Postdoctoral Fellow Profile: Farzaneh Khayat
Written by Allyson Hamzey
Centering environmental racism is not a choice in the pursuit of innovating anti-racist solutions – it's a necessity. This is what Farzaneh Khayat, postdoctoral fellow, Institute for Racial Justice, emphasizes with deep certainty.
“You can't talk about environmental justice without addressing racism in the context of the United States,” she says.
Farzaneh’s career wove through myriad countries and different disciplines before landing on her heart’s calling: environmental justice. After working as an architect for three years in her home country of Iran, she realized her passion existed elsewhere.
“Over time, I realized the importance of environmental issues. That was the time I realized about environmental pollution and the association of those with inequalities,” she says.
Once she finished her master's in landscape architecture at the University Putra Malaysia (UPM), Khayat returned home to begin instructing university courses with focuses on sustainability and green architecture.
“During these years, I found out I would like to be in academia — that's the world that I would love to be in and that's the career that I'm going to pursue,” she says.
Looking through the lens of environmental issues and inequalities continued to color her work, leading her to her PhD studies in environmental and community land planning. When Khayat began her PhD studies at the State University of New York College of Environmental Science and Forestry, climate change was her motivator.
“The more I learned about climate change, the more I found that first and foremost: climate change is an environmental justice issue. This is because people who are the most vulnerable have the least responsibility for climate change and they have the least capacity to adapt to climate change and they're facing the severe risk.”
Come along to learn more about Khayat’s academic journey, where the pursuit of a more equitable world, centered in a fight for environmental justice, continues to take center stage.
“The more I learned about climate change, the more I found that first and foremost: climate change is an environmental justice issue. This is because people who are the most vulnerable have the least responsibility for climate change and they have the least capacity to adapt to climate change and they're facing the severe risk.”
What shaped your research interest?
One professor shifted the trajectory of Khayat’s academic career when he illuminated the connection between environmental justice and racial justice. This professor ultimately became Khayat’s advisor.
“My first environmental justice class was during PhD at SUNY ESF and it really blew my mind. That was the time that I said, ‘Okay, this is what I want to do,'” she says. “Believe me or not, that shifted my discipline and also my research.”
Leading up to her proposal, she began to see the synergy between environmental justice and racial justice.
“I was working with a professor at Landscape Architecture Department. I thought that climate change is an environmental justice issue, [which involves] racial equality and inequality,” she says. “My proposal kind of developed based on that.”
Formative moments for you?
She reflects on her upbringing in Iran, as she shares: “I grew up in an environment where I've seen things that are unfair. And they have nonsense justification for the status quo.”
Khayat recalls noticing a stark difference in the ethnicities of shoppers between cheaper grocery stores like Walmart to higher-end grocers when she studied in Syracuse, New York. She says seeing these differences was bold and unique to her.
"In Iran, we have different ethnicities, but we don't have different races and different colors,” she says. “I didn't use to see those type of things — like people of different colors living completely different experiences.”
Reawakened by her exposure to segregation in the U.S., Khayat searched for work that prioritized environmental justice following her PhD studies in New York.
It was the IRJ’s postdoctoral fellow job description that caught her attention, and its inclusion of environmental factors.
“Only a few job applications mentioned environmental racism. Out of 20 or 30 jobs of environmental justice work, only two or three of them mentioned environmental racism,” she says. “The job description at IRJ was clear, like I know what I need to do. It was so clear for me.”
What really sealed the deal for Khayat? Native of a hot climate, she longed for a place to live with a little more sunshine than Syracuse offers. Naturally, this led her to Google the average number of sunny days in Chicago per year.
“I still remember, it was 186 days,” she says with a smile. “Then I searched how many sunny days there are in Syracuse, and it was 150 some. I said 'Okay, we have 30 more days of sunny days [in Chicago] — that's a good ratio comparison!'”
Months later, in the fall of 2022, Khayat packed up her life from New York and headed west to Chicago.
On community-action research at the IRJ:
“The community-action research is very unique for me because I didn't have a chance to work on that in this way before,” she says. “Since I'm connected with community organizations, I can bring this research to the real world. This was the chance and opportunity that I didn't have when I was a PhD student or when I was doing research before.”
“As researchers, a lot of the time, you're an outsider,” she says. “We look at maps, we look at screening tools, we look at the Census Bureau, at different metrics, screening tools and indexes, which is good, real data. But it's not enough.”
She defines community action-based research as when you listen to the community, learn from them, and you hear them.
“It's always the real people in the community who know what the problems are, and what they want. Any solution should come from them, it shouldn't be from us.”
“It's always the real people in the community who know what the problems are, and what they want. Any solution should come from them, it shouldn't be from us.”
Key research projects?
BLACK RESEARCHERS COLLECTIVE: “One of the research projects that is in progress is with Black Collective Researcher,” Khayat says. “Black Researchers Collective is a group of researchers who mainly focus on South Side Chicago.”
