Green Urban Political Ecologies: Toward a Better Understanding of Inner-City Environmental Change

2006 ◽  
Vol 38 (3) ◽  
pp. 499-516 ◽  
Author(s):  
Nik Heynen
Keyword(s):  
Environmental Change ◽  
Inner City ◽  
Political Ecology ◽  
Forest Canopy ◽  
Urban Forest ◽  
Theoretical Perspective ◽  
Canopy Cover ◽  
Urban Environments ◽  
Urban Political Ecology ◽  
The Usa

This research uses a Marxist urban political ecology framework to link processes of urban environmental metabolization explicitly to the consumption fund of the built environment. Instead of reinventing the wheel, I argue in this paper that Marxist notions of metabolism are ideal for investigating urban environmental change and the production of uneven urban environments. In so doing, I argue that despite the embeddedness of Harvey's circuits of capital within urban political economy, these connected notions still have a great deal to offer regarding better understanding relations between consumption and metabolization of urban environments. From this theoretical perspective, I investigate urban socionatural metabolization as a function of the broader socioeconomic processes related to urban restructuring within the USA between 1962 and 1993 in the Indianapolis inner-city urban forest. The research examines the relations between changes in household income and changes in urban forest canopy cover. The results of the research indicate that there was a significant decline over time in the Indianapolis urban forest canopy and that median household was related to these changes, thus demonstrating a concrete example of urban environmental metabolization.

scholarly journals Detecting Long-Term Urban Forest Cover Change and Impacts of Natural Disasters Using High-Resolution Aerial Images and LiDAR Data

2020 ◽  
Vol 12 (11) ◽  
pp. 1820
Author(s):  
Raoul Blackman ◽  
Fei Yuan
Keyword(s):  
Remote Sensing ◽  
Ecosystem Services ◽  
Forest Canopy ◽  
High Spatial Resolution ◽  
Urban Forest ◽  
Urban Canopy ◽  
Canopy Cover ◽  
Random Point ◽  
Aerial Images ◽  
Lidar Data

Urban forests provide ecosystem services; tree canopy cover is the basic quantification of ecosystem services. Ground assessment of the urban forest is limited; with continued refinement, remote sensing can become an essential tool for analyzing the urban forest. This study addresses three research questions that are essential for urban forest management using remote sensing: (1) Can object-based image analysis (OBIA) and non-image classification methods (such as random point-based evaluation) accurately determine urban canopy coverage using high-spatial-resolution aerial images? (2) Is it possible to assess the impact of natural disturbances in addition to other factors (such as urban development) on urban canopy changes in the classification map created by OBIA? (3) How can we use Light Detection and Ranging (LiDAR) data and technology to extract urban canopy metrics accurately and effectively? The urban forest canopy area and location within the City of St Peter, Minnesota (MN) boundary between 1938 and 2019 were defined using both OBIA and random-point-based methods with high-spatial-resolution aerial images. Impacts of natural disasters, such as the 1998 tornado and tree diseases, on the urban canopy cover area, were examined. Finally, LiDAR data was used to determine the height, density, crown area, diameter, and volume of the urban forest canopy. Both OBIA and random-point methods gave accurate results of canopy coverages. The OBIA is relatively more time-consuming and requires specialist knowledge, whereas the random-point-based method only shows the total coverage of the classes without locational information. Canopy change caused by tornado was discernible in the canopy OBIA-based classification maps while the change due to diseases was undetectable. To accurately exact urban canopy metrics besides tree locations, dense LiDAR point cloud data collected at the leaf-on season as well as algorithms or software developed specifically for urban forest analysis using LiDAR data are needed.

scholarly journals ASSESSING URBAN FOREST CANOPY COVER IN GREAT PLAIN CONSERVATION AREA (DÜZCE CITY, TURKEY) BETWEEN 1984 AND 2015

2021 ◽  
Vol XLVI-4/W5-2021 ◽  
pp. 539-544
Author(s):  
Z. Uçar ◽  
R. Eker ◽  
A. Aydin
Keyword(s):  
Ecosystem Services ◽  
Forest Canopy ◽  
Urban Forest ◽  
Canopy Cover ◽  
Tree Canopy ◽  
Urban Trees ◽  
Conservation Area ◽  
Urban Tree ◽  
Tree Canopy Cover ◽  
Urban Tree Canopy

