{"id":17672,"date":"2023-01-24T14:33:45","date_gmt":"2023-01-24T19:33:45","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/engineering.jhu.edu\/magazine-archive\/?p=17672"},"modified":"2023-02-08T12:54:33","modified_gmt":"2023-02-08T17:54:33","slug":"mathematical-solution-to-urban-blight","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/engineering.jhu.edu\/magazine-archive\/2023\/01\/mathematical-solution-to-urban-blight\/","title":{"rendered":"A Mathematical Solution to Urban Blight"},"content":{"rendered":"<img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignright wp-image-18435 size-large\" src=\"https:\/\/engineering.jhu.edu\/magazine-archive\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/01\/JHU9683_grey-683x1024.jpeg\" alt=\"Black-and-white photograph of Tam\u00e1s Budav\u00e1ri standing in an urban landscape\" width=\"683\" height=\"1024\" srcset=\"https:\/\/engineering.jhu.edu\/magazine-archive\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/01\/JHU9683_grey-683x1024.jpeg 683w, https:\/\/engineering.jhu.edu\/magazine-archive\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/01\/JHU9683_grey-200x300.jpeg 200w, https:\/\/engineering.jhu.edu\/magazine-archive\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/01\/JHU9683_grey-768x1152.jpeg 768w, https:\/\/engineering.jhu.edu\/magazine-archive\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/01\/JHU9683_grey-1024x1536.jpeg 1024w, https:\/\/engineering.jhu.edu\/magazine-archive\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/01\/JHU9683_grey-1365x2048.jpeg 1365w, https:\/\/engineering.jhu.edu\/magazine-archive\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/01\/JHU9683_grey-scaled.jpeg 1707w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 683px) 100vw, 683px\" \/>\n<p>Mathematician and astrophysicist <a href=\"https:\/\/engineering.jhu.edu\/faculty\/tamas-budavari\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Tam\u00e1s Budav\u00e1ri<\/a>, associate professor in the Department of Applied Mathematics and Statistics,\u00a0models the universe to understand how galaxies cluster. But in recent years, he\u2019s aimed his expertise at a different problem: Baltimore City\u2019s more than 14,000 vacant and abandoned properties, which attract crime and lead to lower property values.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cOne of the things we hope to do is to help city planning and housing officials analyze the history of every property and reconstruct the state of contiguous rowhomes,\u201d Budav\u00e1ri says.<\/p>\n<p>In a recent study published in Journal of Planning Education and Research, he and his team took a different approach: using what he calls \u201cthe language of math\u201d to look at what could best improve quality of life in communities affected by blight.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cInstead of focusing only on how to demolish the greatest number of decrepit buildings, our goal was to optimize the happiness of city dwellers, [while working] within a given budget [for the city],\u201d says Budav\u00e1ri.<\/p>\n<p>City officials were part of the study team and will continue to work with Budav\u00e1ri\u2019s team as they expand this novel approach to urban planning to include options that combine demolition with rehabilitation, development, the addition of green spaces, and more.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Mathematician and astrophysicist Tam\u00e1s Budav\u00e1ri, associate professor in the Department of Applied Mathematics and Statistics,\u00a0models the universe to understand how galaxies cluster. But in recent years, he\u2019s aimed his expertise at a different problem: Baltimore City\u2019s more than 14,000 vacant and abandoned properties, which attract crime and lead to lower property values. \u201cOne of the&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":30,"featured_media":17674,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[23],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-17672","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-at-wse","issue-winter-2023"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.8 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>A Mathematical Solution to Urban Blight - JHU Engineering Magazine<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Mathematician and astrophysicist Tam\u00e1s Budav\u00e1ri \u00a0focused his expertise at a different problem: vacant and abandoned properties.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/engineering.jhu.edu\/magazine-archive\/2023\/01\/mathematical-solution-to-urban-blight\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"A Mathematical Solution to Urban Blight\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Tam\u00e1s Budav\u00e1ri\u00a0focused his expertise at a different problem: vacant and abandoned properties.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/engineering.jhu.edu\/magazine-archive\/2023\/01\/mathematical-solution-to-urban-blight\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"JHU Engineering Magazine\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2023-01-24T19:33:45+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2023-02-08T17:54:33+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/engineering.jhu.edu\/magazine-archive\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/01\/Tamas-Budavari-rowhouse-socialcard.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1200\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"628\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Monica Leigh\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:title\" content=\"A Mathematical Solution to Urban Blight\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:description\" content=\"Tam\u00e1s Budav\u00e1ri\u00a0focused his expertise at a different problem: vacant and abandoned properties.