Skip to main content
Book cover

Urban Green Spaces pp 47–69Cite as

Urban Green Space at the Nexus of Environmental Justice and Health Equity

Part of the SpringerBriefs in Geography book series (BRIEFSGEOGRAPHY)

Abstract

Social equity is a key component of sustainable development. The environmental justice movement recognizes the challenges faced by low-income and racially/ethnically diverse communities. As an amenity that can potentially support the quality of the environmental, social, and health of cities, urban green spaces have also been at the forefront of modern discussions on environmental justice. Specifically, inequitable access to urban green spaces often overlaps race/ethnicity and various measures for socioeconomic status in ways that prompt environmental injustice concerns. Such inequities can contribute to reduced access to ecosystem services from green spaces for marginalized groups and to increased health disparities. In this chapter, we provide a historical context to this environmental justice challenge and highlight key findings from the academic literature and recommendations for future work in this area.

Keywords

  • Environmental/social justice
  • Green space
  • Gaps in health

This is a preview of subscription content, access via your institution.

Chapter
USD   29.95
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • DOI: 10.1007/978-3-030-10469-6_4
  • Chapter length: 23 pages
  • Instant PDF download
  • Readable on all devices
  • Own it forever
  • Exclusive offer for individuals only
  • Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout
eBook
USD   54.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • ISBN: 978-3-030-10469-6
  • Instant PDF download
  • Readable on all devices
  • Own it forever
  • Exclusive offer for individuals only
  • Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout
Softcover Book
USD   69.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
Learn about institutional subscriptions
Fig. 4.1

Source Jennings et al. (2016)

Fig. 4.2

Source Interaction Institute for Social Change, Artist: Angus Maguire

Fig. 4.3

Source Jennings et al. (2017a) and adapted from Tsui (2010), Starfield and Birn (2007), Northridge and Freeman (2011)

References

  • Agyeman J, Evans B (2004) ‘Just sustainability’: the emerging discourse of environmental justice in Britain? Geogr J 170(2):155–164. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.0016-7398.2004.00117.x

    CrossRef  Google Scholar 

  • Agyeman J, Schlosberg D, Craven L, Matthews C (2016) Trends and directions in environmental justice: from inequity to everyday life, community, and just sustainabilities. Annu Rev Environ Resour 41:321–340

    CrossRef  Google Scholar 

  • Archives N (2018) The Civil Rights Act of 1964 and the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission. https://www.archives.gov/education/lessons/civil-rights-act

  • Avolio ML, Pataki DE, Pincetl S, Gillespie TW, Jenerette GD, McCarthy HR (2015) Understanding preferences for tree attributes: the relative effects of socio-economic and local environmental factors. Urban Ecosyst 18(1):73–86

    CrossRef  Google Scholar 

  • Battaglia M, Buckley GL, Galvin M, Grove M (2014) It’s not easy going green: obstacles to tree-planting programs in East Baltimore

    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. https://doi.org/10.1080/00045600903102949

    CrossRef  Google Scholar 

  • Braveman PA, Kumanyika S, Fielding JE, LaVeist T, Borrell LN, Manderscheid R, Troutman A (2011) Health disparities and health equity: the issue is justice. Am J Public Health 101(S1):S149–S155

    CrossRef  Google Scholar 

  • Brooks KR, Kelley W, Amiri S (2016) Social equity of street trees in the pedestrian realm. Pap Appl Geogr 1–20

    Google Scholar 

  • Bruton C, Floyd M (2014) Disparities in built and natural features of urban parks: comparisons by neighborhood level race/ethnicity and income. J Urban Health 1–14. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11524-014-9893-4

  • Bullard R (2000) Dumping in the Dixie: race, class and environmental quality. Westview Press

    Google Scholar 

  • Bullard R, Lewis J (1996) Environmental justice and communities of color. Sierra Club Books, San Francisco

    Google Scholar 

  • Byrne J (2012) When green is White: the cultural politics of race, nature and social exclusion in a Los Angeles urban national park. Geoforum 43(3):595–611. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.geoforum.2011.10.002

    CrossRef  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

    CrossRef  Google Scholar 

  • Byrne J, Wolch J, Zhang J (2009) Planning for environmental justice in an urban national park. J Environ Planning Manage 52(3):365–392

    CrossRef  Google Scholar 

  • Casey J, James P, Cushing L, Jesdale B, Morello-Frosch R (2017) Race, ethnicity, income concentration and 10-year change in urban greenness in the United States. Int J Environ Res Public Health 14(12):1546

