Keywords

Urban Resilience; Environmental Justice; Florida; Climate Resilience; Equity; Environmental Racism

Abstract

In response to climate change, economic instability, and rapid urbanization, the notion of urban resilience has gained prominence in city planning and governance. Urban resilience is the ability of a system to adapt to new baseline conditions developing as a result of disturbances. This study is focused on one of urban resilience’s sub-tenets, ecological resilience. Ecological resilience is the ability of a system to sustain ecosystem services following a disturbance (i.e. droughts, flooding, heat waves). The health of the environment prior to a disturbance informs post-disturbance ecological resilience. An already stressed and unbalanced system, or an ecosystem with degraded health, is predisposed to vulnerabilities and exposure to disturbances. Environmental injustice is a significant gauge of latent environmental harm, and subsequently degraded ecosystem functionality. This study explores the spatial distribution and correlation between socioeconomic and environmental burdens in the largest majority Black neighborhood in the City of Orlando, Parramore. Through a lens of environmental justice, identifying where environmental, social, and economic harm is amplified and who is affected provides greater contextual information for the focus of future resilience strategies, the process through which they are devised and implemented, and their connection to land use planning and policy.

Thesis Completion Year

2024

Thesis Completion Semester

Spring

Thesis Chair

Hawkins, Christopher

College

College of Undergraduate Studies

Thesis Discipline

Environmental Studies

Language

English

Access Status

Open Access

Length of Campus Access

None

Campus Location

Orlando (Main) Campus

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Rights Statement

In Copyright