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:image\" content=\"https:\/\/engineering.jhu.edu\/magazine-archive\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/01\/Tamas-Budavari-rowhouse-socialcard.jpg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Monica Leigh\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"NewsArticle\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/engineering.jhu.edu\\\/magazine-archive\\\/2023\\\/01\\\/mathematical-solution-to-urban-blight\\\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/engineering.jhu.edu\\\/magazine-archive\\\/2023\\\/01\\\/mathematical-solution-to-urban-blight\\\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Monica Leigh\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/engineering.jhu.edu\\\/magazine-archive\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/acfe7b0b2b4e334734cec46640d4b37c\"},\"headline\":\"A Mathematical Solution to Urban Blight\",\"datePublished\":\"2023-01-24T19:33:45+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2023-02-08T17:54:33+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/engineering.jhu.edu\\\/magazine-archive\\\/2023\\\/01\\\/mathematical-solution-to-urban-blight\\\/\"},\"wordCount\":216,\"commentCount\":0,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/engineering.jhu.edu\\\/magazine-archive\\\/2023\\\/01\\\/mathematical-solution-to-urban-blight\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/engineering.jhu.edu\\\/magazine-archive\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2023\\\/01\\\/JHU9683_grey-scaled-e1674759172349.jpg\",\"articleSection\":[\"At WSE\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/engineering.jhu.edu\\\/magazine-archive\\\/2023\\\/01\\\/mathematical-solution-to-urban-blight\\\/#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/engineering.jhu.edu\\\/magazine-archive\\\/2023\\\/01\\\/mathematical-solution-to-urban-blight\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/engineering.jhu.edu\\\/magazine-archive\\\/2023\\\/01\\\/mathematical-solution-to-urban-blight\\\/\",\"name\":\"A Mathematical Solution to Urban Blight - JHU Engineering Magazine\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/engineering.jhu.edu\\\/magazine-archive\\\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/engineering.jhu.edu\\\/magazine-archive\\\/2023\\\/01\\\/mathematical-solution-to-urban-blight\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/engineering.jhu.edu\\\/magazine-archive\\\/2023\\\/01\\\/mathematical-solution-to-urban-blight\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/engineering.jhu.edu\\\/magazine-archive\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2023\\\/01\\\/JHU9683_grey-scaled-e1674759172349.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2023-01-24T19:33:45+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2023-02-08T17:54:33+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/engineering.jhu.edu\\\/magazine-archive\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/acfe7b0b2b4e334734cec46640d4b37c\"},\"description\":\"Mathematician and astrophysicist Tam\u00e1s Budav\u00e1ri \u00a0focused his expertise at a different problem: vacant and abandoned properties.\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/engineering.jhu.edu\\\/magazine-archive\\\/2023\\\/01\\\/mathematical-solution-to-urban-blight\\\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/engineering.jhu.edu\\\/magazine-archive\\\/2023\\\/01\\\/mathematical-solution-to-urban-blight\\\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/engineering.jhu.edu\\\/magazine-archive\\\/2023\\\/01\\\/mathematical-solution-to-urban-blight\\\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/engineering.jhu.edu\\\/magazine-archive\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2023\\\/01\\\/JHU9683_grey-scaled-e1674759172349.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/engineering.jhu.edu\\\/magazine-archive\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2023\\\/01\\\/JHU9683_grey-scaled-e1674759172349.jpg\",\"width\":1707,\"height\":1135,\"caption\":\"Black-and-white photograph of Tam\u00e1s Budav\u00e1ri standing in an urban landscape\"},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/engineering.jhu.edu\\\/magazine-archive\\\/2023\\\/01\\\/mathematical-solution-to-urban-blight\\\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\\\/\\\/engineering.jhu.edu\\\/magazine-archive\\\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"A Mathematical Solution to Urban Blight\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/engineering.jhu.edu\\\/magazine-archive\\\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/engineering.jhu.edu\\\/magazine-archive\\\/\",\"name\":\"JHU Engineering Magazine\",\"description\":\"\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\\\/\\\/engineering.jhu.edu\\\/magazine-archive\\\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/engineering.jhu.edu\\\/magazine-archive\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/acfe7b0b2b4e334734cec46640d4b37c\",\"name\":\"Monica Leigh\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/453a535757449a6e5df98157a139bf964b78333c2f686d5468bf82ada8e18252?s=96&r=g\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/453a535757449a6e5df98157a139bf964b78333c2f686d5468bf82ada8e18252?s=96&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/453a535757449a6e5df98157a139bf964b78333c2f686d5468bf82ada8e18252?s=96&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Monica Leigh\"}}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"A Mathematical Solution to Urban Blight - JHU Engineering Magazine","description":"Mathematician and astrophysicist Tam\u00e1s Budav\u00e1ri \u00a0focused his expertise at a different problem: vacant and abandoned properties.","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/engineering.jhu.edu\/magazine-archive\/2023\/01\/mathematical-solution-to-urban-blight\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"A Mathematical Solution to Urban Blight","og_description":"Tam\u00e1s Budav\u00e1ri\u00a0focused his expertise at a different problem: vacant and abandoned properties.","og_url":"https:\/\/engineering.jhu.edu\/magazine-archive\/2023\/01\/mathematical-solution-to-urban-blight\/","og_site_name":"JHU Engineering Magazine","article_published_time":"2023-01-24T19:33:45+00:00","article_modified_time":"2023-02-08T17:54:33+00:00","og_image":[{"width":1200,"height":628,"url":"https:\/\/engineering.jhu.edu\/magazine-archive\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/01\/Tamas-Budavari-rowhouse-socialcard.