Spatial Decomposition of Air Pollution Concentrations Highlights Historical Causes for Current Exposure Disparities in the United States.

ABSTRACT: Racial-ethnic disparities in exposure to air pollution in the United States (US) are well documented. Studies on the causes of these disparities highlight unequal systems of power and longstanding systemic racism-for example, redlining, white flight, and racial covenants-which reinforced racial segregation and wealth gaps and which concentrated polluting land uses in communities of color. Our analysis is based on empirical estimates of ambient concentrations for two important pollutants (NO₂ and PM_2.5). We show that spatially decomposed concentrations can be used to infer and quantify types of root causes for local- to national-scale disparities. Urban-scale segregation is important yet reflects less than half of the overall national disparities. Other historical caus

SUBMITTER: Liu J 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC10019334 | biostudies-literature | 2023 Mar

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature