From Yardstick to Gyroscope -
Interdisciplinary Methods for the Long-Term Study of Social-Ecological Systems
Environment Justice & Historical Geography: Demography, cartography, legal records, and spatial modeling
Instructor - Christopher Boone
Date - January 14, 2007
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Environmental justice examines, among other things, the distribution of environmental "goods" (e.g. parks) and "bads" (e.g. hazardous waste facilities) in relation to where people live. Prevailing theory suggests that ethnic and racial minorities are more likely than whites to live near hazardous and unwanted land uses. This component of environmental justice incorporates spatial tools (GIS) to assess degrees of inequality. Recent research has highlighted the need for place-specific, historical research to reveal the processes that create patterns of inequality. In this session, we will examine spatial analytic and historical methods for evaluating and explaining environmental inequality using Baltimore and Phoenix as case studies.

Readings
Bolin, B., S. Grineski, and T. Collins. 2005. The geography of despair: Environmental racism and the making of south Phoenix, Arizona, USA. Human Ecology Review 12:156-169. Abstract | Publication

Boone, C. G. 2002. An assessment and explanation of environmental inequity in Baltimore. Urban Geography 23:581-595. Abstract | Publication

Boone, C. G. nd. Improving resolution of census data in metropolitan areas using a dasymetric approach: Applications for the Baltimore Ecosystem Study. unpublished:1-37. Abstract | Publication

Grineski, S., B. Bolin, and C. G. Boone. 2007. Criteria air pollution and marginalized populations: Environmental inequity in metropolitan Phoenix, Arizona. Social Science Quarterly 88:535-554. Abstract | Publication