    CrossRef  Google Scholar 

  • Christ UCo (2007) Toxic wastes and race at twenty 1987–2007 (A Report Prepared for the United Church of Christ Justice and Witness Ministries)

    Google Scholar 

  • Collins TW, Grineski SE, Morales DX (2017) Environmental injustice and sexual minority health disparities: a national study of inequitable health risks from air pollution among same-sex partners. Soc Sci Med 191:38–47

    CrossRef  Google Scholar 

  • Courts US History—Brown v. Board of Education Re-enactment. http://www.uscourts.gov/educational-resources/educational-activities/history-brown-v-board-education-re-enactment

  • Cushing L, Morello-Frosch R, Wander M, Pastor M (2015) The haves, the have-nots, and the health of everyone: the relationship between social inequality and environmental quality. Public Health 36(1):193

    CrossRef  Google Scholar 

  • Dankwa-Mullan I, Pérez-Stable EJ (2016) Addressing health disparities is a place-based issue. Am J Public Health 106(4):637–639. https://doi.org/10.2105/AJPH.2016.303077

    CrossRef  Google Scholar 

  • Dempsey N, Bramley G, Power S, Brown C (2011) The social dimension of sustainable development: defining urban social sustainability. Sustain Dev 19(5):289–300

    CrossRef  Google Scholar 

  • Dooling S (2009) Ecological gentrification: a research agenda exploring justice in the city. Int J Urban Reg Res 33(3):621–639. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1468-2427.2009.00860.x

    CrossRef  Google Scholar 

  • Ernst M, Shoup L (2009) Dangerous by design. Transportation for America and the Surface Transportation Policy Partnership 5 Ibid

    Google Scholar 

  • Flocks J, Escobedo F, Wade J, Varela S, Wald C (2011) Environmental justice implications of urban tree cover in Miami-Dade County, Florida. Environ Justice 4(2):125–134. https://doi.org/10.1089/env.2010.0018

    CrossRef  Google Scholar 

  • Floyd MF (2014) Social justice as an integrating force for leisure research. Leisure Sci 36(4):379–387. https://doi.org/10.1080/01490400.2014.917002

    CrossRef  Google Scholar 

  • Floyd MF, Taylor WC, Whitt-Glover M (2009) Measurement of park and recreation environments that support physical activity in low-income communities of color: highlights of challenges and recommendations. Am J Prev Med 36(4):S156–S160

    CrossRef  Google Scholar 

  • Friel S, Akerman M, Hancock T, Kumaresan J, Marmot M, Melin T, Vlahov D (2011) Addressing the social and environmental determinants of urban health equity: evidence for action and a research agenda. J Urban Health 88(5):860–874. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11524-011-9606-1

    CrossRef  Google Scholar 

  • Gearin E, Kahle C (2006) Teen and adult perceptions of urban green space Los Angeles. Child Youth Environ 16(1):25–48

    Google Scholar 

  • Gee GC, Payne-Sturges DC (2004) Environmental health disparities: a framework integrating psychosocial and environmental concepts. Environ Health Perspect 112(17):1645

    CrossRef  Google Scholar 

  • Gerrish E, Watkins SL (2018) The relationship between urban forests and income: a meta-analysis. Landscape Urban Plann 170:293–308. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.landurbplan.2017.09.005

    CrossRef  Google Scholar 

  • Gibson S, Loukaitou-Sideris A, Mukhija V (2018) Ensuring park equity: a California case study. J Urban Des 1–21

    Google Scholar 

  • Gragg R, Christaldi R, Leong S, Cooper M (1996) The location and community demographics of targeted environmental hazardous sites in Florida. J Land Use Environ Law 12(1):1–24

    Google Scholar 

  • Grove J, O’Neil-Dunne J, Pelletier K, Nowak D, Walton J (2006) A report on New York City’s present and possible urban tree canopy. United States Department of Agriculture, Forest Service, Northeastern Area, South Burlington, Vermont

    Google Scholar 

  • Grove M, Locke DH, O’Neil-Dunne JPM (2014) An ecology of prestige in New York City: examining the relationships among population density, socio-economic status, group identity, and residential canopy cover. Environ Manage 54(3):402–419. https://doi.org/10.1007/s00267-014-0310-2

    CrossRef  Google Scholar 

  • Grigsby-Toussaint DS, Turi KN, Krupa M, Williams NJ, Pandi-Perumal SR, Jean-Louis G (2015) Sleep insufficiency and the natural environment: Results from the US behavioral risk factor surveillance system survey. Prev Med 78:78–84

