Mapping Social Vulnerability to Air Pollution in Philadelphia, PA
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Published:
Sep 15, 2020
Keywords:
Air pollution GIS PM2.5 Social Vulnerability Index Philadelphia Environmental Justice
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Abstract
Environmental stresses borne of population growth, consumerism and industrialization have subjected many populations worldwide to elevated air pollution. Philadelphia, a historically industrial city in Northeastern United States, is ranked in the top 25 cities in the country for harmful air pollutants (PM2.5, ozone). Philadelphia also experiences great financial stratification and environmental racism, which often unfairly asserts the pains of environmental pollution & associated health effects on socioeconomically disadvantaged communities. This study seeks to succinctly quantify which populations may be at risk for health effects associated with air pollution (specifically asthma, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease) through a suite of census-derived attributes. Using ArcMap Geographical Information System software (ESRI), attributes, categorized as promoting vulnerability or adaptability, are combined with air pollution data collected in summer 2019 to form a non-weighted ‘Social Vulnerability Index’ (SVI) at a census-tract level for Philadelphia. SVI demonstrated several clusters of neighborhoods with great disparities in socioeconomic factors. The census tracts with higher SVI tended to have higher levels of asthma and COPD (and vice versa). With improvements and acknowledgement of Philadelphia’s uniqueness, SVI of this kind may be used to inform policymakers on city planning (e.g. placement of future highways, industrial centers, etc.) to alleviate compounded respiratory/ pulmonary-related stresses on disadvantaged communities. Future analysis including green space coverage, other forms of air pollution, and/or a quantification of social connectivity may help to improve further understanding of the intersection between socioeconomic factors, air pollution, and health in Philadelphia, PA.
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References
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3. Anderson, H., Spix, C., Medina, S., Schouten, J., Castellsague, J., Rossi, G., Zmirou, D., Touloumi, G., Wojtyniak, B., Ponka, A., Bacharova, L., Schwartz, J., & Katsouyanni, K. (1997). Air pollution and daily admissions for chronic obstructive pulmonary disease in 6 European cities: Results from the APHEA project. European Respiratory Journal, 10, 1064–1071.
4. Bell, M., Ebisu, K., Peng, R., Walker, J., Samet, J., Zeger, S., & Dominici, F. (2008). Seasonal and regional short-term effects of fine particles on hospital admissions in 202 US counties, 1999-2005. American Journal of Epidemiology, 168(11), 1301-1310.
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9. Cutter, S., Boruff, B., & Shirley, W. (2003). Social Vulnerability to Environmental Hazards. Social Science Quarterly, 84(2). https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1111/1540-6237.8402002
10. Cutter, S., Emrich, C., Mitchell, J., Boruff, B., Gall, M., Schmidtlein, M., Burton, C., & Melton, G. (2006). The Long Road Home: Race, Class, and Recovery from Hurricane Katrina. Environment: Science and Policy for Sustainable Development, 48(2), 10–20. https://doi.org/10.3200/ENVT.48.2.8-20
11. Cutter, S., Mitchell, J., & Scott, M. (2000). Revealing the Vulnerability of People and Places: A Case Study of Georgetown County, South Carolina. Annals of the Association of American Geographers, 90(4), 713–737. https://doi.org/10.1111/0004-5608.00219
12. Eichel, L., & Howell, O. (2017, December 5). Where Do Philadephia’s Poor Live? The Pew Charitable Trusts. https://www.pewtrusts.org/en/research-and-analysis/articles/2017/12/05/where-do-philadelphias-poor-live
13. Fatemi, F., Aguirre, B., Ardalan, A., & Mansouri, N. (2017). Social Vulnerability Indicators in Disasters: Findings from a Systematic Review. International Journal of Disaster Risk Reduction, 22, 219–227. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.ijdrr.2016.09.006
14. Feng, S., Gao, D., Liao, F., Zhou, F., & Wang, X. (2016). The health effects of ambient PM2.5 and potential mechanisms. Ecotoxicology and Environmental Safety, 128, 67–74. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.ecoenv.2016.01.030
15. Flanagan, B., Hallisey, E., Adams, E., & Lavery, A. (2018). Measuring Community Vulnerability to Natural and Anthropogenic Hazards: The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s Social Vulnerability Index. Journal of Environmental Health, 80(10), 34–36.
16. Ge, Y., Zhang, H., Dou, W., Chen, W., Liu, N., Wang, Y., Shi, Y., & Rao, W. (2017). Mapping Social Vulnerability to Air Pollution: A Case Study of the Yangtze River Delta Region, China. Sustainability, 9(109). https://doi.org/doi:10.3390/su9010109
17. Gordian, M., Haneuse, S., & Wakefield, J. (2006). An investigation of the association between traffic exposure and the diagnosis of asthma in children. Journal of Exposure Science and Environmental Epidemiology, 16, 49–55.
