Redlining, a practice that started in the 1930s, labeled neighborhoods with minority and low-income populations as ‘hazardous’, affecting decisions around mortgages and insurance. Research reveals that these redlined areas have less green space and more concrete, which contributes to increased urban heat. Interestingly, while high temperatures generally reduced walking habits in neighborhoods deemed ‘still desirable’ or ‘best’, this trend was not as evident in ‘definitely declining’ or ‘hazardous’ areas. This could be because residents in such neighborhoods may rely more on walking for necessary activities. The results highlight the long-term effects of discriminatory policies on environmental challenges and physical activity.
Several factors influence how walkable a neighborhood is, including connectivity and density of streets, accessibility to destinations, aesthetic considerations, investments in walking and cycling infrastructure, and the availability of urban natural features, particularly tree cover.
Neighborhoods differ significantly. Many communities that are impoverished or predominantly minority lack the cooling influence of trees and vegetation, especially in urban areas. Consequently, people in these neighborhoods experience the “heat island effect,” where urban temperatures are significantly higher than those in surrounding rural or natural settings.
Historical discriminatory housing policies, like redlining, have disproportionately subjected low-income urban neighborhoods to extreme heat. Redlining began in the U.S. during the 1930s, marking minority and low-income neighborhoods as “hazardous” in red on maps utilized by the Home Owners’ Loan Corporation for mortgage and insurance determinations.
A potential outcome of these historical redlining practices is their lasting impact on the physical environment, characterized by reduced green space and tree cover along with increased concrete surfaces, leading to a heightened chance of experiencing urban heat island effects.
As of now, there haven’t been any studies exploring the links between urban heat islands, historical redlining, and walking habits in older adults.
To address this knowledge gap, a study conducted by Florida Atlantic University, in collaboration with the University of Miami, analyzed how individual and neighborhood characteristics, including past redlining scores, correspond with maximum summer land surface temperatures. Researchers also examined whether higher summer land surface temperatures correlate with lesser walking among older adults and if this relationship differs based on redlining scores, along with whether neighborhoods with higher redlining scores tend to have warmer summer surface temperatures.
Published in the Journal of Urban Health, the study indicates that discriminatory practices such as historic redlining have left indelible impacts on neighborhoods across the U.S., making communities more susceptible to harmful environmental conditions, including extreme heat.
Results indicated that increased summer temperatures were associated with reduced walking time in neighborhoods deemed “still desirable” and “best.” However, in areas classified as “definitely declining” or “hazardous,” there was no significant correlation between temperature and walking. This may be linked to a lack of alternative recreational activities or the observation that lower-income residents often walk for necessities and to save costs. Moreover, neighborhoods with poorer redlining scores experienced higher peak summer temperatures.
“Neighborhoods assessed with historic redlining scores of ‘still desirable’ and ‘best’ tend to offer better-built environments and social settings for walking, like higher socioeconomic status, more green spaces, and superior pedestrian infrastructure,” noted Diana Mitsova, Ph.D., who is a senior author and serves as the chair and professor in the Department of Urban and Regional Planning at FAU’s Charles E. Schmidt College of Science. “However, our findings revealed that residents in richer neighborhoods walked less during hotter days. This may be because older adults in wealthier areas have access to alternative transportation and various ways to stay active, leading them to limit walking in intense heat.”
The findings also revealed:
- Residents in the South and West experienced lower peak summer temperatures compared to those in the Northeast and Midwest.
- Neighborhoods with higher levels of deprivation and a larger African American/Black population encountered warmer summer temperatures.
- Neighborhoods labeled as “best” in terms of redlining had lower peak summer temperatures than others.
- Individuals of Hispanic and Asian descent, as well as those with higher incomes, were less likely to inhabit areas with elevated summer temperatures.
“Though further research is necessary, our findings stress the critical need to tackle urban heat islands in historically marginalized neighborhoods,” urged Mitsova. “This is especially vital for older adults in these regions, who are more susceptible to heat-related health complications and endure heightened exposure to extreme temperatures and related health hazards.”
In this study, researchers utilized data from the 2017 National Household Travel Survey, which included information from over 260,000 individuals. They combined this with summer temperature data and linked it to various social and environmental factors, including historical redlining scores. They also evaluated the quantity of greenspace in each study participant’s neighborhood. The focus was on 3,982 older adults, with an average age of 73.
