Environmental Amenities Research Articles

Who values urban open spaces? investigating heterogeneity in the capitalization of open space in New York city

Given the constraints on local budgets and the availability of urban land, understanding how different urban green spaces are valued by diverse residents is crucial for making informed urban land use decisions. We estimate the heterogeneity in housing price capitalizations of various open space classes in New York City using a hedonic price model. Our findings reveal that the capitalization of open spaces varies across open space types and nearby housing types. For instance, compared to residents who live in properties with private outdoor spaces, residents in condominiums and cooperatives may place greater value on open spaces such as neighborhood parks or community gardens. Furthermore, we aim to uncover how demographic factors are associated with the valuation of different types of open spaces, focusing on two sets of community factors: median household income and racial composition. Our results show that areas with low-income populations or a predominance of non-white residents exhibit substantially different preferences from other groups, with an increased capitalization for community gardens and a decreased capitalization for flagship parks. These insights highlight the importance of investigating heterogeneity in the valuation of environmental amenities and can help policymakers allocate funds for environmental amenities to better align with the preferences of local residents.

Interconnected water scarcities and environmental amenities migration in rural Chile

This paper explores the repercussions of amenity migration on rural communities' access to water through a comparative analysis of three case studies in Chile. It examines the concept of rural drinking waterscapes to elucidate how access to water is dependent upon a metabolic process, wherein social, political, economic, and technical elements contribute to the construction of rural landscapes. This notion implies paying close attention to the daily practices of water access at the household level through ethnographic methods (multiplying interviews and observations), thus uncovering unregulated water habits and uses. The results underscore the pivotal role played by the State in shaping the desirability of these localities, attracting both capital and upper-class population influx. This socio-demographic shift triggers significant changes in land-use patterns, resulting in an amplified and diversified demand for water. The study identifies that water scarcity is a multifaceted issue, stemming from the intricate interplay of various scarcities occurring simultaneously across different scales. These include: 1) infrastructure scarcity, arising from households' inability to connect to the communal water network; 2) service management scarcity, induced by operational failures that reduce water pressure or increase supply interruptions; 3) economic scarcity, resulting from water organisation budget constraints or residents’ inability to meet water bills; and 4) overexploitation scarcity, emanating from the excessive consumption of groundwater resources. Notably, these different forms of scarcity are interconnected. The responses of local populations and governing committees are identified as central to this intricate chain of causation, as they can inadvertently create new scarcity scenarios and exacerbate inequalities.

Unequal access to social, environmental and health amenities in US urban parks

Unequal access to social, environmental and health amenities in US urban parks

The effect of investments in recreational trail development on trail-related business operations and profitability: a case study of Northern Ireland

ABSTRACT In nature-based tourism (NBT), recreational trails may play an important role for sustainable recreation and local communities’ development. Therefore, development of the trail-related tourism sector is essential, in particular through successful trail-related business operations. However, trail-related businesses as one of the key stakeholders have been neglected in decision-making processes. Therefore, this research note studied trail-related business perceptions of environmental and recreational amenities and estimated projected effects of investments in trail-related recreation on business operations and profitability. Businesses see natural and recreational landscapes as being the most important. Branding and marketing was viewed as the highest priority attribute of trail investments. The feedback from business was shown to be essential for local economic development since it ensures maximized efficiency of investments. Implications were suggested for enhanced sustainable trail destination development and management.

Inclusive factor inputs for determination of human development index for informal settlements: A case study of Enugu city, Nigeria

Despite the popularity of the human development index (HDI) in the measurement of human development, it has been variously criticized on the ground that its three dimensions, namely, health, education, and income, as presently constituted do not completely reflect human overall well-being goal which it set-out to measure. The critics have suggested the introduction of additional relevant indicators for the construction of HDI. The goal of this study is to investigate inclusive factor variables for determining the human development index for informal settlements using the city of Enugu, Nigeria, as a case study. The variables used in the development of HDI include the following: wealth, housing/environmental, and social protection. The HDI formula was subsequently modified to the more elaborate and inclusive factor inputs. The results show that households in informal settlements in Enugu are experiencing deprivation. The level of deprivation is highest in the area of wealth dimension, followed by housing/environmental and social protection. Four informal settlements are currently experiencing significant low-level human development in each area of housing/environmental and social protection issues. The aggregation of the three dimensions of the human development index shows that the informal settlements in the city of Enugu are seriously deprived. This implies that the settlements are poorly served with housing facilities, environmental amenities, and social protection structure. In effect, wealth, housing/environmental, and social protection mechanisms are veritable indicators for the measurement of human development and should be included as variables for calculating HDI, especially for the urban poor.

