Thermal Inequity Along The US-Mexico Border: An Analysis Of El Paso, Texas

The Urban Heat Island effect (UHI) combined with rising average global temperatures invariably results in thermal inequality, the unequal distribution of temperature patterns by different socioeconomic and sociodemographic groups, resulting in an array of negative public health impacts. This thesis research focused on the historical factors that contribute to UHI and tree cover in historically underserved neighborhoods in El Paso, Texas. The impact of maps from 1933-1954 created by the Home Ownerâ??s Loan Corporation (HOLC), a federal selective lending program, resulted in decades of disinvestment and inequality especially in redlined areas. Geospatial analyses of environmental and socioeconomic indicators such as tree cover, land classification, temperature, social vulnerability index (SVI), and percent of population below poverty by HOLC category using the 1936 city boundary were conducted to determine the conditions and vulnerabilities of each HOLC area today. Additional qualitative analysis was conducted through structured interviews with the City of El Paso and the National Weather Service (NWS) to determine how each agency identifies and serves vulnerable populations, their respective missions regarding climate and heat, and how they plan to improve operations moving forward. Further, exploration of relationships between historical zoning and lending practices in El Paso and the environmental legacy that continues until today revealed that it magnifies vulnerabilities in underserved communities. The qualitative and quantitative research helped determine that HOLC practices in El Paso have resulted in the unequal distribution of infrastructure and socioeconomic conditions. Results of decades of racially motivated city planning, housing discrimination, and segregation are clear today in the variations of availability of green amenities such as trees and parks throughout historically segregated areas in El Paso. Future larger-scale studies of thermal and environmental inequity in El Paso both spatially and temporally could fill in gaps needed to produce more comprehensive data regarding how the legacy of racially-determined zoning may be increasing community vulnerability to environmental extremes at the neighborhood scale and the metro scale.