How Decades of Racist Housing Policy Left Neighborhoods Sweltering
Redlining helped reshape the urban landscape of U.S. cities. It also left communities of color far more vulnerable to rising heat.
Dorothy Roberts
145d ago
ICYMI: How structural racism and racial capitalism (e.g., redlining policies) make Black people more vulnerable to lethal threats like global warming, pandemics, and hurricanes. None of this is natural.
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The @nytimes mapped heat in Richmond, finding that neighborhoods that were redlined in the 1930s — deemed as risky investments because most residents were Black — are now hotter, with little tree cover and over-paving. Lots of cool blue in the West End.
Tremendous reporting by @bradplumer & @PopovichN showing how formerly ‘redlined’ neighborhoods are today 5 degrees hotter in summer, on average, than areas once favored for housing loans.
In U.S. cities, decades of racist housing policies have left some neighborhoods much hotter than others. These maps from Richmond, Virginia, show why.
One of the best examples of geographical analysis & mapping I've seen this year.
Satellite data + social data combined on maps that become the story.
This is what geography should be about!
Racist housing policies like redlining helped reshape the urban landscape of U.S. cities. They also left communities of color far more vulnerable to rising heat.
We mapped how this plays out in Richmond, Va.
Last century's redlining makes Black communities more exposed to this century's heat waves, @bradplumer & @PopovichN show in this amazing piece. nytimes.com/interactive/20… pic.twitter.com/bC9fuPmKPm
How Decades of Racist Housing Policy Left Neighborhoods Sweltering - The New York Times
In cities across the U.S., decades of racist housing policies have led to stark inequalities in who suffers from climate change. New piece with @PopovichN
Historic,continuing racial segregation a core reason that people of color are often trapped in hot, unhealthy conditions, with climate change worsening their plight. Heat-related deaths already top cause of US weather mortality @DrBobBullard
“Even people who don’t believe institutionalized racism are struck when we show them these maps”
What does racist redlining policies have to do with climate change?
Have a look at this incredible piece by @bradplumer and @PopovichN
Across more than 100 cities, a recent study found, formerly redlined neighborhoods are today 5 degrees hotter in summer, on average, than areas once favored for housing loans, with some cities seeing differences as large as 12 degrees.
"Across more than 100 cities, a recent study found, formerly redlined neighborhoods are today 5 degrees hotter in summer, on average, than areas once favored for housing loans, with some cities seeing differences as large as 12 degrees."
nytimes.com/interactive/20… @BreakingBrown this is redlining in Richmond Virginia, similar time what you showed in your video about Kenosha
There’s growing evidence that 20th century officials enacted policies that reinforced racial segregation in cities and diverted investment away from minority neighborhoods in ways that created large disparities in the urban heat environment.
Redlining reshaped cities across the country in the 20th century. It left communities of color more vulnerable to heat. Today, many poor neighborhoods can be 5 to 20 degrees Fahrenheit hotter in summer than wealthier, whiter parts of the same city.
Formerly redlined neighborhoods are, on average, 5 degrees hotter than areas once favored for housing loans, and have fewer trees and more pavement, which radiates heat.
How Decades of Racist Housing Policy Left Neighborhoods Sweltering
Across the country, formerly redlined neighborhoods now have more paved surfaces & fewer trees, making them measurably hotter. Another way past racist policies negatively impact communities of color today that only get worse with climate change.
There’s growing evidence that 20th century officials enacted policies that reinforced racial segregation in cities and diverted investment away from minority neighborhoods in ways that created large disparities in the urban heat environment.
nyti.ms/3lgMLcW pic.twitter.com/v6o7jWST2p
Another important article on why it’s fundamental to understand how the distribution and intensification of solar heat, like water and waste, is inextricably tied to structural racism.
Thanks @nytclimate for putting #TreeEquity center stage. Now let’s make 🌳 happen for #HealthEquity & #ClimateJustice! @AmericanForests @1t_org @WeAreSUFC @weact4ej
More compelling evidence of the long-term damage wrought by redlining: neighborhoods that have faced decades of disinvestment are especially vulnerable to high temperatures and resulting negative health outcomes.
Across more than 100 cities, a recent study found, formerly redlined neighborhoods are today 5 degrees hotter in summer, on average, than areas once favored for housing loans
"Across more than 100 cities, a recent study found, formerly redlined neighborhoods are today 5 degrees hotter in summer, on average, than areas once favored for housing loans, with some cities seeing differences as large as 12 degrees."
But the pattern is remarkably consistent across U.S. cities: Neighborhoods that were once redlined see more extreme summer heat on average than those that weren’t.
nytimes.com/interactive/20… (Updated image to fix typo) pic.twitter.com/1hGjFlzY5C
Fascinating article about the continued impacts of redlining in Richmond.
