What Shapes Uneven Access to Urban Amenities? Thick Injustice and the Legacy of Racial Discrimination in Denver’s Parks

Rigolon, Alessandro; Németh, Jeremy

doi:10.1177/0739456x18789251

Cited by 75 publications

(40 citation statements)

References 43 publications

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“…In Rigolon's review of articles focusing on Global North cities, which is predominantly based on articles centering on the United States, 61% of the sampled studies analyzed racial-ethnic differences in access to green spaces [42], compared to only 13% in this review. This difference suggests that race and ethnicity might not be as relevant to describe disadvantage in the Global South as they are in the United States, where the long history of racial discrimination has led to today's inequities in access to green space [43,118]. Similarly, a few authors of studies on South Africa attributed the observed inequities in green space provision to the legacy of apartheid policies, which, until the early 1990s, enforced the segregation of White and Black individuals [77,89,96].…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Access to Urban Green Space in Cities of the Global South: A Systematic Literature Review

et al. 2018

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This review examines disparities in access to urban green space (UGS) based on socioeconomic status (SES) and race-ethnicity in Global South cities. It was motivated by documented human health and ecosystem services benefits of UGS in Global South countries and UGS planning barriers in rapidly urbanizing cities. Additionally, another review of Global North UGS studies uncovered that high-SES and White people have access to a higher quantity of higher quality UGSs than low-SES and racial-ethnic minority people but that no clear differences exist regarding who lives closer to UGS. Thus, we conducted a systematic review to uncover (1) whether UGS inequities in Global North cities are evident in Global South cities and (2) whether inequities in the Global South vary between continents. Through the PRISMA approach and five inclusion criteria, we identified 46 peer-reviewed articles that measured SES or racial-ethnic disparities in access to UGS in Global South cities. We found inequities for UGS quantity (high-SES people are advantaged in 85% of cases) and UGS proximity (74% of cases). Inequities were less consistent for UGS quality (65% of cases). We also found that UGS inequities were consistent across African, Asian, and Latin American cities. These findings suggest that Global South cities experience similar inequities in UGS quantity and quality as Global North cities, but that the former also face inequities in UGS proximity.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Access to Urban Green Space in Cities of the Global South: A Systematic Literature Review

et al. 2018

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“…However, despite their value to central and city governments, critiques suggest that the fixed nature of metrics may actually limit their utility. It has also been suggested that cataloguing amenities or setting a 10-minute metric for the distance to the nearest green space fails to acknowledge variations in street hierarchies, personal mobility, site functionality (and its utility to users), the amenity value of a site or the wider spatial context of GI within an urban area [ 82 ]. As a consequence, although standardized metrics remain useful tools for policy-makers to assess provision, they are contested in terms of how effectively they shape delivery and whether they are appropriate mechanisms to meet the health, well-being and recreational needs of a given community.…”

Section: Distribution Of Green Infrastructure In Urban Areasmentioning

confidence: 99%

Access to Nature in a Post Covid-19 World: Opportunities for Green Infrastructure Financing, Distribution and Equitability in Urban Planning

Mell

Whitten

2021

IJERPH

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Covid-19 changed the way many people viewed and interacted with the natural environment. In the UK, a series of national lockdowns limited the number of places that individuals could use to support their mental and physical health. Parks, gardens, canals and other ”green infrastructure” (GI) resources remained open and were repositioned as “essential infrastructure” supporting well-being. However, the quality, functionality and location of GI in urban areas illustrated a disparity in distribution that meant that in many cases communities with higher ethnic diversity, lower income and greater health inequality suffered from insufficient access. This paper provides commentary on these issues, reflecting on how planners, urban designers and environmental organizations are positioning GI in decision-making to address inequality. Through a discussion of access and quality in an era of austerity funding, this paper proposes potential pathways to equitable environmental planning that address historical and contemporary disenfranchisement with the natural environment in urban areas.

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“…For instance, unevenly distributed greenspaces might aggravate the health inequity in cities, via unequal accessibility to greenspace resources, 5 and could be linked to racial discrimination and policies that privilege economic growth over equity. [37][38][39] Alternatively, linear-shaped parks could increase accessibility compared with parks with compact shapes. 40 And large parks might provide additional benefits when compared with small parks, by providing alternative recreational options.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Effects of greenspace morphology on mortality at the neighbourhood level: a cross-sectional ecological study

Wang

Tassinary

2019

The Lancet Planetary Health

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Background The association between urban greenspace and mortality risk is well known, but less is known about how the spatial arrangement of greenspace affects population health. We aimed to investigate the relation between urban greenspace distribution and mortality risk. Methods We did a cross-sectional study in Philadelphia, PA, USA, using high-resolution landcover data for 2008 from the Pennsylvania Spatial Data Access database. We calculated landscape metrics to measure the greenness, fragmentation, connectedness, aggregation, and shape of greenspace, including and omitting green areas 83•6 m² or smaller, using Geographical Information System and spatial pattern analysis programs. We analysed all-cause and cause-specific mortality (related to heart disease, chronic lower respiratory diseases, and neoplasms) recorded in 2006 for 369 census tracts (small geographical areas with a population of 2500-8000 people). We did negative binomial regression and principal component analyses to assess associations between landscape spatial metrics and mortality, controlling for geographical, demographic, and socioeconomic factors. Findings A 1% increase in the percentage of greenspace was predicted to reduce all-cause mortality by 0•419% (95% CI 0•050-0•777), with no effect on cause-specific mortality. All-cause mortality was negatively associated with the area of greenspace. A 1 m² increase in the mean area of greenspace led to a 0•011% (95% CI 0•004-0•018) fall in all-cause mortality and a 0•019% (0•007-0•032) decrease in cardiac mortality; considering only green areas larger than 83•6 m² would contribute to a 0•002% (95% CI 0•001-0•003) decrease in all-cause mortality and a 0•003% (0•001-0•006) reduction in cardiac deaths. Census tracts with more connected, aggregated, coherent, and complex shape greenspaces had a lower risk of all-cause and cause-specific mortality. The negative association between articulated landscape parcels and all-cause mortality varied with age and education, such that the relation was stronger for census tracts with a higher percentage of older and less well-educated adults. Interpretation A significant modest association exists between the spatial distribution of greenspace in cities and mortality risk. The overall amount of greenspace alone is probably failing to capture significant variance in local health outcomes and, thus, environment-based health planning should consider the shape, form, and function of greenspace.

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What Shapes Uneven Access to Urban Amenities? Thick Injustice and the Legacy of Racial Discrimination in Denver’s Parks

Cited by 75 publications

References 43 publications

Access to Urban Green Space in Cities of the Global South: A Systematic Literature Review

Access to Urban Green Space in Cities of the Global South: A Systematic Literature Review

Access to Nature in a Post Covid-19 World: Opportunities for Green Infrastructure Financing, Distribution and Equitability in Urban Planning

Effects of greenspace morphology on mortality at the neighbourhood level: a cross-sectional ecological study

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