Transcript Document

A PARTICIPATORY GIS APPROACH IN ENVIRONMENTAL
JUSTICE STUDIES: THE CASE OF DALLAS
PRESENTED BY: SIMA NAMIN
SCHOOL OF URBAN AND PUBLIC AFFAIRS, UNIVERSITY OF TEXAS AT ARLINGTON
45th Annual Meeting of the Urban Affairs Association
Contents
 Introduction
 Introducing Environmental Justice
 A Review of Environmental Justice Research in the USA
 Qualitative GIS Research and Environmental Justice
 Research Methodology
 Case Study
 Primary GIS results in West Dallas
 Conclusion on Primary Results and Case Studies
Environmental Justice
Environmental justice means the “fair treatment and meaningful involvement of all
people regardless of race, color, national origin, or income with respect to the
development, implementation and enforcement of environmental laws, regulations and
policies” (EPA, 2013).
Underlying assumptions:
According to the United Nation’s Rio Declaration in 1992, every individual and local
community has the right to enjoy a healthy environment
Critiques of Environmental Justice
First critique is centered on the political disputes that characterize EJ as anti-industrial
capitalism for criticizing the institutional power relations as a factor that increases the
environmental inequalities (e.g. Krieg, 1998 ; Foreman, 1998).
The second critique of the EJ movement points to the limitations of the movement for
being an exclusively anthropocentric discourse (e.g. Dryzek, 1997).
The third group of critiques is centered on the argument that EJ has a weak theoretical
base (e.g. Krieg, 1998; Bowen & Wells, 2002).
The fourth critiques is that the American school of environmental justice is place-bound
and focused on fixed locations, which is the result of the dominance of distributive justice
in this field (e.g. Schlosberg, 2004; Stanley, 2009).
Environmental Justice Research
Perception
Statistical Techniques
GIS-Based
Research
Main Themes:
(a) hazard surveillance,
Mainly grounded on proximity (b) exposure surveillance.
(c) outcome surveillance.
to environmental health
(Maantay & McLafferty,
hazards
Landscape-Based
Approaches
2011).
Consider ecological conditions
And landscape dynamics
Paradigm Shift in Ecological Theories
Equilibrium Theories
Modern
Derivatives
Background
assumption in
ecology for centuries
Remained prominent in
modern ecological
thought until 60s and 70s
 Non-equilibrium
 Multiple equilibria
Logical
Next
Step
Supraorganismic
Concept
 Equilibrium
Hierarchical
Patch
Dynamics
Lack of
recognition of
spatial patchiness
and the effects of
hierarchical
linkages across
scales in space
and time
 Concept of patch
and patchiness
 Patch dynamic
perspective
 Hierarchy theory
Qualitative GIS Research and Environmental Justice
The methodology of my dissertation falls under the category of GIS with qualitative
methods. This category refers to the application of qualitative methods along with GIS
analysis, which leads to the application of mixed methods in order to integrate different
sources of data (e.g. Elwood, 2006). It should be mentioned that there are some general
critiques on the practices of PGIS.
1) limited time and inadequate training and financial resources (e.g. Elwood, 2006)
2) Deficiencies in incorporating local knowledge (e.g. Harris & Weiner, 1998)
3) PGIS methodology does not provide the conceptual or theoretical framework for such
analysis (Alagan, 2007).
Research Questions

The main research question of this study is: how the states of environmental (in)justice can be
explained through an interdisciplinary model assessing both biophysical and anthropic systems.

What kind of discourse development exposes environmental injustices?

What are the varying aspects of environmental justice discourse?

How have local residents been portrayed and/or marginalized in the EJ discourses of different groups?

How are the ecological understandings of the concept of environmental justice different from what is
understood by local people? How can a participatory approach enrich the ecological studies in urban areas
specifically those centered on environmental injustice?

