Over the last couple of weeks I have been working to better define my research focus:

A geographical approach to understand how the local spatial structure of urban green space shapes the way in which communities evolve.  I hope to inform the Environmental Justice, Resilience Theory, and Adaptation literature as well. ( I anticipate adding to this and/or changing it entirely).

Below is a diagram of the Land Use and Society Model, which represents the dynamic feedback process where by a particular land use activity in the human/cultural circle may be modified by a new set of resource management  signals issued from the legal/ political circle in response to new awareness of the impacts of existing practices on the physical world.  I will  use a version of the Land Use and Society Model to help sort out my thoughts and ideas about my research.  For example, the process of urbanization, the removal of native vegetation and implementation of  impervious surfaces has created environmental impacts on the micro climate within urban areas (ie: heat island effect) let’s say that to mitigate this impact the state and local sectors enforce the implementation or modification of recreation areas/parks.  It is the enforcement of certain resource management regulations and how they effect the social and economic components of this model that interest me most.

Below is an adapted model that I created which will focus on the cultural, social, and economic interactions as they relate to urban green space.

I want to detect spatial  changes in social/economic composition and environmental benefits of communities over time. I will then quantify the change in urban green space spatial distribution and relate this back to access, in order to understand who has access and how that access has changed spatially and temporally.

I anticipate a number of scenarios/hypotheses to arise:

1.  If ∆ in urban green space access > 0, then ∆ in social/economic composition, and environmental benefit  > 0

If there is a positive change in urban greenspace, then there will be a positive change in the social/economic composition and environmental benefit of the community as well.

2.  If ∆ in urban green space access < 0, then ∆ in social/economic composition, and environmental benefit  < 0

If  there is no change in urban green space , then there will be no change in the social/economic composition and environmental benefit of the community.

3. Alternative Hypothesis – If ∆ in urban green space access > 0, then ∆ in social/economic composition, and environmental benefit < 0

If there is a positive change in urban green space access, then there will be a negative change in the social/economic composition and environmental benefit of the community.

Limitations:

– How will green space be formally defined?

I anticipate using a number of classifications for green space (park type, canopy coverage, greenness – NDVI ) thus I wonder How will this be further quantified?  Can I use an index?

– Measurement of Access

Proximity ≠ access

– Determining Migration

The data does not tell me where people go when they leave…

Can I detect the concept of “horizontal gentrification?”