18. Heinrich, J., & Schikowski, T. (2018). COPD Patients as Vulnerable Subpopulation for Exposure to Ambient Air Pollution. Current Environmental Health Reports, 5, 70–76. https://doi.org/10.1007/s40572-018-0178-z
19. Howell, O. (2018). Philadelphia’s Poor: Experiences From Below the Poverty Line. The PEW Charitable Trusts. https://www.pewtrusts.org/-/media/assets/2018/09/phillypovertyreport2018.pdf
20. Huang, J., Xiaochuan, P., Xinbiao, G., & Guoxing, L. (2018). Impacts of air pollution wave on years of life lost: A crucial way to communicate the health risks of air pollution to the public. Environment International, 113, 42-49.
21. Hutchinson, R., Putt, M., Dean, L., Long, J., Montagnet, C., & Armstrong, K. (2009). Neighborhood racial composition, social capital and black all-cause mortality in Philadelphia. Social Science and Medicine, 68(10), 1859–1865. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.socscimed.2009.02.005
22. Kim, H., Hieckhefer, G., Joesch, J., Greek, A., & Baydar, N. (2009). Health Care Utilization by Children With Asthma. Preventing Chronic Disease, 6(1), A12.
23. Kim, J., Huen, K., Adams, S., Smorodinsky, S., Hoats, A., Malig, B., Lipsett, M., & Ostro, B. (2008). Residential Traffic and Children’s Respiratory Health. Environmental Health Perspectives, 116(9), 1274–1279. https://doi.org/doi/pdf/10.1289/ehp.10735
24. Kioumourtzoglou, M.-A., Coull, B., Dominici, F., Koutrakis, P., Schwartz, J., & Suh, H. (2014). The impact of source contribution uncertainty on the effects of source-specific PM2.5 on hospital admissions: A case study in Boston, MA. Journal of Exposure Science and Environmental Epidemiology, 24, 365–371. http://dx.doi.org/10.1038/jes.2014.7
25. Ko, F., Tom, W., Wong, T.W., Chan, D., Tung, A., Loi, C., & Hui, D. (2007). Temporal relationship between air pollutants and hospital admissions for chronic obstructive pulmonary disease in Hong Kong. Thorax, 62, 780-785.
26. Lewis, T., Robins, T., Mentz, G., Zhang, X., Mukherjee, B., Lin, X., Keeler, G., Dvonch, T., Yip, F., O’Neill, M., Parker, E., Israel, B., Max, P., & Reyes, A. (n.d.). Air pollution and respiratory symptoms among children with asthma: Vulnerability by corticosteroid use and residence area. Science of the Total Environment, 448(15), 48–55. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.scitotenv.2012.11.070
27. Li, L., Lin, G.-Z., Liu, H.-Z., Guo, Y., & Ou, C.-Q. (2015). Can the Air Pollution Index be used to communicate the health risks of air pollution? Environmental Pollution, 205, 153–160. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.envpol.2015.05.038
28. Ling, S., & van Eeden, S. (2009). Particulate matter air pollution exposure: Role in the development and exacerbation of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease. International Journal of Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease, 4, 233–243. https://dx.doi.org/10.2147%2Fcopd.s5098
29. Loomis, D., Grosse, Y., Lauby-Secretan, B., El Ghissassi, F., Bouvard, V., Benbrahim-Tallaa, L., Guha, N., Baan, R., Mattack, H., & Straif, K. (2013). The carcinogenicity of air pollution. The Lanclet, 14, 1262–1263.
30. Philadelphia County, Pennsylvania. (2019). United States Census Bureau. [data set] https://www.census.gov/quickfacts/philadelphiacountypennsylvania
31. Plaugic, M. (2019). Neighborhood air quality and health: Quantifying outdoor air pollution risk in Philadelphia [Master’s Thesis, University of North Carolina]. https://cdr.lib.unc.edu/concern/masters_papers/t148fn644
32. Ridlington, E., & Leavitt, C. (2018). Trouble in the Air: Millions of Americans Breathe Polluted Air. PennEnvironment.
33. Roth, A., Krat, A., Mitchell, A., Mukherjee, R., Davidson, P., & Lankenau, S. (2019). Overdose Prevention Site Acceptability Among Residents and Businesses Surrounding a Proposed Site in Philadelphia, PA. Journal of Urban Health, 96(3), 341–352.