    Google Scholar 

  • Grove M, Ogden L, Pickett S, Boone C, Buckley G, Locke DH, Lord C, Hall B (2018) The legacy effect: understanding how segregation and environmental injustice unfold over time in Baltimore. Ann Am Assoc Geogr 108(2):524–537

    Google Scholar 

  • Hardin G (1968) Tragedy of commons. Science 162(3859):1243

    CrossRef  Google Scholar 

  • Harlan SL, Brazel AJ, Prashad L, Stefanov WL, Larsen L (2006) Neighborhood microclimates and vulnerability to heat stress. Soc Sci Med 63(11):2847–2863. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.socscimed.2006.07.030

    CrossRef  Google Scholar 

  • Harlan S, Brazel A, Jenerette D, Jones N, Larsen L, Prashad L, Stefanov W (eds) (2007) In the shade of affluence: the inequitable distribution of the urban heat island, vol 15. Equity and the environment research in social problems and public policy. Emerald Group Publishing Limited

    Google Scholar 

  • Harris B (2018) The invisible walls of the 606: an examination of the relationship between an urban greenway and community change

    Google Scholar 

  • Hartig T, Mitchell R, de Vries S, Frumkin H (2014) Nature and health. Annu Rev Public Health 35(1). https://doi.org/10.1146/annurev-publhealth-032013-182443

  • Heckert M, Rosan CD (2015) Developing a green infrastructure equity index to promote equity planning. Urban For Urban Green

    Google Scholar 

  • Heckler M (1985) Report of the secretary’s task force on Black and minority health, vol 1. U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Washington D.C.

    Google Scholar 

  • Heynen N, Perkins HA, Roy P (2006) The political ecology of uneven urban green space. Urban Aff Rev 42(1):3–25. https://doi.org/10.1177/1078087406290729

    CrossRef  Google Scholar 

  • James P, Banay RF, Hart JE, Laden F (2015) A review of the health benefits of greenness. Current Epidemiol Rep 2(2):131–142

    CrossRef  Google Scholar 

  • Jenerette GD, Miller G, Buyantuev A, Pataki DE, Gillespie TW, Pincetl S (2013) Urban vegetation and income segregation in drylands: a synthesis of seven metropolitan regions in the southwestern United States. Environ Res Lett 8(4):044001

    CrossRef  Google Scholar 

  • Jennings V, Johnson Gaither C, Gragg R (2012) Promoting environmental justice through urban green space access: a synopsis. Environ Justice 5(1):1–7

    CrossRef  Google Scholar 

  • Jennings V, Johnson Gaither C (2015) Approaching Environmental Health Disparities and Green Spaces: An Ecosystem Services Perspective. Int J Env Res Public Health 12(2):1952–1968

    Google Scholar 

  • Jennings V, Yun J, Larson L (2016) Finding common ground: environmental ethics, social justice, and a sustainable path for nature-based health promotion. Healthcare 4(3):61

    CrossRef  Google Scholar 

  • Jennings V, Baptiste KA, Osborne Jelks N, Skeete R (2017a) Urban green space and the pursuit of health equity in parts of the United States. Int J Environ Res Public Health 14(11). https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph14111432

  • Jennings V, Floyd MF, Shanahan D, Coutts C, Sinykin A (2017b) Emerging issues in urban ecology: implications for research, social justice, human health, and well-being. Popul Environ 1–18

    Google Scholar 

  • Jesdale BM, Morello-Frosch R, Cushing L (2013) The racial/ethnic distribution of heat risk-related land cover in relation to residential segregation. Environ Health Perspect 121(7):811–817

    CrossRef  Google Scholar 

  • Joassart-Marcelli P (2010) Leveling the playing field? Urban disparities in funding for local parks and recreation in the Los Angeles region. Environ Plann A 42(5):1174–1192

    CrossRef  Google Scholar 

  • Landry SM, Chakraborty J (2009) Street trees and equity: evaluating the spatial distribution of an urban amenity. Environ Plann A 41(11):2651–2670

    CrossRef  Google Scholar 

  • Levin SA (2014) Public goods in relation to competition, cooperation, and spite. Proc Natl Acad Sci USA 111(Suppl 3):10838–10845

