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Abstract

Urban vegetation, and in particular urban forests, provide a wide range of ecosystem services to urban societies and may thus be classified as environmental goods. Their status as goods suggests that urban societies’ interactions with urban vegetation should be subjected to equity analyses to determine the fairness of such interactions. However, despite good evidence that the distribution and governance of urban vegetation are inequitable in many cases, there is no urban forestry-specific framework for analysis of urban green equity: how we access and govern urban vegetation. To begin to fill this gap, this paper reviews research in the fields of ethics, social and environmental justice, political ecology, and urban forestry research and practice, with a focus on urban forestry, and presents a discussion of the dimensions and sub-dimensions of urban green equity. The principal dimensions that emerged from the analysis were (1) the spatial distribution of urban vegetation, and (2) recognition in urban vegetation decision making, defined here as acknowledgement of participants’ difference, existence and validity in decision-making processes, both formal and informal, and the inherent inclusion and power associated with that acknowledgement. Sub-dimensions of spatial distribution included temporality, condition, preference, and ownership, and sub-dimensions of recognition included representation and procedure, and the desire and ability to participate in decision making processes. These dimensions provide a framework for future urban green equity analyses and can help inform public conversations on urban green equity.