34. State of the Air. (2019). American Lung Association. https://www.lung.org/assets/documents/healthy-air/state-of-the-air/sota-2019-full.pdf
35. Strader, S., & Ashley, W. (2018). Finescale Assessment of Mobile Home Tornado Vulnerability in the Central and Southeast United States. Weather, Climate, and Society, 10, 797–812. https://doi.org/DOI: 10.1175/WCAS-D-18-0060.1
36. Sunyer, J. (2001). Urban air pollution and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease: A review. European Respiratory Journal, 17, 1024–1033.
37. Szyszkowicz, M., & Tremblay, N. (2011). Case-Crossover Design: Air Pollution and Health Outcomes. International Journal of Occupational Medicine and Environmental Health, 24(3), 249–255. https://doi.org/DOI 10.2478/s13382-011-0034-y
38. Tecer, L., Alagha, O., Karaca, F., Tuncel, G., & Eldes, N. (2008). Particulate Matter (PM2.5, PM10-2.5, and PM10) and Children’s Hospital Admissions for Asthma and Respiratory Diseases: A Bidirectional Case-Crossover Study. Journal of Toxicology and Environmental Health, 71(8), 512–520. https://doi.org/10.1080/15287390801907459
39. Thomson, N., Chaudhuri, R., & Livingston, E. (2004). Asthma and cigarette smoking. European Respiratory Journal, 24, 822–833.
40. U.S. Census Bureau. (2017). Age and Sex: 2017 5-Year Estimates (Report No. S0101). Washington, DC, U.S. Government Printing Office.
41. U.S. Census Bureau. (2017). Race: 2017 5-Year Estimates (Report No. B02001). Washington, DC, U.S. Government Printing Office.
42. U.S. Census Bureau. (2017). Educational Attainment: 2017 5-Year Estimates (Report No. S1501). Washington, DC, U.S. Government Printing Office.
43. U.S. Census Bureau. (2017). Poverty Status in the Past 12 Months: 2017 5-Year Estimates (Report No. S1701). Washington, DC, U.S. Government Printing Office.
44. U.S. Census Bureau. (2017). Mean Income in the Past 12 Months (In 2017 Inflation-Adjusted Dollars): 2017 5-Year Estimates (Report No. S1902). Washington, DC, U.S. Government Printing Office.
45. Wu, S.-Y., Yarnal, B., & Fisher, A. (2002). Vulnerability of coastal communities to sea-level rise: A case study of Cape May County, New Jersey, USA. Climate Research, 22, 255–270.
2. Ammon, F. (2018). Resisting Gentrification Amid Historic Preservation: Society Hill, Philadelphia, and the Fight for Low-Income Housing. Change Over Time, 8(1), 8–31.
3. Anderson, H., Spix, C., Medina, S., Schouten, J., Castellsague, J., Rossi, G., Zmirou, D., Touloumi, G., Wojtyniak, B., Ponka, A., Bacharova, L., Schwartz, J., & Katsouyanni, K. (1997). Air pollution and daily admissions for chronic obstructive pulmonary disease in 6 European cities: Results from the APHEA project. European Respiratory Journal, 10, 1064–1071.
4. Bell, M., Ebisu, K., Peng, R., Walker, J., Samet, J., Zeger, S., & Dominici, F. (2008). Seasonal and regional short-term effects of fine particles on hospital admissions in 202 US counties, 1999-2005. American Journal of Epidemiology, 168(11), 1301-1310.
5. Brauer, M., Freedman, G., Frostad, J., van Donkelaar, A., Martin, R., Dentener, F., van Dingenen, R., Estep, K., Amini, H., Apte, J., Balakrishnan, K., Barregard, L., Broday, D., Feigin, V., Ghosh, S., Hopke, P., Knibbs, L., Kokubo, Y., Liu, Y., … Cohen, A. (2016). Ambient Air Pollution Exposure Estimation for the Global Burden of Disease 2013. Environmental Science and Technology, 50(1), 79–88.
6. Centers for Disease Control, 500 Cities Project. (2019). 500 Cities: Census-Tract-level Data (GIS Friendly Format) [data set]. https://chronicdata.cdc.gov/d/k86t-wghb?category=500-Cities&view_name=500-Cities-Census-Tract-level-Data-GIS-Friendly-FoOpens in new window.
7. Clark, W., & Avery, K. (1976). The Effects of Data Aggregation in Statistical Analysis. Geographical Analysis, 8, 428–438.
