The Infrastructure of Inequality: Road Network Disconnectivity and Racial Disparities in U.S. Cities

• In Event: 30816 - Space and Place

Abstract

The built environment is an important consideration in understanding how racially segregated spaces are produced and reproduced. This study analyzes a key, yet often overlooked, feature of built environments, road network connectivity, and its relationship to racial residential segregation and disparities in residents’ access to local public services. We construct counterfactual road networks using a method to identify missing road segments that we would expect to exist given the surrounding infrastructure. We compare differences in racial segregation and distance to local public services without and without these missing road segments. We focus on two local public services common to all cities: the emergency services provided by fire stations and the educational, civic, and social services available at public libraries. We find that unexpected disconnectivity is associated with higher levels of local- and city-level segregation and racial disparities in the distance to libraries and fire stations. Our preliminary results suggest that racist infrastructure has compounding and disparate effects for residents: furthering advantage for White residents and disadvantage for communities of color.

Authors

• Elizabeth Roberto, Rice University

• Alex Mikulas, Rice University

• Caroline Lan Gainer Wolski, Rice University