Planning Urban Green Spaces in Their Communities: Intersectional Approaches for Health Equity and Sustainability

Abstract

This chapter reviews intersectional approaches to planning urban green spaces in communities. We define intersectional planning as the integration between planning for green spaces and for other planning elements such as transportation, housing, and water management. Approaches that consider “green spaces in their communities” recognize parks and open spaces as closely connected with their neighborhoods and rely on community-driven plans to meet the diverse needs of stakeholders. This chapter also borrows from Agyeman’s (Introducing just sustainabilities: policy, planning and practice. Zed Books, London, 2013) “just sustainabilities” framework to emphasize the importance of equity in sustainability discourses and practices. To identify intersectional green space planning approaches, we rely on the review of secondary data (e.g., policies, plans, media accounts) and on fieldwork conducted in Denver, Los Angeles, and Chicago. We particularly focus on intersections between recreation and (1) water management, (2) transportation and land use, and (3) housing. We observe that a number of planning approaches seek to integrate different planning sectors, with various degrees of success. The most common intersectional approaches integrate recreation with water management and transportation. Less common but most effective frameworks combine green space, land use, and housing. We demonstrate that intersectional approaches can help cities and their residents maximize the various benefits that urban green spaces bring to their communities—from health equity to sustainability to leveraging funding—while minimizing negative impacts of green spaces such as environmental gentrification. We conclude the chapter by summarizing the successes and struggles of emerging intersectional approaches to planning green spaces.