Environmental Engineering Reference
In-Depth Information
16
Integrating remote sensing
and GIS for environmental
justice research
Jeremy Mennis
Environmental justice concerns the rights of all persons to live in a clean and safe environment and to have the
ability to participate in environmental decision-making in their community. Satellite remote sensing can provide
valuable information on the spatial distribution of environmental hazards and amenities, as well as population, for
environmental justice research. Geographic information systems (GIS) play a key role in integrating remotely
sensed and other spatial data, and in quantifying and analyzing spatial patterns of environmental hazards and
amenities, as well as demographic character. A case study is presented that investigates the relationship between
vegetation, as measured by Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI) data derived from Landsat imagery,
and indicators of race and socioeconomic status in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA. Ordinary least squares (OLS)
and spatial econometric regression demonstrate that healthy green vegetation is associated with wealth and white
population, though these relationships are explained in part by urban form. Future research in utilizing remote
sensing in environmental justice research should incorporate advances in the spatial and spectral resolution of
remotely sensed data, as well as address the use of remote sensing to analyze the distribution of environmental
amenities and natural hazards.
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