Socioecological Production of Parks in Atlanta, Georgia's Proctor Creek Watershed: Creating Ecosystem Services or Negative Externalities?

Abstract

For decades, grassroots activists have engaged in efforts to resurrect the integrity of Atlanta, Georgia's Proctor Creek Watershed, by creating a narrative about the value of the ecological and sociohistorical worth of the watershed. These efforts have resulted in both small-and large-scale adaptive reuse green space projects in Proctor Creek, intended to mitigate flooding and to provide recreational opportunities for socially disadvantaged residents. This kind of place making is consistent with Henrik Ernstson's ecological services model that theorizes that environmental justice is produced when actors coalesce to create and articulate the ecological and social value of urban spaces. However, Ernstson's model does not account for the possibility of negative externalities, that is, gentrification/displacement of residents resulting from the value articulation process. In the case of Proctor Creek, displacement may occur for two reasons-one, the relative lack of property ownership and two, because of the lack of clarity of real property ownership. At least two-thirds of residents in most of Proctor Creek's neighborhoods are renters, and it is likely that a high percentage of resident owners hold titles classed as ''heirs' property.'' This article discusses unintended consequences resulting from participatory justice and place-making activities and the need to widen the scope of value articulation to include displacement cautions.

How well do we know green gentrification? A systematic review of the methods

“…Few studies directly compared how the function and/or quality of different types of greening may influence gentrification (but see recent work by Amorim Maia et al, 2020; Chen et al, 2021; Kim and Wu, 2021; Pearsall and Eller, 2020; Rigolon and Németh, 2020) although many earlier studies made inferences about it (e.g., Anguelovski et al, 2017; Johnson Gaither, 2019). Although this study focused on vegetative greening, some papers also discussed other types of greening alongside vegetation, such as LEED-certified buildings (Checker, 2011; Yazar et al, 2020), cycle lanes (Goodling et al, 2015; Ali et al, 2020), and public transit (Quastel, 2009; Rigolon et al, 2020b), highlighting the link between vegetative and non-vegetative drivers of green gentrification.…”

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“…Real estate markets have improved significantly across the US in recent years, including in the City of Atlanta. As well, large, green infrastructure projects are drawing wealthier, white people to south and westside Atlanta neighborhoods (Immergluck & Balan, 2017;Johnson Gaither, 2019). There has been a concomitant criticism of these trends, but some amount gentrification is inevitable and is already evident in west Atlanta.…”

“…Similar to other studies (Gilstad-Hayden et al, 2015;Troy et al, 2012;Troy et al, 2016;Wolfe & Mennis, 2012), we argue that people's participation in and with greenspace is a crucial factor in this relationship. This interaction can occur when greenspace serves as a physical location for positive, social interaction or when humans are motivated to care for and protect both mundane, urban open spaces, and those of particular socioecological significance (Ernstson, 2013;Johnson Gaither, 2019;Locke et al, 2016;Murphy-Dunning, 2009). For instance, in the University of Illinois's series of studies on resident responses to greenspace in Chicago housing projects, findings indicated that crime rates for both property and violent crimes were lower around buildings with more trees.…”

Water supply, waste assimilation, and low‐flow issues facing the Southeast Piedmont Interstate‐85 urban archipelago

“…While Atlanta was the only city in the archipelago that built a combined sewer system (serving the city limits as defined in 1910), its overflows have repeatedly degraded water quality in the Chattahoochee River and reduced assimilative capacity for downstream municipalities. Flooding events associated with CSOs have threatened the health and safety of the residents of Atlanta, and have been most prevalent in non‐White and impoverished communities (Johnson Gaither, 2019). Recently, Atlanta greatly reduced its combined sewer overflow problems by (1) separating storm and sanitary sewers over about 27% of the combined network, and (2) building 18.5 miles of 30‐foot diameter CSO storage tunnels under the city at an approximate cost of $3B (EPA Office of Inspector General, 2018).…”

“…The tunnels store a large proportion of CSO flows during storms, so they can be treated between storms. However, the city has yet to mitigate the effects of all combined systems, and some regions of the city, such as the Entrenchment Creek, South River, and Proctor Creek Watersheds, still regularly experience CSO-associated flooding and water quality problems geographically coincident with low-income non-White neighborhoods (Deme, 2021;Entrenchment Creek One Water Management Task Force, 2020;Johnson Gaither, 2019).…”