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- All Subjects: Sustainability
- Genre: Academic theses
Description
City governments have an opportunity to address historic environmental injustices through the management of their urban forests. When applying environmental justice to the management of urban trees, the common approach is to plant new trees in areas with high proportions of underserved residents and low tree canopy. This is the approach taken by many programs, such as the MillionTrees programs in Los Angeles and New York City. However, these initiatives do not always result in just outcomes and, in some cases, exacerbate existing inequities. This suggests the need for a model of urban tree canopy (UTC) justice that encapsulates distributive, procedural, and recognition justice. In this thesis, I suggest such a model of UTC justice that incorporates ecosystem services and disservices to understand resident satisfaction with neighborhood trees. I then apply the model to the case of the Phoenix, Arizona metropolitan area by assessing local UTC plans for mentions of environmental justice. Finally, I use multiple regression analysis to identify the relationship between neighborhood tree canopy percentage and resident satisfaction with neighborhood trees. Results indicate that tree canopy is a statistically insignificant determinant of resident satisfaction in 23 of 30 models. This supports my model of UTC justice in that it suggests that there is a confounding variable between UTC provisioning and resident satisfaction. This thesis culminates in recommendations for city governments, including the use of longitudinal socioecological surveys to evaluate the need for and success of UTC plans for environmental justice.
ContributorsCrichlow, Timara (Author) / DesRoches, Tyler (Thesis advisor) / Coseo, Paul (Thesis advisor) / Melnick, Rob (Committee member) / Pataki, Diane (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2024
Description
During summer 2014, a study was conducted as part of the Landscape Architecture Foundation Case Study Investigation to analyze features of three sustainably designed landscapes. Each project was located in a southwest desert city: Civic Space Park in Phoenix, AZ, the Pete V. Domenici US Courthouse Sustainable Landscape Retrofit in Albuquerque, NM, and George "Doc" Cavalliere Park in Scottsdale, AZ. The principal components of each case study were performance benefits that quantified ongoing ecosystem services. Performance benefits were developed from data provided by the designers and collected by the research team. The functionality of environmental, social, and economic sustainable features was evaluated. In southwest desert cities achieving performance benefits such as microclimate cooling often come at the cost of water conservation. In each of these projects such tradeoffs were balanced by prioritizing the project goals and constraints.
During summer 2015, a study was conducted to characterize effects of tree species and shade structures on outdoor human thermal comfort under hot, arid conditions. Motivating the research was the hypothesis that tree species and shade structures will vary in their capacity to improve thermal comfort due to their respective abilities to attenuate solar radiation. Micrometeorological data was collected in full sun and under shade of six landscape tree species and park ramadas in Phoenix, AZ during pre-monsoon summer afternoons. The six landscape tree species included: Arizona ash (Fraxinus velutina Torr.), Mexican palo verde (Parkinsonia aculeata L.), Aleppo pine (Pinus halepensis Mill.), South American mesquite (Prosopis spp. L.), Texas live oak (Quercus virginiana for. fusiformis Mill.), and Chinese elm (Ulmus parvifolia Jacq.). Results showed that the tree species and ramadas were not similarly effective at improving thermal comfort, represented by physiologically equivalent temperature (PET). The difference between PET in full sun and under shade was greater under Fraxinus and Quercus than under Parkinsonia, Prosopis, and ramadas by 2.9-4.3 °C. Radiation was a significant driver of PET (p<0.0001, R2=0.69) and with the exception of ramadas, lower radiation corresponded with lower PET. Variations observed in this study suggest selecting trees or structures that attenuate the most solar radiation is a potential strategy for optimizing PET.
