Local Inequities in the Relative Production of and Exposure to Vehicular Air Pollution in Los Angeles

Keywords: air pollution, racial justice, transportation, urban planning
Session Type: Virtual Paper Abstract
Day: Tuesday
Session Start / End Time: 3/1/2022 09:40 AM (Eastern Time (US & Canada)) - 3/1/2022 11:00 AM (Eastern Time (US & Canada))
Room: Virtual 24

Abstract

Vehicular air pollution has created an ongoing public health crisis. Despite growing knowledge of racial injustice in exposure to vehicular particulate matter (PM2.5), less is known about the sociodemographics-mediated relationship between the production of and exposure to such pollution. This study assesses pollution burden with a unified indicator measuring local populations' exposure to PM2.5 adjusted by their own vehicle kilometers traveled. We use geographically weighted regression in a Los Angeles case study to examine how production-adjusted exposure to vehicular PM2.5 relates to race/ethnicity and socioeconomic status, and how this relationship varies across the region. We find that, all else equal, tracts whose residents drive less experience more air pollution, as do tracts with a more non-White population. Our commute simulation demonstrates how commuters from majority-White tracts disproportionately travel through majority non-White areas to drive to work. Decades of racially-motivated freeway infrastructure planning and residential segregation shape today’s disparities between who produces vehicular pollution and who is exposed to it. We conclude by suggesting paths toward racial justice at the nexus of urban transport and environmental planning, and discussing various policy interventions.