Seattle's Interstate 5 Proximity Land Use Patterns: An Interdisciplinary Narrative

There is a large body of environmental health and epidemiological research whose evidence suggests that children or the elderly who live and/or attend schools within close proximity to high-volume traffic sources experience adverse health effects from exposure to traffic pollutants. In this study traffic patterns, pollutants and populations are examined to understand proximity land uses along Interstate 5 in the Seattle area and to identify where land use functionality and population vulnerability may coexist. This research explores the emergence, current knowledge and future challenges of proximity land uses next to urban freeways through the framework of Bhaskar's critical realism. As a meta-theory critical realism introduces the concept of a 'laminated' system where disparate disciplines theoretically grounded in social-historical value perspectives or empirical scientific methodologies can be examined and integrated to understand the complex constructs associated with urban freeway proximity land uses. This study analyzes a cumulative body of research from the disciplines of environmental health, epidemiology, civil engineering and atmospheric science to identify the disciplinary "trigger" mechanisms that informs disparate knowledge domains on the behavior of near-road pollutants and the adverse health impacts of living within proximity to high volume traffic. By incorporating critical realism meta-theory as a means for this exploration, this research advances the planning field and provides an understanding of the linkages within the plural disciplinary dimensions of urban freeway proximity land uses. From this process a common interdisciplinary narrative can emerge to inform local land use decision-making.