Abstract. Urban trees and forests are essential components of the urban environment. They can provide numerous ecosystem services and goods, including but not limited to recreational opportunities and aesthetic values, removal of air pollutants, improving air and water quality, providing shade and cooling effect, reducing energy use, and storage of atmospheric CO2. However, urban trees and forests have been in danger of being lost by dense housing resulting from population growth in the cities since the 1950s, leading to increased local temperature, pollution level, and flooding risk. Thus, determining the status of urban trees and forests is necessary for comprehensive understanding and quantifying the ecosystem services and goods. Tree canopy cover is a relatively quick, easy to obtain, and cost-effective urban forestry metric broadly used to estimate ecosystem services and goods of the urban forest. This study aimed to determine urban forest canopy cover areas and monitor the changes between 1984–2015 for the Great Plain Conservation area (GPCA) that has been declared as a conservation Area (GPCA) in 2017, located on the border of Düzce City (Western Black Sea Region of Turkey). Although GPCA is a conservation area for agricultural purposes, it consists of the city center with 250,000 population and most settlement areas. A random point sampling approach, the most common sampling approach, was applied to estimate urban tree canopy cover and their changes over time from historical aerial imageries. Tree canopy cover ranged from 16.0% to 27.4% within the study period. The changes in urban canopy cover between 1984–1999 and 1999–2015 were statistically significant, while there was no statistical difference compared to the changes in tree canopy cover between 1984–2015. The result of the study suggested that an accurate estimate of urban tree canopy cover and monitoring long-term canopy cover changes are essential to determine the current situation and the trends for the future. It will help city planners and policymakers in decision-making processes for the future of urban areas.

scholarly journals Assessing Urban Forest Canopy Cover Using Airborne or Satellite Imagery

2008 ◽  
Vol 34 (6) ◽  
pp. 334-340
Author(s):  
Jeffrey Walton ◽  
David Nowak ◽  
Eric Greenfield
Keyword(s):  
Remote Sensing ◽  
New York ◽  
Forest Canopy ◽  
Urban Forest ◽  
Canopy Cover ◽  
Classification Methods ◽  
Remote Sensing Techniques ◽  
Many Sources ◽  
Forest Managers

With the availability of many sources of imagery and various digital classification techniques, assessing urban forest canopy cover is readily accessible to most urban forest managers. Understanding the capability and limitations of various types of imagery and classification methods is essential to interpreting canopy cover values. An overview of several remote sensing techniques used to assess urban forest canopy cover is presented. A case study comparing canopy cover percentages for Syracuse, New York, U.S. interprets the multiple values developed using different methods. Most methods produce relatively similar results, but the estimate based on the National Land Cover Database is much lower.

Connecting Forestry Learning Objectives to Urban Forest Types

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kathleen Coupland ◽  
Juliana Magalhães ◽  
Verena C Griess
Keyword(s):  
Undergraduate Students ◽  
Forest Canopy ◽  
Urban Forest ◽  
Canopy Cover ◽  
Urban Forests ◽  
Learning Objectives ◽  
Educational Opportunities ◽  
Walking Distance ◽  
Forest Types ◽  
Individual Tree

Abstract Applied educational opportunities in forestry undergraduate curricula are essential for a complete postsecondary degree program. Walking distance to local urban forests present a way to teach forestry students in applied settings, while reducing the time, cost, and travel logistics. A case study at a Canadian university (University of British Columbia) was used to connect urban forest canopy cover to forestry learning objectives and walking time to the main teaching building. Individual tree canopies were identified with light detection and ranging data and aggregated to 0.05 ha grid sections. Using canopy cover and forest arrangement, the urban forest was classified into closed, open, small, sparse, or non- forest classifications. Forestry learning objectives were matched with each forest classification in conjunction with walkability to identify critical local location for forestry education. Results identified key areas suitable for teaching forestry and for linking forestry educational values with easily accessible high value locations. Study Implications: Applied educational opportunities for undergraduate forestry students are critical for ensuring hands-on, real world experiences and essential in postsecondary forestry degrees. Local urban forests present an opportunity to allow students access to these experiences regularly. Connecting forestry learning objectives with local urban forest types allowed for the identification of key, high-value learning locations. The information and methodology from this research provide insight into explicitly classifying areas for forestry educational purposes with the goal of promoting outdoor applied educational opportunities for forestry undergraduate students.