    CrossRef  Google Scholar 

  • Li X, Zhang C, Li W, Kuzovkina YA, Weiner D (2015) Who lives in greener neighborhoods? The distribution of street greenery and its association with residents’ socioeconomic conditions in Hartford, Connecticut, USA. Urban For Urban Green 14(4):751–759. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ufug.2015.07.006

    CrossRef  Google Scholar 

  • Liu GC, Wilson JS, Qi R, Ying J (2007) Green neighborhoods, food retail and childhood overweight: differences by population density. Am J Health Promot 21(4s):317–325. https://doi.org/10.4278/0890-1171-21.4s.317

    CrossRef  Google Scholar 

  • Locke DH, Grove JM, Lu JW, Troy A, O’Neil-Dunne JP, Beck BD (2010) Prioritizing preferable locations for increasing urban tree canopy in New York City. Cities Environ (CATE) 3(1):4

    Google Scholar 

  • Loukaitou-Sideris A, Sideris A (2009) What brings children to the park? Analysis and measurement of the variables affecting children’s use of parks. J Am Plann Assoc 76(1):89–107

    CrossRef  Google Scholar 

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

    CrossRef  Google Scholar 

  • Low S (2013) Public space and diversity: distributive, procedural and interactional justice for parks. The Ashgate research companion to planning and culture Ashgate Publishing, Surrey, pp 295–310

    Google Scholar 

  • Maantay J (2002) Zoning law, health, and environmental justice: what’s the connection? J Law Med Ethics 30(4):572–593. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1748-720X.2002.tb00427.x

    CrossRef  Google Scholar 

  • Mays VM, Cochran SD, Barnes NW (2007) Race, race-based discrimination, and health outcomes among African Americans. Annu Rev Psychol 58(1):201–225. https://doi.org/10.1146/annurev.psych.57.102904.190212

    CrossRef  Google Scholar 

  • McConnachie M, Shackleton CM, McGregor GK (2008) The extent of public green space and alien plant species in 10 small towns of the Sub-Tropical Thicket Biome, South Africa. Urban For Urban Green 7(1):1–13

    CrossRef  Google Scholar 

  • Medicine Io (2003) Unequal treatment: confronting racial and ethnic disparities in health care. The National Academies Press, Washington, DC. https://doi.org/10.17226/10260

  • Meerow S, Newell J (2017) Spatial planning for multifunctional green infrastructure: Growing resilience in Detroit. Landscape Urban Plann 159:62–75. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.landurbplan.2016.10.005

  • Mensah GA, Mokdad AH, Ford ES, Greenlund KJ, Croft JB (2005) State of disparities in cardiovascular health in the United States. Circulation 111(10):1233–1241. https://doi.org/10.1161/01.cir.0000158136.76824.04

    CrossRef  Google Scholar 

  • Mitchell RJ, Richardson EA, Shortt NK, Pearce JR (2015) Neighborhood environments and socioeconomic inequalities in mental well-being. Am J Prev Med

    Google Scholar 

  • Morello-Frosch R, Lopez R (2006) The riskscape and the color line: examining the role of segregation in environmental health disparities. Environ Res 102(2):181–196. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.envres.2006.05.007

    CrossRef  Google Scholar 

  • Mujahid MS, Diez Roux AV, Morenoff JD, Raghunathan TE, Cooper RS, Ni H, Shea S (2008) Neighborhood characteristics and hypertension. Epidemiology 19(4):590–598

    CrossRef  Google Scholar 

  • Myers S, Gaffikin L, Golden C, Ostfeld R, Redford K, Ricketts T, Turner W, Osofsky S (2013) Human health impacts of ecosystem alteration. Proc Natl Acad Sci USA 110(47):18753–18760

    CrossRef  Google Scholar 

  • Northridge ME, Freeman L (2011) Urban planning and health equity. J Urban Health 88(3):582–597

    CrossRef  Google Scholar 

  • NRPA Parks and Recreation in Underserved Areas—A Public Health Perspective National Parks and Recreation Association

    Google Scholar 

  • Payne-Sturges D, Gee GC (2006) National environmental health measures for minority and low-income populations: tracking social disparities in environmental health. Environ Res 102(2):154–171

    CrossRef  Google Scholar 

  • Payne-Sturges D, Gee GC, Crowder K, Hurley BJ, Lee C, Morello-Frosch R, Rosenbaum A, Schulz A, Wells C, Woodruff T, Zenick H (2006) Workshop Summary: connecting social and environmental factors to measure and track environmental health disparities. Environ Res 102(2):146–153

