Social and Behavioral Sciences Commons^™

Linking Tree Cover Change To Historical Management Practices In Urban Parks, Sabine Nix, Lara A. Roman, Marc Healy, John Rogan, Hamil Pearsall

Geography

Context: Urban tree canopy (UTC) in parks is shaped by complex interactions between social and ecological processes over decades. To understand UTC change in parks, it is critical to identify and characterize the unique set of social processes that drive long-term change. Objectives: We sought to uncover the feedbacks between social processes and long-term UTC changes in parks of a post-industrial city that experienced substantial population loss and park disinvestment. Methods: Our mixed-methods approach involved quantifying spatiotemporal UTC changes and connecting those changes to historical management practices for three parks in Philadelphia, PA (US). We delineated UTC using aerial imagery …