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"Monica Leigh","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_title":"A Mathematical Solution to Urban Blight","twitter_description":"Tam\u00e1s Budav\u00e1ri\u00a0focused his expertise at a different problem: vacant and abandoned properties.","twitter_image":"https:\/\/engineering.jhu.edu\/magazine-archive\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/01\/Tamas-Budavari-rowhouse-socialcard.jpg","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Monica Leigh","Est. reading time":"2 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https:\/\/engineering.jhu.edu\/magazine-archive\/2023\/01\/mathematical-solution-to-urban-blight\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/engineering.jhu.edu\/magazine-archive\/2023\/01\/mathematical-solution-to-urban-blight\/"},"author":{"name":"Monica Leigh","@id":"https:\/\/engineering.jhu.edu\/magazine-archive\/#\/schema\/person\/acfe7b0b2b4e334734cec46640d4b37c"},"headline":"A Mathematical Solution to Urban Blight","datePublished":"2023-01-24T19:33:45+00:00","dateModified":"2023-02-08T17:54:33+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/engineering.jhu.edu\/magazine-archive\/2023\/01\/mathematical-solution-to-urban-blight\/"},"wordCount":216,"commentCount":0,"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/engineering.jhu.edu\/magazine-archive\/2023\/01\/mathematical-solution-to-urban-blight\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/engineering.jhu.edu\/magazine-archive\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/01\/JHU9683_grey-scaled-e1674759172349.jpg","articleSection":["At WSE"],"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"CommentAction","name":"Comment","target":["https:\/\/engineering.jhu.edu\/magazine-archive\/2023\/01\/mathematical-solution-to-urban-blight\/#respond"]}]},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/engineering.jhu.edu\/magazine-archive\/2023\/01\/mathematical-solution-to-urban-blight\/","url":"https:\/\/engineering.jhu.edu\/magazine-archive\/2023\/01\/mathematical-solution-to-urban-blight\/","name":"A Mathematical Solution to Urban Blight - JHU Engineering Magazine","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/engineering.jhu.edu\/magazine-archive\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/engineering.jhu.edu\/magazine-archive\/2023\/01\/mathematical-solution-to-urban-blight\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/engineering.jhu.edu\/magazine-archive\/2023\/01\/mathematical-solution-to-urban-blight\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/engineering.jhu.edu\/magazine-archive\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/01\/JHU9683_grey-scaled-e1674759172349.jpg","datePublished":"2023-01-24T19:33:45+00:00","dateModified":"2023-02-08T17:54:33+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/engineering.jhu.edu\/magazine-archive\/#\/schema\/person\/acfe7b0b2b4e334734cec46640d4b37c"},"description":"Mathematician and astrophysicist Tam\u00e1s Budav\u00e1ri \u00a0focused his expertise at a different problem: vacant and abandoned properties.","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/engineering.jhu.edu\/magazine-archive\/2023\/01\/mathematical-solution-to-urban-blight\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/engineering.jhu.edu\/magazine-archive\/2023\/01\/mathematical-solution-to-urban-blight\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/engineering.jhu.edu\/magazine-archive\/2023\/01\/mathematical-solution-to-urban-blight\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/engineering.jhu.edu\/magazine-archive\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/01\/JHU9683_grey-scaled-e1674759172349.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/engineering.jhu.edu\/magazine-archive\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/01\/JHU9683_grey-scaled-e1674759172349.jpg","width":1707,"height":1135,"caption":"Black-and-white photograph of Tam\u00e1s Budav\u00e1ri standing in an urban landscape"},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/engineering.jhu.edu\/magazine-archive\/2023\/01\/mathematical-solution-to-urban-blight\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/engineering.jhu.edu\/magazine-archive\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"A Mathematical Solution to Urban Blight"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/engineering.jhu.edu\/magazine-archive\/#website","url":"https:\/\/engineering.jhu.edu\/magazine-archive\/","name":"JHU Engineering Magazine","description":"","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/engineering.jhu.edu\/magazine-archive\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/engineering.jhu.edu\/magazine-archive\/#\/schema\/person\/acfe7b0b2b4e334734cec46640d4b37c","name":"Monica Leigh","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/453a535757449a6e5df98157a139bf964b78333c2f686d5468bf82ada8e18252?s=96&r=g","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/453a535757449a6e5df98157a139bf964b78333c2f686d5468bf82ada8e18252?s=96&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/453a535757449a6e5df98157a139bf964b78333c2f686d5468bf82ada8e18252?s=96&r=g","caption":"Monica Leigh"}}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/engineering.jhu.edu\/magazine-archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17672","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/engineering.jhu.edu\/magazine-archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/engineering.jhu.edu\/magazine-archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/engineering.jhu.edu\/magazine-archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/30"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/engineering.jhu.edu\/magazine-archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=17672"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/engineering.jhu.edu\/magazine-archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17672\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":18483,"href":"https:\/\/engineering.jhu.edu\/magazine-archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17672\/revisions\/18483"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/engineering.jhu.edu\/magazine-archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/17674"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/engineering.jhu.edu\/magazine-archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=17672"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/engineering.jhu.edu\/magazine-archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=17672"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/engineering.jhu.edu\/magazine-archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=17672"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}