Digital Commons Network^™

From Open Data To Open Space: Translating Public Information Into Collective Action, Paula Z. Segal Esq.

Cities and the Environment (CATE)

Regular New Yorkers with access to accurate information, in context, provided together with support from a small, nimble and experienced staff, can and do organize collectively to create tangible results and real change in their neighborhoods. Together, they inspire grassroots change well beyond the boundaries of neighborhood vacant lots.

Facilitating Social-Ecological Transformation Of A Vacant Lot On An Urban Campus: The Houston-Congolese Connection, Sister Damien Marie Savino

Cities and the Environment (CATE)

The importance of urban universities in civic ecology education and the transformation of urban spaces and mindsets has been little explored. With as many as 1475 colleges, universities, and communities colleges in large cities around the United States, many of which possess significant land holdings, it is conceivable that these institutions could make a significant contribution to the "greening" of cities. This paper posits that urban universities, especially those with environmental science and studies or sustainability-related programs, can be a locus for civic ecology education and can contribute, not only to the transformation of urban landscapes but also to the …

Inventorying Land Availability And Suitability For Community Gardens In Madison, Wisconsin, Francis Eanes, Stephen J. Ventura

Cities and the Environment (CATE)

Problem: Planners, politicians, organizations, and citizens in many cities recognize community gardens as a vital part of urban food production. To fulfill community or organizational goals, it is helpful to systematically identify and assess urban vacant land that could be used as potential garden sites.

Purpose: The technical purpose of this project was to demonstrate how stakeholder input could be combined with expert opinions and applied to available data to create an inventory of undeveloped land potentially available for community gardens. In the specific context of Madison, WI, it provided information relevant to the city's planning and land use goals. …

The Urban Wildlife Conservation Program: Building A Broader Conservation Community, Natalie R. Sexton, Danielle Ross-Winslow, Marcia Pradines, Alia M. Dietsch

Cities and the Environment (CATE)

The National Wildlife Refuge System of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service has a long history of connecting people with nature. Increased conservation challenges coupled with societal changes pose challenging new questions for the Refuge System. The future success of conservation in America ultimately depends on the ability to inspire its citizenry to connect with the outdoors and to become stewards of the environment. With over 80% of Americans living in urban areas, spending less time outdoors, and becoming more ethnically and racially diverse, how do refuges become relevant in their daily lives? While challenging, urban areas present a strategic …

How Environmental Justice Patterns Are Shaped By Place: Terrain And Tree Canopy In Cincinnati, Ohio, Usa, Adam Berland, Kirsten Schwarz, Dustin L. Herrmann, Matthew E. Hopton

Cities and the Environment (CATE)

Understanding the spatial distribution of environmental amenities requires consideration of social and biogeophysical factors, and how they interact to produce patterns of environmental justice or injustice. In this study, we explicitly account for terrain, a key local environmental factor, while assessing whether tree canopy is distributed equally in Cincinnati, Ohio, USA. We conducted separate analyses for all land and for residential land only. For all land, terrain alone accounted for 59% of the variation in tree canopy cover. In our spatial autoregressive model, socioeconomic variables describing race, wealth, and education did not explain significant variation in canopy cover. In other …

Sustainable Urban Park Systems, Dorothy C. Ibes

Cities and the Environment (CATE)

Lack of multi-dimensional, substantive research on city park systems has undermined the potential role of these public amenities in advancing urban sustainability goals. This study informs holistic policy, planning, and management of parks to balance the multiple goals of sustainability region-wide. A vision for a sustainable urban park system is introduced, informed by multidisciplinary thought and theory. This vision is then operationalized in the development of a quantitative method that examines four key dimensions of sustainability—physical, environmental, socio-economic, and built—across a citywide urban park system. The approach can be customized for use in other cities, but is here applied to …

It’S Not Easy Going Green: Obstacles To Tree-Planting Programs In East Baltimore, Michael Battaglia, Geoffrey L. Buckley, Michael Galvin, Morgan Grove

Cities and the Environment (CATE)

In 2006, government officials in Baltimore announced plans to double the city’s tree canopy over the next thirty years. While the effort has already produced positive results, many parts of the city still lack trees. In this paper we consider whether two neighborhoods in East Baltimore – Berea and Madison-Eastend – are suitable locations for tree planting. We begin by calculating how much plantable space exists in each neighborhood. We then use interview data to cast light on how residents value the urban forest and whether or not they would support efforts to increase tree canopy in East Baltimore. The …

