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US Metropolitan-area Variation in Environmental Inequality Outcomes
1Department of Sociology, University of Colorado, 219 Ketchum Hall, UCB 327 Boulder, Colorado 80302, USA.
Urban Studies (Edinburgh, Scotland)
|September 13, 2011
Summary
Environmental racial inequality varies across US metropolitan areas. This study found that neither residential segregation nor income inequality explains these differences, suggesting other factors are at play.
Area of Science:
- Environmental sociology
- Urban studies
- Environmental justice
Background:
- Researchers have increasingly studied the link between neighborhood demographics and environmental hazards.
- Few studies explain the spatial distribution of social groups around hazards or inconsistent findings on environmental racial inequality.
Purpose of the Study:
- To investigate if environmental racial inequality levels vary across metropolitan areas in the continental US.
- To identify determinants of this variation, testing hypotheses about contributing factors.
Main Methods:
- Comparative analysis of environmental racial inequality across the 61 largest US metropolitan areas.
- Controlled variables: unit of analysis, hazard type, region type, and comparison population.
- Hypothesis testing to explain observed variations in inequality levels.
Main Results:
- Environmental racial inequality levels demonstrably vary across US metropolitan areas.
- Neither residential segregation nor racial income inequality adequately explains this metropolitan-level variation.
- Existing hypotheses regarding segregation and income inequality do not account for the observed differences.
Conclusions:
- Metropolitan-area context is crucial for understanding environmental racial inequality.
- Factors beyond residential segregation and racial income inequality drive disparities in environmental hazard exposure.
- Further research is needed to identify the specific determinants of varying environmental inequality across locations.
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