Master's Theses or Doctor of Nursing Practice

Department

Geosciences

Degree Name

Master of Science (MS)

Abstract

This study examined the spatial distribution of socio-economic vulnerability and accessibility to essential services in Detroit, Michigan, using a Geographic Information Systems (GIS)-based approach. The research aimed to identify areas of greatest concern by integrating socio-economic indicators, including poverty, housing vacancy, income, unemployment, and crime, with spatial measures of access to critical infrastructure such as hospitals, fire stations, police stations, and grocery stores. Both feature-based and raster-based analyses were employed, including buffer and overlay analysis, service area evaluation, Euclidean distance modeling, and multi-criteria suitability analysis.

A mixed-methods framework was adopted to combine quantitative spatial analysis with contextual understanding of urban socio-economic dynamics. Raster datasets were standardized and integrated using different weighting scenarios, including equal weighting, socio-economic emphasis, and distance emphasis, to assess how variations in analytical priorities influence the identification of vulnerable areas.

The results revealed a consistent spatial pattern in which higher vulnerability was concentrated in the outer portions of Detroit, while central areas exhibited relatively lower vulnerability. However, the spatial extent of identified vulnerable areas varied significantly across scenarios, with the socio-economic emphasis scenario producing the largest extent of vulnerability and the distance emphasis scenario producing the smallest. These findings demonstrate that socio-economic conditions play a dominant role in shaping vulnerability patterns, while accessibility factors contribute to more localized variations.

Keywords

Spatial vulnerability, Suitability modeling, ArcGis Pro, Detroit, Risk Assessment

Advisor

Dr. Richard Lisichenko

Date of Award

Spring 2026

Document Type

Thesis

Rights

© The Author

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