Document Type
Article
Abstract
The climate is warming at an alarming rate. This has brought many challenges to daily life in cities across the world. One of the most significant of these is intraurban heat and the Urban Heat Island Effect. Per The United States Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) website, urban heat islands are those urbanized areas that experience higher temperatures versus other outlying areas. As cities become more populated, this and resulting increased infrastructure will enhance the phenomenon. This in turn will exacerbate the negative consequences of this phenomenon to people as well as both the built and natural environments. As cities work to enhance their climate resiliency, addressing urban heat islands and intraurban heat, and strategies for heat mitigation must be top of mind. Existing research surrounding intraurban heat has explored this issue from an environmental justice perspective mainly focused on cause-and-effect relationships between this phenomenon and those demographics most vulnerable to its negative consequences. While such research is important, it is very narrow in scope and neglecting to situate this topic within the context of urban governance related to neighborhood-level vulnerability characteristics. Such research is important because the policy decisions of urban governments play a critical role in the human experience with intraurban heat.
This professional report seeks to explore the relationship between intraurban heat, lower income communities and urban governance within Arlington, Texas. The purpose of this professional report is to explore and explain the relationship between intraurban heat and several neighborhood-level vulnerability characteristics and evaluate city efforts to promote sustainability through an intraurban heat and environmental justice lens. To accomplish this, a mixed method approach will be undertaken consisting of the collection and analysis of both quantitative and qualitative data. Qualitative data consists of the following: City Council meeting agendas; the comprehensive plans; Comprehensive Annual Financial Reports (CARFRs); Geographic Information System (GIS) maps depicting the ten hottest and coolest census tracts for years 2010 and 2020; and In-field and Google Earth aerial photography. Quantitative data consists of numerical data on land surface temperatures as well as the other variables of study: home values; age; race; median household income; and home types. In analyzing this data, the main objectives are: to explore and explain what patterns can be observed between neighborhood characteristics and intraurban heat trends in Arlington; explain how have Arlington's past planning and other policy efforts shaped these trends; explain how has Arlington sought to combat climate and sustainability concerns related to intraurban heat in the last 10-15 years; and evaluate whether these efforts align with intraurban heat concerns and environmental justice efforts. All these analyses will be used to explore and explain the relationship between intraurban heat and several neighborhood-level vulnerability characteristics and evaluate city efforts to promote sustainability through an intraurban heat and environmental justice lens. From here, a series of three policy recommendations will be proposed for how Arlington can best address the negative implications of this phenomenon. The hope in completion of this report is to take the topic of intraurban heat and situate it within framework of urban governance and environmental justice to both engage in a much broader discussion of municipal governments’ role with respect to this phenomenon and inspire future research on the topic along a similar narrative.
This Professional Report is submitted in fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master’s of City and Regional Planning in the College of Architecture, Planning and Public Affairs for The University of Texas at Arlington.
Disciplines
Urban, Community and Regional Planning
Publication Date
Spring 5-7-2024
Language
English
License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.
Recommended Citation
Campbell, Brian, "Exploring the Relationship Between Intraurban Heat, Lower Income Communities and Urban Governance in Arlington, Texas" (2024). Planning Masters Professional Reports. 27.
https://mavmatrix.uta.edu/planning_reports/27