Geodemographics and Environmental Justice in Montreal: Exploring Socioeconomic Position Through Geodemographic Segmentation

Abstract

Developing a deep and thorough understanding of environmental justice in urban areas depends on the clarity through which researchers and practitioners can assess the socio-demographic structure of a city. Geodemographic segmentation systems provide a classification technique through which a multitude of social and economic indicators are used to profile and map neighborhood characteristics. Although geodemographic segmentation has been applied to a diverse body of commercial and academic research, the development of a specific application in the context of environmental justice assessment may provide valuable insights for the case of Montreal. A dataset was compiled to represent Socioeconomic Position (SEP) using age, sex, ethnicity, language, income, occupation, education and urbanity indicators. The data set was segmented using a hierarchichal ascending classification (HAC) cluster analysis to show statistically similar regions of Montreal at the scale of the Dissemination Area. The mapping and visual interpretation of the resulting geographic clusters showed distinct patterns of socio-demographic distribution across the aforementioned themes. Although no regression analysis has been completed, the cartographic representation of the socio-demographic structure of Montreal will provide guidance for a more developed statistical analysis.