"Richmond’s formerly redlined neighborhoods are, on average, 5 degrees hotter on a summer day than greenlined neighborhoods..."
#ClimateJustice = #RacialJustice. Critical geographical research on the front page of today's @nytimes: "Practices like #redlining...left communities of color far more exposed to the rising heat brought by #ClimateChange."
nytimes.com/interactive/20… pic.twitter.com/5TZDpx3gGd
"Across more than 100 cities, a recent study found, formerly redlined neighborhoods are today 5 degrees hotter in summer, on average, than areas once favored for housing loans, with some cities seeing differences as large as 12 degrees."
Heat #inequity is emerging as critical issue - not only in the USA - but worldwide in all aspects of understanding who is most vulnerable, and how deep we need to look for the solutions to extreme #heat.
Gut-wrenching. Institutional #racism with lasting csqs, now exacerbated by #climatechange. Non-white neighbourhoods "redlined" for federal investment during the 1930s today have way less green space and trees. As a result are 5-12F hotter. Heat kills!
Overall I enjoyed the Times article about Richmond. However I will keep beating the drum that redlining is a correlation not a cause of [other urban racism problem] and care should be given to portraying it as such. nytimes.com/interactive/20… pic.twitter.com/gJm0Fz628p
How decades of racist housing policy left neighborhoods sweltering. #Redlining
How decades of racist housing policy left neighborhoods sweltering. #Redlining
I spent years trying to understand the racial politics of urban heat. New research on the impact of redlining establishes just how much America's segregation policies have forced Black communities to suffer. When will they get the reparations they deserve?
"In cities like Baltimore, Dallas, Denver, Miami, Portland and NY, neighborhoods that are poorer and have more residents of color can be 5 to 20 degrees hotter in summer than wealthier, whiter parts...
And there’s growing evidence it's not a coincidence.
Research shows that predominantly Black neighborhoods can be significantly hotter then whiter parts of a city. @nytimes @nytclimate @bradplumer @PopovichN explores Richmond, VA, quoting the work of @jer_science, chief scientist at @ScienceMusofVA.
YaleE360: In cities across the U.S., neighborhoods that are poorer and have more residents of color can be 5 to 20 degrees F hotter in summer than wealthier, whiter parts of the same city. And there’s growing evidence that this is no coincidence. @nytime…
@Steve_Sailer NYT initially seems to suggest blacks can’t plant trees. But then it turns out… tree planting is racist! nytimes.com/interactive/20… pic.twitter.com/ABMWRaQmWu
Finally got around to reading the piece on urban heat & redlining from @PopovichN & @bradplumer. It's a banger.
nytimes.com/interactive/20…
A couple of thoughts/additions to it
Important piece on intersection of climate change and the racist policy of redlining. This is exactly why we say equity & justice issues should be central to any climate policy - it is a myth that addressing climate change is simply a technocratic issue.
Front-page billing for one of the more insidious intersections of racism & climate nytimes.com/interactive/20… pic.twitter.com/pZuZ2VwzFW
Neighborhoods that were redlined in cities across the country are now experiencing the hottest and most dangerous temperatures.
It was more than just redlining. Decades of intentionally segregated federal housing, seg schools (had to move to Black neigh) refusal to insure blacks or deseg developments, highway construction, covenants and realtor guidelines. Best guide: Color of Law
Such a good piece from @bradplumer & @PopovichN. No matter how much you think you've wrapped your head around the legacy of racism in the US, its utter ubiquity, there's always more.
Last century's redlining makes Black communities more vulnerable to heat (less tree cover, more paved surfaces, more industrial development)
Nicely visualized @bradplumer & @PopovichN in NYTimes
original paper: mdpi.com/2225-1154/8/1/…
nytimes.com/interactive/20… pic.twitter.com/T9H1x8Vr0v
How did drawing lines on America's cities' maps set climate inequity in motion? The latest from @bradplumer and @PopovichN
How Decades of Racist Housing Policy Left Neighborhoods Sweltering - The New York Times
How #ClimateChange exacerbates effects of #SystemicRacism Redlined neighborhoods are hotter
How Decades of Racist Housing Policy Left Neighborhoods Sweltering - The New York Times
This is crazy. I had no idea how much tree cover affected the temperature across a city
How Decades of Racist Housing Policy Left Neighborhoods Sweltering. Great piece on yet another way in which racism has mis-shapen America
Racism has enduring effects. These should not be dismissed by people who say ‘but I didn’t do it’ - let alone by those who set out to do it some more.
This evidence makes me think I didn't take the "hot home" channel seriously enough, given that we found heat's impacts were much stronger for Black (and Hispanic) students:
(h/t @christocleve)
Reporters often hear from readers that climate change should be on the front page. At the NYT, it is. nytimes.com/interactive/20… pic.twitter.com/utl7FP8e7Y
