Urban Heat Management and the Legacy of Redlining

Wilson, Bev

doi:10.1080/01944363.2020.1759127

Cited by 181 publications

(114 citation statements)

References 78 publications

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“…Further, our results on XS nature can be tied to the ongoing legacy of structural racism in the U.S. A recent study shows that neighborhoods that were 'redlined' (i.e., targeted for disinvestment by banks) starting in the 1930s have 21% less tree canopy cover than neighborhoods that banks deemed desirable, on average [50]. Redlined neighborhoods were, and still are, mostly inhabited by low-income people of color [33,50,105]. Due in part to their lower tree canopy cover, redlined areas tend to be hotter and more vulnerable to extreme heat events than other neighborhoods [105].…”

Section: Summary Of Findingsmentioning

confidence: 64%

“…Indeed, the injustices of street greenery we identified in our study, combined with other environmental and economic injustices, might help explain that people of color and low-income people experience disproportionate impacts from climate change [59]. For example, marginalized groups tend to be more exposed to extreme heat and air pollutants than privileged groups, and trees can help mitigate the harmful impacts by lowering the local temperature and improving air quality [9,59,105].…”

Section: Access To Green Space and 'Just Sustainabilities'mentioning

confidence: 86%

“…Redlined neighborhoods were, and still are, mostly inhabited by low-income people of color [33,50,105]. Due in part to their lower tree canopy cover, redlined areas tend to be hotter and more vulnerable to extreme heat events than other neighborhoods [105].…”

Section: Summary Of Findingsmentioning

confidence: 99%

See 2 more Smart Citations

From XS to XL Urban Nature: Examining Access to Different Types of Green Space Using a ‘Just Sustainabilities’ Framework

2020

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Different types of urban green spaces provide diverse benefits for human health and environmental sustainability, but most studies on access to green space focus on neighborhood parks, with less work on smaller or larger green spaces. In this study, we examined sociodemographic differences in access to green spaces of different sizes for 14,385 census block groups in 12 U.S. cities using a ‘just sustainabilities’ framework. We classified green spaces into street-level greenery (XS), neighborhood parks (S–L; walking and cycling access), and large parks (XL; walking, cycling, and driving access). We ran spatial filtering models at the census block group level using different thresholds based on transportation modes. We uncovered a complex picture of inequality, with consistent injustices for XS green space, and fewer injustices for S–L and XL green space based on socioeconomic status and age, and some instances of just distributions for S–L and XL green space based on race/ethnicity. Our findings present a concerning picture for ‘just sustainabilities’: the green space type that is most often part of sustainability and climate adaptation strategies—street greenery—is unjustly distributed, likely as a result of structural racism in U.S. institutions. By examining multimodal access to green spaces of different sizes, this study helps urban greening professionals develop more just and sustainable strategies.

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Section: Summary Of Findingsmentioning

confidence: 64%

Section: Access To Green Space and 'Just Sustainabilities'mentioning

confidence: 86%

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From XS to XL Urban Nature: Examining Access to Different Types of Green Space Using a ‘Just Sustainabilities’ Framework

2020

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“…Given the increasing literature demonstrating strong positive correlations between higher temperatures, heat-related health risks, and neighborhoods with majority residents of color or of lower-income (e.g. Keeler et al, 2019;Wilson, 2020), cities could more clearly acknowledge the justice implications of prioritizing hotter areas for GI.…”

Section: Explicit Engagement With Justicementioning

confidence: 99%

Environmental justice implications of siting criteria in urban green infrastructure planning

Hoover

Meerow

Grabowski

et al. 2021

Journal of Environmental Policy & Planning

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Green infrastructure (GI) has become a panacea for cities working to enhance sustainability and resilience. While the rationale for GI primarily focuses on its multifunctionality (e.g. delivering multiple ecosystem services to local communities), uncertainties remain around how, for whom, and to what extent GI delivers these services. Additionally, many scholars increasingly recognize potential disservices of GI, including gentrification associated with new GI developments. Building on a novel dataset of 119 planning documents from 19 U.S. cities, we utilize insights from literature on justice in urban planning to examine the justice implications of criteria used in the siting of GI projects. We analyze the GI siting criteria described in city plans and how they explicitly or implicitly engage environmental justice. We find that justice is rarely explicitly discussed, yet the dominant technical siting criteria that focus on stormwater and economic considerations have justice implications. We conclude with recommendations for centering justice in GI spatial planning.

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“…Redlined areas are typically the hottest neighborhoods in cities because they are concrete "jungles" that hold heat (warming the environment) and have few trees or green spaces that dissipate heat (cooling the environment). 15 During a heat wave, every one degree rise in temperature can increase the risk of dying by 2.5% due to higher incidences of heart and asthma attacks. 16,17,18 Because heat leads to ozone creation, air in these racially marginalized neighborhoods is dirtier than air in mostly White areas.…”

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confidence: 99%

Equity in Breath

2021

AMA Journal of Ethics

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According to life tables published in National Vital Statistics Reports in 2019, the US life expectancy of a non-Hispanic White person born in 2017 is 78.5 years. 1 For a non-Hispanic Black person, that number drops to 74.9. 1 Would it surprise you to know that it's 81.8 years for a Hispanic person? 1 At first glance, it's also puzzling why the Medicare race and ethnicity classification system on which the US life tables are based "makes it impossible to correctly identify" Asians or Pacific Islanders and American Indians/Alaska Natives. 1,2 With questions about what's counted, how it's counted, and who counts being asked more frequently and by more of us than ever before, how credibly these questions are answered has considerable quantity-and quality-of-life implications for individuals and communities. Through early November, almost 1.25 million people worldwide have died due to COVID-19, and nearly 235 000 of those perished in the United States, with disproportionate deaths among people of color. 3,4 Based on excess mortality data, America's death toll due to COVID-19 is likely being undercounted, 5 but some have misconstrued death certificate data to claim that it's being overcounted. 6

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Urban Heat Management and the Legacy of Redlining

Cited by 181 publications

References 78 publications

From XS to XL Urban Nature: Examining Access to Different Types of Green Space Using a ‘Just Sustainabilities’ Framework

From XS to XL Urban Nature: Examining Access to Different Types of Green Space Using a ‘Just Sustainabilities’ Framework

Environmental justice implications of siting criteria in urban green infrastructure planning

Equity in Breath

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