Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in

Environmental justice and park quality in an intermountain west gateway community: assessing the spatial autocorrelation

  • Research Article
  • Published:
Landscape Ecology Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

Context

Research on environmental justice issues, particularly unequal park distribution and quality, has found that communities’ minority density and socioeconomic status (SES) are often correlated with disparate park qualities. However, most studies of spatial relationships between park quality and socioeconomic factors employ simple statistical analyses, which do not account for potential spatial autocorrelations and their effects on validity.

Objectives

This study determines whether the distribution of park quality is spatially autocorrelated and assesses the associations among multiple indicators of environmental justice and both separate park features and overall park quality.

Methods

This study evaluates spatial relationships between park quality and multiple environmental justice indicators in Cache County, Utah following the spatial regression process conducted in R programming language. Both overall park quality and separate feature qualities were audited by the PARK (Parks, Activity, and Recreation among Kids) tool. Environmental justice indicators included minority density, poverty, unemployment, low-education, renter rate, and yard size.

Results

Results illustrate a spatial autocorrelation existing in park quality distribution, detecting the dependence of the variable for quantitative research. They also show significant correlations between park quality and environmental justice indicators.

Conclusions

The study’s spatial regression model is a model for analyzing the spatial data and avoids the autocorrelation which is overlooked by the normal statistical approaches. Also, variances of park quality can be accounted for by different environmental justice indicators, such as minority density, poverty, and yard size. This disclosure of disparate public resource quality treatment among different groups of individuals could inspire policy makers and city planners to correct these disparities.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Log in via an institution

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Institutional subscriptions

Fig. 1
Fig. 2
Fig. 3

Similar content being viewed by others

References

  • Anselin L (1988) Spatial econometrics: methods and models. Kluwer Aceademic, Dordrecht

    Book  Google Scholar 

  • Anselin L (2004) Exploring spatial data with GeoDaTM: a workbook. Urbana 51(61801):309

    Google Scholar 

  • Anselin L, Bera A (1998) Spatial dependence in linear regression models with an introduction to spatial econometrics. Handbook of Applied Economic Statistics, Marcel Dekker

    Google Scholar 

  • Aytur SA, Jones SA, Stransky M, Evenson KR (2015) Measuring physical activity in outdoor community recreational environments: implications for research, policy, and practice. Curr Cardiovasc Risk Rep 9(1):1–13

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Babey SH, Wolstein J, Krumholz S, Robertson B, Diamant AL (2013) Physical activity, park access and park use among California adolescents. UCLA Cent Health Policy Res 2013:1–8

    Google Scholar 

  • Basu S, Thibodeau TG (1998) Analysis of spatial autocorrelation in house prices. J Real Estate Financ Econ 17(1):61–85

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Bedimo-Rung AL, Mowen AJ, Cohen DA (2005) The significance of parks to physical activity and public health: a conceptual model. Am J Prev Med 28(2):159–168

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Bird ME, Datta GD, Van Hulst A, Kestens Y, Barnett TA (2015) A reliability assessment of a direct-observation park evaluation tool: the parks, activity and recreation among kids (PARK) tool. BMC Public Health 15(1):906

    Article  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  • Boone CG, Buckley GL, Grove JM, Sister C (2009) Parks and people: an environmental justice inquiry in Baltimore, Maryland. Ann Assoc Am Geogr 99(4):767–787

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Byrne J, Wolch J (2009) Nature, race, and parks: past research and future directions for geographic research. Prog Hum Geogr 33(6):743–765

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Chen S, Christensen KM, Li S (2019) A comparison of park access with park need for children: a case study in Cache County, Utah. Landsc Urban Plan 187:119–128

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Cliff A, Ord J (1973) Spatial autocorrelation. Pion, London

    Google Scholar 

  • Coen SE, Ross NA (2006) Exploring the material basis for health: characteristics of parks in Montreal neighborhoods with contrasting health outcomes. Health Place 12(4):361–371

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Conway D, Li CQ, Wolch J, Kahle C, Jerrett M (2010) A spatial autocorrelation approach for examining the effects of urban greenspace on residential property values. J Real Estate Financ Econ 41(2):150–169

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Crawford D, Timperio A, Giles-Corti B, Ball K, Hume C, Roberts R, Andrianopoulos N, Salmon J (2008) Do features of public open spaces vary according to neighborhood socioeconomic status? Health Place 14(4):889–893. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.healthplace.2007.11.002

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Dubin RA (1988) Estimation of regression coefficients in the presence of spatially autocorrelated error terms. Rev Econ Stat 70(3):466–474

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Dubin RA (1992) Spatial autocorrelation and neighborhood quality. Reg Sci Urban Econ 22(3):433–452

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Estabrooks PA, Lee RE, Gyurcsik NC (2003) Resources for physical activity participation: does availability and accessibility differ by neighborhood socioeconomic status? Ann Behav Med 25(2):100–104

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Fang J, Madhavan S, Bosworth W, Alderman MH (1998) Residential segre-gation and mortality in New York City. Soc Sci Med 47(4):469–476

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Floyd MF, Johnson CY (2002) Coming to terms with environmental justice in outdoor recreation: a conceptual discussion with research implications. Leis Sci 24(1):59–77

