Glossary

Glossary

Data zones

Local areas containing around 500-1,000 residents with similar social characteristics. Data zones (DZ) are used by the Scottish Government for reporting social statistics, for example from the census.  

Decent Housing

A housing standard which requires homes to:

1. conform to minimum statutory standards

2. be reasonably maintained

3. have fairly modern facilities and services

4. allow occupants to live in reasonable thermal comfort

 

The Department for Communities and Local Government (2006) 'A Decent Home: Definition and guidance for implementation'

Decile

Each of ten equal groups into which a population can be divided according to the distribution of values of a particular variable.

 

Oxford Dictionaries website

Deprivation

Deprivation covers a broad range of issues and refers to unmet needs caused by a lack of resources of all kinds, not just financial.

 

Department for Communities and Local Government (2011) The English Indices of Deprivation 2010, page 2.

Direct emissions

Carbon emissions resulting directly through an individual’s own actions: household energy use and transport.

Disadvantage (geographic)

Geographic Flood Disadvantage (GFD) provides an ‘absolute’ interpretation of disadvantage (as proposed by Lindley et al., 2011) and enables those locations where high levels of social vulnerability combine with a large number of people exposed to flooding to be identified. GFD therefore identifies areas that are ‘hot spots’ of social flood risk.  

Disadvantage (systemic)

Systemic Flood Disadvantage (SFD) provides a ‘relative’ interpretation of disadvantage and enables bias in the flood risk faced by the most vulnerable when compared to the average to be explored. For example, SFD uses the average for all neighbourhoods within lenses of interest – i.e. UK, the coastal floodplains and cities in decline. As such, SFD measures the degree to which FRM policy (or its implementation in practice) can be considered to deliver a fair and socially just outcome. 

Distributive justice

Distributive justice concerns the ways in which the burdens,  benefits and responsibilities are allocated between different individuals and groups.  In the context of climate change it includes the following:

1. Unequal responsibilities: who bears greater responsibility for the emissions of greenhouse gases?

2. Unequal impacts of climate change: who is more adversely affected by the extreme weather events that will increase in frequency and intensity?

3. Unequal impacts of policy responses: who benefits and who bears the costs and burdens of mitigation and adaptation policy?

 

Adapted from the ClimateJust presentation Why are socially just responses to climate change important?

District heating

In a district heating scheme, instead of each property in an area having its own heating system, heat is generated at a central point and distributed to properties through a network of insulated pipes. Heat can be generated more efficiently in a district heating system, compared to within individual properties.