Social heterogeneity, local capacity, and urban parks: Evidence from US cities

Paying for nature‐based solutions: A review of funding and financing mechanisms for ecosystem services and their impacts on social equity

“…As in the ecosystem services literature, environmental justice and equity themes were present in the funding, financing, and partnerships literature. Specifically, associations were made between the financial capacity of a city or community and NbS spending, where cities with less financial capacity allocate less money to NbS operations and maintenance (Leon‐Moreta et al, 2020; O'Herrin & Shields, 2016; Rigolon et al, 2018). Similar associations were found between capital fund availability and local capacity (Rigolon et al, 2018), race (Burdine & Taylor, 2018a), and income (Davies et al, 2019; Joassart‐Marcelli, 2010; Rigolon et al, 2018), both within and between cities.…”

“…Even grant programs are competitive, requiring a highly curated application and no guarantee of funds (Rigolon et al, 2018). This further exacerbates the NbS funding disparity that already exists between cities in the US (Leon-Moreta et al, 2020). A city's current capacity can dictate its ability to attain funds, creating a reinforcing loop that amplifies existing inequities between cities.…”

Heterogenous Effects of Local Government Spending on Mortality Across Racial Groups Among Working-Age Adults in the U.S.

“…Black people are more likely to live in high-poverty neighborhoods and are also overrepresented in the South, the poorest region of the U.S. 54 In addition, there is an inverse relationship between racial heterogeneity and public spending. 14 , 15 Cities with high poverty rates also have reduced public spending owing to having a smaller revenue base. 55 The combination of these factors results in Black people disproportionately living in places with less robust public infrastructure but a higher demand for public services and goods.…”

“…Alesina, Baqir, and Easterly 14 concluded that more racially diverse jurisdictions have less per capita spending on public goods and roads. Similarly, Leon-Moreta, Totaro, and Dixon 15 found that municipal parks and recreation spending decreased as racial heterogeneity and income inequality increased, but the impacts of racial heterogeneity were stronger. Public policy decisions and their effects are racialized in the U.S. 16 The health effects of government spending should be explored in this context.…”

Nonprofit Density and Distributional Equity in Public Service Provision: Exploring Racial/Ethnic Disparities in Public Park Access across U.S. Cities

“…Because of the scale of our study and the lack of comprehensive information about the missions and activities of nonprofits in our dataset, we rely on the most recently published empirical study of park‐supporting nonprofits in Public Administration Review (Cheng 2019b) to identify NTEE codes that capture park‐supporting nonprofits 3 . Following Leon‐Moreta, Totaro, and Dixon (2020), we count the number of park‐supporting nonprofits per 1,000 population as the proxy of the density of park‐supporting nonprofits 4 . Service areas of nonprofits, especially park‐supporting nonprofits in cities with more than 10,000 population in this study, are usually not confined to the city where the nonprofits' offices locate.…”