2016/03/17 by Shannon Lea Watkins, Sarah K. Mincey, Jess Vogt +2 · 8 citations
Agricultural and Biological Sciences · Environmental Science · Mathematics · #Agricultural economics #Agronomy #Biology #Canopy #Census #Demography #Distribution (mathematics) #Economics #Ethnic group #Forestry #Geography #Household income #Mathematics #Political science #Population #Race (biology) #Socioeconomic status #Socioeconomics #Sociology #Sowing #Tree canopy #Tree planting #Urban Agriculture and Sustainability #Urban Green Space and Health #Urban Heat Island Mitigation #Urban forestry
paper · doi:10.1177/0013916516636423
openalex publication_date 2016/03/17 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/07/25
This article examines the spatial distribution of tree-planting projects undertaken by four urban greening nonprofit organizations in the Midwest and Eastern United States. We use a unique data set of tree-planting locations, land use data, and socioeconomic information to predict whether a census block group ( n = 3,771) was the location of a tree-planting project between 2009 and 2011. Regression results show tree-planting projects were significantly less likely to have occurred in block groups with higher tree canopy cover, higher median income, or greater percentages of African American or Hispanic residents, controlling for physical and socioeconomic conditions. In addition, when canopy cover or income was low, plantings were even less likely to have occurred in neighborhoods with high percentages of racial or ethnic minorities. Findings suggest nonprofit plantings might reduce existing income-based inequity in canopy cover, but risk creating or exacerbating race-based inequity and risk leaving low canopy minority neighborhoods with relatively few program benefits.