Human-caused climate change is creating heat waves of increasing intensity, duration and frequency, that disproportionately affect underserved communities of color.
On this episode of Locus Focus we talk with Portland State University professor Vivek Shandas, about how "redlining”— the historical practice of refusing home loans or insurance to whole neighborhoods based on a racially motivated perception of safety for investment, has created neighborhoods that are the most vulnerable to the dangers of heat domes and other climatic anomalies, such as we saw last summer.
Vivek Shandas, Portland State University Professor and Founder and Director of the Sustaining Urban Places Research, develops strategies for addressing the implications of climate change on cities. His teaching and research examine the intersection of exposure to climate-induced events, governance processes, and planning mechanisms. As an interdisciplinary scholar, Dr. Shandas studies the emergent characteristics that generate vulnerability among communities and infrastructure.