What implications might the findings of the research have for efforts to promote environmental justice in
public policy?
Research question
Corresponding Task
Data
data collection method
How the states of environmental (in)justice
1) Identify entries for PGIS dataset 2) Collect all
GIS data (on environmental
Interview- focus group-
can be explained through an
data (quantitative & qualitative) in PGIS
factors and human factors)
participant observation-
and all qualitative data.
participatory mapping- City’s
interdisciplinary model assessing both
biophysical and anthropic systems
GIS data services-literature
What kind of discourse development
1) Explain changes in environmental discourses
Coded interviews- census
Interview with residents and
exposes environmental injustices
2) Relate changes in discourse to current
data- official docs- Agents of
informants- Literature review-
socioeconomic factors & environmental policies 4) change- access to resources
Identify important actors in those changes
What are the varying aspects of
1) Identify historic and current environmental
Online survey-Coded
Web designed survey-Interview-
environmental justice discourse?
discourses 2) Explain the influential factors in
interviews- Focus group-
Focus group and participant
shaping these discourses
participant observation-
observation.
How can a participatory approach to
1) Participatory mapping : environmental pollution
Community mapping results-
Focus group- Interview with
integrate expert and local knowledge
and vulnerabilities, natural resources
coded interviews and focus
residents and informants-
group
mapping
enrich EJ studies
How the results may promote
environmental justice in public policy
1) Analyses the participatory process and chain of PGIS results- Interview
Interview : residents &
power
informants-PGIS-Lit
Case Studies
West Dallas is an infamous case of environmental injustice. Since the 1980s many
grassroots movements have attempted to improve the environmental quality of this
region. There are many environmental organizations that pursue remedies in this
region (e.g. West Dallas Coalition for Environmental Justice). For decades, lead
contamination has been a serious health concern for the residents.
Case Studies
1990
1995
2000
2005
2010
Case Studies
Landscape metrics application to Dallas
ShI
D
N
Patch Size
Patch Origins
Average
SD
Int
Dis
Rem
En
1990
0.660
0.117
195
2746909
7754021
29
32
9
14
1995
0.679
0.165
258
2076152
6898294
29
29
12
14
2000
0.729
0.115
1265
423436
2685373
23
25
8
13
2005
0.676
0.168
3984
105810
482901
26
29
14
20
2010
0.668
0.234
4231
101895
534018
39
15
12
5
Rate of change 2000-2010
Dallas
West Dallas
2000-2010
2000-2010
Introduced patch
0.72
2.62
Spot disturbance patch
-1.01
-3.94
Remnant patch
-6.09
0.39
Environmental resource patch
3.81
-2.66
Case Studies
External
Map production
Internal
-The area contains potential participating communities and
represent racial diversity
-the presence of socioeconomically disadvantaged groups
Map utilization
-A communities that is not dominated or
highly influenced by an organization
- Agency/NGO representatives played a
limited role
-Can lend itself to generalization
-community campaign/movement has been deployed
-Likelihood that a site has released or have the potential to release
a hazardous substances into the environment
Case Studies
 36 percent of the residents in South Dallas have NOT
graduated from high school (Methodist Dallas Medical Center,
2013).
 South Dallas has the largest percentage of residents 65 years
of age and older.
 South Dallas has the lowest economic indicators of all Dallas
County communities:
o Per capita income of $13,400
o Unemployment of 13.1%
o 25% below FPL (Methodist Dallas Medical Center, 2013, p. 10).
 Dallas County, Texas, presents one of the largest food deserts
in the U.S. (USDA, 2009) and most of these food deserts can be
found in south Dallas (Regan & Rice, 2012).
(Regan & Rice, 2012)
 South Dallas, the community with low SES and high levels of
uninsured residents, had the largest number of ED visits
including both primary care treatable and
preventable/avoidable.
 South Dallas has the highest Cancer Mortality Rate (Texas Department of State Health Services ,
2009). (e.g. disparities related to breast cancer diagnosis and mortality)
References

Alagan, R. (2007). Participatory GIS Approaches to Environmental Impact Assessment: A Case study of the Appalachian Corridor H Transportation
Project. (Doctoral dissertation, West Virginia University, 2007).

Dryzek, J. (1997). The politics of the earth: environmental discourses. New York: Oxford University Press.

Bowens, W., Wells, M. (2002). The politics and reality of environmental justice: a history and considerations for public administrators and
policymakers. Journal of Public Administration Review. 62 (6). 688-699

Elwood, S. (2006). Critical Issues in Participatory GIS: Deconstructions, Reconstructions, and New Research Directions. Transactions in GIS, 10(5),
693–708.

Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). (2013). Environmental Justice. Retrieved September 20, 2013, from
http://www.epa.gov/compliance/environmentaljustice/

Harris, T., & Weiner, D. (1998). Empowerment, marginalization, and "community-integrate" GIS." Cartography and Geographic Information
Systems, 25(2), 67-76.

Kreig, E. (1998). Review of The promise and peril of environmental justice. Retrieved November 13, 2013, from
http://www.asanet.org/images/members/docs/pdf/special/cs/CS_29_1_Review_26_Foreman.pdf

Maantay, J., McLafferty, S. (2011). Geospatial Analysis of Environmental Health. New York: springer.

Methodist Dallas Medical Center. (2013). Community Health Needs Assessment. Retrieved on December 10, 2014, from
https://www.methodisthealthsystem.org/workfiles/CHNA/Dallas-Community-Health-Needs-Assessment.pdf

Regan, A., Rice, M. (2012). An exploration of alternative food desert definitions in south Dallas. Papers of the Applied Geography Conferences. 35.
183 – 191.

Schlosberg, D. (2004). Reconceiving Environmental Justice: Global Movements and Political Theories. Environmental Politics. 13 (3). 517 – 540.

Stanley, A. (2009). Just space or spatial justice? Difference, discourse, and environmental justice. Local Environment, 14(10), 999 –1014. Retrieved
on December 10, 2014, from http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/13549830903277417#.VJHTFSvF9z8
The paper will be posted on Simanamin.com