Spatially Disaggregated Assessment of Environmental Inequalities Among Vulnerable Groups due to Urban Rainstorm Flooding

Waterlogging caused by heavy rains, a recurring problem in cities located within floodplains having poor runoff, often results in unequal degrees of impact on the population, which can be assessed from an environmental justice perspective. This paper aims to assess the inequitable exposure of various vulnerable and deprived social groups to two events of pluvial flooding in the city of Santa Fe de la Vera Cruz (Argentina), as well as uncover possible inequities. Methodologically, a specific urban populated area is adopted as relevant zone, and a set of sociodemographic indicators by small spatial units, denoting human vulnerability and deprivation, is selected. The analysis has intensely relied on GIS and a new Local Inequity Quotient to measure which sociodemographic groups, and what parts of the city have got relative under or over-exposure to hazard. The comparison to other authors' works enables to reveal and confirm a well-known spatial pattern of negative discrimination, to assert the spatial accuracy of our results in the case studied, and to claim for the adequacy and usefulness of the method for urban management and planning, taking into account these largely disregarded environmental inequities in Latin America.