Locating risk: A multivariate analysis of the spatial and socio-demographic characteristics of pollution

In the past 15 years, environmental justice has become both a prominent public policy issue and a catalyst in the ongoing debate about societal values. The question of whether everyone enjoys equal protection from environmental hazards and associated risks continues to be debated. A large number of empirical studies, mostly utilising US data, have been carried out to determine whether principles of environmental justice have been violated. The results of these studies overwhelmingly suggest environmental inequity: communities of racial minorities and lower socio-economic status disproportionately get environmentally damaging land uses.;This research approaches the question of environmental inequity multivariately and uses Toronto, Hamilton and Niagara regions of Ontario as case studies. Drawing on 1996 Canadian census and municipal land use data, an empirical study of the connection between location of pollution indicators on one hand and visible minority status and socio-economic status on the other is presented. This is followed by an analysis of the effects of spatial and historical land use characteristics of communities on pollution outcome.;The study assembled data on five pollution indicators—contaminated sites, industrial discharges, hazardous waste treatment and storage facilities, Polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) storage facilities and waste treatment, storage, disposal facilities (TSDFs—e.g. municipal landfills). The large dataset assembled permits a variety of investigations of interest from the perspective of environmental justice and equity including (1) the extent pollution outcome depends on race and socio-economic factors, (2) whether better explanatory factors exist for predicting pollution outcome than race and socio-economic status alone, (3) the extent the multivariate model holds across individual types of pollution sources, and (4) the extent pollution outcome depends on the unique geographic and cultural characteristics of Canadian communities. The thesis provides a unique perspective on existing and future distribution patterns of pollution sources using definitions of race and socio-economic status specific to the Canadian context. As well the study examined the effect of various spatial or community characteristics such as urban versus non-urban locations, age of housing structures, real estate values, rate of homeownership, vacancy rate, and history of industrial land use.;The results suggest that the combination of lower socio-economic status and residency in core urban locations and near older industrial areas represent the characteristics of communities most likely to be inundated with a large number of pollution sources. Such areas also tend to have a higher incidence of older housing structures and a lower rate of homeownership relative to renters. Pollution sources and industrial land use tend to lower real estate values nearby. It is indisputable that these are characteristics of resource-poor communities that are seen as somehow “inferior” to their more politically powerful counterparts. At the very least they do not have the organisational and political clout to defend themselves against polluting industries or public policies that would otherwise endanger the health of residents and the surrounding environment.;These results provide both substantive implications to guide the further design of environmental equity research and methodological implications to guide the further study of the causes of environmental inequity. Furthermore, the findings have a number of important implications for planners, particularly those working at the neighbourhood and grassroots levels. For these planners, it is essential that they aggressively scrutinise the industrial pollution, potential ground contamination, and location of toxic waste facilities in areas with large concentrations of people of lower socio-economic status, visible minorities, recent immigrants, and other traditionally disadvantaged population groups. As well, a more comprehensive understanding of the mechanisms of discriminatory environmental outcomes is crucial to moving toward environmental equity, whether the outcomes result from existing urban development, land use choices, environmental regulation, monitoring and enforcement. Planners can further redress the problems of environmental inequity by integrating into daily practice a more democratic approach, one that stresses equal access to economic, political and legal resources in all communities so that they become self-sustaining in dealing with pollution and other environmental problems.