Abstract
Determining Factors in the Siting of Undesirable Land Uses
Track: Census and Geodemographics
Author(s): Guillaume Turcotte
Environmental Justice (EJ) is an interdisciplinary study of the inequitable environmental burdens faced by minority groups. Early proponents of EJ argued that racial minorities were more likely to live near undesirable environmental sites and face greater environmental risks. However, later EJ supporters argue that socio-economic demographic is a more likely factor.
A proper assessment of environmental justice requires linking the sites of undesirable land uses and the surrounding demographics before and after its implementation. The scope of this project is limited to the state of Pennsylvania and aspires to develop a methodology applicable throughout the United States to properly evaluate the relation between the siting of undesirable land uses and the surrounding social and economic attributes. Data analysis by means of the Spatial Analyst and Spatial Statistics tools available with Esri’s ArcGIS desktop application suite will establish attribute and spatial associations.
Guillaume Turcotte
Villanova University
G-67 Mendel Science Center
800 Lancaster Avenue
Villanova , Pennsylvania 19085
United States
Phone: 610-519-6287
E-mail: guillaume.turcotte@villanova.edu