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Gilbert A, Chakraborty J (2011) Using geographically weighted regression for environmental justice analysis: cumulative cancer risks from air toxics in Florida. Soc Sci Res 40(1):273–286

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Gordon-Larsen P, Nelson MC, Page P, Popkin BM (2006) Inequality in the built environment underlies key health disparities in physical activity and obesity. Pediatrics 117(2):417–424

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Howe J, McMahon ET, Propst L (2012) Balancing nature and commerce in gateway communities. Island Press, Washington D.C

    Google Scholar 

  • Hughey SM, Walsemann KM, Child S, Powers A, Reed JA, Kaczynski AT (2016) Using an environmental justice approach to examine the relationships between park availability and quality indicators, neighborhood disadvantage, and racial/ethnic composition. Landsc Urban Plan 148:159–169

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Hurst N (2016) Racist history, lack of park-going culture among reasons for African Americans under-representation at National, State Parks: researchers say park systems should engage schools to bring children to parks at an early age. University of Missouri News Bureau, Columbia

    Google Scholar 

  • Kaczynski AT, Potwarka LR, Saelens BE (2008) Association of park size, distance, and features with physical activity in neighborhood parks. Am J Public Health 98(8):1451–1456

    Article  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  • Kaczynski AT, Stanis SAW, Besenyi GM (2012) Development and testing of a community stakeholder park audit tool. Am J Prev Med 42(3):242–249

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Kirby JB, Kaneda T (2005) Neighborhood socioeconomic disadvantage and access to health care. J Health Soc Behav 46(1):15–31

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Loukaitou-Sideris A, Stieglitz O (2002) Children in Los Angeles parks: a study of equity, quality, and children’s satisfaction with neighborhood parks. Town Plan Rev 73(4):467–488

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Louv R (2008) Last child in the woods: Saving our children from nature-deficit disorder. Algonquin books, Chapel Hill

    Google Scholar 

  • Macintyre S, Ellaway A, Cummins S (2002) Place effects on health: how can we conceptualize, operationalise, and measure them? Soc Sci Med 55:125–139

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Moore LV, Roux AVD, Evenson KR, McGinn AP, Brines SJ (2008) Availability of recreational resources in minority and low socioeconomic status areas. Am J Prev Med 34(1):16–22

    Article  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  • Mowen AJ (2010) Parks, playgrounds and active living. Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, San Diego

    Google Scholar 

  • Powell LM, Slater S, Chaloupka FJ, Harper D (2006) Availability of physical activity–related facilities and neighborhood demographic and socioeconomic characteristics: a national study. Am J Public Health 96(9):1676–1680

    Article  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  • Sampson RJ, Raudenbush SW, Earls F (1997) Neighborhoods and violent crime: a multilevel study of collective efficacy. Science 277(5328):918–924

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Schwarz K, Fragkias M, Boone CG, Zhou W, McHale M, Grove JM (2015) Trees grow on money: urban tree canopy cover and environmental justice. PLoS ONE 10(4):e0122051. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0122051

    Article  CAS  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  • Talen E (1997) The social equity of urban service distribution: an exploration of park access in Pueblo, Colorado, and Macon. Georgia. Urban Geography 18(6):521–541

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Taylor WC, Poston WSC, Jones L, Kraft MK (2006) Environmental justice: obesity, physical activity, and healthy eating. J Phys Act Health 3(s1):S30–S54

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • United States Census Bureau (2014) American Community Survey. http://www.census.gov/acs/www/

  • United States Census Bureau (2015) American Fact Finder. https://factfinder.census.gov/faces/nav/jsf/pages/index.xhtml#none

  • United States Census Bureau (2018) QuickFacts Cache County, Utah. https://www.census.gov/quickfacts/fact/table/cachecountyutah/LND110210

  • Vaughan KB, Kaczynski AT, Stanis SAW, Besenyi GM, Bergstrom R, Heinrich KM (2013) Exploring the distribution of park availability, features, and quality across Kansas City, Missouri by income and race/ethnicity: an environmental justice investigation. Ann Behav Med 45(1):28–38

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Williams DR, Collins C (2001) Racial residential segregation: a fundamental cause of racial disparities in health. Public Health Rep 116(5):404–416

    Article  CAS  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Landscape Architecture and Environmental Planning, Utah State University, 4005 Old Main Hill, Logan, UT, 84322-4005, USA

    Shuolei Chen, Ole Russell Sleipness & Keith M. Christensen

  2. Department of Instructional Technology and Learning Sciences, Utah State University, Logan, USA

    David Feldon

  3. College of Forest Resource and Environment, Nanjing Forestry University, Nanjing, China

    Yannan Xu

Authors
  1. Shuolei Chen
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. Ole Russell Sleipness
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  3. Keith M. Christensen
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  4. David Feldon
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  5. Yannan Xu
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Ole Russell Sleipness.

Additional information

Publisher's Note

Springer Nature remains neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations.

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this article

Chen, S., Sleipness, O.R., Christensen, K.M. et al. Environmental justice and park quality in an intermountain west gateway community: assessing the spatial autocorrelation. Landscape Ecol 34, 2323–2335 (2019). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10980-019-00891-y

Download citation

  • Received:

  • Accepted:

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10980-019-00891-y

Keywords

Search

Navigation