Eliza C Nobles

Histories of racist and classist land use decision-making have resulted in environmental disparities across lines of race and income in many U.S. cities. To redress this, many municipal governments are adopting urban greening initiatives that aim to provide public health benefits and bolster climate resilience in underserved communities. Unfortunately, increasing the quantity of green space in these areas does not necessarily mitigate disparities as environmental quality is just one factor in the broader challenges imposed by legacy land use decision-making. Green development in underserved neighborhoods has the potential to worsen social and economic equity concerns due to the influence of market forces. Employing a mixed-method approach encompassing policy review, spatial exploration, and qualitative interviews, this research examined the policies that guide urban greening decision-making in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Results indicate that Philadelphia faces a complex array of obstacles that inhibit equitable urban greening through four themes: (1) perceptions of agency responsibilities, (2) approaches to stakeholder engagement, (3) patterns of disinvestment and maintenance, and (4) project siting decisions. New policies and approaches are recommended to address these obstacles.

More than 330 million people around the world suffer from asthma, a chronic respiratory disease that is produced by environmental conditions such as air pollution, mold, and seasonal change. In Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, high asthma prevalence rates and poor asthma control is attributed to urban air pollution and substandard housing, both of which will be made worse by climate change in the Mid-Atlantic region. Climate change will increase air pollution, worsen indoor environmental conditions, and bring more unpredictable weather, all of which will make asthma more difficult to manage. This article describes a public education project designed to teach vulnerable local communities about climate change and its impact on asthma management. The Climate Ready Philly project provided basic information on the mechanisms of global climate change, presented research on how climate change would impact the city of Philadelphia, and facilitated hands-on activities to help workshop participants learn what they could do to address climate change at home. Our workshops paired healthy homes and energy efficiency strategies, for example, to explore relationships between outdoor and indoor environments, as well as impacts on occupant health. By utilizing climate learning science, our workshops allowed participants to explore relationships between existing health and environmental conditions—such as asthma—and the anticipated impacts of climate change. Using surveys, interviews, and ethnographic data collection, we found that more resources are needed to repair housing infrastructure and help low-income community members access resources that can improve indoor air quality. We conclude by highlighting the need for climate adaptation programs that provide support for housing, in addition to other public infrastructures, which will be needed to reduce the burden of asthma in Philadelphia.

Perceptions of vacant urban land and resulting policies are based in nature/culture dualisms that condemn abandoned properties as wasteful at best and at worst outright dangerous for communities. Decades of research on urban vacancy reinforce these perceptions, with findings showing higher crime rates, lower property values, and poorer mental health in communities with high rates of vacancy. These established paradigms for thinking about vacant land obscure any benefits that such spaces have while also justifying gentrification. In this essay, we suggest there is more than meets the eye in common assessments of vacant lots. Biodiversity, ecosystem services, and informal community land use are all routinely overlooked in municipal decision-making processes. Using photographs from a pilot field study on ecological health in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, we advance a politics of sight that reframes overlooked features of abandoned properties. Rather than approaching urban vacancy as a problem to be addressed through development, we argue that vacant land is a problem-space with potential for transformation already contained within it.