    CrossRef  Google Scholar 

  • Pearsall H, Anguelovski I (2016) Contesting and resisting environmental gentrification: responses to new paradoxes and challenges for urban environmental justice. Sociol Res Online 21(3):1–7

    CrossRef  Google Scholar 

  • Pearsall H, Pierce J (2010) Urban sustainability and environmental justice: evaluating the linkages in public planning/policy discourse. Local Environ 15(6):569–580

    CrossRef  Google Scholar 

  • Pham T-T-H, Apparicio P, Séguin A-M, Landry S, Gagnon M (2012) Spatial distribution of vegetation in Montreal: an uneven distribution or environmental inequity? Landscape Urban Plann 107(3):214–224. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.landurbplan.2012.06.002

    CrossRef  Google Scholar 

  • Platt L (2012) “Parks are dangerous and the sidewalk is closer”: children’s use of neighborhood space in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. Child Youth Environ 22(2):194–213

    CrossRef  Google Scholar 

  • Pulido L (2000) Rethinking environmental racism: white privilege and urban development in Southern California. Ann Assoc Am Geogr 90(1):12–40

    CrossRef  Google Scholar 

  • Rigolon A (2016) A complex landscape of inequity in access to urban parks: a literature review. Landscape Urban Plann 153:160–169. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.landurbplan.2016.05.017

    CrossRef  Google Scholar 

  • Rigolon A (2017) Parks and young people: an environmental justice study of park proximity, acreage, and quality in Denver, Colorado. Landscape Urban Plann 165:73–83

    CrossRef  Google Scholar 

  • Rigolon A (2018) Nonprofits and park equity in Los Angeles: a promising way forward for environmental justice. Urban Geogr 1–26

    Google Scholar 

  • Rigolon A, Flohr TL (2014) Access to parks for youth as an environmental justice issue: access inequalities and possible solutions. Buildings 4(2):69–94

    CrossRef  Google Scholar 

  • Rigolon A, Németh J (2018) “We’re not in the business of housing:” environmental gentrification and the nonprofitization of green infrastructure projects. Cities

    Google Scholar 

  • Rigolon A, Browning M, Jennings V (2018a) Inequities in the quality of urban park systems: an environmental justice investigation of cities in the United States. Landscape Urban Plann 178:156–169

    CrossRef  Google Scholar 

  • Rigolon A, Browning M, Lee K, Shin S (2018b) Access to urban green space in cities of the global south: a systematic literature review. Urban Sci 2(3):67

    CrossRef  Google Scholar 

  • Saporito S, Casey D (2015) Are there relationships among racial segregation, economic isolation, and proximity to green space? Hum Ecol Rev 21(2):113–132

    Google Scholar 

  • Schlosberg D (2004) Reconceiving environmental justice: global movements and political theories. Environ Polit 13(3):517–540

    CrossRef  Google Scholar 

  • Schwarz K, Fragkias M, Boone CG, Zhou W, McHale M, Grove JM, O’Neil-Dunne J, McFadden JP, Buckley GL, Childers D (2015) Trees grow on money: urban tree canopy cover and environmental justice. PloS One 10(4)

    Google Scholar 

  • Singh GK, Kogan MD, Van Dyck PC, Siahpush M (2008) Racial/ethnic, socioeconomic, and behavioral determinants of childhood and adolescent obesity in the United States: analyzing independent and joint associations. Ann Epidemiol 18(9):682–695. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.annepidem.2008.05.001

    CrossRef  Google Scholar 

  • Smiley KT, Sharma T, Steinberg A, Hodges-Copple S, Jacobson E, Matveeva L (2016) More inclusive parks planning: park quality and preferences for park access and amenities. Environ Justice 9(1):1–7

    CrossRef  Google Scholar 

  • Starfield B, Birn A-E (2007) Income redistribution is not enough: income inequality, social welfare programs, and achieving equity in health. J Epidemiol Community Health 61(12):1038–1041

    CrossRef  Google Scholar 

  • Stodolska M, Shinew KJ, Acevedo JC, Izenstark D (2011) Perceptions of urban parks as havens and contested terrains by Mexican-Americans in Chicago neighborhoods. Leisure Sci 33(2):103–126

    CrossRef  Google Scholar 

  • Stodolska M, Shinew KJ, Acevedo JC, Roman CG (2013) “I was born in the hood”: fear of crime, outdoor recreation and physical activity among Mexican-American urban adolescents. Leisure Sci 35(1):1–15

