What Makes Green Cities Unique? Examining the Economic and Political Characteristics of the Grey-to-Green Continuum
Abstract
:1. Introduction
1.1. Why Urban Vegetation Matters
1.2. City Governance and Vegetation
2. Methods
2.1. Data and Study Area
Theme: General Policy Initiatives | ||
---|---|---|
Is the environment a high priority within the jurisdiction? (GP_Environment) | ||
Is the economy a high priority within the jurisdiction? (GP_Economy) | ||
Is social justice a high priority within the jurisdiction? (GP_SocialJustice) | ||
Does the local government have an established plan for tree preservation and planting? (GP_Trees) | ||
Has the community added bike and walking trails within the last 5 years?(GP_Trails) | ||
Does the local government support quality of life programs to promote economic development?(GP_QualityOfLife) | ||
Theme: Land Use/Cover Policies | ||
Do your land use and development policies encourage mixed-use development?(LUC_Mixed) | ||
Do your land use and development policies reduce fees for environmentally friendly development?(LUC_Environment) | ||
Do you have an active brownfields, vacant property, or other program for revitalizing abandoned or underutilized residential, commercial, or industrial lands and buildings? (LUC_Brownfield) | ||
Do you have an active land conservation program? (LUC_LandCons) | ||
Do you have a program for the purchase or transfer of development rights to preserve open space? (LUC_OpenSpace) | ||
Has the government taken action in regards to the use of public land for community gardens? (LUC_Gardens) | ||
Theme: Economic Base | ||
Does Agricultural (farming and supporting industries) best describe the local government’s primary economic base?(EBAS_Agriculture) | ||
Does Tourism/hospitality (including travel for pleasure, business, and to visit family and friends) best describe the local government’s primary economic base? (EBAS_Tourism) | ||
Does Institutional (military, gov’t, nonprofit, university, etc.) best describe the local government’s primary economic base? (EBAS_Institutional) | ||
Does technology/telecommunications best describe the local government’s primary economic base? (EBAS_TechTele) | ||
Does Manufacturing best describe the local government’s primary economic base? (EBAS_Manufacturing) | ||
Theme: Economic Barriers | ||
Is the availability of land a barrier to economic development the local government has encountered? (EBAR_Land) | ||
Is a lack of political support a barrier to economic development the local government has encountered? (EBAR_PoliticalSupport) | ||
Is a poor quality of life (inadequate education, recreation, and arts/cultural programs) a barrier to economic development the local government has encountered? (EBAR_QualityOfLife) |
2.2. Analysis
3. Results
3.1. Measuring Vegetative Greenness, Economic Characteristics, and Policy Priorities
Theme: General Policy Initiatives | Theme: Economic Base | ||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Variable | Mean | Std. Dev. | Variable | Mean | Std. Dev. |
GP_Environment | 0.28 | 0.45 | EBAS_Agriculture | 0.10 | 0.30 |
GP_Economy | 0.73 | 0.45 | EBAS_Tourism | 0.13 | 0.34 |
GP_SocialJustice | 0.11 | 0.31 | EBAS_Institutional | 0.18 | 0.38 |
GP_Trees | 0.59 | 0.49 | EBAS_TechTele | 0.09 | 0.29 |
GP_Trails | 0.75 | 0.43 | EBAS_Manufacturing | 0.29 | 0.45 |
GP_QualityOfLife | 0.63 | 0.48 | |||
Theme: Economic Barriers | Theme: Land Use/Cover | ||||
Variable | Mean | Std. Dev. | Variable | Mean | Std. Dev. |
EBAR_Land | 0.48 | 0.50 | LUC_Mixed | 0.22 | 0.41 |
EBAR_PoliticalSupport | 0.11 | 0.31 | LUC_Environment | 0.08 | 0.27 |
EBAR_QualityOfLife | 0.05 | 0.21 | LUC_Brownfield | 0.32 | 0.47 |
LUC_LandCons | 0.32 | 0.47 | |||
LUC_OpenSpace | 0.21 | 0.41 | |||
LUC_Gardens | 0.38 | 0.48 |
3.2. Comparing Grey and Green Cities
Variable | F | Variable | F |
---|---|---|---|
Model | 5.11* | LUC_Mixed | 0.80 |
GP_Economy | 5.14* | LUC_Environment | 0.32 |
GP_Social Justice | 35.8* | LUC_Brownfield | 2.11 |
GP_Trees | 2.52 | LUC_LandCons | 6.01* |
GP_Trails | 0.00 | LUC_Open Space | 1.31 |
GP_Quality Of Life | 1.15 | LUC_Gardens | 0.07 |
GP_Environment | 1.70 | ||
Variable | F | Variable | F |
EBAS_Agriculture | 0.25 | EBAR_Land | 5.61* |
EBAS_Tourism | 0.01 | EBAR_Political Support | 1.97 |
EBAS_Institutional | 0.21 | EBAR_Quality Of Life | 1.60 |
EBAS_TechTele | 1.07 | ||
EBAS_Manufacturing | 0.04 |
4. Discussion and Conclusions
4.1. Linking Greenness to Economic Characteristics and Policy Priorities
4.2. The Role of Spatial Variation in Vegetative Greenness
4.3. Decision Tree Classification
5. Conclusions
Acknowledgments
Author Contributions
Conflicts of Interest
References
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Runfola, D.M.; Hughes, S. What Makes Green Cities Unique? Examining the Economic and Political Characteristics of the Grey-to-Green Continuum. Land 2014, 3, 131-147. https://doi.org/10.3390/land3010131
Runfola DM, Hughes S. What Makes Green Cities Unique? Examining the Economic and Political Characteristics of the Grey-to-Green Continuum. Land. 2014; 3(1):131-147. https://doi.org/10.3390/land3010131
Chicago/Turabian StyleRunfola, Daniel Miller, and Sara Hughes. 2014. "What Makes Green Cities Unique? Examining the Economic and Political Characteristics of the Grey-to-Green Continuum" Land 3, no. 1: 131-147. https://doi.org/10.3390/land3010131
APA StyleRunfola, D. M., & Hughes, S. (2014). What Makes Green Cities Unique? Examining the Economic and Political Characteristics of the Grey-to-Green Continuum. Land, 3(1), 131-147. https://doi.org/10.3390/land3010131