College of Social and Behavioral Science
86 Shade, Urban Heat, and Public Transportation in Tucson, Arizona
Celeste Maybell and Timothy Collins
Faculty Mentor: Timothy Collins (Environmental & Sustainability Studies, University of Utah)
Description of Project
Existing environmental justice literature has found that urban heat island temperatures are higher in United States neighborhoods belonging to low income and racial/ethnic minority communities. It is also known that urban spaces utilizing vegetation shade tend to be cooler than spaces that rely on architectural or building shade. There is, however, relatively little research on urban heat and public transportation waiting areas and the types of shade used in these areas despite the fact that people from lower income and minority racial/ethnic neighborhoods tend to rely on public transportation more than those from more privileged neighborhoods. This research pairs data derived from the United States Geological Survey on land surface temperature (LST) with sociodemographic data from the United States Census Bureau’s American Community Survey and primary data gathered on bus stop shade environments in the City of Tucson, Arizona. Data from the American Community Survey for small areas (census tracts and block groups) and from the City of Tucson on bus stops will be used to characterize neighborhood social characteristics of bus stop locations, and those data will be paired with data on bus stop LST and shade to examine social inequalities in heat environments. It is predicted that LST will be higher and there will be less shade around bus stops serving neighborhoods with lower incomes and higher racial/ethnic minority composition in Tucson. Additionally, it is predicted that public transportation waiting areas in Tucson will utilize infrastructural shade more frequently than green shade. The results of this project will contribute to research on urban heat island effects and public transportation. Results may suggest a new approach to addressing urban heat island inequities in cities for their public transportation waiting areas and encourage public transportation usage as cities strive to reach sustainability goals.
Literature Review
Environmental justice literature has consistently found that that the effects of urban heat are disproportionately felt in low-income communities and communities predominantly composed of racial/ethnic minority groups (Renteria, 2022; Mitchell, & Chakraborty, 2014, Hsu et al., 2021). In the United States, heat is the leading cause of weather-related deaths; the frequency, duration, and intensity of heat events are expected to increase because of climate change (Nahlik et al., 2017;
Goodell, 2023). The U.S. southwest is particularly vulnerable to these changes as rising temperatures, arid conditions, and dust storms are met with an increasing population placing higher demands on energy production (Brazel, 2019; Santamouris, et al., 2015; Goodell, 2023; Nahlik et a