scholarly journals Valuing plants in devalued spaces: Caring for Baltimore's Street trees

2019 ◽  
Vol 3 (1) ◽  
pp. 228-245
Author(s):  
Mariya Shcheglovitova
Keyword(s):  
Political Ecology ◽  
Urban Space ◽  
Tree Canopy ◽  
Urban Trees ◽  
Tree Planting ◽  
Urban Political Ecology ◽  
Baltimore City ◽  
Spatial Inequalities ◽  
Market Practices ◽  
Sustainability Initiatives

Baltimore City, MD is addressing its future with expansive sustainability initiatives. These include an aggressive tree planting campaign to double the city's tree canopy by 2037. While discourses of greening present tree plantings and related programs as a resolution for the legacies of racist housing market practices, these programs are themselves subject to the legacies of spatial inequalities in access to infrastructural care. Sustainability discourses present urban trees as inherently valuable economically and environmentally but these discourses are disconnected from trees' needs for ongoing care and maintenance. The daily material practices of caring for and maintaining trees are deprioritized in favor of planting more trees to gain these supposedly “inherent” benefits. In the spaces where trees were meant to bring economic and environmental vitality, their deaths reinforce the racist legacies they claim to correct. This paper examines these links and contradictions within the framework of relational urban political ecology. Through a lens of care, this paper shows how humans and non/humans actively co-construct urban space and how just spaces can come about through attention to the needs of humans and non/humans.

scholarly journals Does the post-disaster resilient city really exist?

2017 ◽  
Vol 8 (3) ◽  
pp. 275-291 ◽  
Author(s):  
Angeliki Paidakaki ◽  
Frank Moulaert
Keyword(s):  
Political Ecology ◽  
Social Innovation ◽  
The State ◽  
Social Progress ◽  
Housing Production ◽  
Urban Political Ecology ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Spatial Inequalities ◽  
Governance Models ◽  
Post Disaster

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to advance the understanding of “resilience” by disentangling the contentious interactions of various parameters that define and guide resilience trajectories, such as the physical infrastructure, socio-spatial inequalities, path dependencies, power relationships, competing discourses and human agency. This socio-political reconstruction of “resilience” is needed for two reasons: the concept of resilience becomes more responsive to the complex realities on the ground, and the discussion moves toward the promotion of more dynamic recovery governance models that can promote socially just allocated redundancy in housing actions, which could be seen as a key to incubating resilience. Design/methodology/approachThis is a conceptual paper that mobilizes theories of urban political ecology, social innovation and housing with the aim to examine the tensions between various discourses that steer housing production during post-disaster recovery processes, and put a spotlight on the heterogeneity in the transformative capacity of the various actors, institutions and visions of housing systems that preexist or emerge in the post-disaster city. This heterogeneity of actors (i.e. growth coalitions, neighborhood associations and housing cooperatives) consequently leads the discussion toward the investigation of “new” roles of the state in formulating relevant disaster governance models and housing (re)construction systems. FindingsThe initial stress produced by a natural event is often extended because of long-term unmet housing needs. The repercussion of this prolonged stress is a loss of social progress partly due to the reiterated oppression of alternative housing production propositions. In this paper, the authors conclude that an asset-based community development approach to recovery can provide an antidote to the vicious cycles of social stress by opening up diverse housing options. This means that the recovery destiny is not predetermined according to pre-set ideas but is molded by the various bottom-up dynamics that democratically sketch the final socially desirable reconstruction outcome(s). Originality/valueThe contribution of this paper is twofold. By using theoretical insights from urban political ecology, housing studies and social innovation, the paper first builds up onto the current reconstruction of the notion of disaster resilience. Second, by identifying a heterogeneity of “social resilience cells”, the paper leads the discussion toward the investigation of the “new” role of the state in formulating relevant recovery governance models. In this respect, the paper builds a narrative of social justice in terms of the redistribution of resources and the cultivation of empowerment across the various housing providers who struggle for their right to the reconstruction experiment.

scholarly journals Tree Planting Configuration Influences Shade on Residential Structures in Four U.S. Cities

2015 ◽  
Vol 41 (4) ◽  
Author(s):  
Won Hoi Hwang ◽  
P. Eric Wiseman ◽  
Valerie Thomas
Keyword(s):  
Tree Canopy ◽  
Urban Trees ◽  
Tree Planting ◽  
Shade Trees ◽  
Impervious Surfaces ◽  
Heating Season ◽  
Tree Form ◽  
Northern Latitudes ◽  
Large Trees ◽  
Building Surfaces

