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Cited by 33Environmental Justice and Health DisparitiesUrban Green Space and HealthUrbanization and City Planning

Three Histories of Greening and Whiteness in American Cities

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Connolly, James J. T., Anguelovski, Isabelle·2021·Frontiers in Ecology and Evolution
DOI 10.3389/fevo.2021.621783
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Abstract

How has urban greening related to the degree of whiteness in neighborhoods? The answer to this question provides an essential “historical diagnostic” that can be used to develop an approach to urban ecology which integrates racial and ethnic change into the planning for proposed interventions. In this paper we employ state sequence analysis to analyze the historical trend of greening (including the implementation of new parks, greenways, community gardens, green recreation areas, and nature preserves) between 1975 and 2014 in a sample of nine cities in the United States relative to concentrations of white and non-white residents. We divide the nine cities into three common growth trajectories and separately examine the trends for each growth trajectory. We further illustrate these trends by mobilizing qualitative data from field work in selected neighborhoods to help explain the processes that generate certain key findings in the quantitative data. We find that the relationship between greening and race/ethnicity differs according to city-level growth trajectory. Cities with continuous high and rapid levels of growth in the postwar period have the strongest link between increased greening and whiter populations. Meanwhile, in cities that contracted or had a punctuated growth pattern, non-white areas had a uniformly low level of greening that occurred mostly in recent years. In all, we show how urban growth, greening, and whiteness are inextricably associated qualities of American cities. We argue that understanding this association is essential for development of a race-conscious model for enhancing urban ecosystems.

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Cited by

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Authors
Connolly, J. J. T., & Anguelovski, I.
Affiliations
  • Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona (ES)
  • Institució Catalana de Recerca i Estudis Avançats (ES)
Corresponding author
Connolly, James J. T.
ORCID
Venue
Frontiers in Ecology and Evolution
Publisher
Frontiers Media SA
Published
2021-03-12
Volume
9
ISSN
2296-701X (ISSN-L)
DOI
10.3389/fevo.2021.621783
OpenAlex
W3138410500
Cited by
33
References
3
Citations by year
2026: 2 · 2025: 2 · 2024: 11 · 2023: 4 · 2022: 9 · 2021: 5
FWCI
9.22
Type
journal article
Language
en
Update notices
corrigendum (2021-07-07)
Open access
Licence
Locations
  • Frontiers in Ecology and Evolution (publishedVersion, cc-by)
  • Dipòsit Digital de Documents de la UAB (Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona) (submittedVersion, cc-by)
  • DOAJ (DOAJ: Directory of Open Access Journals) (submittedVersion, cc-by-sa)
Funders
H2020 European Research Council
Topics
  • Social Sciences › Sociology and Political Science › Environmental Justice and Health Disparities
  • Physical Sciences › Environmental Science › Health, Toxicology and Mutagenesis › Urban Green Space and Health
  • Social Sciences › Urban Studies › Urbanization and City Planning
Keywords
urban greening, whiteness, racial and ethnic segregation, community gardens, nature preserves, urban ecology, urban ecosystems, American cities

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