Department of Surgery, Henry Ford Health System, 2799 W. Grand Blvd, Detroit, MI 48202, USA.
Department of Public Health Sciences, Henry Ford Health, Detroit, MI 48202, USA.
Int J Environ Res Public Health. 2023 Mar 8;20(6):4762. doi: 10.3390/ijerph20064762.
Increases in industrialization and manufacturing have led to worsening pollution in some components of air quality. In addition, gentrification is occurring in large cities throughout the world. As these socioeconomic and demographic changes occur, there have been no studies examining the association of gentrification with air quality. To investigate this association, we studied the trends of gentrification, changes in racial distribution and changes in air quality in each zip code of a large urban county over a 40-year period. We conducted a retrospective longitudinal study over 40 years in Wayne County, Michigan using socioeconomic and demographic data from the National Historical Geographic Information System (NHGIS) and air quality data from the United States Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). To assess gentrification, longitudinal analyses were performed to examine median household income, percentage with a college education, median housing value, median gross rent and employment level. The racial distribution was evaluated in each zip code during the time period. Gentrification was studied in relation to air quality using nonparametric 2-sample Wilcon-Mann-Whitney tests and Binomial Generalized Linear Regression models. Although air quality improved overall over the 40-year period, there was a lesser rate of improvement in gentrified areas. Furthermore, gentrification was strongly associated with racial distribution. The most substantial gentrification occurred from 2010 to 2020, in which a specific cluster of adjacent zip codes in downtown Detroit experienced intense gentrification and a drop in the percentage of African-American residents. Gentrified areas seem to have a less pronounced improvement in air quality over time. This reduction in air quality improvement is likely associated with demolitions and the construction of new buildings, such as sporting arenas and accompanying traffic density. Gentrification is also strongly associated with an increase in non-minority residents in an area. Although previous definitions of gentrification in the literature have not included racial distribution, we suggest that future definitions should include this metric given the strong association. Minority residents who are displaced as a result of gentrification do not experience the improvements in housing quality, accessibility to healthy foods and other associations of gentrification.
工业化和制造业的增加导致空气质量的某些成分恶化。此外，世界各地的大城市都在发生高档化。随着这些社会经济和人口结构的变化，没有研究考察高档化与空气质量之间的关联。为了研究这种关联，我们研究了一个大城市县的每个邮政编码在 40 年期间的高档化趋势、种族分布变化和空气质量变化。
我们在密歇根州韦恩县进行了一项为期 40 年的回顾性纵向研究，使用来自国家历史地理信息系统 (NHGIS) 的社会经济和人口统计数据以及美国环境保护署 (EPA) 的空气质量数据。为了评估高档化，我们进行了纵向分析，以检查中位数家庭收入、受过大学教育的百分比、中位数住房价值、中位数总租金和就业水平。在该时间段内，评估了每个邮政编码的种族分布。使用非参数 2 样本 Wilcoxon-Mann-Whitney 检验和二项广义线性回归模型研究了与空气质量有关的高档化。
尽管在 40 年期间空气质量总体有所改善，但高档化地区的改善速度较慢。此外，高档化与种族分布密切相关。2010 年至 2020 年发生了最剧烈的高档化，底特律市中心的特定相邻邮政编码区域经历了强烈的高档化和非裔美国人居民比例下降。随着时间的推移，高档化地区的空气质量改善似乎不太明显。空气质量改善的减少可能与拆除和新建筑物的建设有关，例如体育场馆和随之而来的交通密度增加。高档化也与一个地区的非少数民族居民增加密切相关。尽管文献中的高档化定义以前没有包括种族分布，但我们建议，鉴于这种强烈的关联，未来的定义应该包括这一指标。由于高档化而流离失所的少数族裔居民无法体验到住房质量、获得健康食品和其他高档化关联的改善。
