title: Environmental Health Related Socio-Spatial Inequalities: Identifying "Hotspots" of Environmental Burdens and Social Vulnerability.
abstract: Differential exposure to multiple environmental burdens and benefits and their distribution across a population with varying vulnerability can contribute heavily to health inequalities. Particularly relevant are areas with high cumulative burdens and high social vulnerability termed as "hotspots". This paper develops an index-based approach to assess these multiple burdens and benefits in combination with vulnerability factors at detailed intra-urban level. The method is applied to the city of Dortmund, Germany. Using non-spatial and spatial methods we assessed inequalities and identified "hotspot" areas in the city. We found modest inequalities burdening higher vulnerable groups in Dortmund (CI = -0.020 at p < 0.05). At the detailed intra-urban level, however, inequalities showed strong geographical patterns. Large numbers of "hotspots" exist in the northern part of the city compared to the southern part. A holistic assessment, particularly at a detailed local level, considering both environmental burdens and benefits and their distribution across the population with the different vulnerability, is essential to inform environmental justice debates and to mobilize local stakeholders. Locating "hotspot" areas at this detailed spatial level can serve as a basis to develop interventions that target vulnerable groups to ensure a health conducive equal environment.
authors.affiliation: Faculty of Geo-information Science and Earth Observation (ITC), University of Twente, PO Box 217, 7500 AE Enschede, The Netherlands. r.shrestha-2@utwente.nl.
authors.forename: Rehana
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Shrestha
authors.affiliation: Faculty of Geo-information Science and Earth Observation (ITC), University of Twente, PO Box 217, 7500 AE Enschede, The Netherlands. j.flacke@utwente.nl.
authors.forename: Johannes
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Flacke
authors.affiliation: Faculty of Geo-information Science and Earth Observation (ITC), University of Twente, PO Box 217, 7500 AE Enschede, The Netherlands. j.martinez@utwente.nl.
authors.forename: Javier
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Martinez
authors.affiliation: Faculty of Geo-information Science and Earth Observation (ITC), University of Twente, PO Box 217, 7500 AE Enschede, The Netherlands. m.f.a.m.vanmaarseveen@utwente.nl.
authors.forename: Martin
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: van Maarseveen
mesh_terms: D004781:Environmental Exposure; D004782:Environmental Health / Q000379:methods*; D004784:Environmental Monitoring / Q000379:methods*; D005843:Geography; D005858:Germany; D006801:Humans; D012307:Risk Factors; D012959:Socioeconomic Factors
keywords: dasymetric method; indicators; multiple burdens and benefits; social vulnerability; spatial inequality; “hotspots”