Mapping the Racial Inequality in Place: Using Youth Perceptions to Identify Unequal Exposure to Neighborhood Environmental Hazards

Abstract

Black youth are more likely than white youth to grow up in poor, segregated neighborhoods. This racial inequality in the neighborhood environments of black youth increases their contact with hazardous neighborhood environmental features including violence and toxic exposures that contribute to racial inequality in youth health and well-being. While the concept of neighborhood effects has been studied at length by social scientists, this work has not been as frequently situated within an environmental justice (EJ) paradigm. The present study used youth perceptions gained from in-depth interviews with youth from one Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania neighborhood to identify neighborhood environmental health hazards. We then mapped these youth-identified features to examine how they are spatially and racially distributed across the city. Our results suggest that the intersection of race and poverty, neighborhood disorder, housing abandonment, and crime were salient issues for youth. The maps show support for the youths’ assertions that the environments of black and white individuals across the city of Pittsburgh differ in noteworthy ways. This multi-lens, mixed-method analysis was designed to challenge some of the assumptions we make about addressing environmental inequality using youths’ own opinions on the issue to drive our inquiry.

“Down Woodward”: A Case Study of Empowering Youth to See and Disrupt Segregation Using Photovoice Methods

“…The tour also included scheduled stops at local churches, nonprofit organizations, schools, and landmarks for short walking tours. Walking tours are similar to photo mapping methods (Teixeira & Zuberi, 2016), in that the team made observations of the physical and social aspects of a geographic region using various research methods. However, this project did not incorporate spatial elements used in participatory photo mapping such as Global Positioning Systems (GPS) or Geographic Information Systems (GIS) to track or analyze data (Dennis et al, 2009; Teixeira & Zuberi, 2016).…”

“…Walking tours are similar to photo mapping methods (Teixeira & Zuberi, 2016), in that the team made observations of the physical and social aspects of a geographic region using various research methods. However, this project did not incorporate spatial elements used in participatory photo mapping such as Global Positioning Systems (GPS) or Geographic Information Systems (GIS) to track or analyze data (Dennis et al, 2009; Teixeira & Zuberi, 2016). Instead, a windshield survey—a written record of the visual assessment of conditions in a community based on a set of predetermined criteria—was used to record observational data (Anderson & McFarley, 1988).…”

Environmental Justice Research: Contemporary Issues and Emerging Topics

“…Based on this materialist foundation, less emphasis in EJ research has been placed on people’s subjectivities. Several articles in this Special Issue advance EJ research by examining and clarifying stakeholder subjectivities regarding EJ issues [9,11,18,19], which extends the research framework beyond the documentation of unjust conditions and processes. In Hornik et al’s [9] study, which clarifies community group perceptions of EJ in the context of water sustainability initiatives in Milwaukee, WI, USA, stakeholders shared similar perspectives on environmental injustice as an everyday experience.…”

“…However, they had divergent perspectives on how environmental injustices are produced and most effectively redressed, which has implications for promoting initiatives for EJ and sustainability. Teixeira and Zuberi [18] examine neighborhood perceptions of environmental health hazards among black youth in Pittsburgh, PA, USA. Youth identified the intersection of race and poverty, poor waste management, housing abandonment, and crime as salient neighborhood environmental concerns, and understood correctly (based on the authors’ analysis of secondary spatial data) that black vs. white neighborhoods in the city are characterized by unequal environments.…”

Prevalência e fatores associados à discriminação racial percebida nos serviços de saúde do Brasil

“…Nos espaços urbanos, os negros ocupam, majoritariamente, as periferias, locais com precariedade de bens e serviços, com exposição a situações de vulnerabilidade e que, frequentemente, são vinculadas a estigmas de violência, delinquência e desintegração. Essas características podem gerar uma postura preconceituosa, hostil e discriminatória por parte dos trabalhadores de saúde ante a figura de determinados grupos sociais negativamente estigmatizados, como é o caso da população negra (23)(24)(25)(26) .…”