8. Cutter, S. (1996). Vulnerability to environmental hazards. Human Geography, 20(4), 529–539.
9. Cutter, S., Boruff, B., & Shirley, W. (2003). Social Vulnerability to Environmental Hazards. Social Science Quarterly, 84(2). https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1111/1540-6237.8402002
10. Cutter, S., Emrich, C., Mitchell, J., Boruff, B., Gall, M., Schmidtlein, M., Burton, C., & Melton, G. (2006). The Long Road Home: Race, Class, and Recovery from Hurricane Katrina. Environment: Science and Policy for Sustainable Development, 48(2), 10–20. https://doi.org/10.3200/ENVT.48.2.8-20
11. Cutter, S., Mitchell, J., & Scott, M. (2000). Revealing the Vulnerability of People and Places: A Case Study of Georgetown County, South Carolina. Annals of the Association of American Geographers, 90(4), 713–737. https://doi.org/10.1111/0004-5608.00219
12. Eichel, L., & Howell, O. (2017, December 5). Where Do Philadephia’s Poor Live? The Pew Charitable Trusts. https://www.pewtrusts.org/en/research-and-analysis/articles/2017/12/05/where-do-philadelphias-poor-live
13. Fatemi, F., Aguirre, B., Ardalan, A., & Mansouri, N. (2017). Social Vulnerability Indicators in Disasters: Findings from a Systematic Review. International Journal of Disaster Risk Reduction, 22, 219–227. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.ijdrr.2016.09.006
14. Feng, S., Gao, D., Liao, F., Zhou, F., & Wang, X. (2016). The health effects of ambient PM2.5 and potential mechanisms. Ecotoxicology and Environmental Safety, 128, 67–74. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.ecoenv.2016.01.030
15. Flanagan, B., Hallisey, E., Adams, E., & Lavery, A. (2018). Measuring Community Vulnerability to Natural and Anthropogenic Hazards: The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s Social Vulnerability Index. Journal of Environmental Health, 80(10), 34–36.
16. Ge, Y., Zhang, H., Dou, W., Chen, W., Liu, N., Wang, Y., Shi, Y., & Rao, W. (2017). Mapping Social Vulnerability to Air Pollution: A Case Study of the Yangtze River Delta Region, China. Sustainability, 9(109). https://doi.org/doi:10.3390/su9010109
17. Gordian, M., Haneuse, S., & Wakefield, J. (2006). An investigation of the association between traffic exposure and the diagnosis of asthma in children. Journal of Exposure Science and Environmental Epidemiology, 16, 49–55.
18. Heinrich, J., & Schikowski, T. (2018). COPD Patients as Vulnerable Subpopulation for Exposure to Ambient Air Pollution. Current Environmental Health Reports, 5, 70–76. https://doi.org/10.1007/s40572-018-0178-z
19. Howell, O. (2018). Philadelphia’s Poor: Experiences From Below the Poverty Line. The PEW Charitable Trusts. https://www.pewtrusts.org/-/media/assets/2018/09/phillypovertyreport2018.pdf
20. Huang, J., Xiaochuan, P., Xinbiao, G., & Guoxing, L. (2018). Impacts of air pollution wave on years of life lost: A crucial way to communicate the health risks of air pollution to the public. Environment International, 113, 42-49.
21. Hutchinson, R., Putt, M., Dean, L., Long, J., Montagnet, C., & Armstrong, K. (2009). Neighborhood racial composition, social capital and black all-cause mortality in Philadelphia. Social Science and Medicine, 68(10), 1859–1865. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.socscimed.2009.02.005
22. Kim, H., Hieckhefer, G., Joesch, J., Greek, A., & Baydar, N. (2009). Health Care Utilization by Children With Asthma. Preventing Chronic Disease, 6(1), A12.
23. Kim, J., Huen, K., Adams, S., Smorodinsky, S., Hoats, A., Malig, B., Lipsett, M., & Ostro, B. (2008). Residential Traffic and Children’s Respiratory Health. Environmental Health Perspectives, 116(9), 1274–1279. https://doi.org/doi/pdf/10.1289/ehp.10735
24. Kioumourtzoglou, M.-A., Coull, B., Dominici, F., Koutrakis, P., Schwartz, J., & Suh, H. (2014). The impact of source contribution uncertainty on the effects of source-specific PM2.5 on hospital admissions: A case study in Boston, MA. Journal of Exposure Science and Environmental Epidemiology, 24, 365–371. http://dx.doi.org/10.1038/jes.2014.7
25. Ko, F., Tom, W., Wong, T.W., Chan, D., Tung, A., Loi, C., & Hui, D. (2007). Temporal relationship between air pollutants and hospital admissions for chronic obstructive pulmonary disease in Hong Kong. Thorax, 62, 780-785.
