Lisa Reyes Mason

Heat and Humidity in the City: Neighborhood Heat Index Variability in a Mid-Sized City in the Southeastern United States

Daily weather conditions for an entire city are usually represented by a single weather station, often located at a nearby airport. This resolution of atmospheric data fails to recognize the microscale climatic variability associated with land use decisions across and within urban neighborhoods. This study uses heat index, a measure of the combined effects of temperature and humidity, to assess the variability of heat exposure from ten weather stations across four urban neighborhoods and two control locations (downtown and in a nearby nature center) in Knoxville, Tennessee, USA. Results suggest that trees may negate a portion of excess urban heat, but are also associated with greater humidity. As a result, the heat index of locations with more trees is significantly higher than downtown and areas with fewer trees. Trees may also reduce heat stress by shading individuals from incoming radiation, though this is not considered in this study. Greater amounts of impervious surfaces correspond with reduced evapotranspiration and greater runoff, in terms of overall mass balance, leading to a higher temperature, but lower relative humidity. Heat index and relative humidity were found to significantly vary between locations with different tree cover and neighborhood characteristics for the full study time period as well as for the top 10% of heat index days. This work demonstrates the need for high-resolution climate data and the use of additional measures beyond temperature to understand urban neighborhood exposure to extreme heat, and expresses the importance of considering vulnerability differences among residents when analyzing neighborhood-scale impacts.

Gender and Asset Dimensions of Seasonal Water Insecurity in Urban Philippines

AbstractSeasonal water insecurity is a social and climate-related problem of growing concern in many urban areas. From 2000 to 2050, the global urban population affected by seasonal water shortage is projected to increase from 312 million to 1.3 billion. This increase is due to a combination of drivers, including population growth, urbanization, and climate change. To advance understanding of the social dimensions of this problem, this study uses qualitative methods—archival research, informal interviews (N = 7), and in-depth interviews (N = 15)—to explore how gender and assets relate to water insecurity in the rainy and dry seasons in three urban neighborhoods in Baguio City, the Philippines. Analytic methods include memo production and qualitative text analysis. Key findings are that households manage complex water portfolios that change seasonally or more frequently; women and men have gendered roles in managing water portfolios, providing versus managing income for water purchases, and physically carr...

Summer temperature variability across four urban neighborhoods in Knoxville, Tennessee, USA

The urban heat island (UHI) is a well-documented effect of urbanization on local climate, identified by higher temperatures compared to surrounding areas, especially at night and during the warm season. The details of a UHI are city-specific, and microclimates may even exist within a given city. Thus, investigating the spatiotemporal variability of a city’s UHI is an ongoing and critical research need. We deploy ten weather stations across Knoxville, Tennessee, to analyze the city’s UHI and its differential impacts across urban neighborhoods: two each in four neighborhoods, one in more dense tree cover and one in less dense tree cover, and one each in downtown Knoxville and Ijams Nature Center that serve as control locations. Three months of temperature data (beginning 2 July 2014) are analyzed using paired-sample t tests and a three-way analysis of variance. Major findings include the following: (1) Within a given neighborhood, tree cover helps negate daytime heat (resulting in up to 1.19 ∘C lower maximum temperature), but does not have as large of an influence on minimum temperature; (2) largest temperature differences between neighborhoods occur during the day (0.38–1.16 ∘C difference), but larger differences between neighborhoods and the downtown control occur at night (1.04–1.88 ∘C difference); (3) presiding weather (i.e., air mass type) has a significant, consistent impact on the temperature in a given city, and lacks the differential impacts found at a larger-scale in previous studies; (4) distance from city center does not impact temperature as much as land use factors. This is a preliminary step towards informing local planning with a scientific understanding of how mitigation strategies may help minimize the UHI and reduce the effects of extreme weather on public health and well-being.

Universal Accounts at Birth: Building Knowledge to Inform Policy

Objective: This article summarizes the design, implementation, and early findings of a statewide randomized experiment of Child Development Accounts (CDAs). The SEED for Oklahoma Kids experiment (SEED OK) is testing a concept for a universal, progressive asset-building policy with potential for national application. CDAs can start as early as birth, providing structured opportunities (e.g., financial access, information, incentives) to encourage asset accumulation for postsecondary education and other developmental purposes. Theory and evidence suggest that CDAs can improve educational outcomes, especially among disadvantaged youth. Method: Participating in a rigorous randomized controlled design, primary caregivers of children born in Oklahoma in 2007 completed a baseline telephone survey before random assignment to the treatment group (n = 1,358) or control group (n = 1,346); these caregivers completed a follow-up survey 4 years later. For children in the treatment group, the SEED OK experiment automatically opened an Oklahoma 529 College Savings Plan (OK 529) account with a

Examining Relationships between Household Resources and Water Security in an Urban Philippine Community

1,000 initial deposit. In addition, low- and moderate-income families in the treatment group were eligible for a savings match for deposits to their own OK 529 accounts. Results: Findings indicate that CDAs can be implemented universally in a full population to increase the accumulation of college assets. The CDA in SEED OK greatly reduces disparities in OK 529 asset accumulation associated with socioeconomic characteristics. The CDA also has positive effects on parental educational expectations for children, maternal depressive symptoms, and children’s social-emotional development. Conclusions: In contrast to college savings programs that require parents to open an account, SEED OK’s universal, automatic, and progressive CDA model gives all children the opportunity to benefit from college-account and asset ownership.

