GUS 0150: Urban EnvironmentAssignment 2

Assigned: Tuesday, March 29

Due: Tuesday, April 12

Introduction

This assignment requires you to perform a simple quantitative environmental inequity analysis in which you are to explore the relationship of socioeconomic status with environmental risk. Socioeconomic status is indicated using 1990 U.S. Bureau of the Census tract-level data for Allegheny County Pennsylvania, which includes Pittsburgh. Environmental risk is indicated using the locations of facilities listed in the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s Toxic Release Inventory (TRI) database for the years 1987-1990.

There are 500 tracts in AlleghenyCounty, but 31 were eliminated from the analysis because they do not have any resident population, leaving a total of 469 tracts. All TRI facilities are located in tracts with resident population.

Data

Data for the analysis is contained in the Microsoft Excel file “Allegheny_data.xls” which can be downloaded from:

This file contains data in which each row in the file represents an individual tract. The column headings are listed below, with a description of the data that is encoded for that column:

AREAKEYa unique identifier for each tract

AREA_M2land area (m2)

TOTPOP90total number of people

POV_ALLnumber of people for whom poverty level was checked

POV_BELOWnumber of people living below the poverty line

NHOWHITEnumber of people self-identifying as both white and non-Hispanic

PRESENCEindicates whether a TRI facility is located within the tract (1 = yes, 0 = no)

WITHIN1KMindicates whether a TRI facility is located within 1 km of the tract boundary (1 = yes, 0 = no)

WITHIN2KMindicates whether a TRI facility is located within 2 km of the tract boundary (1 = yes, 0 = no)

WITHIN3KMindicates whether a TRI facility is located within 3 km of the tract boundary (1 = yes, 0 = no)

NUM_TRIthe number of TRI facilities located within the tract

Deliverables

Turn in a two page report describing the following:

  1. The percent minority, percent poverty, and population density (people/km2)of AlleghenyCounty.
  1. The total number of TRI facilities in AlleghenyCounty 1987-1990.
  1. The percent minority, percent poverty, and population density (people/km2) for those tracts that contain TRI facilities and for those tracts that do not contain TRI facilities.
  1. The percent minority, percent poverty, and population density (people/km2) for those tracts that are within 1 km of a TRI facility and for those tracts that are not within 1 km of a TRI facility.
  1. The percent minority, percent poverty, and population density (people/km2) for those tracts that are within 2 km of a TRI facility and for those tracts that are not within 2 km of a TRI facility.
  1. The percent minority, percent poverty, and population density (people/km2) for those tracts that are within 3 km of a TRI facility and for those tracts that are not within 3 km of a TRI facility.
  1. The number of TRI facilities/km2 and the number of TRI facilities/1000 people within tracts in the top and bottom 20th percentile for percent minority, percent poverty, and population density.

You should turn in a 2-3 page report that includes the following sections (with section headings:

  • Introduction: The purpose and objective of the analysis.
  • Methods: A brief description of the data and the methods you used to do the analysis.
  • Results: The results of the analysis (i.e. the numeric answers to questions 1-7, above).
  • Conclusion: Based on the results of your analysis, discuss whether you believe there is evidence of environmental inequity in the distribution of TRI facilities in New Jersey. Finally, offer a brief discussion of the limitations of your analysis and recommendations for how you might do a more thorough analysis.

The paper must be written using word processing software and printed on 8.5x11 inch paper. The paper must be single spaced, in Times New Roman 12 point font, with 1.25 inch margins all around. Indent the first line of each paragraph. The paper should contain your name, the date it was written, and a title at the top of the first page.

Note: You do not have enough information from this lab assignment to say anything definitive about environmental equity or environmental justice in AlleghenyCounty. You should interpret these results in terms of a first step in examining the spatial relationship between race, class, and environmental risk. Your opinions should be distinct from, and follow after, the presentation of the results of your analysis.

Steps to Complete the Assignment

  1. The percent minority, percent poverty, and population density of AlleghenyCounty
  2. Calculate sums for TOTPOP90, POVALL, POVBELOW, NHOWHITE
  3. Calculate percent minority as ((sumTOTPOP90-sumNHOWHITE)/sumTOTPOP90)
  4. Calculate percent poverty as (sumPOVBELOW/sumPOVALL)
  5. Calculate population density as ((sumTOTPOP90/sumAREA_M2)*1000000)
  1. The total number of TRI facilities in AlleghenyCounty 1987-1990
  2. Calculate sum for NUMTRI
  1. The percent minority, percent poverty, and population density for those tracts that contain TRI facilities and for those tracts that do not contain TRI facilities.
  2. Add a new worksheet
  3. Sort data by PRESENCE
  4. Copy all records where PRESENCE = 1 into the new worksheet
  5. In the new worksheet
  6. Calculate sums for TOTPOP90, POVALL, POVBELOW, NHOWHITE
  7. Calculate percent minority as ((sumTOTPOP90-sumNHOWHITE)/sumTOTPOP90)
  8. Calculate percent poverty as (sumPOVBELOW/sumPOVALL)
  9. Calculate population density as ((sumTOTPOP90/sumAREA_M2)*1000000)
  10. repeat steps 3a – 3d for PRESENCE = 0

  1. The percent minority, percent poverty, and population density for those tracts that are within 1 km of a TRI facility and for those tracts that are not within 1 km of a TRI facility.
  2. Repeat steps 3a – 3d for WITHIN1KM
  1. The percent minority, percent poverty, and population density for those tracts that are within 2 km of a TRI facility and for those tracts that are not within 2 km of a TRI facility.
  2. Repeat steps 3a – 3d for WITHIN2KM
  1. The percent minority, percent poverty, and population density for those tracts that are within 3 km of a TRI facility and for those tracts that are not within 3 km of a TRI facility.
  2. Repeat steps 3a – 3d for WITHIN3KM
  1. The number of TRI facilities/km2 and the number of TRI facilities/1000 people within tracts in the top and bottom 20th percentile for percent minority, percent poverty, and population density.
  2. Add a new worksheet
  3. Add new column headings for percent minority, percent poverty, and population density
  4. For each record:
  5. Calculate percent minority as ((TOTPOP90-NHOWHITE)/TOTPOP90)
  6. Calculate percent poverty as (POVBELOW/POVALL)
  7. Calculate population density as ((TOTPOP90/AREA_M2)*1000000)
  8. Calculate the number of records in the top and bottom 20% of all tracts (i.e. 469/5)
  9. Sort by percent minority
  10. Add two new worksheets
  11. Copy the top and bottom 20% of all sorted records in to the two new worksheets, respectively
  12. In each worksheet:
  13. Calculate the sums for AREA_M2, TOTPOP90, and NUMTRI
  14. Calculate the number of TRI facilities/km2 as (sumNUMTRI/sumAREA_M2*1000000)
  15. Calculate the number of TRI facilities/1000 persons as (sumNUMTRI/sumTOTPOP90*1000)
  16. Repeat steps 7c - 7h for percent poverty
  17. Repeat steps 7c - 7h for population density