Affiliation:
1. School of Civil and Environmental Engineering, Cornell University, Ithaca, NY 14850, USA
2. Institute of Atmospheric Physics, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100029, China
Abstract
Urban green space (UGS) is a fundamental infrastructure in modern urban settings, crucial for regulating the urban climate and improving public health. Accessibility to UGS represents a significant environmental justice issue, influencing the sustainable development of local communities. In this work, we comprehensively evaluated the temporal dynamics of UGS accessibility and the disparity in exposure for all 31 metropolitan divisions in the United States from 2013 to 2022. Our findings indicate that there have been no significant changes in both population-weighted UGS exposure and within-city inequality of UGS exposure for all racial/ethnic groups across the study period. Furthermore, a consistent racial/ethnic disparity in UGS exposure was noted throughout the study period, with the White group tending to have higher-than-average UGS accessibility, and all other racial/ethnic groups, including Asian, Black, Hispanic, Native American, and Pacific Islander, experiencing lower-than-average UGS accessibility. These findings underscore the urgency for urban planning and policy-making strategies to address these inequities, promoting healthy and sustainable urban development.