Good for Whom? Olmsted, Parks, and Public Good

Adding Contexts of Settler Colonialism and Systemic Racism

Environmental Gentrification

Contextualizing Parks as "Public Goods"

So far, we've seen how whole communities and Indigenous nations have been displaced, physically destroyed, and even massacred to create green spaces for "everyone."

Critical Inquiry: What are the potential social, economic, and environmental costs for building parks and "greening" an urban environment?

Have you ever encountered environmental or "green" gentrification in your neighborhood or travels?

Do you think digital scholarship like mapping data can help make more inclusive urban development projects? Why or why not?

Defining Green Gentrification

"Most studies reveal that the distribution of [green] space often disproportionately benefits predominantly White and more affluent communities. Access to green space is therefore increasingly recognized as an environmental justice issue.... however, urban green space strategies may be paradoxical: while the creation of new green space to address environmental justice problems can make neighborhoods healthier and more esthetically attractive, it also can increase housing costs and property values. Ultimately, this can lead to gentrification and a displacement of the very residents the green space strategies were designed to benefit" (Wolch et al 2014).

Learn More:

  • Haffner, J. (2015, May 6). The dangers of eco-gentrification: What's the best way to make a city greener? The Guardian. https://www.theguardian.com/cities/2015/may/06/dangers-ecogentrification-best-way-make-city-greener

  • Rigolon, A., Németh, J. (2020). Green gentrification or ‘just green enough’: Do park location, size and function affect whether a place gentrifies or not? Urban Studies, 57(2), 402-420. https://doi.org/10.1177/0042098019849380

  • Wolch, J. R., Byrne, J., & Newell, J. P. (2014). Urban green space, public health, and environmental justice: The challenge of making cities “just green enough.” Landscape and Urban Planning, 125, 234–244. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.landurbplan.2014.01.017

This digital scholarship project is based on the Urban Displacement Project (UDP), a research and action initiative of UC Berkeley in collaboration with researchers at UCLA and Portland State University. The project aims to understand the nature of gentrification and displacement in different cities in the US and beyond. It focuses on creating tools to help communities identify the pressures surrounding them and take more effective action.

Urban Displacement Project has an open source GitHub repository for others to use their code to examine gentrification.

Continue the Conversation

Connect with the Gordon Library at www.wpi.edu/library.

If questions about digital scholarship, curation, social justice and sustainability align with your research interests, we'd love to connect. Email us at gr-dswp@wpi.edu.