Exploring the Spatial Relationships between Environmental Equity and Urban Quality of Life

Although ordinary least squares (OLS) regression analysis can be used to examine the spatial relationships between environmental equity and urban quality of life, this global method may mask the local variations in the relationships between them. These geographical variations can not be captured without using local methods. In this context, this paper explores the spatially varying relationships between environmental equity and urban quality of life across the Atlanta metropolitan area by geographically weighted regression (GWR), a local method. Environmental equity and urban quality of life were quantified with an integrated approach of GIS and remote sensing. Results show that generally, there is a negatively significant relationship between them over the Atlanta metropolitan area. The results also suggest that the relationships between environmental equity and urban quality of life vary significantly over space and the GWR (local) model is a significant improvement on the OLS (global) model for the Atlanta metropolitan area.