CITY HEAT Scorching temperatures like Portland saw last summer don’t affect every neighborhood the same way. In the 1930s, the federal government rated city neighborhoods from A (the best) to D (worst, or “redlined”) to help mortgage lenders assess which were the riskiest investments, with ratings determined by what racial and ethnic groups lived there. Research by Vivek Shandas, geography faculty, shows that formerly redlined neighborhoods are almost always the hottest. Of the 108 cities he studied, Portland showed the biggest range of temperatures, with neighborhoods differing by nearly 18 degrees. Understanding this connection between past policy and current climate effects could lead to more effective mitigation efforts. “We have a bunch of knowledge to be able to provide hope to people; to say, ‘Hey, the world is not going to burn down. We got it. We can do this. But it’s going to take a team effort from a lot of different sectors to provide stability.’" “An electric car company being more valuable than Exxon; massive investment from the federal government in things like wildland fire prevention, clean energy and more; and movement across sectors to jointly address issues of equity, injustice and the climate crisis. These [signs] alone are not enough, but show a shift in the right direction." —Karelly Ramirez Gonzalez undergraduate student —Fletcher Beaudoin, director of PSU’s Institute for Sustainable Solutions Shandas, geography faculty, and his students have spent years driving vehicles equipped with highly sensitive thermometers around city streets to map urban heat islands. His research showed that extreme heat doesn’t affect everyone equally. In Portland, researchers found an almost 18-degree difference in temperatures between neighborhoods (see above).That difference can be deadly. More than sixty people died during last year’s heat wave in Portland alone. After collecting data around the country, Shandas and his co-researchers realized a pattern had emerged on their maps, and it was one that looked familiar.The hottest neighborhoods in 94% of the 108 U.S. cities they studied were ones that had been “redlined” in the mid-20th century, or subject to racist housing policies that denied residents in segregated neighborhoods access to federally backed mortgages and other credit. Far from being a thing of the past, the data showed that those policies—banned by the Fair Housing Act of 1968—still affect the often low-income, Black and Latino residents who live in the same neighborhoods today. Compared to whiter, more affluent areas, redlined neighborhoods benefited from fewer municipal investments in trees, parks and transportation that provide “cooling services.” The inequity compounded over decades and today makes residents of formerly redlined areas more vulnerable during heat waves. Jola Ajibade, geography faculty, is building on Shandas’ findings with research that looks at how efforts to address the inequitable distribution of trees in Portland can benefit residents—without SPRING 2022 // 21
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