Doctoral Dissertation Research in DRMS: Investigating Environmental Justice and Managing Air Pollution Risk through Participatory Sensing

DRMS 博士论文研究：通过参与式感知调查环境正义和管理空气污染风险

• 批准号: 2117049
• 负责人: Sara Grineski
• 金额: $ 2.66万
• 依托单位: University of Utah
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Standard Grant
• 财政年份: 2021
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2021-07-15 至 2023-06-30
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2117049&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: Doctoral; Dissertation; Research; DRMS; Investigating

This award is funded in whole or in part under the American Rescue Plan Act of 2021 (Public Law 117-2).Some people have turned to non- governmental air quality monitoring networks (NAQMNs) to assess their air pollution exposures. NAQMNs include low-cost, networked air pollution sensors hosted at homes and schools that display real-time pollutant concentrations on publicly accessible websites. The self-organizing nature of NAQMNs may produce a highly uneven spatial distribution of sensors, and barriers to acquiring sensors may systemically disenfranchise some social groups. This is important because air pollution exposure causes negative health effects and exposures tend to vary based on race/ethnicity and socioeconomic status. The overall goal of this project is to assess how families with children with asthma use the sensors while expanding the Salt Lake County, Utah NAQMN. Without equal access to air pollution information, the public cannot stay adequately informed, which in turn may affect their perceptions and actions concerning pollution exposure and health. This project is relevant to environmental policy nationally, and in Salt Lake County, which often exceeds national pollution standards. Adding 20 sensors in areas of greatest need will enhance equity in Salt Lake County’s NAQMN. The researcher recruits a student from a historically underrepresented group as a research assistant and disseminates findings via multiple outlets, including by publishing articles in top-tier journals and sharing findings with NAQMN managers, study participants, and policymakers. This project aims to: (1) assess socio-spatial inequalities in the distribution of a NAQMN in Salt Lake County; and (2) use those results to select local environmental justice communities of concern with sparse NAQMN coverage in order to examine how participatory air quality sensing shapes residents’ understandings and decisions. The research first uses statistical analyses to assess whether sensors in the NAQMN (n=249) are unevenly distributed with respect to race/ethnicity and socioeconomic status at the census tract level (n=236) and identifies tracts in ‘high need’ of sensors. Next, the researcher recruits 20 families without sensors who live in the ‘high need’ areas and 10 families that already have sensors as a comparison group. He provides sensors connected to the NAQMN to the 20 families without sensors and all families have a child with asthma. He conducts pre-interviews, 16 weekly surveys, and post-interviews to investigate how participants understand and manage air pollution risks with the use of a sensor. While others have examined environmental justice implications of air pollution, few have assessed the environmental justice implications of a NAQMN. The methodological approach provides a transferable model for assessing NAQMNs elsewhere. This project advances understandings about the process of democratizing public access to air pollution information as well as how citizen science can inform decision making.This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.

该奖项全部或部分由2021年美国救援计划法案（公法117-2）资助。一些人已经转向非政府空气质量监测网络（NAQMN）来评估他们的空气污染暴露。NAQMN包括低成本的联网空气污染传感器，这些传感器托管在家庭和学校中，可在公共网站上显示实时污染物浓度。NAQMN的自组织性质可能会产生高度不均匀的传感器空间分布，获取传感器的障碍可能会系统地剥夺一些社会群体的权利。这一点很重要，因为空气污染暴露会对健康产生负面影响，而且暴露往往因种族/民族和社会经济地位而异。该项目的总体目标是评估哮喘儿童家庭如何使用传感器，同时扩大犹他州盐湖县NAQMN。如果不能平等获得空气污染信息，公众就无法充分了解情况，这反过来又可能影响他们对污染暴露和健康的看法和行动。该项目与国家环境政策有关，在盐湖县，经常超过国家污染标准。在最需要的地区增加20个传感器将提高盐湖县NAQMN的公平性。研究人员从一个历史上代表性不足的群体中招募一名学生作为研究助理，并通过多个渠道传播研究结果，包括在顶级期刊上发表文章，并与NAQMN经理，研究参与者和政策制定者分享研究结果。该项目旨在：（1）评估盐湖县NAQMN分布的社会空间不平等;（2）利用这些结果选择当地环境正义社区关注稀疏NAQMN覆盖，以研究参与式空气质量传感如何塑造居民的理解和决策。该研究首先使用统计分析来评估NAQMN（n=249）中的传感器是否在人口普查区水平（n=236）的种族/民族和社会经济地位方面分布不均，并确定传感器的“高需求”区域。接下来，研究人员招募了20个居住在“高需求”地区的没有传感器的家庭和10个已经有传感器的家庭作为对照组。他为20个没有传感器的家庭提供了连接到NAQMN的传感器，所有家庭都有一个患有哮喘的孩子。他进行了预访谈，16个每周调查和后访谈，以调查参与者如何使用传感器理解和管理空气污染风险。虽然其他人研究了空气污染的环境正义影响，但很少有人评估NAQMN的环境正义影响。该方法为其他地方评估NAQMN提供了一个可转移的模型。该项目促进了对公众获取空气污染信息的民主化进程以及公民科学如何为决策提供信息的理解。该奖项反映了NSF的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的知识价值和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估，被认为值得支持。