Metropolitan Area Planning Council Data Services Intern

MAPC is a public regional planning agency promoting smart growth in metro Boston through sustainable land use and affordable housing and transit.

As an intern in the Data Services department, I used ArcGIS digital mapping software to research the state of the region’s multifamily housing stock––and most importantly, where more housing can still be built.

As a History Major, my familiarity with the legacies of racist exclusionary zoning policies textured my findings in the land use data and helped me craft a story about the persistence of unsustainable suburban single-family housing.

My research contributed to a report filling major gaps concerning where new multifamily housing can be built in the coming decades. Beyond extending my grasp of Boston’s housing crisis, this project helped me hone my spatial data analysis skills and reinforced for myself the power of data to tell stories and leverage political power.