Post on 26-Nov-2021
Access to Green Space in BostonJillian Howell „12
Environmental Studies Program
Colby College
ES 212 Spring 2011
ABSTRACT
The purpose of this project was to use GIS
and statistical analyses to explore the
relationship between access to green space
and race in Boston. Using census data, the
city was divided by race and block groups.
Block groups were categorized based on
whether or not they were adjacent to green
space. Findings concluded that races are
not equally distributed across adjacent and
non adjacent block groups, indicating
unequal access to green space.
INTRO
Boston is a bustling urban center with
designated areas of green space that
provide residents with a place of refuge
from pollution, crowds, and traffic.
Environmental justice recognizes that the
availability of and access to green space,
a public good, is compromised by
structural disadvantages associated with
race (Taylor et. Al, 55). At the center of the
rise of the environmental justice
movement in the 1980s was a growing
recognition and awareness of unevenness
in the distribution of environmental costs
across people of color and low-income. In
recent years, though, emerging efforts in
the environmental justice field have
focused on environmental benefits and
METHODS
Data was retrieved from the 2000 U.S. Census and the Massachusetts Office of
GIS. Conservation, recreation land, and parkways were taken from the open
space data layer and classified as green space. Census block group data, the
smallest subdivision of the census, was used to divide the city, and the three
largest racial groups (white, black, and hispanic) were displayed according to
block groups. Using ArcGIS, census block groups were categorized based on
whether they were adjacent to or not adjacent to green space. A Mann Whitney
U test was conducted in order to determine whether there was a significant
difference in the distribution of each race in adjacent block groups vs. non-adjacent block groups.
RESULTS
Results of the Mann-Whitney U Test:
·Failure to reject null hypothesis that stated: the distribution of whites was the
same across block groups adjacent to and non-adjacent to green space.
P-value was found to be .517, which was greater than the significance level of
.05.
·Failure to reject null hypothesis that stated: the distribution of hispanics was the
same across block groups adjacent to and non-adjacent to green space.
P- value was found to be .062, which was greater than the significance level of
.05.
·Rejection of null hypothesis that stated: the distribution of blacks was the same
across block groups adjacent to and non-adjacent to green space.
P-value of .032 was less that the significance level of .05.
Maps display the distribution of white, black, and hispanic populations in relation
to green space. Tables display figures based on the maps.
DISCUSSION
These findings are consistent with the original hypothesis that there was an association between
access to urban green space in the city of Boston and race. A significant difference in the
percentage of blacks across adjacent versus non- adjacent block groups points to an association.
This significant difference concludes that there is a greater percentage of blacks in the non-
adjacent block groups, which were the block groups with less access to green space.
Difficulties with this research included defining access. While previous studies, including one
conducted in Los Angeles, used buffers around parks to determine access and proximity, the small
area of Boston made the use of buffers ineffective. Problems encountered created by using
adjacency and non-adjacency as measures of access was the failure to take into take into account
quality and size of green space. Other difficulties were accurately calculating adjacency when
there were errors in digitization of the green space,
REFERENCES
1. http://www.census.gov/geo/www/tiger/tgrshp2010/availability.html
2. http://www.cityofboston.gov/Images_Documents/City_Links_Profile_tcm3-13196.pdf
3. http://www.cityprojectca.org/
4. Floyd, Myron F., and Cassandra Y. Johnson. "Coming to Terms with Environmental Justice in Outdoor
Recreation: A Conceptual Discussion with Research Implications." Leisure Sciences 24.1 (2002): 59-77.
Environment Complete. EBSCO. Web. 26 Apr. 2011.
5. Taylor, Wendell C., Walker S. Carlos Poston, Lovell Jones, and M. Katherine Kraft. “Environmental
Justice: Obesity,Physical Activity, and Healthy Eating.” Journal of Physical Activity and Health 2006: 30-54.
Thanks to Professor Philip Nyhus Manny Gimond for their assistance and
guidance on this project.
