Abstract
Trees provide a broad amount of ecosystem services in urban areas. Although it is well documented that trees are essential for the well-being and livability of cities, trees are often not evenly distributed. Studies have found that urban residents with a deprived socioeconomic status are associated with a lower coverage and access to urban trees in their communities, yet a fair distribution of trees contributes to the sustainability and resilience of cities. In this context, the environmental justice movement seeks to ensure equal distribution of green infrastructure and its benefits throughout a territory. The objective of this study is threefold: (i) to determine whether urban trees in Guadalajara, Mexico, are distributed equally; (ii) to assess the association between urban trees and socioeconomic status; and (iii) to introduce compositional data analysis to the existing literature. Due to the compositional nature of the data, compositional analysis techniques are applied. We believe this novel approach will help define the proper management of data used in the literature. The outcomes provide insights for urban planners working towards the Sustainable Development Goals to help eradicate the uneven distribution of urban trees in cities.
Highlights
The global phenomena of rapid urbanization has important consequences in the livability and environment of cities’ inhabitants [1,2] and whose degree of impact depends on their development level [3]
Coupled with the unequal distribution of urban trees in Guadalajara, we found a significant association between trees and high socioeconomic households, and in particular, with households that own a car
Through Principal Component Analysis (PCA) and cluster analyses, we found a clear differentiation in the distribution of trees between the west and east of the city
Summary
The global phenomena of rapid urbanization has important consequences in the livability and environment of cities’ inhabitants [1,2] and whose degree of impact depends on their development level [3]. Solid waste generation [4,5], water scarcity and pollution [6,7], air pollution [8,9], floods [10,11] and the heat island effect [12,13] are some of the consequences of this phenomenon To mitigate these and make cities more resilient and sustainable, different authorities around the world have implemented green infrastructure into their political agendas. Urban trees provide cities and their inhabitants with different ecosystem services, including improvement of air quality [20], mitigation of heat island effects [21,22], filtration and reduction of storm water runoffs [23], moderation of urban temperatures [24,25], reduction of noise pollution [26] and a habitat for different species [27], among others. These services have socio-economic implications, such as an increase in property values [28], reduction of crime [29], visual aesthetics in high-speed corridors and in business districts [30,31], increased social cohesion [32], increased longevity of elders [33] and mitigation of health problems [34], among others
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