Local Inequities in the Relative Production of and Exposure to Vehicular Air Pollution in Los Angeles

Wed, March 30, 2022    

12:00 PM (Pacific)

RGL 101 & Zoom

Vehicular air pollution has created an ongoing public health crisis. We examine how different communities’ driving volume and exposure to vehicular air pollution relate to race/ethnicity and socioeconomic status, and how this varies across the region. How much vehicular pollution are different communities exposed to in relation to how much—and where—their residents drive?  We answer this question in the context of race, class, and driving in Los Angeles County and find a negative association between miles driven and exposure to vehicular emissions. That is, all else equal, residents of communities that drive more tend to be less exposed to vehicular pollution themselves.

Geoff Boeing is an Assistant at USC’s Sol Price School of Public Policy and the Director of USC’s Urban Data Lab. He is a Nonresident Senior Fellow at the Brookings Institution. He received his Ph.D. in City and Regional Planning from UC Berkeley and his research revolves around city planning, urban form, data science, and urban informatics.