Mitigating the Social Challenges of Green Infrastructure: A Social Vulnerability Index
Publication: Construction Research Congress 2024
ABSTRACT
Investments in green infrastructure (GI) can greatly improve the well-being and resilience of urban areas. However, the implementation of GI also has different challenges, including social considerations. Therefore, GI solutions need to recognize those social challenges and plan spaces where uses are complementary rather than conflicting. Existing research has suggested potential strategies to address the social challenges of GIs; however, little-to-no studies have focused on modeling the vulnerability to GIs’ social challenges. This study aims to fill this research gap by proposing a GI social vulnerability index (SVI). A list of 35 indicators was identified. Then, the weight for each indicator was assigned using Principal Component Analysis. Finally, the weights of the 35 indicators were used to develop the SVI. The findings offered insights into the most vulnerable/susceptible Census tracts in NYC. The results also provided insights into the relative importance of different indicators that should be considered when implementing GI initiatives. This study adds to the body of knowledge by helping city planners and policymakers target areas for interventions and mitigate the social challenges of GI. The research also provides a better understanding of how GI implementation can impact urban areas and the residents.
Get full access to this article
View all available purchase options and get full access to this chapter.
REFERENCES
Abdrabo, K. I., Kantoush, S. A., Esmaiel, A., Saber, M., Sumi, T., Almamari, M., and Ghoniem, S. (2023). An integrated indicator-based approach for constructing an urban flood vulnerability index as an urban decision-making tool using the PCA and AHP techniques: A case study of Alexandria, Egypt. Urban Climate, 48, 101426.
Anderson, N. S., Busà, A., Brown, E., Candipan, J., Conn, P., Cordeau, R., and Treskon, M. (2012). The world in Brooklyn: Gentrification, immigration, and ethnic politics in a global city. Lexington Books.
Anguelovski, I., Connolly, J. J., Masip, L., and Pearsall, H. (2018). Assessing green gentrification in historically disenfranchised neighborhoods: a longitudinal and spatial analysis of Barcelona. Urban geography, 39(3), 458–491.
Barton, M. (2016). An exploration of the importance of the strategy used to identify gentrification. Urban Studies, 53(1), 92–111.
Bjarnadottir, S., Li, Y., and Stewart, M. G. (2011). Social vulnerability index for coastal communities at risk to hurricane hazard and a changing climate. Natural Hazards, 59, 1055–1075.
Black, K. J., and Richards, M. (2020). Eco-gentrification and who benefits from urban green amenities: NYC’s high line. Landscape and urban planning, 204, 103900.
Bostic, R. W., and Martin, R. W. (2003). Black home-owners as a gentrifying force? Neighbourhood dynamics in the context of minority home-ownership. Urban Studies, 40(12), 2427–2449.
Bottero, M., Caprioli, C., Foth, M., Mitchell, P., Rittenbruch, M., and Santangelo, M. (2022). Urban parks, value uplift and green gentrification: An application of the spatial hedonic model in the city of Brisbane. Urban Forestry & Urban Greening, 74, 127618.
Brown, K., and Wyly, E. (2000). The New Gentrification? A Case Study of the Russification of Brighton Beach, New York. The Geographical Bulletin, 42(2), 94.
Chen, Y., Xu, Z., Byrne, J., Xu, T., Wang, S., and Wu, J. (2021). Can smaller parks limit green gentrification? Insights from Hangzhou, China. Urban Forestry & Urban Greening, 59, 127009.
Cole, H. V., Anguelovski, I., Connolly, J. J., García-Lamarca, M., Perez-del-Pulgar, C., Shokry, G., and Triguero-Mas, M. (2021). Adapting the environmental risk transition theory for urban health inequities: An observational study examining complex environmental riskscapes in seven neighborhoods in Global North cities. Social science & medicine, 277, 113907.
Connolly, J. J. (2019). From Jacobs to the Just City: A foundation for challenging the green planning orthodoxy. Cities, 91, 64–70.
Davidson, M., and Lees, L. (2005). New-build ‘gentrification’and London’s riverside renaissance. Environment and planning A, 37(7), 1165–1190.
Easton, S., Lees, L., Hubbard, P., and Tate, N. (2020). Measuring and mapping displacement: The problem of quantification in the battle against gentrification. Urban Studies, 57(2), 286–306.
Flanagan, B. E., Gregory, E. W., Hallisey, E. J., Heitgerd, J. L., and Lewis, B. (2011). A social vulnerability index for disaster management. Journal of homeland security and emergency management, 8(1), 0000102202154773551792.
