Environmental inequities in terms of different types of urban greenery in Hartford, Connecticut

Urban greenery has long been recognized as an important component of urban ecosystem and provides many benefits to urban residents. However, different types of urban greenery provide different kinds of natural experiences to people. In this study, green metrics calculated based on multisource spatial datasets were used to quantify the spatial distribution of different types of urban greenery in Hartford, Connecticut. Geo-tagged Google Street View images, which capture the profile view of cityscape, were used to quantify street greenery by considering the time information. Land cover map and urban parks map were used to measure residential yard greenery and proximity to urban parks, respectively. We analyzed the associations of the calculated green metrics with socio-economic variables derived from census data. Statistical results show that: (1) people with higher income tend to live in neighborhoods with more street greenery; (2) census block groups with a higher proportion of owner-occupied units tend to have more yard vegetation and yard tree/shrub coverage; (3) Hispanics tend to live in block groups that have less yard vegetation but African Americans mostly live in block groups with more yard greenery; and (4) there are no significant environmental disparities among racial/ethnic groups in terms of proximity to urban parks. In general, this study provides an insight into the environments of urban residents in terms of urban greenery, and a valuable reference data for urban planning.

[1]  R. Kaplan.  The Nature of the View from Home , 2001 .

[2]  Weidong Li,et al.  Does the Visibility of Greenery Increase Perceived Safety in Urban Areas? Evidence from the Place Pulse 1.0 Dataset , 2015, ISPRS Int. J. Geo Inf..

[3]  Anne Ellaway,et al.  Graffiti, greenery, and obesity in adults: secondary analysis of European cross sectional survey , 2005, BMJ : British Medical Journal.

[4]  William N. Cannon,et al.  The Esthetic Contribution of Trees to Residential Streets in Ohio Towns , 1983, Arboriculture & Urban Forestry.

[5]  M. Kamal,et al.  Effect of predictors of visual preference as characteristics of urban natural landscapes in increasing perceived restorative potential , 2014 .

[6]  P. Wilkinson,et al.  Multidisciplinary research in public health: a case study of research on access to green space. , 2009, Public health.

[7]  Xiaoling Chen,et al.  Remote sensing image-based analysis of the relationship between urban heat island and land use/cover changes , 2006 .

[8]  C.Y. Jim,et al.  Assessing the ecosystem service of air pollutant removal by urban trees in Guangzhou (China). , 2008, Journal of environmental management.

[9]  Nik Heynen,et al.  The Political Ecology of Uneven Urban Green Space , 2006 .

[10]  Greg Lindsey,et al.  Access, Equity, and Urban Greenways: An Exploratory Investigation , 2001 .

[11]  F. Shi,et al.  Evaluating the potential for urban heat-island mitigation by greening parking lots , 2010 .

[12]  M. L. Cadenasso,et al.  Characterization of Households and its Implications for the Vegetation of Urban Ecosystems , 2006, Ecosystems.

[13]  D. Dai.  Racial/ethnic and socioeconomic disparities in urban green space accessibility: Where to intervene? , 2011 .

[14]  Weidong Li,et al.  An explorative study on the proximity of buildings to green spaces in urban areas using remotely sensed imagery , 2014, Ann. GIS.

[15]  Andy P. Jones,et al.  Towards a better understanding of the relationship between greenspace and health: Development of a theoretical framework , 2013 .

[16]  J. Morgan Grove,et al.  Predicting Opportunities for Greening and Patterns of Vegetation on Private Urban Lands , 2007, Environmental management.

[17]  Barbara Gray,et al.  Living Streets: Strategies for Crafting Public Space , 2012 .

[18]  R. Ulrich.  View through a window may influence recovery from surgery. , 1984, Science.

[19]  Takemi Sugiyama,et al.  Perceived and objectively measured greenness of neighbourhoods: Are they measuring the same thing? , 2010 .

[20]  Weiqi Zhou,et al.  Is everyone hot in the city? Spatial pattern of land surface temperatures, land cover and neighborhood socioeconomic characteristics in Baltimore, MD. , 2011, Journal of environmental management.

[21]  Kathleen L. Wolf,et al.  Business District Streetscapes, Trees, and Consumer Response , 2005 .

[22]  Hilary Bradbury,et al.  Resident perceptions of urban alleys and alley greening , 2010 .

[23]  Xiaolu Zhou,et al.  Social disparities in tree canopy and park accessibility: A case study of six cities in Illinois using GIS and remote sensing , 2013 .

[24]  J. Wolch,et al.  Parks and Park Funding in Los Angeles: An Equity-Mapping Analysis , 2005 .

[25]  N. Heynen,et al.  Inequitable access to urban reforestation: the impact of urban political economy on housing tenure and urban forests , 2004 .

[26]  Anne-Marie Séguin,et al.  Spatial distribution of vegetation in Montreal: An uneven distribution or environmental inequity? , 2012 .

[27]  P. Dwivedi,et al.  Ecological benefits of urban forestry: The case of Kerwa Forest Area (KFA), Bhopal, India , 2009 .

[28]  Kevin J. Gaston,et al.  Socio-economic inequalities in access to nature on public and private lands: A case study from Brisbane, Australia , 2014 .

[29]  T. Paus,et al.  Neighborhood greenspace and health in a large urban center , 2015, Scientific Reports.

[30]  N. Sohler,et al.  International Journal of Health Geographics Open Access the Complexities of Measuring Access to Parks and Physical Activity Sites in New York City: a Quantitative and Qualitative Approach , 2022 .

[31]  Weixing Zhang,et al.  Assessing street-level urban greenery using Google Street View and a modified green view index , 2015 .

[32]  Christopher G. Boone,et al.  Parks and People: An Environmental Justice Inquiry in Baltimore, Maryland , 2009, Public Space Reader.

[33]  Peter Spreeuwenberg,et al.  Greenspace in urban neighbourhoods and residents' health: adding quality to quantity , 2011, Journal of Epidemiology & Community Health.

[34]  Jayajit Chakraborty,et al.  Street Trees and Equity: Evaluating the Spatial Distribution of an Urban Amenity , 2009 .

[35]  K Nakamura,et al.  Urban residential environments and senior citizens’ longevity in megacity areas: the importance of walkable green spaces , 2002, Journal of epidemiology and community health.

[36]  R. Ricard,et al.  Defining urban forestry – A comparative perspective of North America and Europe , 2006 .

[37]  J. Mihelcic,et al.  Assessing equitable access to urban green space: the role of engineered water infrastructure. , 2011, Environmental science & technology.

[38]  H. Akbari,et al.  Cool surfaces and shade trees to reduce energy use and improve air quality in urban areas , 2001 .

[39]  Weidong Li,et al.  Who lives in greener neighborhoods? The distribution of street greenery and its association with residents' socioeconomic conditions in Hartford, Connecticut, USA , 2015 .

[40]  P. Groenewegen,et al.  EVIDENCE BASED PUBLIC HEALTH POLICY AND PRACTICE Green space, urbanity, and health: how strong is the relation? , 2006 .

[41]  Christopher Gidlow,et al.  Development of the Neighbourhood Green Space Tool (NGST) , 2012 .

[42]  J. Nichol,et al.  Modeling urban environmental quality in a tropical city , 2005 .

[43]  K. Berhane,et al.  Childhood obesity and proximity to urban parks and recreational resources: a longitudinal cohort study. , 2011, Health & place.