Gentrification and Air Quality in a Large Urban County in the United States

Abstract

Objectives: To determine the association of gentrification with changes in racial distribution and in air quality in each zip code of a large urban county over a 40 year period. Design: This was a retrospective study over 40 years in a large urban county, using sociodemographic data and air quality data from the NHGIS and US EPA respectively. To assess gentrification, longitudinal analyses were performed to examine median household income, percent with a college education, median housing value, median gross rent and employment level. Racial distribution was evaluated in each zip code during the time period. Results: Gentrification was associated with worsening of air quality and strongly associated with racial distribution. The most substantial gentrification occurred from 2010 to 2020, in which a specific cluster of adjacent zip codes in Detroit experienced intense gentrification and drop in percentage of African American residents. Conclusions: Gentrification is associated with worsening pollution and air quality and associated with an increase in non-minority residents. This increased pollution is likely secondary to increases in traffic density and creation of buildings with increased emissions. Displaced residents do not get to experience the improvements in housing quality, accessibility to healthy foods and other benefits of gentrification.