Massachusetts Office of GIS, ESRI
NAD_1983_StatePlane_Massachusetts_Mainland_FIPS_2001
Projection: Lambert_Conformal_Conic
GCS_North_American_1983
Datum: D_North_American_1983
BOSTON HARBOR
CANTON
QUINCY
NEWTON
MILTON
NEEDHAM
DEDHAM
MEDFORD
REVERE
CAMBRIDGE
BROOKLINE
HULL
EVERETT
SOMERVILLE
WATERTOWN
CHELSEA
WINTHROP
G r e e n S p a c e
>75 % Black Adjacent
>75% Black Not Adjacent
>75% Hispanic Adjacent
>75% Hispanic Not Adjacent
>75% White Adjacent
>75%White Not Adjacent
No Population >75%
>75% Hispanic Adjacent
<Double-click here to enter title>
<Double-click here to enter text>
BOSTON HARBOR
QUINCY
NEWTON
MILTON
CANTON
DEDHAM
NEEDHAM
MEDFORD
REVERE
CAMBRIDGE
BROOKLINE
HULL
EVERETT
SOMERVILLE
WATERTOWN
CHELSEA
WINTHROP
^Boston
NEW HAMPSHIRE
V E R M O N T
M A S S A C H U S E T T S
R H O D EI S L A N D
C O N N E C T I C U T
N E W Y O R K
ATLANTIC OCEAN
(
0 0.5 10.25 Miles l
BOSTON HARBOR
QUINCY
CANTON
NEWTON
MILTON
NEEDHAM
DEDHAM
MEDFORD
REVERE
CAMBRIDGE
BROOKLINE
HULL
EVERETT
SOMERVILLE
WATERTOWN
CHELSEA
WINTHROP
G r e e n S p a c e
% H i s p a n i c
0 - 2 5
2 6 - 5 0
5 1 - 7 5
7 6 - 1 0 0
<Double-click here to enter title>
<Double-click here to enter text>
BOSTON HARBOR
QUINCY
NEWTON
MILTON
CANTON
DEDHAM
NEEDHAM
MEDFORD
REVERE
CAMBRIDGE
BROOKLINE
HULL
EVERETT
SOMERVILLE
WATERTOWN
CHELSEA
WINTHROP
^Boston
NEW HAMPSHIRE
V E R M O N T
M A S S A C H U S E T T S
R H O D EI S L A N D
C O N N E C T I C U T
N E W Y O R K
ATLANTIC OCEAN
(
0 0.5 10.25 Miles l
BOSTON HARBOR
QUINCY
CANTON
NEWTON
MILTON
NEEDHAM
DEDHAM
MEDFORD
REVERE
CAMBRIDGE
BROOKLINE
HULL
EVERETT
SOMERVILLE
WATERTOWN
CHELSEA
WINTHROP
G r e e n S p a c e
% B l a c k
0 - 2 5
2 6 - 5 0
5 1 - 7 5
7 6 - 1 0 0
<Double-click here to enter title>
<Double-click here to enter text>
BOSTON HARBOR
QUINCY
NEWTON
MILTON
CANTON
DEDHAM
NEEDHAM
MEDFORD
REVERE
CAMBRIDGE
BROOKLINE
HULL
EVERETT
SOMERVILLE
WATERTOWN
CHELSEA
WINTHROP
^Boston
NEW HAMPSHIRE
V E R M O N T
M A S S A C H U S E T T S
R H O D EI S L A N D
C O N N E C T I C U T
N E W Y O R K
ATLANTIC OCEAN
(
0 0.5 10.25 Miles l
BOSTON HARBOR
QUINCY
CANTON
NEWTON
MILTON
NEEDHAM
DEDHAM
MEDFORD
REVERE
CAMBRIDGE
BROOKLINE
HULL
EVERETT
SOMERVILLE
WATERTOWN
CHELSEA
WINTHROP
G r e e n S p a c e
% W h i t e
0 - 2 5
2 6 - 5 0
5 1 - 7 5
7 6 - 1 0 0
<Double-click here to enter title>
<Double-click here to enter text>
BOSTON HARBOR
QUINCY
NEWTON
MILTON
CANTON
DEDHAM
NEEDHAM
MEDFORD
REVERE
CAMBRIDGE
BROOKLINE
HULL
EVERETT
SOMERVILLE
WATERTOWN
CHELSEA
WINTHROP
^Boston
NEW HAMPSHIRE
V E R M O N T
M A S S A C H U S E T T S
R H O D EI S L A N D
C O N N E C T I C U T
N E W Y O R K
ATLANTIC OCEAN
(
0 0.5 10.25 Miles l
# Block
Groups
Adjacent
to Green
Space
# Block
Groups
Non-
Adjacent
to Green
Space
% Block
Groups
Adjacent
to Green
Space
% Block
Groups
Non-
Adjacent
to Green
Space
>75%
White
48 109 13 44
>75 %
Black
34 29 9 12
>75 %
Hisp
3 1 1 1
Total
Pop
# of People
in Non-
Adjacent
Block
Groups
# of
People
in
Adjacent
Block
Groups
%
Total
Pop. of
City
% Living
in
Adjacent
Block
Group
% Living
in Non-
Adjacent
Block
Group
White 291,561 192,430 99,131 50 34 66
Black 140,305 120,662 19,643 24 14 86
Hisp 85,089 78,282 6,807 8 8 92
Total 589,141 229,765 359,376 100 61 39
amenities, including urban design, public health, and access to outdoor
recreation (Floyd and Johnson 59).This study explored the association between race and access to green space in Boston‟s urban environment.
CONCLUSION
Access to green space was not evenly distributed across
race. There was a significant difference between the
distribution of blacks across adjacent and non adjacent block
groups. Further research into quality and size of green space
areas would contribute to this analysis.