Mapping Mobility: Utilizing Local-Knowledge-Derived Activity Space to Estimate Exposure to Ambient Air Pollution among Individuals Experiencing Unsheltered Homelessness

Maeve G. MacMurdo, Karen B. Mulloy, Daniel A. Culver, Charles W. Felix, Andrew J. Curtis, Jayakrishnan Ajayakumar and Jacqueline Curtis
Additional contact information
Maeve G. MacMurdo: Cleveland Clinic Respiratory Institute, Cleveland, OH 44195, USA
Karen B. Mulloy: Department of Family Medicine and Community Health, Case Western Reserve University, Cleveland, OH 44106, USA
Daniel A. Culver: Cleveland Clinic Respiratory Institute, Cleveland, OH 44195, USA
Charles W. Felix: Tulare County Counsel, Visalia, CA 93291, USA
Andrew J. Curtis: Department of Population and Quantitative Health Sciences, Case Western Reserve University, Cleveland, OH 44106, USA
Jayakrishnan Ajayakumar: Department of Population and Quantitative Health Sciences, Case Western Reserve University, Cleveland, OH 44106, USA
Jacqueline Curtis: Department of Population and Quantitative Health Sciences, Case Western Reserve University, Cleveland, OH 44106, USA

IJERPH, 2022, vol. 19, issue 10, 1-9

Abstract: Individuals experiencing homelessness represent a growing population in the United States. Air pollution exposure among individuals experiencing homelessness has not been quantified. Utilizing local knowledge mapping, we generated activity spaces for 62 individuals experiencing homelessness residing in a semi-rural county within the United States. Satellite derived measurements of fine particulate matter (PM2.5) were utilized to estimate annual exposure to air pollution experienced by our participants, as well as differences in the variation in estimated PM2.5 at the local scale compared with stationary monitor data and point location estimates for the same period. Spatial variation in exposure to PM2.5 was detected between participants at both the point and activity space level. Among all participants, annual median PM2.5 exposure was 16.22 μg/m 3 , exceeding the National Air Quality Standard. Local knowledge mapping represents a novel mechanism to capture mobility patterns and investigate exposure to air pollution within vulnerable populations. Reliance on stationary monitor data to estimate air pollution exposure may lead to exposure misclassification, particularly in rural and semirural regions where monitoring is limited.

Keywords: homelessness; local knowledge mapping; environmental justice; particulate matter; homeless persons; vulnerable populations (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: I I1 I3 Q Q5 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2022
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (1)

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/19/10/5842/pdf (application/pdf)
https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/19/10/5842/ (text/html)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:gam:jijerp:v:19:y:2022:i:10:p:5842-:d:812991

Access Statistics for this article

IJERPH is currently edited by Ms. Jenna Liu

More articles in IJERPH from MDPI
Bibliographic data for series maintained by MDPI Indexing Manager ().