Our goal in this paper is to examine whether there are similar
patterns in the distribution of tree canopy by Home Owners’ Loan
Corporation (HOLC) graded neighborhoods across 37 cities. A pre-print
of the paper can be found here:
https://osf.io/preprints/socarxiv/97zcs
This data packages contains:
1. City-specific file geodatabases with features classes of the HOLC
polygons obtained from the Mapping Inequality Project
https://dsl.richmond.edu/panorama/redlining/,
and tables summarizing tree canopy, and in some cases other land cover
classes.
2. An *.R script that replicates all of the analyses, graphs, and
tables in the paper. Other double checks, exploratory, and
miscellaneous outputs are created by the script too as a bonus.
Everything in the paper can be done with the script; additional work
outputs are also created.
3. A *.csv file containing city, the HOLC grade, and the percent tree
canopy cover. This can be used to create the main findings of the
paper and this flat file is provided as an alternative to running the
R script to extract information from the geodatabases, combine, and
analyze them. The intention is that this file is more widely
accessible; the underlying information is the same.
Redlining was a racially discriminatory housing policy established by
the federal government’s Home Owners’ Loan Corporation (HOLC) during
the 1930s. For decades, redlining limited access to homeownership and
wealth creation among racial minorities, contributing to a host of
adverse social outcomes, including high unemployment, poverty, and
residential vacancy, that persist today. While the multigenerational
socioeconomic impacts of redlining are increasingly understood, the
impacts on urban environments and ecosystems remains unclear. To begin
to address this gap, we investigated how the HOLC policy administered
80 years ago may relate to present-day tree canopy at the neighborhood
level. Urban trees provide many ecosystem services, mitigate the urban
heat island effect, and may improve quality of life in cities. In our
prior research in Baltimore, MD, we discovered that redlining policy
influenced the location and allocation of trees and parks. Our
analysis of 37 metropolitan areas here shows that areas formerly
graded D, which were mostly inhabited by racial and ethnic minorities,
have on average ~23% tree canopy cover today. Areas formerly graded A,
characterized by U.S.-born white populations living in newer housing
stock, had nearly twice as much tree canopy (~43%). Results are
consistent across small and large metropolitan regions. The ranking
system used by Home Owners’ Loan Corporation to assess loan risk in
the 1930s parallels the rank order of average percent tree canopy
cover today.
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Projected losses of ecosystem services in the US disproportionately affect non-white and lower-income populations
Addressing how ecosystem services (ES) are distributed among groups of people is critical for making conservation and environmental policy-making more equitable. Here, we evaluate the distribution and equity of changes in ES benefits across demographic and socioeconomic groups in the United States (US) between 2020 and 2100. Specifically, we use land cover and population projections to model potential shifts in the supply, demand, and benefits of the following ES: provision of clean air, protection against a vector-borne disease (West Nile virus), and crop pollination. Across the US, changes in ES benefits are unevenly distributed among socioeconomic and demographic groups and among rural and urban communities, but are relatively uniform across geographic regions. In general, non-white, lower-income, and urban populations disproportionately bear the burden of declines in ES benefits. This is largely driven by the conversion of forests and wetlands to cropland and urban land cover in counties where these populations are expected to grow. In these locations, targeted land use policy interventions are required to avoid exacerbating inequalities already present in the US.
more » « less- Award ID(s):
- 1735316
- NSF-PAR ID:
- 10248726
- Publisher / Repository:
- Nature Publishing Group
- Date Published:
- Journal Name:
- Nature Communications
- Volume:
- 12
- Issue:
- 1
- ISSN:
- 2041-1723
- Format(s):
- Medium: X
- Sponsoring Org:
- National Science Foundation
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Abstract Redlining was a racially discriminatory housing policy established by the federal government’s Home Owners’ Loan Corporation (HOLC) during the 1930s. For decades, redlining limited access to homeownership and wealth creation among racial minorities, contributing to a host of adverse social outcomes, including high unemployment, poverty, and residential vacancy, that persist today. While the multigenerational socioeconomic impacts of redlining are increasingly understood, the impacts on urban environments and ecosystems remain unclear. To begin to address this gap, we investigated how the HOLC policy administered 80 years ago may relate to present-day tree canopy at the neighborhood level. Urban trees provide many ecosystem services, mitigate the urban heat island effect, and may improve quality of life in cities. In our prior research in Baltimore, MD, we discovered that redlining policy influenced the location and allocation of trees and parks. Our analysis of 37 metropolitan areas here shows that areas formerly graded D, which were mostly inhabited by racial and ethnic minorities, have on average ~23% tree canopy cover today. Areas formerly graded A, characterized by U.S.-born white populations living in newer housing stock, had nearly twice as much tree canopy (~43%). Results are consistent across small and large metropolitan regions. The ranking system used by Home Owners’ Loan Corporation to assess loan risk in the 1930s parallels the rank order of average percent tree canopy cover today.
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Abstract Outdoor water use represents over 50% of total water demand in semiarid and arid cities and presents both challenges to and opportunities for improved efficiency and water resilience. The current work adapts a remote sensing‐based methodology to estimate growing season irrigation rates at the census block group scale in Denver, Colorado. Results show that city‐wide outdoor water use does not change significantly from 1995 to 2018, while per capita water use and total water use significantly decrease from 2000 to 2018. Because total water use, but not outdoor use, is decreasing, the percent of water used outdoors significantly increases across the city from 2000 to 2018. Climate variables account for one‐quarter of interannual variation in mean irrigation rates due primarily to changes in temperature, not precipitation. Percent impervious land cover exhibits a significant inverse nonlinear relationship with irrigation rates at the census block group scale. Finally, 38% of Denver census block groups show significantly increasing irrigation rates between 1995 and 2018 driven primarily by increasing temperatures. The increasing proportion of water used for irrigation highlights the importance of outdoor demand management for urban water systems as indoor efficiencies improve. We advocate that resilient water systems necessitate integrated land use, infrastructure, and water planning in the face of urban growth and climate change. While minimizing irrigated urban areas may reduce demand, remaining green spaces should be designed to maximize multiple benefits including reductions in water demand and urban heat islands, stormwater management, and recreation to improve the sustainability of growing cities.
