URBAN HEAT 
RESEARCH PROJECT



This project accessed, assessed and cartographically detailed correlative relationships between urban heat, urban Black neighborhoods, incarceration rates, and historical insurance redlining practices enumerated into Home Owner’s Loan Corporation (HOLC) maps. Utilizing a bivariate spatial overlay process for urban heat island index (UHI) values in conjunction with historical redlining and contemporary incarceration rates, spatial clustering was found throughout a selected seven urban areas of interest. 

Consistent and persistent elevated UHI values were found to spatially correlate with historical redlining geographies, particularly with the “Hazardous” risk grade “D”. In further overlay analyzes, existing and accessible incarceration rates however did not appear to exhibit a particularly strong positive or negative relationship with historical redlined geographies, nor those geographies scored with elevated UHI values.


ClientNorrinda Brown, Assoc. Prof. Fordham Law School
Location 
New York City
Date
Summer - Fall, 2024







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