Urban forest inequity, also known as shade inequity or tree canopy inequity, is the inequitable distribution of trees, with their associated benefits, across metropolitan areas. Urban forest inequity is often seen as a form of environmental injustice because lower-income communities and marginalized groups commonly receive less of the social, environmental, and health benefits urban forests provide. Urban forest inequity has a number of follow-on effects, including impacts on faunal biodiversity and the urban heat island effect. Urban heat inequity occurs when intra-urban heat islands, with their associated negative physical and emotional health consequences, are more common and more intense in lower-income communities. Researchers have found relation between urban forest inequity to historical and institutional factors, such as redlining and uneven public investment in green infrastructure. Some impacts of the higher exposure to urban heat island include illness related to high heat, poorer air quality, and reduced access to the mental and physical health benefits associated with green space. Research on urban forest inequity started from late 20th century environmental justice and expanded to the 2000s with the use of GIS, remote sensing, and census-linked analysis. With these tools researchers have found demographic measures and data sources. Studies on spatial research influenced by urban forest inequity is global, as it includes case studies in North American, Asia, Africa, and Latin America. Proposed responses to this phenomenon include community engagement in large and big locations, initiatives to plant trees and how to maintain them, and planning strategies such as green belts. There is also debate among scholars about potential unintended consequences of greening intervention, such as green gentrification.
Definitions
Urban forests
Urban forests are areas of land covered by trees or other vegetation located in and around places of intensive human influence, particularly metropolitan, urban areas such as cities. Urban forests, though present on both public and private land, typically are found on public spaces due to the predominance of street trees noted by researcher Steven Strom. Urban forests are recognized for their significant role in mitigating the impacts of climate change, exemplified by their role in mitigating heat and flood risks and their contribution to green infrastructure is seen as a nature-based solution for climate change adaptation and mitigation. Trees and vegetation absorb and store rainwater during heavy rainfall events, reducing flood risk, and capture carbon dioxide from the atmosphere as part of climate change mitigation efforts. Additionally, urban forests are also important in maintaining the biodiversity of an urban area, particularly the avifauna (birds) of the area. These characteristics of urban forests help contribute to the creation of healthy, resilient, and sustainable cities in a cost-effective manner.
Urban forest inequity Urban forest inequity is a phenomenon in which the distribution and access to urban trees and green spaces. Municipalities across the United States believe that urban forest inequity is an example of environmental injustice, as it disproportionately impacts marginalized communities. Numerous studies, including a 2017 meta-analysis done by researchers Ed Gerrish and Shannon Lea Watkins, have found a positive relationship between income and urban forest coverage. This introduces the concept of the luxury effects, which explains how the disparities in urban forest cover coincide with socio-economic and historical factors. The luxury effect illustrates how wealthier areas tend to exhibit higher biodiversity, reflecting the influence of socioeconomic factors and education levels in shaping the quantity and quality of green spaces in a given area. Moreover, inequitable distribution of greenery in urban areas may restrict an equal distribution of the benefits of urban forests, which include some benefits like reducing stress and anxiety, cultivating a safe community, emotional fulfillment, mitigating the effects of global warming. For instance, canopy cover quantity in an area can diminish the urban heat island effect and increase carbon sequestration from the atmosphere. Various historical, cultural, and institutional factors contribute to the perceived inequities in urban forestry management and inequitable distribution of urban greenery. A 2022 paper published in the International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health found that vulnerable residents of an urban area, particularly lower-income residents and those who live further from urban forests and green space, are particularly susceptible to the urban heat island effect. There are examples of urban forest inequity in cities globally, some of which are listed below.
History
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