During summer 2015, a study was conducted to characterize effects of tree species and shade structures on outdoor human thermal comfort under hot, arid conditions. Motivating the research was the hypothesis that tree species and shade structures will vary in their capacity to improve thermal comfort due to their respective abilities to attenuate solar radiation. Micrometeorological data was collected in full sun and under shade of six landscape tree species and park ramadas in Phoenix, AZ during pre-monsoon summer afternoons. The six landscape tree species included: Arizona ash (Fraxinus velutina Torr.), Mexican palo verde (Parkinsonia aculeata L.), Aleppo pine (Pinus halepensis Mill.), South American mesquite (Prosopis spp. L.), Texas live oak (Quercus virginiana for. fusiformis Mill.), and Chinese elm (Ulmus parvifolia Jacq.). Results showed that the tree species and ramadas were not similarly effective at improving thermal comfort, represented by physiologically equivalent temperature (PET). The difference between PET in full sun and under shade was greater under Fraxinus and Quercus than under Parkinsonia, Prosopis, and ramadas by 2.9-4.3 °C. Radiation was a significant driver of PET (p<0.0001, R2=0.69) and with the exception of ramadas, lower radiation corresponded with lower PET. Variations observed in this study suggest selecting trees or structures that attenuate the most solar radiation is a potential strategy for optimizing PET.
ContributorsColter, Kaylee (Author) / Martin, Chris (Thesis advisor) / Coseo, Paul (Committee member) / Middel, Ariane (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2016
Description
Participatory approaches to policy-making and research are thought to “open up” technical decision-making to broader considerations, empower diverse public audiences, and inform policies that address pluralistic public goods. Many studies of participatory efforts focus on specific features or outcomes of those efforts, such as the format of a participatory event or the opinions of participants. While valuable, such research has not resolved conceptual problems and critiques of participatory efforts regarding, for example, their reinforcement of expert perspectives or their inability to impact policy- and decision-making. I studied two participatory efforts using survey data collected from participants, interviews with policy makers and experts associated with each project, and an analysis of project notes, meeting minutes, and my own personal reflections about each project. Both projects were based one type of participatory effort called Participatory Technology Assessment (pTA). I examined how project goals, materials, and the values, past experiences, and judgments of practitioners influenced decisions that shaped two participatory efforts to better understand how practitioners approached the challenges associated with participatory efforts.
I found four major themes that influenced decisions about these projects: Promoting learning; building capacity to host pTA events; fostering good deliberation; and policy relevance. Project organizers engaged in iterative discussions to negotiate how learning goals related to dominant ideas from policy and expert communities and frequently reflected on the impact of participatory efforts on participants and on broader socio-political systems. Practitioners chose to emphasize criteria for deliberation that were flexible and encompassing. They relied heavily on internal discussions about materials and format, and on feedback collected from participants, policy makers, and other stakeholders, to shape both projects, though some decisions resulted in unexpected and undesirable outcomes for participant discussions and policy relevance. Past experience played a heavy role in many decisions about participatory format and concerns about deliberative or participatory theory were only nominally present. My emphasis on understanding the practice of participatory efforts offers a way to reframe research on participatory efforts away from studying ‘moments’ of participation to studying the larger role participatory efforts play in socio-political systems.
I found four major themes that influenced decisions about these projects: Promoting learning; building capacity to host pTA events; fostering good deliberation; and policy relevance. Project organizers engaged in iterative discussions to negotiate how learning goals related to dominant ideas from policy and expert communities and frequently reflected on the impact of participatory efforts on participants and on broader socio-political systems. Practitioners chose to emphasize criteria for deliberation that were flexible and encompassing. They relied heavily on internal discussions about materials and format, and on feedback collected from participants, policy makers, and other stakeholders, to shape both projects, though some decisions resulted in unexpected and undesirable outcomes for participant discussions and policy relevance. Past experience played a heavy role in many decisions about participatory format and concerns about deliberative or participatory theory were only nominally present. My emphasis on understanding the practice of participatory efforts offers a way to reframe research on participatory efforts away from studying ‘moments’ of participation to studying the larger role participatory efforts play in socio-political systems.
ContributorsWeller, Nicholas, Ph.D (Author) / Childers, Daniel L. (Thesis advisor) / Bennett, Ira (Committee member) / Coseo, Paul (Committee member) / Klinsky, Sonja (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2019