The unequal connectivity of parks and tree canopy in 10 U.S. cities

Michelle Stuhlmacher, Yushim Kim

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

4 Scopus citations

Abstract

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.

Original languageEnglish (US)
Article number128332
JournalUrban Forestry and Urban Greening
Volume96
DOIs
StatePublished - Jun 2024

Keywords

  • Environmental justice
  • Green space
  • Land system architecture
  • Parks
  • Spatial analysis
  • Tree canopy

ASJC Scopus subject areas

  • Forestry
  • Ecology
  • Soil Science

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