1998994 - A Methodology for Identifying High Priority Areas in Need of Green Space: A Case Study in Chicago

The benefits of green space (GS) on environmental and public health have been well documented for decades by researchers and urban planners. Historically, Chicago and other metropolitan areas have long prioritized the creation and maintenance of these spaces. However, studies show that these GS benefits are disproportionally allocated with major deficiencies in socially vulnerable communities. This finding underlines the need to establish a GS allocation methodology that will identify high priority areas in need of GS augmentation based on a two-dimensional approach. This will simultaneously account for the lack of GS and the socioeconomic characteristics of the communities in need of GS augmentation. The establishment of such a methodology as an equitable GS allocation decision support tool is fully justified by the extreme weather events and the pollution burden impacting disproportionally socially vulnerable communities.

The proposed two-dimensional approach utilizes a coincidence matrix that combines two key dimensions: green space (GS) coverage across the area and socioeconomic metrics that highlight inequalities among census tracts (CTs). This method is exemplified using the City of Chicago. The GS coverage is represented at the CT level, derived from publicly available datasets, while the socioeconomic dimension is informed by the Racial and Ethnic Minority Status component of the CDC’s social vulnerability index (SVI). Through this matrix, Chicago’s CTs are classified based on their GS coverage and SVI ranking, resulting in the identification of 378 high-priority CTs that require greening interventions. Further analysis of these priority areas using the coincidence matrix identified 154 CTs categorized as critical, where both metrics fall into the lowest GS coverage and highest SVI ranking levels.