Research
Urban Green Space and Park Access in the Phoenix Metro Area
Traditionally, greenspace access measures for parks have focused on the distance to, number of, or size of green spaces, as a proxy for access to urban green spaces. Using these traditional measures, existing studies have yielded mixed results about disparities in park access in the U.S. Professor Yushim Kim and Professor Elizabeth Corley are working with two doctoral students (Youngjae Won and Ji-Eun Kim) to analyze access to local parks in the Phoenix metropolitan areas based on residents’ visit patterns using SafeGraph’s mobility data. This approach utilizes an innovative dataset to study park visits as a measure of access in contrast to the more traditional access measures.
Our research program examines the following research questions:
Is access to local parks equally distributed?
Which neighborhoods have a higher need for local parks?
COVID-19 Mobility Restrictions and Green Space Inequality
Most U.S. state and local governments enacted policies to restrict residents' mobility as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic. Many of these policies limited access and availability of park amenities to local residents. Professor Yushim Kim and Professor Elizabeth Corley are working with doctoral student Youngjae Won to analyze how these policies might have differentially affected how people experience the benefits of parks during the pandemic period. They are utilizing weekly cell phone location data to analyze the impact that state and local COVID-19 policies have on Phoenix residents’ visits to parks in the U.S., controlling for COVID-19 cases, deaths and weather conditions.
Our research program examines the following research questions:
To what extent did covid-19 policies impact park visits by Phoenix residents?
Where there differential impacts of covid-19 policies across communities
Quality of Urban Parks
The objective of this research program is to understand the challenges of urban green spaces such as urban public parks and similar venues. We seek to understand such challenges through the lens of social and environmental justice in order to explore potential community solutions. In recent years, the emphasis on green space has risen in response to its linkages with mental and physical health (Francis et al., 2012; Sugiyama et al., 2016; Wen et al, 2013) and environmental benefits such as pollution reduction (Jennings, 2012). However, the allocation of public parks and other urban green spaces has been the subject of controversy with recent research pointing to striking inequalities in the distribution of park acreage and quality (Rigolon, 2016). These inequalities have left less affluent neighborhoods to experience parks with poorer or fewer amenities and smaller in size in comparison to areas marked by higher socioeconomic conditions. Here, how one defines park quality is central to our understanding of disparities in the distribution of park-related benefits. In addition to amenities and size, existing definitions of park quality also include incivilities such as graffiti and litter, or positive amenities such as historical markers and art. Yet, the current definition of quality in urban green spaces is incomplete. In an effort to address to the shortcomings of existing definitions, we propose an innovative approach to the conceptualization and measurement of urban park quality in which we reexamine its relation to diverse social groups in communities as well as social outcomes.
Our research program examines the following research questions:
What constitutes the quality of urban parks?
How is the quality of urban parks distributed in cities?
How is urban park quality correlated with diverse social groups in cities?
How is urban park quality correlated with citizen’s well-beings in cities?