Structural Racism and Inequity in the U.S. Aviation Industry: Foundations and Implications

Airport Cooperative Research Program (ACRP) Project 02-99: Incorporating Environmental Justice and Equity Principles and Data into Airport Decision-Making provides resources to educate and support airport practitioners integrating environmental justice, equity principles and data into airport decision making. Airports (and the impacted communities that surround them) need resources to carefully assess and respond to inequitable outcomes, particularly with respect to impacts felt by airport passengers, the airport workforce, and the airport-adjacent communities whose environments are impacted by airport development and operations. To adequately incorporate environmental justice, equity principles, and data into airport decision-making processes, it is critical for practitioners to understand the historical context of current conditions. This publication provides evidence that the structural origins of inequity, as experienced in the United States, can be traced back to four broad conceptual themes: group-based othering (Chapter 2), settler colonialism (Chapter 3), economic systems of racial capitalism (Chapter 4), and systemic oppression (Chapter 5). Where Chapters 2 through 5 focus on key concepts and provide specific examples pertinent to the air transportation system today, Chapter 6 begins to explore the aspirational goal of an inclusive, equitable, and just airport planning and decision-making process. Chapters 2-6 each begin with a one-page “Insight Warm-Up” that lists the learning goals for the chapter and short prompts about the relevant historical context, lenses and ways of knowing, and present-day legacies in aviation. Overall, this publication intends to improve a reader’s knowledge of systemic racism within the United States, as well as improve their understanding of the links between historical instances of harm to outcomes that persist within the aviation industry today (with a focus on airports where applicable).

• Record URL:
  • https://doi.org/10.17226/27917
• Record URL:
  • https://nap.nationalacademies.org/catalog/27917/structural-racism-and-inequity-in-the-us-aviation-industry-foundations
• Availability:
  • Find a library where document is available. Order URL: http://worldcat.org/isbn/9780309724753
• Supplemental Notes:
  • Submitted February 2024.
• Authors:
  • McNair, Amber Woodburn
  • Reece, Jason
  • Thomas, Destiny N
  • Mitchell-Wyatt, Imani
  • Nagy, Julia
  • Kaplan, Sara
• Publication Date: 2024

Language

• English

Media Info

• Media Type: Digital/other
• Features: Figures; Photos; References; Tables;
• Pagination: 137p
• Serial:
  • ACRP Web-Only Document
  • Issue Number: 60
  • Publisher: Transportation Research Board
• Publication flags:

  Open Access (libre)

Subject/Index Terms

• TRT Terms: Airports; Aviation; Decision making; Environmental justice; Equity; History; Racism
• Subject Areas: Aviation; History; Society; Terminals and Facilities;

Filing Info

• Accession Number: 01933566
• Record Type: Publication
• ISBN: 9780309724753
• Report/Paper Numbers: ACRP Project 02-99
• Files: TRIS, TRB
• Created Date: Oct 14 2024 5:01PM