Promoting Green Space Equity in Urban Areas with Emphasis on Green Stormwater Infrastructure and Urban Agriculture

Urban green spaces help to support human health and well-being, provide numerous environmental benefits, and promote urban sustainability. Although the benefits of green spaces are well known, inequities exist in both location of, and access to, different green spaces in urban areas. Spatial analysis of specific types of green space and their associated social and environmental impacts is an important first step in reducing urban green space inequities. In this study, several cities in the United States with diverse socioeconomic and environmental characteristics will be analyzed to show how these characteristics are related to urban green space equity and the trade offs that exist in green space planning. Applying a social equity focus for urban green space decision making is an essential management tool to build community resilience, reduce negative impacts of existing inequalities, and enhance urban health and wellbeing, which will be increasingly important as extreme weather events, such as flooding and heat island effects, become more common. Addressing urban green space inequities requires consideration of the type and location of urban green space available and the unique physical and social characteristics of urban areas. The complexity of the relationship between urban green space and equity makes it necessary to conduct analyses at neighborhood and micro-watershed scales to provide more detailed information about the potential impacts of extreme weather impacts on vulnerable and underserved communities. The effects of scale are illustrated with a focus on green stormwater infrastructure and urban agriculture.