Mapping urban risk: Flood hazards, race, & environmental justice in New York
Open accessAbstract
This paper demonstrates the importance of disaggregating population data aggregated by census tracts or other units, for more realistic population distribution/location. A newly-developed mapping method, the Cadastral-based Expert Dasymetric System (CEDS), calculates population in hyper-heterogeneous urban areas better than traditional mapping techniques. A case study estimating population potentially impacted by flood hazard in New York City compares the impacted population determined by CEDS with that derived by centroid-containment method and filtered areal weighting interpolation. Compared to CEDS, 37 percent and 72 percent fewer people are estimated to be at risk from floods city-wide, using conventional areal weighting of census data, and centroid-containment selection, respectively. Undercounting of impacted population could have serious implications for emergency management and disaster planning. Ethnic/racial populations are also spatially disaggregated to determine any environmental justice impacts with flood risk. Minorities are disproportionately undercounted using traditional methods. Underestimating more vulnerable sub-populations impairs preparedness and relief efforts.
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- Authors
- Maantay, J., & Maroko, A.
- Affiliations
- The Graduate Center, CUNY (US)
- Corresponding author
- Maantay, Juliana
- Venue
- Applied Geography
- Publisher
- Elsevier BV
- Published
- 2009-01
- Volume
- 29
- Issue
- 1
- Pages
- 111-124
- ISSN
- 0143-6228 (ISSN-L)
- PMC
- PMC2680302
- OpenAlex
- W1965301779
- Cited by
- 283
- References
- 38
- Citations by year
- 2026: 12 · 2025: 18 · 2024: 20 · 2023: 28 · 2022: 33 · 2021: 29 · 2020: 20 · 2019: 20 · 2018: 19 · 2017: 13 · 2016: 11 · 2015: 9 · 2014: 12 · 2013: 12 · 2012: 7
- FWCI
- 6.00
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- green
- www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov
- Locations
- Applied Geography (publishedVersion)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- PubMed Central (acceptedVersion)
- Funders
- National Institutes of Health
- National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration
- National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences (R25ES011085)
- Topics
- Physical Sciences › Environmental Science › Global and Planetary Change › Flood Risk Assessment and Management
- Social Sciences › Sociology and Political Science › Environmental Justice and Health Disparities
- Social Sciences › Sociology and Political Science › Disaster Management and Resilience
- Keywords
- urban flood risk, environmental justice, racial disparities, population disaggregation, dasymetric mapping, flood hazard mapping, disaster preparedness, New York City
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