The Legacy of Redlining and the Disproportionate Exposure to Extreme Heat in Seattle, Washington

Abstract

This paper examines disproportionate exposure to extreme heat in Seattle, Washington, in relation to the historical discriminatory lending practices known as redlining, to explain why such practices contribute to the variation in temperatures across the city. This paper aims to answer the following research questions: 1) are historically redlined census tracts disproportionately exposed to extreme heat compared to non-redlined census tracts in Seattle; 2) what census tracts were historically redlined and today experience higher relative land surface temperatures; 3) how does social vulnerability differ, based on a census tract’s historic redlining grade and relative land surface temperature; and 4) what are the focus areas for resourcing against extreme heat? The effects of redlining continue to disadvantage already marginalized people, both economically and environmentally. Climate change illuminates and exacerbates some of the environmental injustices that occur in historically redlined areas. Extreme heat is becoming an increasingly relevant natural hazard due to climate change. This paper contrasts extreme heat exposure in historically redlined census tracts to that in non-redlined census tracts in Seattle. This will help inform how, where and to whom heat resilience efforts and resources should be targeted.