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Chicago’s Cumulative Impact Assessment

Description

The Chicago Department of Public Health’s Cumulative Impact Assessment is a citywide initiative to measure how multiple environmental burdens and social stressors combine to affect health across Chicago neighborhoods. Co-designed with community organizations through an Environmental Equity Working Group, the assessment compiles data on pollution sources, health outcomes, and vulnerability factors to identify communities facing the greatest cumulative impacts. Its findings and recommendations are intended to guide policies on land use, zoning, permitting, enforcement, transportation planning, and other decisions, and it serves as a foundation for Chicago’s broader Environmental Justice Action Plan and proposed cumulative impacts ordinance.

Questions this resource can help answer

Which neighborhoods in the city face the highest combined burden of pollution, health vulnerabilities, and social stressors?
Are new industrial or logistics proposals being sited in communities that are already overburdened?
Where should we prioritize investments in green space, tree planting, home repairs, or air quality improvements to reduce cumulative impacts?
How do cumulative environmental and health burdens differ between higher‑income and lower‑income areas, or between predominantly Black/Latino neighborhoods and others?
Which areas should receive enhanced permit conditions, stricter enforcement, or even permit denials due to existing cumulative impacts?
Are our policies and investments over time actually reducing cumulative burdens in the highest‑impact communities identified by the report?

How do I use this resource?

A city should use its Cumulative Impact Assessment (CIA) as a practical guide for decisions, not just a reference document. CIA results should inform where new industrial or infrastructure projects are allowed, how zoning and truck routes are set, and which neighborhoods are prioritized for investments like air quality improvements, green space, housing repairs, and health services. Cities can also use the CIA to tighten or deny permits in already overburdened areas, target inspections and enforcement, and steer climate resilience projects to the highest‑impact communities first. To be effective, its use should be written into policies and procedures, shared transparently with residents, revisited regularly with updated data, and linked to clear accountability for reducing environmental and health disparities.

Pro tips

Start with a concrete decision in mind and read the report to see how it might apply.
Document how you incorporate knowledge from the report into decision making.
Translate findings into ‘rules of thumb’, (e.g., In high‑impact zones, any new polluting source must reduce net emissions.)

Resource information

Resource owner

Format

Document

Backup URL

Update Frequency

Irregularly

Geographic Coverage

Local

Technical specifications

Methodology

Chicago’s Cumulative Impact Assessment combines environmental, health, and social data at the census‑tract level to create a composite “Chicago EJ Index” score for each neighborhood.

Sectors

Industrial Transportation

Other Specifications

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