Exploratory Sensitivity Analysis of Environmental Equity to Spatial Measures

The results of environmental equity analysis vary dramatically depending on different methods used. The information and data available to the researcher are also often uncertain and imprecise in empirical studies. A sensitivity analysis approach was used too handle uncertainties and methodological inconsistencies in environmental equity analysis. This paper explores the sensitivity of environmental equity analysis to two spatial measures such as proximity and scale. Two experiments were implemented to evaluate the effects of two spatial measures on the environmental equity analysis using a combination of control and experimental factors. Fulton County, Georgia was selected as a case study area for these experiments. Two major data sets including demographic characteristics and toxic release inventory (TRI) database for the study area in 1990 were integrated into a GIS environment. Two statistical analyses such as independent samples t-test and coefficient of variation were performed to determine the environmental equity in the study area and to compare the relative variability in the socioeconomic characteristics of populations over different spatial measures. The findings from two experiments indicate that the outcomes of environmental equity analysis are slightly sensitive to the buffer distance used to determine the impact zones of TRI facilities, but not to the geographic scale used in the analysis. The findings also suggest that the consequences of these choices can alter spatially and statistically the results in environmental equity analysis.