Characteristics Of Stewardship In The Chicago Wilderness Region, Lynne M. Westphal, Amelie Y. Davis, Cindy Copp, Laurel M. Ross, Mark J. Bouman, Cherie L. Fisher, Mark K. Johnston, Marc Lambruschi, Erika Hasle

Cities and the Environment (CATE)

Abstract: We report on the early results of a survey-based assessment of stewardship activities within the Chicago Wilderness region, work conducted as a part of the Chicago ULTRA-Ex project. Chicago Wilderness is a 270 member alliance focused on preserving and enhancing biodiversity throughout northern Illinois and parts of Wisconsin, Indiana and Michigan (USA). The results described include 369 stewardship groups including non-governmental organizations, community groups, municipalities and others who voluntarily filled out the survey between November 2010 and November 2011. Environment, education, community improvement, youth and recreation are the top five foci of the efforts of Chicago Wilderness Area stewards …

What Does It Take To Achieve Equitable Urban Tree Canopy Distribution? A Boston Case Study., Rachel S. Danford, Chingwen Cheng, Michael W. Strohbach, Robert Ryan, Craig Nicolson, Paige S. Warren

Cities and the Environment (CATE)

Considerable attention has been paid to the benefits that urban trees provide and recent research has focused on how the distribution of trees in the urban landscape is affected by socioeconomic processes like social stratification, as indicated by associations with income, race, ethnicity, and education. These studies have found marked disparity in urban canopy cover, with primarily low income and minority neighborhoods commonly being underserved. However, few studies have investigated the potential to overcome urban canopy inequities through urban planning and reforestation. This question becomes even more important as many U.S. cities pledge to increase urban canopy cover as part …

Applications Of Urban Tree Canopy Assessment And Prioritization Tools: Supporting Collaborative Decision Making To Achieve Urban Sustainability Goals, Dexter H. Locke, J. Morgan Grove, Michael Galvin, Jarlath P.M. O'Neil-Dunne, Charles Murphy

Cities and the Environment (CATE)

Urban Tree Canopy (UTC) Prioritizations can be both a set of geographic analysis tools and a planning process for collaborative decision-making. In this paper, we describe how UTC Prioritizations can be used as a planning process to provide decision support to multiple government agencies, civic groups and private businesses to aid in reaching a canopy target. Linkages to broader City-scale sustainability plans are explored. This article represents an extension and update to the UTC Canopy Goal Setting Guide by Raciti et al (2006). We conclude with recommendations for a market-like analysis of neighborhoods to better match planting initiatives to particular …

The Collapse Of Place: Derelict Land, Deprivation, And Health Inequality In Glasgow, Scotland, Juliana A. Maantay

Cities and the Environment (CATE)

The population of Glasgow, Scotland has very poor health, compared to Scotland as a whole and the rest of the U.K., and even compared to other post-industrial cities with similar levels of deprivation and worklessness. This research maps and analyzes several health indicators to examine health inequities within Glasgow and explore the spatial correspondence between areas of poor health, high deprivation, and proximity to derelict land, much of which is contaminated from past industrial uses. People in high deprivation areas are significantly more likely to be hospitalized for respiratory disease and cancer; have low birth weight infants; and for men …

Characterization Of Urban Agricultural Practices And Gardeners’ Perceptions In Bronx Community Gardens, New York City., Michelle Melissa Althaus Ottmann, Juliana A. Maantay, Kristen Grady, Nilce N. Fonte

Cities and the Environment (CATE)

This study investigates urban agricultural practices in the community gardens in the Bronx, New York City, United States, due to their historical role of helping bring peace and a sense of community to areas that suffered from violence and social injustice. Through semi-structured interviews with the gardeners, visits to observe the gardens, and a spatial analysis of community socio-demographic characteristics using Geographic Information Systems (GIS), we characterize the community gardens visited, and survey the gardeners’ perceptions regarding the benefits and challenges that are involved in the activity. The GISc analysis results showed that there is a much higher rate of …

Food Stamps Grow Urban Gardens, Daniel Bowman Simon

Cities and the Environment (CATE)

