Urban forests provide an abundance of goods and services to human communities, and human actions determine urban tree wellness and distribution. This tree-human relationship is at the heart of the urban socio-ecological system, where most of us will reside in the future, and it is critical for creating sustainable and equitable urban environments. However, a history of discriminatory housing policies and other forms of marginalization have systematically excluded trees and their ecosystem services from lower income and non-white neighborhoods. To address these socio-ecological inequities within our cities, we need a better understanding of the dynamics and connections that govern the urban tree-human relationship. This research will meet this need through an integrative and interdisciplinary research agenda combining novel measures of tree health with assessments of socially biased policies and practices. This information will aid the development and testing of new models that describe the tree-human relationship across US cities and will bring together researchers, students, decision-makers, and community members to begin undoing legacies of inequality and building more equitable and resilient urban environments for all.
This interdisciplinary project aims to understand how historical legacies of discrimination are reflected in preset social-ecological dynamics in urban environments and how to develop effective strategies for promoting healthy, equitable, and resilient urban socio-ecological systems. The research team will develop novel indicators of urban tree and ecosystem health by integrating recent advances in plant physiology and remote sensing (e.g., ultra-high-resolution hyperspectral imagery, and LiDAR). Current urban forest extent and vulnerability will then be examined at multiple spatio-temporal scales and in specific historical contexts to elucidate the role of socially-biased policies and practices that set the stage for inequitable and non-resilient urban tree-human dynamics. Finally, structural equation models will be developed to describe how social and ecological health flow in intertwined ways from the socio-ecological structure, function, and dynamics of major US cities. These models will provide a means to forecast future urban forest health and resilience given possible ecological, social, and climatic change. The bulk of the detailed natural and human subsystems work will be completed in Portland OR, an urban socio-ecological system with an extensive past of redlining and readily available datasets on social and biophysical characteristics. Structural equation modeling will then be applied to several dozen major cities throughout the US and North America across thirteen ecoregions to identify city-specific and generalized principles that determine equity and resilience in urban socio-ecological systems. Overall, this project advances research and theory in urban social-ecological systems.
This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.