Expanding urbanization, characterized by increased impervious surfaces and decreased tree canopy, is contributing to rising urban temperatures. This trend has implications for energy consumption and human health, which urban trees may help mitigate by casting shade upon building surfaces. This study looks at how tree form and placement can improve on current shade tree planting guidelines to more effectively use shade trees to offset this trend. Shade provision is not only a function of tree characteristics but also daily, seasonal, and latitudinal variability in sunlight exposure. In order to understand how these variables influence shade provision and to evaluate existing tree planting guidelines, a computer program called Shadow Pattern Simulator was employed to quantify shade cast by a single tree upon a prototypical residential structure in four U.S. cities. A total of 576 shade simulations showed large trees situated within five meters on the east or west aspect of the structure provided the greatest amount of shade during the cooling season. The simulation results affirm existing tree planting guidelines in the northern latitude that recommend planting shade trees on the east or west aspect while avoiding tree plantings on the south to minimize the heating penalty of unwanted shade in northern latitudes. However, planting trees on southerly aspect should not be discounted in southern latitudes because the shorter heating season lessens the detrimental heating penalty of unwanted shade while providing much-needed cooling season shade.

scholarly journals An urban political ecology of Bangkok's awful traffic congestion

2020 ◽  
Vol 27 (1) ◽  
pp. 732-758
Author(s):  
Danny Marks
Keyword(s):  
Political Ecology ◽  
Urban Space ◽  
Traffic Congestion ◽  
Power Relations ◽  
Cultural Practices ◽  
Urban Transport ◽  
Urban Political Ecology ◽  
Political Relations ◽  
Limited Power ◽  
Bus System

Urban political ecology (UPE) can contribute important insights to examine traffic congestion, a significant social and environmental problem underexplored in UPE. Specifically, by attending to power relations, the production of urban space, and cultural practices, UPE can help explain why traffic congestions arises and persists but also creates inequalities in terms of environmental impacts and mobility.  Based on qualitative research conducted in 2018, the article applies a UPE framework to Bangkok, Thailand, which has some of the world's worst congestion in one of the world's most unequal countries. The city's largely unplanned and uneven development has made congestion worse in a number of ways. Further, the neglect of public transport, particularly the bus system, and the highest priority given to cars has exacerbated congestion but also reflects class interests as well as unequal power relations. Governance shortcomings, including fragmentation, institutional inertia, corruption, and frequent changes in leadership, have also severely hindered state actors to address congestion. However, due to the poor's limited power, solutions to congestion, are post-political and shaped by elite interests. Analyses of congestion need to consider how socio-political relations, discourses, and a city's materiality shape outcomes.Key Words: urban transport governance, Bangkok traffic congestion, urban political ecology, Thailand political economy, Bangkok's bus system

scholarly journals Water and the political ecology of urban metabolism: the case of Mexico City

2015 ◽  
Vol 22 (1) ◽  
pp. 98 ◽  
Author(s):  
Gian Carlo Delgado-Ramos
Keyword(s):  
Political Ecology ◽  
Mexico City ◽  
Urban Space ◽  
Urban Areas ◽  
Current Trend ◽  
Urban Metabolism ◽  
General Description ◽  
Urban Political Ecology ◽  
Ecological Features ◽  
Water Energy Nexus

Today, 52% of the world's population live in urban areas and this number is expected to rise to 64-69% by 2050. Cities consume most of the world's energy and materials, and are responsible of about three quarters of direct and indirect GHG emissions. Consumption patterns, however, are asymmetrical among cities and citizens. Urban metabolism, or the analysis of energy and material flows and stocks (infrastructure) that shape settlements, allows the identification not only of the dimensions of these flows and stocks, but also their main technical and socio-ecological features. These can also be evaluated from an urban political ecology perspective, that is, in terms of power relationships that define who gets access to, or control over, natural resources and other components of urban space. This article opens with a general introduction to urbanization trends, followed by a presentation of urban metabolism and urban political ecology approaches as useful analytical tools for assessing the access, management and usufruct of water in Mexico City's Metropolitan Area. A general description of the hydropolitan region of study is then offered in order to analyze urban water flows and their socioecological implications for the water-energy nexus and climate. The article concludes with a call for a paradigm change in order to transform urban settlements towards more livable, sustainable and equitable ones; a process that demands not only paying attention to the form but also to the function of urban territories within capitalist productive relationships. In this context the design and execution of public policies needed for transforming the current trend of constructing, operating, managing, and living in cities must be proactive, imaginative, and based on an integral metabolic planning that allows the adjustment of planning and policy tools to overarching contextual changes and to historical trends and socially desirable futures. Specific recommendations include the bottom-up management of water infrastructure and the guarantee of human rights to water, sanitation and a healthy environment; these are components of the 'right to the city.'Key words: urban metabolism, water, water-energy nexus, climate change, urban political ecology, Mexico City

scholarly journals The politics of urban trees: Tree planting is associated with gentrification in Portland, Oregon

2021 ◽  
Vol 124 ◽  
pp. 102387
Author(s):  
Geoffrey H. Donovan ◽  
Jeffrey P. Prestemon ◽  
David T. Butry ◽  
Abigail R. Kaminski ◽  
Vicente J. Monleon
Keyword(s):  
Urban Trees ◽  
Tree Planting

scholarly journals Estimating Air Pollution Removal and Monetary Value for Urban Green Infrastructure Strategies Using Web-Based Applications

