Streetsmart News. Vol. 37, 2021 |
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Evidence and Insight for Healthy Transportation |
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Heat Islands and Health, Redlining and Wealth:
How Climate, Health, and Equity Interact in Community Planning
Climate Change, Health, and Structural Racism
These heat waves also elevated the scholarship that illustrates how racist land use practices, such as redlining, have created differential health effects (see also this EPA Environmental Justice webinar on Redlining and Climate Crisis). Historically redlined neighborhoods, deemed unsafe for investment by banks because they were inhabited by people of color, have been found to have significantly higher temperatures than non-redlined neighborhoods. The higher temperatures are a function of high amounts of impervious surfaces, fewer street trees, and inadequate park access. Park-deficient neighborhoods do not benefit from the cooling effects that park vegetation brings. It also means there are fewer places to retreat from the heat, which is particularly poignant when residents do not have air conditioning. Greenspace access is also important for healthy birth outcomes. Less tree canopy coverage has been found to be associated with preterm births among Black women.
While the UHI has recently captured the public’s attention, the particular hazards resulting from the interaction of climate change and racist planning policy may differ depending on the region of the country and the location of formerly redlined neighborhoods (explore the climate change hazards of your region here and here). For example, Sacramento’s formerly redlined (“hazard”) and yellowlined (“declining”) neighborhoods face high flood risk.
Tools and Solutions
For resources on climate change mitigation and adaption, look at the C40 Cities site for suggestions. Streetsmart’s page on Greenhouse Gas Emissions (GHG) also has transportation-specific resources, including a list of proven strategies for reducing GHG.
Trees are a critical strategy for improving urban health (increased shade, UHI reduction, reduced housing energy costs, air filtration, stormwater absorption, reduced mental stress, etc.) To help identify where trees should be planted to achieve greater heat equity, use the Tree Equity Score tool created by American Forests. A simple but elegant solution for increasing street tree canopy builds on the oft-lauded 10-minute walk to essential destinations (aka 15-minute city):
“All Charlotte households will have access to essential amenities, goods, and services within a comfortable, tree-shaded 10-minute walk, bike, or transit trip by 2040” (Charlotte’s newly adopted comprehensive plan, Streetsmart emphasis).
One possible solution for reducing air pollution and increasing public space is the Barcelona superblock. In addition to journal articles on this model, the Barcelona Institute for Global Health created a mini-graphic novel to tell the fictional story of how the Barcelona Superblock came to be, inserting air pollution’s health effects (“one third of childhood asthma cases are caused by air pollution”) into the story.
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Racism in Land Use and Transportation Explained
So what exactly is redlining and why is it relevant today? This engaging 18-minute (worth every minute) Segregated by Design video, based on the book, The Color of Law, explains how racist government policy impacted housing opportunities, wealth creation, and health outcomes.
A few agencies are exploring the impacts of these policies within their jurisdiction. CalEPA’s storymap project, Pollution and Prejudice, examines the relationship between redlined neighborhoods in California and their exposure to pollution. At a local level, Louisville Metro produced a storymap to understand how Louisville’s racist planning history is impacting its residents today.
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Mapping Health and the Environment
Here are two tools that map the relationship between health and the environment in completely different ways. The first is the interactive Eco-Health Relationship Browser from the Environmental Protection Agency, which illustrates the evidence for linkages between human health and ecosystem services. You can select a factor like air quality and connect to its myriad health effects, such as asthma, cancer, and high blood pressure. You can then select one of those effects, such as asthma, and find its contributing factors (air quality, aesthetics, water hazard mitigation). Is there a more engaging way of organizing a bibliography?
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Why Streetsmart?
Transportation connects people to the places essential for their well being. We believe that transportation systems can create and support healthy, just, and climate-resilient communities.
Yet, for many people, destinations are too far from home, transit is not reliable, walking and bicycling are impractical, or the streets are not safe. Rather than connecting people to opportunity, lack of adequate transportation is a barrier to reaching employment, schools, health care services, and social networks. Vehicular emissions expose communities to air pollution, increasing their risk of asthma and heart disease. Transportation is also the largest contributor to greenhouse gas emissions in the US, driving climate changes that will disproportionately affect many communities of color.
We aim to embed climate change, public health, and equity issues into transportation decision-making so we can realize our vision of healthy, just, and climate-resilient communities. We do so by building alliances among diverse partners for transportation reform, advancing best practices in transportation that fully account for impacts on communities, and highlighting evidence-based strategies that meet community goals.
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