Racialized Disaster Recovery: Divergent Neighborhood Trajectories in the Wake of Extreme Climate Events

• In Event: Community and Urban Sociology Section Roundtables
  In Refereed Roundtable (60 minute): Table 7: City and Environment

Abstract

Neighborhood inequality by race is a defining characteristic of the United States. The growing prevalence of climate-related disasters raises new questions about the durability of these inequalities and how pre-existing neighborhood inequalities shape post-disaster recovery. Existing research has not tested at scale whether competing theories can explain recovery of the built environment, either because of limited data or reliance on imperfect proxies. Integrating a large-scale dataset of post-disaster building recovery with pre-disaster Census data, we find that neighborhoods with a higher share of Black residents before the disaster are less likely to be rebuilt to equal or better conditions. This association remains robust after accounting for spatial effects of neighboring racial composition, differences in income levels, and spatial spillovers. Additionally, neighborhoods adjacent to areas with a higher share of Black residents also experience worse recovery outcomes. Our preliminary results reveal a clear racialized pattern of post-disaster recovery.

Authors

• Qiwei Lin, Stanford University

• Tianyuan Huang, Waymo

• Jackelyn Hwang, Stanford University