Jennie Bernstein
Growing cities and erratic environmental changes largely define the current era on planet earth. While there are many elements of change unfolding on the urban planet that demand the attention of planners, the changes in climate and the subsequent impacts to our natural, social and structural landscapes cannot be overestimated[1]. Scientists, scholars, policy makers and planners have largely accepted the reality that unprecedented, anthropogenic changes in the global climate are already upon us, and that severe climate related events will be increasing in both frequency and severity In the coming decades. Perhaps the most immense and daunting issue from a planning and design perspective is the projected rise in sea level, which is expected to cause severe flooding and inundation in and surrounding coastal areas. These projections require that we consider what the impacts might be on the coastal landscape, its resources, and those who live there. Understanding that populations with social disadvantages are disproportionately vulnerable to the physical, social, and economic hazards that climate related events may bring, it is also crucial to look at how plans to address climate-related risks can either promote or discourage social equity.
The California Social Vulnerability index uses the following 19 indicators in its calculation:
- Living Alone over 65*
- Population under 18*
- Renters*
- Households speaking little English*
- People of Color*
- Low Income*
- Population w/out High School Diploma*
- Living in Group Quarters
- Unemployed*
- Women giving birth last 12 months
- Outdoor Workers
- Foreign Born*
- Lack Access to Grocery Stores
- Overweight/Obese Youth
- Impervious Land Cover*
- Treeless Area*
- Households without a vehicle*
- Pre-term Birth Rate
- Households without Air conditioner
Of these factors, I chose the 12 denoted with an asterisks (*) to highlight in my web-maps. The literature and research on the subject of social vulnerability suggests that these 12 socio-economic factors are most relevant to determining vulnerability to risks specifically related to SLR.[1] Tailoring an existing web-map template designed by my classmates at UC Berkeley[2], and using the Pacific Institute data, I created the interactive map on this website to visualize the distribution of these vulnerability factors by census tract. This map allows the user to identify which of the 12 social-vulnerability indicators they deem to be most relevant to overall community vulnerability, and redistribute factor weight accordingly by using a simple series of slider bars. Sliding the bars to the right increases the weighting of a factor, sliding it to the left decreases the weighting. While this exercise does not allow users to specify a specific numeric range for the factor in question, given that the weight value has already been calculated to be unit-less and thus comparable to all other indicators, we are still able to see relative vulnerability under different risk-weighting scenarios.
This interactive map is meant to offer a tool that can be built upon with more recent and context-specific demographic data as it becomes available, and used by planners and community members to quickly visualize the distribution of social vulnerability. I hope to enhance this map with data on current projects, so that a comparison can be made between where vulnerability exists and where adaptation efforts are being pursued.
[1] See Dunning et al (2013), Nutters (2012), Abdrabo and Hassaan (2015), Dwyer et al (2004), and Eakin and Luers (2006)
[2] Special thanks to Lee Reis and Drew Levitt; Credit to the entire Studio 218 Consultants Team, whose work is visible at www.218consultants.com
[3] At https://www.ocf.berkeley.edu/~jbernstein/
[1] As of 2008, the UN has declared that over 50% of the global populations live in cities.
This website contains materials authored for a professional report submitted in partial satisfaction of the requirements for the degree of Master of City Planning in the Department of City and Regional Planning at the University of California, Berkeley.