Examining the Relationships Between Urban Heat Island Effect and the Spatial and Racial Dimensions of Inequality

This research addresses the relationship between the spatial and racial dimensions of housing inequality in New York City and Washington, D.C. This research aims to demonstrate the influence of historical policies on present day public housing and the impacts of continuously rising temperatures resulting from climate change on residents. To do so, this work relies on spatial mapping to examine the overlaps of three indicator variables to determine the relationship between housing and racial-spatial inequality , locations of public housing, HVI/HSI scores, and count of Black or African American residents per census tract, . Hot spot analysis was conducted to identify areas of high concentration for each variable and their overlapping regions.. Both Washington, D.C., and New York City demonstrated strong correlations between high heat vulnerability, racial disparities, and public housing locations, emphasizing the influence of historical urban policies on cities today. These findings highlight the need for all three variables to be used in housing and heat inequality research. Additionally, this research shows that public housing data is a good source for understanding the racial and spatial patterns of inequalities related to urban heat. Future work should focus on expanding the research to other cities burdened by heat, housing, and racial inequalities in other of U.S. cities to inform climate policy.

Name thesis:degree_name

Master of Urban and Regional Planning

Level thesis:degree_level

masters

Discipline thesis:degree_discipline

Urban and Regional Planning

Department dc:contributor.department

Urban Affairs and Planning

Grantor dc:publisher

Virginia Tech

Year dc:date.issued

2025

Author dc:creator

• Smith, Kathleen Elizabeth

Chair dc:contributor.committeechair

• Wagle, Paroma Subodh

Committee members dc:contributor.committeemember

• Stephenson, Max O. Jr.
• Schenk, Todd Edward William

• urban heat
• public housing
• heat vulnerability
• racial inequality
• housing inequality

Statement dc:rights

• Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International

Licence dc:rights.uri

• http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/

Language dc:language.iso

en

Dc Identifier Other

vt_gsexam:44149

OAI identifier oai:identifier

oai:vtechworks.lib.vt.edu:10919/134950