Environment and Social Development

Water security is a worldwide pressing social justice and human rights issue. In many countries, water security disparities are evident among households in the same community. The consequences of low water security are well documented, including morbidity, mortality, financial hardship, and social conflict. However, the social determinants of water security are less understood, particularly in urban areas of developing countries. This study uses a mixed methods approach with a focus on household resources in an urban Philippine community to address 2 aims. First, the study examines the association of financial, physical, and social resources with 4 water security measures: consumption, perceived cleanliness, perceived ease, and affordability. Second, the study examines ways in which households acquire and use financial, physical, and social resources to improve water security. Data are from randomly sampled household surveys (N = 396) and purposively sampled in-depth interviews (n = 18). Results of multiple regression analysis show income is positively associated with reported consumption and affordability of water; water storage capacity is positively associated with reported consumption and perceived cleanliness, but negatively associated with affordability; and having a household connection to the municipal utility is positively associated with reported consumption, perceived cleanliness, perceived ease, and affordability. Qualitative results shed light on the challenges to water access, and the role of social resources in improving water security. Findings can inform social programs and policies to improve equitable distribution of water-related resources among households.

Weather variability in urban Philippines: a gender analysis of household impacts

Global environmental changes—such as pollution, climate change, biodiversity loss, and freshwater decline—affect people worldwide, with impacts that are not just physical, but also social and economic. Consequences range from minor inconvenience to injury and death, and can include food and water insecurity, mental distress, family separation, income disruption, and asset depletion. A social justice issue, environmental change has consequences that are typically worse for some groups than others. The Environment and Social Development initiative examines social vulnerability and strategies for social action and adaptation to environmental change. We emphasize social action that leads to reductions in negative environmental problems and adaptation through formal programs and policies designed to reduce vulnerability to environmental change. Through this work, Environment and Social Development aims to contribute to a more environmentally sustainable world, in which all people have fair and optimal opportunities to live full, healthy, and productive lives.

Social Work Research and Global Environmental Change

Weather variability affects many parts of the Philippines, can threaten human health and well-being, and may become more frequent and intense due to climate change. Compared to more visible extreme weather events (e.g., typhoons), seasonal and inter-annual weather variations (e.g., in precipitation, wind, temperature) associated with otherwise normal weather systems are less often incorporated into adaptation planning. To better inform such planning, this study examines self-reported household impacts of atypical rainy and dry seasons, with a focus on gender. By collecting data from women and men in the same randomly sampled households, this study contributes an innovative intrahousehold analysis to the growing body of work at the nexus of gender, weather, and climate. The study finds gendered differences in reported impacts for rainier than usual rainy seasons but few differences for drier or longer than usual dry seasons. Climate adaptation plans should further incorporate seasonal and inter-annual weather variability and seek participatory input from both women and men so that a diversity of concerns is addressed.

Experiences of Urban Environmental Conditions in Socially and Economically Diverse Neighborhoods

Objective: Social workers can help mitigate the human consequences of global environmental change but need an evidence base for appropriate response strategies. This scoping review assesses the state of empirical social work research on global environmental change to identify an agenda for advancing social work research and practice in this area. Method: We searched 5 electronic databases and selected issues/articles for “social work” plus a list of global environmental change topics. Inclusion criteria were: (a) published since January 1, 1985; (b) published in a peer-reviewed journal; (c) empirical; (d) is social work research; and (e) examines at least one topic related to global environmental change. From included studies, we extracted publication year, country setting, global environmental change topic(s), explicit/implicit examination of global environmental change, research design, and study focus. We extracted practice/policy implications as a subgroup. Descriptive statistics and cross tabulations were run in SPSS 23. Results: We identified 112 studies for inclusion. About 1/3 of studies examined hurricanes and typhoons, and most were conducted in U.S., Canadian, or Asian contexts. Many described consequences or coping with change, and although more than 1/3 of studies examined a formal response/intervention, rigorous outcomes-focused research is lacking. Conclusions: Scholars should diversify the topics and global settings that they study, and they should proactively engage with populations and systems before a crisis. There is a need for intervention research on global environmental change—with more rigorous methods of outcome measurement—by social work scholars.

Universal and Progressive Child Development Accounts: A Policy Innovation to Reduce Educational Disparity

ABSTRACT Environmental conditions can vary widely in urban areas. Temperature, green space, air quality, and other parameters may have different patterns among and within cities. These conditions may also be experienced and perceived by residents in different ways, with implications for community development and social justice in the context of environmental change. This study examines in-depth interviews (N = 20) with residents from socially and economically diverse neighborhoods to understand this variability at a more meaningful scale than typically examined in the literature. Implications for social work, community development, and multidisciplinary efforts in the pressing area of environmental change are discussed.