Plants and seeds can be purchased with SNAP (formerly Food Stamps, renamed Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, or SNAP in 2008,) but most current SNAP participants are unaware. Nearly four decades ago, in 1973, Alabama Senator James Allen championed an amendment to allow the purchase of food-producing plants and seeds with Food Stamps. The Senate passed the amendment after less than ten minutes of floor debate. However, in the ensuing decades, there has not been a focused national effort to make SNAP participants raise awareness of this choice that is available to SNAP participants, nor to connect SNAP participants to resources …

American Environmentalism And The City: An Ecosystem Services Perspective, Dorothy C. Ibes

Cities and the Environment (CATE)

This study traces the evolution of eight influential American environmental organizations and their relationship with, and conceptualizations of, ‘the city’ and ‘nature.’ Guided by the ecosystem services framework, the organizations’ urban-based initiatives were analyzed to determine what types of ecosystem services they emphasized and what the implications are for cities and environmental health. Results from historical, content, and interview analyses reveal the potential of the ecosystem services framework to unite the interests and efforts of multiple stakeholders, including urbanists, ecologists, economists, and environmentalists in a way that enhances both urban quality of life and conservation efforts overall.

A Multi-Scalar Approach To Theorizing Socio-Ecological Dynamics Of Urban Residential Landscapes, Rinku Roy Chowdhury, Kelli Larson, Morgan Grove, Colin Polsky, Elizabeth Cook, Jeffrey Onsted, Laura Ogden

Cities and the Environment (CATE)

Urban residential expansion increasingly drives land use, land cover and ecological changes worldwide, yet social science theories explaining such change remain under-developed. Existing theories often focus on processes occurring at one scale, while ignoring other scales. Emerging evidence from four linked U.S. research sites suggests it is essential to examine processes at multiple scales simultaneously when explaining the evolution of urban residential landscapes. Additionally, focusing on urbanization dynamics across multiple sites with a shared research design may yield fruitful comparative insights. The following processes and social-hierarchical scales significantly influence the spatial configurations of residential landscapes: household-level characteristics and environmental attitudes; …

Engaging Chicago Residents In Climate Change Action: Results From Rapid Ethnographic Inquiry, Lynne M. Westphal, Jennifer L. Hirsch

Cities and the Environment (CATE)

Addressing climate change requires action at all levels of society, from neighborhood to international levels. Using Rapid Ethnography rooted in Asset Based Community Development theory, we investigated climate-friendly attitudes and behaviors in two Chicago neighborhoods in order to assist the City with implementation of its Climate Action Plan. Our research suggests a means to effectively engage urban residents at the household and neighborhood level: understand the issues of importance in each neighborhood, assess the ways these are related to climate change mitigation or adaptation actions, and engage residents from this perspective, meeting mutually compatible goals. This builds upon the concept …

Not Just A Walk In The Park: Methodological Improvements For Determining Environmental Justice Implications Of Park Access In New York City For The Promotion Of Physical Activity, Keith K. Miyake, Andrew R. Maroko, Kristen L. Grady, Juliana A. Maantay, Peter S. Arno

Cities and the Environment (CATE)

The purpose of this study is to test the hypothesis that access to parks in New York City is not equitable across racial and ethnic categories. It builds on previous research that has linked access to parks and open space with increased physical activity, which in turn may reduce the risk for adverse health outcomes related to obesity. Systematic patterns of uneven access to parks might help to explain disparities in these health outcomes across sociodemographic populations that are not fully explained by individual-level risk factors and health behaviors, and therefore access to parks becomes an environmental justice issue. This …

How Do New York City’S Recent Rezonings Align With Its Goals For Park Accessibility?, Simon T. Mcdonnell, Josiah Madar, Vicki Been

Cities and the Environment (CATE)

In 2007, New York City adopted a long-term sustainability plan that announced a goal of ensuring that almost every New Yorker lives within a ten minute walk of a park of substantial size. At the same time, policymakers are rewriting the City’s land use map through an unprecedented series of neighborhood level rezonings that involve changing the use type and residential capacity of affected lots or groups of lots. Despite the confluence of these interventions, no research has analyzed how the rezonings interact with the City’s park infrastructure, and specifically, whether residential capacity changes in areas close to parks differ …