This collaboration aims to identify barriers to converting urban vacant lots into community gardens, explore opportunities for their development, and establish sustainable long-term support of community gardens in Woodlawn, Chicago, she shares.
“Unoccupied houses in combination with vacant lots has become an issue for this neighborhood,” she says. “This can decrease property values, discourage potential homebuyers or renters, and hinder community revitalization efforts which may have detrimental impact on overall health of the community.
Studies indicate that establishing gardens on vacant lots provides a range of benefits, including the reduction of crime and prevention of illegal dumping of trash or hazardous materials, according to Khayat.
SMITH HOUSES GRANT: Public housing in New York City is lacking green spaces that support healthier lifestyles, Khayat shares, as she describes her grant work with Smith Houses, a public housing development.
The development, home to over 5,000 people in lower Manhattan, has issues with lower air access for its residents due to drivers such as a lack of tree maintenance.
“In this grant, we looked at how they are suffering [because] their level of environmental pollution is so high,” she says. “They don't have trails and parks around to just walk and like increase their mobility and walkability.”
Listening to residents to see what their priorities were in improving green space was a critical part of the grant’s formation, she shares.
TREE EQUITY PROJECT: Tree equity is a human rights issue — and Khayat takes this head on in her work. Tree Equity Score defines this score as a measurement of “how well the critical benefits of urban tree canopy are reaching those who need them most.”
Collaborating with two undergraduate students at Loyola, she led a capstone project in the Department of Political Science focusing on equitable distribution of trees. Khayat and team looked at a tree equity index, where different metrics such as tree canopy coverage, building density, health, race and income were identified in order to inform proposed solutions.
"We went over the history of discrimination at the end of the 19th and 20th century and how that is associated with tree inequality in the city of Chicago,” she says. “We prepared some maps to show the areas that need to be a priority for in terms of tree planting.”
When asked if she found any shocking results in this project, she shakes her head no, equally certain and solemn.
“It tells us what we already know. When we talk about public health, when we talk about access to green space, we see how these are segregated among us,” she says. “When we look at the history of segregation, it just shows why we are where we are...it shows maybe why there's disparity in resources.”
You learn trees do grow on money; she tells me.
“It tells us what we already know. When we talk about public health, when we talk about access to green space, we see how these are segregated among us,” she says. “When we look at the history of segregation, it just shows why we are where we are...it shows maybe why there's disparity in resources.”
What motivates you?
"The idea that everyone in this world deserves a quality of life,” she answers without hesitation.
“No one walks in poverty willingly or happily. People live in poverty because they have to, because they have no other option at a certain point in their life,” she says. “It brings some accountability for me for what can I do in order to help to the situation as a researcher.”
Written by Allyson Hamzey
Centering environmental racism is not a choice in the pursuit of innovating anti-racist solutions – it's a necessity. This is what Farzaneh Khayat, postdoctoral fellow, Institute for Racial Justice, emphasizes with deep certainty.
“You can't talk about environmental justice without addressing racism in the context of the United States,” she says.
Farzaneh’s career wove through myriad countries and different disciplines before landing on her heart’s calling: environmental justice. After working as an architect for three years in her home country of Iran, she realized her passion existed elsewhere.
“Over time, I realized the importance of environmental issues. That was the time I realized about environmental pollution and the association of those with inequalities,” she says.
Once she finished her master's in landscape architecture at the University Putra Malaysia (UPM), Khayat returned home to begin instructing university courses with focuses on sustainability and green architecture.
“During these years, I found out I would like to be in academia — that's the world that I would love to be in and that's the career that I'm going to pursue,” she says.
Looking through the lens of environmental issues and inequalities continued to color her work, leading her to her PhD studies in environmental and community land planning. When Khayat began her PhD studies at the State University of New York College of Environmental Science and Forestry, climate change was her motivator.
“The more I learned about climate change, the more I found that first and foremost: climate change is an environmental justice issue. This is because people who are the most vulnerable have the least responsibility for climate change and they have the least capacity to adapt to climate change and they're facing the severe risk.”
Come along to learn more about Khayat’s academic journey, where the pursuit of a more equitable world, centered in a fight for environmental justice, continues to take center stage.
What shaped your research interest?
One professor shifted the trajectory of Khayat’s academic career when he illuminated the connection between environmental justice and racial justice. This professor ultimately became Khayat’s advisor.
“My first environmental justice class was during PhD at SUNY ESF and it really blew my mind. That was the time that I said, ‘Okay, this is what I want to do,'” she says. “Believe me or not, that shifted my discipline and also my research.”
Leading up to her proposal, she began to see the synergy between environmental justice and racial justice.
“I was working with a professor at Landscape Architecture Department. I thought that climate change is an environmental justice issue, [which involves] racial equality and inequality,” she says. “My proposal kind of developed based on that.”
