sorry, meant to reply to this sooner. i am inexplicably awake and unable to sleep tonight, so here i am...
i think it has a lot to do with image--and i assume you mean, do stores base decisions about where to open new locations on their perception of who lives in a particular area, and what their buying habits are. what you're describing is very familiar--the geographies of race and class. if you were to do a geographic analysis of the incidence of environmental hazards/pollution, you'd see the same trend: poor communities and communities of color are far more heavily impacted by pollution, which also increases the risks of diseases like cancer and asthma, among other things. just today there was an article in the seattle papers about a study done at the UW that shows air pollution is a risk factor for heart disease in women. the kind of pollution implicated is a particular size of particle that is put out by diesel engines and coal burning plants. in other words, if you live near a coal burning plant, or in an area with heavy truck traffic, you'll be more at risk. who do you suppose lives in those areas?
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Date: 2007-02-01 10:23 am (UTC)i think it has a lot to do with image--and i assume you mean, do stores base decisions about where to open new locations on their perception of who lives in a particular area, and what their buying habits are. what you're describing is very familiar--the geographies of race and class. if you were to do a geographic analysis of the incidence of environmental hazards/pollution, you'd see the same trend: poor communities and communities of color are far more heavily impacted by pollution, which also increases the risks of diseases like cancer and asthma, among other things. just today there was an article in the seattle papers about a study done at the UW that shows air pollution is a risk factor for heart disease in women. the kind of pollution implicated is a particular size of particle that is put out by diesel engines and coal burning plants. in other words, if you live near a coal burning plant, or in an area with heavy truck traffic, you'll be more at risk. who do you suppose lives in those areas?