What is a 'rustbelt'?

Within the United States, 'rustbelt' usually denotates part of the Northeast and Midwestern areas of former urban, industrial reliant areas. Due to various political and social factors, these cities, formerly urban centers of the economy suffer from various factors as job loss, population loss, and the push for suburbanization during the 50's and 60's. However, the cost of rustbelts on their citizens is more than just economical, drawing socialized costs to these areas and their citizens as well- but even more importantly, the environmental costs of former industrial sites affect the citizens of these areas to modern day, and due to other socialized factors, the most vulnerable and marginalized citizens of the United States often reside in and are affected by these costs.

What is this map for?

Using a modern-day perspective as well as several factors of environmental injustice, I've mapped both the loss of industry as well as current-day environmental issues to convey an overlap between rustbelt cities and modern-day environmental hazards in the state of New York. The state of rustbelts is linked to modern day environmental injustice and dispairty, but also increases the damage of existing social factors (as well as propegated by them).