Freeman, L. (2005). Displacement or succession? Residential mobility in gentrifying neighborhoods. Urban affairs review, 40(4), 463–491.
Glass, R. (1964). London: Aspects of change. London: Centre for Urban studies and MacGibbon and Kee.
Gould, K. A., and Lewis, T. L. (2012). The environmental injustice of green gentrification: the case of Brooklyn’s Prospect Park. The World in Brooklyn: Gentrification, immigration, and ethnic politics in a global city, 2(1), 113–146.
Gould, K. A., and Lewis, T. L. (2016). Green gentrification: Urban sustainability and the struggle for environmental justice. Routledge.
Gould, K. A., and Lewis, T. L. (2018). From green gentrification to resilience gentrification: An example from Brooklyn.
Kabisch, N., Korn, H., Stadler, J., and Bonn, A. (2017). Nature-based solutions to climate change adaptation in urban areas: Linkages between science, policy and practice. Springer Nature.
Kazak, J. K., Chruściński, J., and Szewrański, S. (2018). The development of a novel decision support system for the location of green infrastructure for stormwater management. Sustainability, 10(12), 4388.
Khond, S. V. (2020). Effect of data normalization on accuracy and error of fault classification for an electrical distribution system. Smart Science, 8(3), 117–124.
Lee, Y. C., Chang, K. Y., and Mirsaeidi, M. (2023). Association of County-degree Social Vulnerability with Chronic Respiratory Disease Mortality in the United States. Annals of the American Thoracic Society, 20(1), 47–57.
Maia, A. T. A., Calcagni, F., Connolly, J. J. T., Anguelovski, I., and Langemeyer, J. (2020). Hidden drivers of social injustice: uncovering unequal cultural ecosystem services behind green gentrification. Environmental Science & Policy, 112, 254–263.
Nelson, K. S., Abkowitz, M. D., and Camp, J. V. (2015). A method for creating high resolution maps of social vulnerability in the context of environmental hazards. Applied Geography, 63, 89–100.
NYC. (2023). Parks. Accessed 27 March 2023. <https://www.nyc.gov/assets/sirr/downloads/pdf/Ch_11_Parks_FINAL_singles.pdf>.
Rigolon, A., and Németh, J. (2020). Green gentrification or ‘just green enough’: Do park location, size and function affect whether a place gentrifies or not?. Urban Studies, 57(2), 402–420.
Rigolon, A., Keith, S. J., Harris, B., Mullenbach, L. E., Larson, L. R., and Rushing, J. (2020). More than” Just Green Enough”: Helping Park Professionals Achieve Equitable Greening and Limit Environmental Gentrification. Journal of Park & Recreation Administration, 38(3).
Rupprecht, C. D., and Byrne, J. A. (2017). Informal urban green space as anti-gentrification strategy?. In Just green enough (pp. 209–226). Routledge.
Salazar-Briones, C., Ruiz-Gibert, J. M., Lomelí-Banda, M. A., and Mungaray-Moctezuma, A. (2020). An integrated urban flood vulnerability index for sustainable planning in arid zones of developing countries. Water, 12(2), 608.
Sharifi, F., Nygaard, A., Stone, W. M., and Levin, I. (2021). Green gentrification or gentrified greening: Metropolitan Melbourne. Land use policy, 108, 105577.
Triguero-Mas, M., Anguelovski, I., Connolly, J. J., Martin, N., Matheney, A., Cole, H. V., and Baró, F. (2022). Exploring green gentrification in 28 global North cities: the role of urban parks and other types of greenspaces. Environmental Research Letters, 17(10), 104035.
United States Census Bureau. (2021). Population Estimates, July 1 2022, (V2022). Accessed 27 March 2023. <https://www.census.gov/quickfacts/fact/table/newyorkcitynewyork#>.
Wolch, J. R., Byrne, J., and Newell, J. P. (2014). Urban green space, public health, and environmental justice: The challenge of making cities ‘just green enough’. Landscape and urban planning, 125, 234–244.
Information & Authors
Information
Published In
Construction Research Congress 2024
Pages: 1181 - 1190
History
Published online: Mar 18, 2024
ASCE Technical Topics:
Authors
Metrics & Citations
Metrics
Citations
Download citation
If you have the appropriate software installed, you can download article citation data to the citation manager of your choice. Simply select your manager software from the list below and click Download.