Proximity Analysis for Exposure Assessment in Environmental Health Justice Research

Abstract

This chapter provides a historical overview and constructive critique of analytical approaches and methods that have been used to measure proximity to environmental health hazards and potential exposure to their adverse effects in the environmental justice (EJ) research literature. After providing an introduction to environmental health justice research and key findings, we examine how quantitative EJ analysis has emerged from comparing the prevalence of minority or low-income populations in spatial units hosting environmental hazards and circular buffer zones to more advanced techniques that utilize GIS, pollution plume models, and estimates of health risk from ambient exposure to multiple pollutants and emission sources. We also review spatial analytical approaches used in previous studies to determine the demographic and socioeconomic characteristics of people residing in areas potentially exposed to environmental hazards, as well as newly emerging geostatistical techniques that are more appropriate for spatial analysis of EJ than conventional statistical methods used in prior research. The concluding section focuses on highlighting the key limitations and identifying future research needs associated with assessment of environmental health justice.