to this workflow to increase accuracy and robustness of the analysis are welcomed.

Watch the animation play…

As featured in the Los Angeles Times, the Redford Conservancy has released an animated map of warehouse growth in San Bernardino and Riverside Counties from 1975-2021.

For years, scholars, activists, and advocates have referenced the now infamous cluster of warehouses in the Inland Empire as having square footage in the millions. Over a year in the making, the new map released by the Redford Conservancy demonstrates an alarming new high: Warehouses now total over a billion square feet. And counting. How did we get our data? Click here.

Our maps on warehouse growth are part of a sustainability data dashboard that is meant to be a tool for organizers, planners, and elected officials to aid in land use decision-making. If you would like data on warehouse growth associated with your city or neighborhood, or for more information about our method of obtaining and analyzing warehouse data, please contact us.

See student projects that analyze the planning process and attendant environmental justice issues surrounding four proposed and existing warehouses and the ways that community members are fighting back.

See IE warehouses from space!

We are working with Radical Research to create an interactive dashboard that is designed for community members and municipalities to use for information gathering and advocacy.
Stay tuned!

Warehouses in red overlaid on CalEnviroScreen data for Diesel Particular Matter Emissions. Courtesy of Mike McCarthy, Radical Research, LLC, Pitzer College, and Riverside Neighbors Opposing Warehouses.

Story Maps: Warehouse Planning Process and Community Resistance in the Inland Empire, Fall 2021

Google Earth view of Inland Empire warehouses

What is the planning and approval process behind warehouse construction? Students in our environmental analysis senior seminar set out to find the answer and reported back about land use, environmental impact and review, general plan amendments, rezoning efforts, and community resistance. The maps are meant to enhance people’s participation in usually opaque planning processes that impact their communities.BloomingtonBanningMoreno ValleyONT 9

We chose four warehouses—two built, two unbuilt, one in Riverside County, and one in San Bernardino County. Each warehouse brought up a different issue: greenwashing, habitat destruction, labor issues, neighborhood compromise, and health and safety issues including arson.