TY - JOUR
T1 - The unequal connectivity of parks and tree canopy in 10 U.S. cities
AU - Stuhlmacher, Michelle
AU - Kim, Yushim
N1 - Publisher Copyright:
© 2024 Elsevier GmbH
PY - 2024/6
Y1 - 2024/6
N2 - The connectivity of urban green space has a strong influence on the benefits that green space provides—more connected green space has been linked to greater biodiversity, increased recreational opportunities, improved air quality, and increased noise attenuation. Previous urban green space equity research largely focuses on the total amount or accessibility of green space, ignoring connectivity and other measures of configuration that also impact green space equity. Taking both a demographic and spatial approach, we examine whether green space (i.e., park and tree canopy) area, patch size, and connectivity are distributed equally in ten U.S. cities. We find that not only are wealthy, college-educated, and predominately White census tracts more likely to have greater total green space, the green space patches are larger and more connected. This inequality was stronger for tree canopy than for parks, pointing to the need for policy interventions to improve tree canopy connectivity in areas of systematic disinvestment.
AB - The connectivity of urban green space has a strong influence on the benefits that green space provides—more connected green space has been linked to greater biodiversity, increased recreational opportunities, improved air quality, and increased noise attenuation. Previous urban green space equity research largely focuses on the total amount or accessibility of green space, ignoring connectivity and other measures of configuration that also impact green space equity. Taking both a demographic and spatial approach, we examine whether green space (i.e., park and tree canopy) area, patch size, and connectivity are distributed equally in ten U.S. cities. We find that not only are wealthy, college-educated, and predominately White census tracts more likely to have greater total green space, the green space patches are larger and more connected. This inequality was stronger for tree canopy than for parks, pointing to the need for policy interventions to improve tree canopy connectivity in areas of systematic disinvestment.
KW - Environmental justice
KW - Green space
KW - Land system architecture
KW - Parks
KW - Spatial analysis
KW - Tree canopy
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U2 - 10.1016/j.ufug.2024.128332
DO - 10.1016/j.ufug.2024.128332
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:85191299800
SN - 1618-8667
VL - 96
JO - Urban Forestry and Urban Greening
JF - Urban Forestry and Urban Greening
M1 - 128332
ER -