The Power of Parks: Environmental Justice in the Context of Green Space Accessibility and Distribution

Urban green spaces are critical to the development and maintenance of urban ecosystems. The development and siting of urban green spaces impact a city and its residents. Urban green spaces promote physical activity and improve psychological wellbeing. These spaces also cultivate a myriad of social, cultural, and economic benefits. The issue that now faces municipalities and decision makers, is green space accessibility and distributional equity. The great migration, white flight, and the historical context of redlining segregated African Americans and other minority groups which in turn created urban environments that have pockets of “ghettos” whose residents are often socio-economically disadvantaged. These areas are often underfunded, overlooked and underserved. These communities tend to lack access to urban green spaces and therefore do not reap their many environmental, physiological, social, cultural, and economic benefits. This practicum is a comprehensive literature review that assesses relevant scholarly articles and analyzes the effect of inequity in accessibility and distribution of green spaces on marginalized populations from an environmental justice lens. Based on data and information gathered, it can be concluded that the residents of neighborhoods where urban green spaces are sparse or nonexistent, many of whom are African American and low income, are at a disadvantage because urban green spaces play an indispensable role in urban ecosystems, the mitigation of climate change, socialization, physiological health, and economic prosperity.Master of Science (MS)School for Environment and SustainabilityUniversity of Michiganhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/171276/1/Moore, Annie_Practicum.pd