Current approaches for measuring inequality are insufficient or unsuitable for promoting and designing equitable built environments and urban systems. In this paper, we demonstrate how a recently developed inequality measure—the Kolm-Pollak equally-distributed equivalent (EDE)—could be used to support decision making to foster equity in the built environment. The EDE provides a measure of a distribution that is similar to the average (mean) but includes a penalty based on the inequality of that distribution. The primary advantage of the Kolm-Pollak EDE is that it can be used to evaluate the inequality of both desirable quantities (e.g., amenities) and undesirable quantities (e.g., burdens). This is essential in urban systems as inequities can manifest through, among other things, disparate access to opportunities like public amenities and unequal exposure to burdens, such as pollution and natural hazards. Additionally, the Kolm-Pollak EDE can be calculated for different sociodemographic subgroups, enabling needs-based assessments to promote environmental justice. Thus, the Kolm-Pollak EDE presents numerous opportunities for practitioners, policymakers, and researchers concerned with advancing equity. We demonstrate the approach with a case study of grocery store access in ten cities across the USA and provide a Python package (inequalipy) and R code to enable others to use these inequality metrics.

当前衡量不平等的方法不足或不适合促进和设计公平的建筑环境和城市系统。在本文中，我们演示了如何使用最近开发的不平等度量（即Kolm-Pollak平均分布等效项（EDE））来支持决策，以在建筑环境中促进公平。EDE提供了一种与平均值（均值）相似的分布度量，但包括基于该分布不等式的惩罚。Kolm-Pollak EDE的主要优势在于，它可以用于评估所需数量（例如便利设施）和不想要数量（例如负担）的不平等性。这在城市系统中至关重要，因为不平等可以通过以下方式体现出来：获得公共设施等机会的机会不同，以及承受污染和自然灾害等负担的机会不平等。此外，可以针对不同的社会人口学子组计算Kolm-Pollak EDE，从而实现基于需求的评估以促进环境正义。因此，Kolm-Pollak EDE为关注公平发展的从业者，决策者和研究人员提供了众多机会。我们通过在美国十个城市的杂货店访问案例研究来演示该方法，并提供Python软件包（不等边）和R代码，以使其他人可以使用这些不平等指标。Kolm-Pollak EDE为关注公平发展的从业者，决策者和研究人员提供了众多机会。我们通过在美国十个城市的杂货店访问案例研究来演示该方法，并提供Python软件包（不等边）和R代码，以使其他人可以使用这些不平等指标。Kolm-Pollak EDE为关注公平发展的从业者，决策者和研究人员提供了众多机会。我们通过在美国十个城市的杂货店访问案例研究来演示该方法，并提供Python软件包（不等边）和R代码，以使其他人可以使用这些不平等指标。