Tradeoff between air pollution and economic benefits in migration dynamics: Evidence from China

This paper investigates how environmental amenity and economic benefits are balanced in migration dynamics from the individual perspective. We construct a structural model based on the dataset that combines PM2.5 concentration data from NASA and migration information from the China Migration Dynamic Survey (CMDS). Thermal inversion is used as a source of exogenous shock in air pollution to address the omitted variable bias. The results indicate that if the ambient concentration of PM2.5 at destinations increases 1 μg/m3, the probability of migration at the individual level will decrease by 0.90 %. A battery of robustness checks is implemented, including different approaches to measuring migration decision, using imputed wage instead of disposable income, using different IV and proxy variable. Heterogeneity analysis reveals that the deterrence effect of air pollution is more pronounced for the following groups: migrants who are male, move from a rural residence, or to a coastal destination, belong to working-age population, engage in a tertiary industry, have a postgraduate-level education, and support two or more elders.

The value of green and blue space: Walkability and house prices

Urban green and blue spaces are important amenities within highly urbanised areas which offer social, economic and ecological benefits and provide a number of valuable direct and indirect ecosystem of services to surrounding land uses, urban households integral to sustainable urban development. Existing research has revealed that green and blue spaces are not uniform environmental amenities, but rather a set of distinct goods comprising aesthetic and hydro-morphological characteristics therefore which can influence property values. Consequently, the purpose of this study is to examine the heterogeneity of green and blue spaces using 4985 sales transactions applying quantile regression to investigate the proximity effects of these urban amenities on property prices within the Belfast Metropolitan area, Northern Ireland. The findings show premiums for green features range between 3.0 % and 3.6 %, with blue space proximity to the coastline and lakes commanding premiums of 7.3 % and 5.3 %. Conversely, walking distance to large rivers shows a negative pricing effect of 3.8 %. The results further reveal some evidence of distance decay effects with proximity for green and blue space amenities. The quantile findings show empirical evidence of a U-shape relationship for a number of the green space amenities, indicating that lower and higher priced houses value proximity to these urban amenities differently. For urban blue spaces, the findings reveal that living near to a lake or the coastline observes larger premiums for higher priced properties. Moreover, the highest priced dwellings exhibit a higher negative pricing effect with walkability to urban rivers than those in the lowest priced properties. Overall, the findings provide empirical evidence to inform urban design and planning in line with sustainable development goals and biodiversity strategies for inclusive, and accessible public spaces within cities.

Spatiotemporal variation in determinants of cropland abandonment across Yangtze River Economic Belt, China

Cropland abandonment is a widespread land-change phenomenon globally, driven by complex social, economic, and political transformations, with significant implications for the environment and society. However, the inconsistent definitions of cropland abandonment and the bias in the selection of study areas hinder the comparison of identified determinants of cropland abandonment. In this study, we defined cropland abandonment from the perspective of vegetation succession. By employing land-cover change detection with Landsat time-series images from 1990 to 2021, we analyzed the spatiotemporal patterns of cropland abandonment across the cities of Yibin, Huangshi, and Chaohu within the Yangtze River Economic Belt. Furthermore, we utilized the Gradient-Boosting Decision Tree model to identify the primary spatial determinants and their relative importance in each city. Our findings showed significant variations in abandonment rates by 2021. Huangshi exhibited the highest rate of cropland abandonment, leading with 53.81±2.1 %, followed by Yibin with 45.36±2.18 %, and Chaohu with the lowest at 36.94±2.21 %. Interestingly, a consistent spatiotemporal trend, areas with higher abandonment rates tended to be abandoned earlier, emerged in abandonment determinants across cities. Areas with lower bulk density, higher soil clay content, and greater organic carbon contents exhibited higher abandonment rates. However, the most influential determinants varied: the distance from water bodies was the most important in Yibin and Huangshi, while the distance from the forest had a greater impact in Chaohu. This study offers a more nuanced perspective on defining cropland abandonment and can be applied to other regions after some adjustment. Our results provide valuable insights for cropland abandonment management by protecting high-value croplands and setting aside some areas for environmental amenities.

Health-related quality of life and perceptions of neighborhood physical and social environment in Tehran, Iran

ABSTRACT In light of rapid global urbanization and development, planners have become more concerned with the quality of life in cities. However, the perceptual connections between the built environment and resident well-being deserve more systematic attention. This study investigates the relationship between the perceived physical and social features of the neighborhood environment and the health-related quality of life for 393 adult residents in Tehran, Iran. A questionnaire was developed to examine participants’ perceptions of neighborhood social and physical factors, along with the World Health Organization’s Quality of Life – Brief Form (WHOQOL – BREF) to measure their health-related quality of life. Using factor analysis, correlations, and multiple linear regressions, the findings suggest that all subcomponents of the physical environment (accessibility, amenity, and legibility) and social environment (participation, sense of community, and satisfaction) impact psychological, social relationships, and environmental health, but that amenities were most powerfully predictive of all three types of socio-environmental health.