    CrossRef  Google Scholar 

  • Taylor D (2000) The rise of the environmental justice paradigm. Am Behav Sci 43(4):508–580. https://doi.org/10.1177/0002764200043004003

    CrossRef  Google Scholar 

  • Tsui EK (2010) Sectoral job training as an intervention to improve health equity. Am J Public Health 100(S1):S88–S94

    CrossRef  Google Scholar 

  • U.S. EPA (1994) Federal actions to address environmental justice in minority populations and low-income populations, https://www.epa.gov/laws-regulations/summary-executive-order-12898-federal-actions-address-environmental-justice

  • U.S. EPA (2011) Reducing urban heat islands: compendium of strategies-trees and vegetation

    Google Scholar 

  • U.S. EPA (2018) Environmental justice. https://www.epa.gov/environmentaljustice

  • Vaughan KB, Kaczynski AT, Wilhelm Stanis SA, 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. https://doi.org/10.1007/s12160-012-9425-y

    CrossRef  Google Scholar 

  • Walker G (2009) Beyond distribution and proximity: exploring the multiple spatialities of environmental justice. Antipode 41(4):614–636. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1467-8330.2009.00691.x

    CrossRef  Google Scholar 

  • Watkins SL, Gerrish E (2018) The relationship between urban forests and race: a meta-analysis. J Environ Manage 209:152–168. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jenvman.2017.12.021

    CrossRef  Google Scholar 

  • Weiss C, Purciel M, Bader M, Quinn J, Lovasi G, Neckerman K, Rundle A (2011) Reconsidering access: park facilities and neighborhood disamenities in New York City. J Urban Health 88(2):297–310. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11524-011-9551-z

    CrossRef  Google Scholar 

  • Wen M, Zhang X, Harris CD, Holt JB, Croft JB (2013) Spatial disparities in the distribution of parks and green spaces in the USA. Ann Behav Med 45(1):18–27

    CrossRef  Google Scholar 

  • Westphal L (2003) Urban greening and social benefits: a study of empowerment outcomes. J Arborculture 29(3):137–147

    Google Scholar 

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

    CrossRef  Google Scholar 

  • Williams DR, Jackson PB (2005) Social sources of racial disparities in health. Health Aff 24(2):325–334. https://doi.org/10.1377/hlthaff.24.2.325

    CrossRef  Google Scholar 

  • Wilson EO (1984) Biophilia. Harvard Unniversity Press

    Google Scholar 

  • Wilson S, Hutson M, Mujahid M (2008) How planning and zoning contribute to inequitable development, neighborhood health, and environmental injustice. Environ Justice 1(4):211–216

    CrossRef  Google Scholar 

  • Wolch J, Wilson JP, Fehrenbach J (2005) Parks and park funding in Los Angeles: an equity-mapping analysis. Urban Geogr 26(1):4–35

    CrossRef  Google Scholar 

  • Wolch J, Byrne J, Newell J (2014) Urban green space, public health, and environmental justice: the challenge of making cities ‘just green enough’. Landscape Urban Plann 125:234–244. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.landurbplan.2014.01.017

    CrossRef  Google Scholar 

  • Wu J (2013) Landscape sustainability science: ecosystem services and human well-being in changing landscapes. Landscape Ecol 28(6):999–1023. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10980-013-9894-9

    CrossRef  Google Scholar 

  • Xiao Y, Wang Z, Li Z, Tang Z (2017) An assessment of urban park access in Shanghai-Implications for the social equity in urban China. Landscape Urban Plann 157:383–393

    CrossRef  Google Scholar 

  • Zhou X, Kim J (2013) Social disparities in tree canopy and park accessibility: a case study of six cities in Illinois using GIS and remote sensing. Urban For Urban Green 12(1):88–97

    CrossRef  Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Integrating Human and Natural Systems, US Forest Service, Athens, GA, USA

    Viniece Jennings

  2. Department of Recreation, Sport and Tourism, University of Illinois, Urbana–Champaign, IL, USA

    Matthew H. E. M. Browning & Alessandro Rigolon

Authors
  1. Viniece Jennings
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. Matthew H. E. M. Browning
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  3. Alessandro Rigolon
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Viniece Jennings .

Rights and permissions

Reprints and Permissions

Copyright information

© 2019 The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Switzerland AG

About this chapter

Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this chapter

Jennings, V., Browning, M.H.E.M., Rigolon, A. (2019). Urban Green Space at the Nexus of Environmental Justice and Health Equity. In: Urban Green Spaces. SpringerBriefs in Geography. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-10469-6_4

Download citation