Rachel Gordon
GIS Assignment 1
January 27, 2012
Project Topic #1 – Disasters
Overview
I am interested in examining disaster vulnerability through a lens of social (in)justice and
inequality. This project would examine spatial aspects of disaster risk reduction policies and/or
advance recovery planning (i.e. planning for better recovery after disaster events), including
who (what populations/neighborhoods) governments target with what resources and how that
lines up with actual vulnerability. Essentially, I would like to overlay spatial justice analysis with
risk and vulnerability analysis to examine how different populations are planned with and for,
and are able to access resources. This project would probably have to focus on a particular city,
if not even a subsection, or perhaps two cities for comparative analysis. If the timing and some
other logistics work out, this project could support a team consulting project I will be doing
through a course at HKS on Disaster Recovery Management and Urban Development, in which
we will be consulting with an urban government on recovery management issues.
Questions
1. What is the relationship between race, poverty, and disaster impacts?
This question is important because mainstream disaster rhetoric still emphasizes the idea that
disasters are “natural,” yet the data clearly demonstrate that impacts vary widely according to
social indicators; that is, disaster impacts are very different for different gender, race, and class
categories.
2. What is the relationship between race, poverty and disaster management/recovery
planning? How are resources allotted differently to different neighborhoods? How do
different communities’ opportunities to participate in such planning differ by various
social and economic indicators?
This question is significant for many of the same reasons as the first one: different populations
have different access and therefore are impacted differently, yet these variations are rarely
acknowledged or discussed in planning debates and therefore are rarely dealt with. Part of the
problem is that—despite much more recognition after Hurricane Katrina of social inequality
factors in disasters impacts—there is still not a lot of dialogue between the disaster planning
community and spatial justice thinkers on these issues. I believe the data exist on both sides, but
are not often overlayed to demonstrate how different variables play out.
References:
 Pelling, Mark. (2007). Learning from others: the scope and challenges for participatory
disaster risk assessment. Disasters, 31(4): 373−385.
 Godschalk, David R. (2003). Urban Hazard Mitigation: Creating Resilient Cities. Natural
Hazards Review, 4(3): 136-143.
 Paton, Douglas and David Johnson. (2006). Disaster Resilience: an Integrated Approach.
Springfield, IL: Charles C Thomas.
Other Resources
I know that there are numerous other resources available, many through www.gdnonline.org,
which has an extensive collection of information and links to disaster/inequality literature and
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resources. These may also contain data resources; I have not yet fully explored.
In addition, if I am able to utilize this project to support my Harvard project, I know that data will
be made available by the client as well as other urban government sources and the Harvard
Kennedy School.
Project Topic #2 – Urban Violence
Overview
My thesis topic is urban violence and resilience in Managua, Nicaragua, and I am very interested
in mapping violence patterns onto other spatial data at the city/neighborhood level, as I believe
that violence rates and patterns vary significantly across the urban landscape. I’m also
interested in how they vary across Nicaragua and Central America in general, though that may
be too broad a scope for this project. There is census data available for Managua that details
unemployment and other economic indicators, housing security, female-headed households,
and other characteristics, and I would like to use this data along with crime data to get a clearer
sense of how opportunity and security are spatially distributed within the city.
Questions
1. How are various crimes spatially distributed across Managua?
This question is interesting partly because Managua has had very little formal planning, and
therefore has developed in a haphazard, bizarre way that results in an atomization effect by
districts and neighborhoods. This also results – I believe – in responses to violence and insecurity
taking place very much in an informal way at the neighborhood level: that’s where organizing
takes place. But it would be very useful to have a sense of how violence patterns map out.
2. What is the relationship between various socio-economic indicators and
crime/violence rates?
Because of the strange and disorganized way that Managua has developed, as just mentioned,
there may be few—or many! And unexpected!—patterns across the city. GIS maps using 1995
census data show really interesting patches of various characteristics; I’d like to update those
maps using more recent (2005) census data and other recent studies as well as crime statistics
to get a better sense of what is going on.
References
 Neckerman, Kathryn et al. Disparities in Urban Neighborhood Conditions: Evidence from
GIS Measures and Field Observation in New York City. Journal of Public Health Policy 30:
S264–S285.
 Rolnik, Raquel. (2000). Territorial exclusion and urban violence: the case of the state of
Sao Paolo, Brazil. GeoForum 32(4): 471-482.
Other Resources
There is a wealth of information regarding Managua that I have already amassed as part of my
thesis research. There is also a GIS database at the Universidad de Centro America (UCA) in
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Managua to which I am in the process of gaining access, which will be a key resource. 2005
Nicaraguan census information is also all available online.