Prioritizing Preferable Locations For Increasing Urban Tree Canopy In New York City, Dexter H. Locke, J. Morgan Grove, Jacqueline W.T. Lu, Austin Troy, Jarlath P.M. O'Neil-Dunne, Brian D. Beck

Cities and the Environment (CATE)

This paper presents a set of Geographic Information System (GIS) methods for identifying and prioritizing tree planting sites in urban environments. It uses an analytical approach created by a University of Vermont service-learning class called “GIS Analysis of New York City's Ecology” that was designed to provide research support to the MillionTreesNYC tree planting campaign. These methods prioritize tree planting sites based on need (whether or not trees can help address specific issues in the community) and suitability (biophysical constraints and planting partners’ existing programmatic goals). Criteria for suitability and need were based on input from three New York City …

Community Gardens: An Exploration Of Urban Agriculture In The Bronx, New York City, Michelle Ma Ottmann, Juliana A. Maantay, Kristen Grady, Nerio A. Cardoso, Nilce N. Fonte

Cities and the Environment (CATE)

Urban agriculture/community gardening in the Bronx has multiple roles, including health-promoting, economic, environmental, and cultural. These roles are particularly important in light of urban sustainability issues and environmental justice concerns, such as differential access to open space, recreation, and fresh produce in poorer communities and communities of color, as well as differential environmental and health impacts of unsustainable practices on these communities. The gardens generally help promote a sense of place - a focus for communities - which often have little access to safe parks or recreational space within their neighborhoods, and create a center for community cultural and educational …

Community Gardens As Contexts For Science, Stewardship,And Civic Action Learning, Marianne E. Krasny, Keith G. Tidball

Cities and the Environment (CATE)

Community gardens are heterogeneous environments that integrate environmental restoration, community activism, social interactions, cultural expression, and food security. As such, they provide a context for learning that addresses multiple societal goals, including a populace that is scientifically literate, practices environmental stewardship, and participates in civic life. Several theories are useful in describing the learning that occurs in community gardens, including those focusing on learning as acquisition of content by individuals, learning as interaction with other individuals and the environment and as increasingly skilled levels of participation in a community of practice, and social learning among groups of stakeholders leading to …

Landscape Sustainability In A Sonoran Desert City, Chris A. Martin

Cities and the Environment (CATE)

The objective of this paper is to discuss concepts of landscape sustainability in the Phoenix metropolitan area. Phoenix is situated in the greater Salt River Valley of the lower Sonoran Desert in the southwest United States. In this paper I use the ecological frameworks of ecosystem services and resiliency as a metric for understanding landscape sustainability. An assessment of landscape sustainability performance benchmarks were made by surveying research findings of scientists affiliated with the Central Arizona Phoenix Long Term Ecological Research Project (CAP LTER). In Phoenix, present day emphases on cultural, aesthetic, and habitat formation ecosystem services within an arid …

Urban Ecological Stewardship: Understanding The Structure, Function And Network Of Community-Based Urban Land Management, Erika Svendsen, Lindsay K. Campbell

Cities and the Environment (CATE)

Urban environmental stewardship activities are on the rise in cities throughout the Northeast. Groups participating in stewardship activities range in age, size, and geography and represent an increasingly complex and dynamic arrangement of civil society, government and business sectors. To better understand the structure, function and network of these community-based urban land managers, an assessment was conducted in 2004 by the research subcommittee of the Urban Ecology Collaborative. The goal of the assessment was to better understand the role of stewardship organizations engaged in urban ecology initiatives in selected major cities in the Northeastern U.S.: Boston, New Haven, New York …

Improving Resolution Of Census Data In Metropolitan Areas Using A Dasymetric Approach: Applications For The Baltimore Ecosystem Study, Christopher G. Boone

Cities and the Environment (CATE)

A dasymetric map is a type of thematic map where boundaries are altered by the distribution of other phenomena. In dasymetric maps, administrative or enumeration boundaries are redrawn to better represent the distribution of data classes. Dasymetric mapping methods can improve the resolution of historical and present day census data. Using data collected for the Baltimore Ecosystem Study, I use the dasymetric approach to remap the distribution of census data based on residential land use. By overlaying census boundaries with land use and land cover information in a GIS database, census data can be partitioned into places where, from the …