26. Lewis, T., Robins, T., Mentz, G., Zhang, X., Mukherjee, B., Lin, X., Keeler, G., Dvonch, T., Yip, F., O’Neill, M., Parker, E., Israel, B., Max, P., & Reyes, A. (n.d.). Air pollution and respiratory symptoms among children with asthma: Vulnerability by corticosteroid use and residence area. Science of the Total Environment, 448(15), 48–55. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.scitotenv.2012.11.070
27. Li, L., Lin, G.-Z., Liu, H.-Z., Guo, Y., & Ou, C.-Q. (2015). Can the Air Pollution Index be used to communicate the health risks of air pollution? Environmental Pollution, 205, 153–160. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.envpol.2015.05.038
28. Ling, S., & van Eeden, S. (2009). Particulate matter air pollution exposure: Role in the development and exacerbation of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease. International Journal of Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease, 4, 233–243. https://dx.doi.org/10.2147%2Fcopd.s5098
29. Loomis, D., Grosse, Y., Lauby-Secretan, B., El Ghissassi, F., Bouvard, V., Benbrahim-Tallaa, L., Guha, N., Baan, R., Mattack, H., & Straif, K. (2013). The carcinogenicity of air pollution. The Lanclet, 14, 1262–1263.
30. Philadelphia County, Pennsylvania. (2019). United States Census Bureau. [data set] https://www.census.gov/quickfacts/philadelphiacountypennsylvania
31. Plaugic, M. (2019). Neighborhood air quality and health: Quantifying outdoor air pollution risk in Philadelphia [Master’s Thesis, University of North Carolina]. https://cdr.lib.unc.edu/concern/masters_papers/t148fn644
32. Ridlington, E., & Leavitt, C. (2018). Trouble in the Air: Millions of Americans Breathe Polluted Air. PennEnvironment.
33. Roth, A., Krat, A., Mitchell, A., Mukherjee, R., Davidson, P., & Lankenau, S. (2019). Overdose Prevention Site Acceptability Among Residents and Businesses Surrounding a Proposed Site in Philadelphia, PA. Journal of Urban Health, 96(3), 341–352.
34. State of the Air. (2019). American Lung Association. https://www.lung.org/assets/documents/healthy-air/state-of-the-air/sota-2019-full.pdf
35. Strader, S., & Ashley, W. (2018). Finescale Assessment of Mobile Home Tornado Vulnerability in the Central and Southeast United States. Weather, Climate, and Society, 10, 797–812. https://doi.org/DOI: 10.1175/WCAS-D-18-0060.1
36. Sunyer, J. (2001). Urban air pollution and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease: A review. European Respiratory Journal, 17, 1024–1033.
37. Szyszkowicz, M., & Tremblay, N. (2011). Case-Crossover Design: Air Pollution and Health Outcomes. International Journal of Occupational Medicine and Environmental Health, 24(3), 249–255. https://doi.org/DOI 10.2478/s13382-011-0034-y
38. Tecer, L., Alagha, O., Karaca, F., Tuncel, G., & Eldes, N. (2008). Particulate Matter (PM2.5, PM10-2.5, and PM10) and Children’s Hospital Admissions for Asthma and Respiratory Diseases: A Bidirectional Case-Crossover Study. Journal of Toxicology and Environmental Health, 71(8), 512–520. https://doi.org/10.1080/15287390801907459
39. Thomson, N., Chaudhuri, R., & Livingston, E. (2004). Asthma and cigarette smoking. European Respiratory Journal, 24, 822–833.
40. U.S. Census Bureau. (2017). Age and Sex: 2017 5-Year Estimates (Report No. S0101). Washington, DC, U.S. Government Printing Office.
41. U.S. Census Bureau. (2017). Race: 2017 5-Year Estimates (Report No. B02001). Washington, DC, U.S. Government Printing Office.
42. U.S. Census Bureau. (2017). Educational Attainment: 2017 5-Year Estimates (Report No. S1501). Washington, DC, U.S. Government Printing Office.
43. U.S. Census Bureau. (2017). Poverty Status in the Past 12 Months: 2017 5-Year Estimates (Report No. S1701). Washington, DC, U.S. Government Printing Office.
44. U.S. Census Bureau. (2017). Mean Income in the Past 12 Months (In 2017 Inflation-Adjusted Dollars): 2017 5-Year Estimates (Report No. S1902). Washington, DC, U.S. Government Printing Office.
45. Wu, S.-Y., Yarnal, B., & Fisher, A. (2002). Vulnerability of coastal communities to sea-level rise: A case study of Cape May County, New Jersey, USA. Climate Research, 22, 255–270.