Formative moments for you?
She reflects on her upbringing in Iran, as she shares: “I grew up in an environment where I've seen things that are unfair. And they have nonsense justification for the status quo.”
Khayat recalls noticing a stark difference in the ethnicities of shoppers between cheaper grocery stores like Walmart to higher-end grocers when she studied in Syracuse, New York. She says seeing these differences was bold and unique to her.
"In Iran, we have different ethnicities, but we don't have different races and different colors,” she says. “I didn't use to see those type of things — like people of different colors living completely different experiences.”
Reawakened by her exposure to segregation in the U.S., Khayat searched for work that prioritized environmental justice following her PhD studies in New York.
It was the IRJ’s postdoctoral fellow job description that caught her attention, and its inclusion of environmental factors.
“Only a few job applications mentioned environmental racism. Out of 20 or 30 jobs of environmental justice work, only two or three of them mentioned environmental racism,” she says. “The job description at IRJ was clear, like I know what I need to do. It was so clear for me.”
What really sealed the deal for Khayat? Native of a hot climate, she longed for a place to live with a little more sunshine than Syracuse offers. Naturally, this led her to Google the average number of sunny days in Chicago per year.
“I still remember, it was 186 days,” she says with a smile. “Then I searched how many sunny days there are in Syracuse, and it was 150 some. I said 'Okay, we have 30 more days of sunny days [in Chicago] — that's a good ratio comparison!'”
Months later, in the fall of 2022, Khayat packed up her life from New York and headed west to Chicago.
On community-action research at the IRJ:
“The community-action research is very unique for me because I didn't have a chance to work on that in this way before,” she says. “Since I'm connected with community organizations, I can bring this research to the real world. This was the chance and opportunity that I didn't have when I was a PhD student or when I was doing research before.”
“As researchers, a lot of the time, you're an outsider,” she says. “We look at maps, we look at screening tools, we look at the Census Bureau, at different metrics, screening tools and indexes, which is good, real data. But it's not enough.”
She defines community action-based research as when you listen to the community, learn from them, and you hear them.
“It's always the real people in the community who know what the problems are, and what they want. Any solution should come from them, it shouldn't be from us.”
Key research projects?
BLACK RESEARCHERS COLLECTIVE: “One of the research projects that is in progress is with Black Collective Researcher,” Khayat says. “Black Researchers Collective is a group of researchers who mainly focus on South Side Chicago.”
This collaboration aims to identify barriers to converting urban vacant lots into community gardens, explore opportunities for their development, and establish sustainable long-term support of community gardens in Woodlawn, Chicago, she shares.
“Unoccupied houses in combination with vacant lots has become an issue for this neighborhood,” she says. “This can decrease property values, discourage potential homebuyers or renters, and hinder community revitalization efforts which may have detrimental impact on overall health of the community.
Studies indicate that establishing gardens on vacant lots provides a range of benefits, including the reduction of crime and prevention of illegal dumping of trash or hazardous materials, according to Khayat.
SMITH HOUSES GRANT: Public housing in New York City is lacking green spaces that support healthier lifestyles, Khayat shares, as she describes her grant work with Smith Houses, a public housing development.
The development, home to over 5,000 people in lower Manhattan, has issues with lower air access for its residents due to drivers such as a lack of tree maintenance.
“In this grant, we looked at how they are suffering [because] their level of environmental pollution is so high,” she says. “They don't have trails and parks around to just walk and like increase their mobility and walkability.”
Listening to residents to see what their priorities were in improving green space was a critical part of the grant’s formation, she shares.
TREE EQUITY PROJECT: Tree equity is a human rights issue — and Khayat takes this head on in her work. Tree Equity Score defines this score as a measurement of “how well the critical benefits of urban tree canopy are reaching those who need them most.”
Collaborating with two undergraduate students at Loyola, she led a capstone project in the Department of Political Science focusing on equitable distribution of trees. Khayat and team looked at a tree equity index, where different metrics such as tree canopy coverage, building density, health, race and income were identified in order to inform proposed solutions.
"We went over the history of discrimination at the end of the 19th and 20th century and how that is associated with tree inequality in the city of Chicago,” she says. “We prepared some maps to show the areas that need to be a priority for in terms of tree planting.”
When asked if she found any shocking results in this project, she shakes her head no, equally certain and solemn.
“It tells us what we already know. When we talk about public health, when we talk about access to green space, we see how these are segregated among us,” she says. “When we look at the history of segregation, it just shows why we are where we are...it shows maybe why there's disparity in resources.”
You learn trees do grow on money; she tells me.
What motivates you?
"The idea that everyone in this world deserves a quality of life,” she answers without hesitation.
“No one walks in poverty willingly or happily. People live in poverty because they have to, because they have no other option at a certain point in their life,” she says. “It brings some accountability for me for what can I do in order to help to the situation as a researcher.”