Land ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 10 (8) ◽  
pp. 788
Author(s):  
Alessio Russo ◽  
Wing Tung Chan ◽  
Giuseppe T. Cirella
Keyword(s):  
Ecosystem Services ◽  
Green Infrastructure ◽  
Well Being ◽  
Air Pollutant ◽  
Pollutant Removal ◽  
Tree Canopy ◽  
Tree Planting ◽  
City Centre ◽  
Online Tools ◽  
Pollution Removal

More communities around the world are recognizing the benefits of green infrastructure (GI) and are planting millions of trees to improve air quality and overall well-being in cities. However, there is a need for accurate tools that can measure and value these benefits whilst also informing the community and city managers. In recent years, several online tools have been developed to assess ecosystem services. However, the reliability of such tools depends on the incorporation of local or regional data and site-specific inputs. In this communication, we have reviewed two of the freely available tools (i.e., i-Tree Canopy and the United Kingdom Office for National Statistics) using Bristol City Centre as an example. We have also discussed strengths and weaknesses for their use and, as tree planting strategy tools, explored further developments of such tools in a European context. Results show that both tools can easily calculate ecosystem services such as air pollutant removal and monetary values and at the same time be used to support GI strategies in compact cities. These tools, however, can only be partially utilized for tree planting design as they do not consider soil and root space, nor do they include drawing and painting futures. Our evaluation also highlights major gaps in the current tools, suggesting areas where more research is needed.

scholarly journals Who defines 'whole': an urban political ecology of flood control and community relocation in Houston, Texas

2017 ◽  
Vol 24 (1) ◽  
pp. 951 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kevin A. Lynn
Keyword(s):  
Political Ecology ◽  
Flood Control ◽  
Planning Process ◽  
Health Issues ◽  
Public Agencies ◽  
Urban Political Ecology ◽  
Potential Health ◽  
Public Agency ◽  
The Us ◽  
Flood Control Infrastructure

Abstract Even if public agencies sponsoring projects like flood alleviation have the best of intentions for relocated households, there may still be residents who do not agree with being forced to move. Federal relocation policy in the US has been, and continues to be, concerned primarily with housing economics and financial compensation. And yet, residents subject to relocation continue to express other concerns. The public agency responsible for relocation from flood-prone Kashmere Gardens in Houston, TX has promised to make households 'whole' in terms of finding new housing that is no more expensive (in terms of rent, mortgage payments, and equity) than vacated homes. While these considerations are important, this article illustrates how public agencies need to expand how they define 'whole.' Interviews with 53 households affected directly or indirectly by relocation show that the following factors need consideration when subjecting households to involuntary relocation: (1) suitability of new housing, (2) perceived competence of relocation specialists, (3) the relocation planning process, and (4) potential health issues for relocated households. Key Words: Kashmere Gardens, Houston, Uniform Relocation Act (URA), flood control infrastructure, urban political ecology

scholarly journals Making Way for Trees? Changes in Land-Use, Habitats and Protected Areas in Great Britain under “Global Tree Restoration Potential”

2020 ◽  
Vol 12 (14) ◽  
pp. 5845
Author(s):  
Martin A. Wilkes ◽  
James Bennett ◽  
Sara Burbi ◽  
Sue Charlesworth ◽  
Katharina Dehnen-Schmutz ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Great Britain ◽  
Protected Areas ◽  
Urban Areas ◽  
Canopy Cover ◽  
Tree Canopy ◽  
Tree Planting ◽  
Substantial Contribution ◽  
Trade Offs ◽  
Tree Canopy Cover ◽  
Restoration Potential

Numerous tree planting initiatives have been launched worldwide, based on the idea that carbon capture by trees can help to limit global warming. A recent study estimated the additional tree canopy cover that could be established given the growing conditions in every square kilometre of land on earth that is not already forested, urbanised, or used for crop production. It reported a total “tree restoration potential” of >900 million ha worldwide and identified hotspots where opportunities for tree planting initiatives may be the greatest. With the potential for an estimated 4.2 million ha of additional canopy cover, one such hotspot is Great Britain. We quantify the extent of habitats, land uses, and protected areas that would be impacted by tree planting on this scale in Great Britain and discuss the potential social–ecological trade-offs involved. Our findings show that realising the “tree restoration potential” would mean a considerable upheaval for the British landscape with 30–50% of ecologically valuable habitats lost and a reduction of 44% in the area of improved grassland. Up to 21% of land protected by law for its ecological, scientific, scenic, or cultural value would be impacted. Importantly, we demonstrate that an alternative approach based on increasing tree canopy cover by up to 20% in urban areas and on cropland could make a substantial contribution to tree planting targets, potentially offsetting losses elsewhere. Such shifts in the structure and function of the British landscape will depend on deep changes in the food system, evidence-based decisions about which existing habitats to protect, and a long-term commitment to tree planting and maintenance.

Obstinate curiosity and situated solidarity in urban political ecology

2020 ◽  
Vol 14 (2) ◽  
Author(s):  
Eric Goldfischer ◽  
Jennifer L. Rice ◽  
Sara T. Black
Keyword(s):  
Political Ecology ◽  
Urban Political Ecology
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