Urban political ecology II

2016 ◽  
Vol 40 (6) ◽  
pp. 839-845 ◽  
Author(s):  
Nik Heynen
Keyword(s):  
Political Ecology ◽  
Urban Environments ◽  
Uneven Development ◽  
White Supremacist ◽  
Urban Political Ecology ◽  
Metropolitan Growth ◽  
The Press ◽  
Indigenous Theory ◽  
Indigenous Perspectives

Attention to the urban and metropolitan growth of nature can no longer be denied. Nor can the intense scrutiny of racialized, postcolonial and indigenous perspectives on the press and pulse of uneven development across the planet’s urban political ecology be deferred any longer. There is sufficient research ranging across antiracist and postcolonial perspectives to constitute a need to discuss what is referred to here as ‘abolition ecology’. Abolition ecology represents an approach to studying urban natures more informed by antiracist, postcolonial and indigenous theory. The goal of abolition ecology is to elucidate and extrapolate the interconnected white supremacist and racialized processes that lead to uneven develop within urban environments.

scholarly journals Book review: Urban environments in Africa - A critical analysis of environmental politics

2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Eduardo Oliveira
Keyword(s):  
Political Ecology ◽  
Environmental Sustainability ◽  
Urban Environments ◽  
Sub Saharan Africa ◽  
Urban Political Ecology ◽  
Policy Documents ◽  
Academic Literature ◽  
Points Of View ◽  
Sub Saharan

By 2030, the fastest rates of population growth and urbanisation will be witnessed in sub-Saharan Africa, followed by India and parts of Southeast Asia (Nagendra et al., 2018). Academic literature (Shoffner et al., 2018) as well as policy documents (UNDP, 2018) have been acknowledging that urbanisation is a global phenomenon with strong environmental sustainability implications and cities have become central to ensuring a sustainable future (Acuto et al., 2018). In ‘Urban Environments in Africa’, Garth Myers deconstructs the criticisms of urban political ecology (UPE) and investigates African environmentalism from different ontological and epistemological points of view.

scholarly journals The Eye of the Storm: Extreme Weather Events and Sustainable Urban Forest Management

2018 ◽  
Vol 14 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kendra Marshman
Keyword(s):  
Forest Canopy ◽  
Urban Forest ◽  
Global Climate ◽  
Urban Canopy ◽  
Canopy Cover ◽  
Extreme Weather ◽  
Urban Trees ◽  
Extreme Weather Events ◽  
Ice Storms ◽  
Weather Events

More people live in cities today than ever before. One indicator of a sustainable urban environment is a full canopy cover. Urban residents value trees for the benefits of improved air quality, provision of shade, and aesthetic purposes, among others. Although urban trees are greatly valued, they are up against environmental challenges. Global climate change threatens urban forests because of the accompanying increase in frequency and intensity of extreme weather events. Hurricanes, intense precipitation, windstorms, and ice storms, are included. In Halifax (2003) Hurricane Juan negatively affected the urban forest canopy and some areas have not fully recovered. Similarly, in Vancouver’s Stanley Park (2006 & 2007) an extreme windstorm hit the urban canopy. How can urban forest planners adapt the urban forest to become more resilient in the face of such events?

Urban commons to private property: Gendered environments in Mumbai’s fisher communities

2020 ◽  
pp. 026377582096140
Author(s):  
Aparna Parikh
Keyword(s):  
Political Ecology ◽  
Public Space ◽  
Resource Availability ◽  
Service Sector ◽  
Private Property ◽  
Urban Environments ◽  
Urban Political Ecology ◽  
Everyday Activities ◽  
Urban Commons ◽  
Land Water

The enclosure of urban ecological commons into private property has facilitated the growth of the neoliberal service sector in Mumbai, India. These changes are brought forth through a reworking of communally managed land into narrowly understood public space, which has paved the way for private development. At the helm of Mumbai’s urbanization is a power alliance between state and elite non-state actors across colonial and neoliberal regimes. The process has gravely impacted subsistence and livelihood activities of fisher communities residing in proximity to the development, disproportionately affecting fisherwomen. This paper centers fisherwomen’s urban worlds to analyze the uneven legibility of existing spatial patterns. Across various scales, the categorical and material reworking of land–water commons has reduced resource availability. Women bear a greater, although underrecognized, burden in maintaining lives and livelihoods within this changing landscape. The relative illegibility of fisherwomen’s spaces, however, allows some everyday activities to continue unnoticed despite ongoing processes of enclosure. My analysis of the enclosure of urban ecological commons and its gendered dimensions advances a dialogue between intersectional feminist and urban political ecology on colonial–neoliberal continuities, categorical exclusions in public–private binaries, and gendered urban environments.

A comparison of two sampling approaches for assessing the urban forest canopy cover from aerial photography

2016 ◽  
Vol 16 ◽  
pp. 221-230 ◽  
Author(s):  
Zennure Ucar ◽  
Pete Bettinger ◽  
Krista Merry ◽  
Jacek Siry ◽  
J.M. Bowker ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Aerial Photography ◽  
Forest Canopy ◽  
Urban Forest ◽  
Canopy Cover
Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document