Using automated design appraisal to model building-specific devaluation risk due to land-use change

Uncertainty of spillover effects – including property devaluation - from proposed land-use change elicits opposition to local development. This hinders cities’ ability to implement land-use policy aimed at housing affordability and environmental sustainability. The uncertainty arises from the limitation of current methods to quantify both the physical exposure and financial sensitivity to changes in urban environmental characteristics and amenities. Hence, this paper introduces an integrated approach to quantify the direct and indirect effects of a proposed urban development, using parametric modeling, building performance simulation and automated design appraisal (ADA). ADA, a novel aspect of this study, predicts the market price of a generated building design concept within a local urban context. To demonstrate its practical utility, this paper examines property value at risk due to nearby development associated with changes to visual landscape quality. The results shed light on the importance and spatial variability of the price-amenity gradient, identifying properties that are financially at risk to the visual impacts of local development. Beyond building-specific risk modeling for the development planning stage, this work serves as a blueprint for architectural design optimization procedures, in which economic performance is evaluated based on learned preferences derived from financial market data.

Impervious cover change as an indicator of environmental equity

Pattern-focused environmental equity research has been underpinned by high-resolution remotely sensed data to uncover spatial relationships between environmental amenities (e.g., urban tree cover) and socio-economic status (SES). A constraint imposed by reliance on high-resolution data is the inability to examine temporal patterns, primarily because of the cost of data production and the nascent state of high-resolution land cover mapping. The lack of temporal monitoring is a clear gap in pattern-focused environmental equity research. We examined temporal (2001–2019) relationships between a disamenity, impervious cover (IC), and demographic attributes for the entirety of the conterminous United States. Our main finding was 2001–2019 increases in IC were more pervasive in minority communities but these communities were not necessarily poor, and only rarely poorly educated or non-English speaking. We supported our use of IC from moderate resolution data by comparing it to high-resolution data for 24 cities within the conterminous United States. Mean Absolute Deviation (MAD) was 4.8% overall, ranging from 2.2% to 11.3% across the 24 locations. Differences in classification objectives contributed to differences in %IC estimates between the two sources.

Rural Households' Demand Status for Mitigation of Prosopis juliflora (Sw.) DC Invasion and Its Determinant Factors in Ethiopia: Empirical Evidence from Afar National Regional State.

Ethiopia is among the world's poorest nations, and its economy is growing extremely slowly; thus, the government's budget to manage environmental amenities is not always sufficient. Thus, for the provision of environmental management services such as the eradication of Prosopis juliflora, the participation of local households and other stakeholders is crucial. This study is therefore initiated with the objective of assessing rural households' demands for mitigating Prosopis juliflora invasion in the Afar Region of Ethiopia. A multistage sampling technique was employed to obtain the 313 sample rural households that were used in the analysis, and those sample households were selected randomly and independently from the Amibara and Awash Fentale districts of Afar National Regional State, Ethiopia. In doing this, a seemingly unrelated bivariate probit model was used to determine factors affecting rural households' demands for mitigating Prosopis juliflora invasion. Consequently, as per the inferential statistical results, there was a significant mean/percentage difference between willing and nonwilling households for the hypothesized variables, except for some variables such as farm experience; years lived in the area, distance from the market, and dependency ratio. Furthermore, the seemingly unrelated bivariate probit model result indicates that sex, family size, tenure security, livestock holding, frequency of extension contact, and years lived in the area were important factors influencing the willingness to participate in Prosopis juliflora management practices positively, whereas age, off-farm/nonincome, and bid value affected willingness to pay negatively and significantly. Hence, to improve the participation level of households, policymakers should target these variables.

Review on Valuation of Environmental Amenity and Pollution

The importance of enhancing environmental quality to promote economic development by improving societal well-being and sustainable development on quality of environment have attracted significant attention from researchers in recent years. The focus has been on creating pleasing environments and establishing economic value for such quality improvements in both developed and developing nations. This goes beyond designing the most suitable regulatory instruments; it also involves ensuring the quality of supporting regulatory institutions and their capacity. Although it's evident that human activities significantly impact on health of the environment by emitting pollution, decision-makers find it challenging to grasp the effects of environmental quality and make decisions regarding it due to limited information about the value of environmental conditions (i.e. amenity services and pollution) and their interactions. This paper reviews various studies on the economic valuation of environmental conditions and pollution, the relationship between environmental pollution and amenity services, and the factors influencing the improvement of environmental conditions (including socio-economic variables). The evidence from these studies indicates a causal link between pollution levels in the environment and environmental amenities, and consequently, economic performance.

Environmental health, economy, and amenities interactively drive migration patterns among China's older people.

The increasing number of older adult migrants is rapidly changing regional demographic and social structures in China. There is an urgent need to understand the spatial patterns and factors that influence older adults to migrate, especially the role of environmental health. However, this issue has been under-studied. This study focused on intra-provincial and inter-provincial older adult migrants as research subjects, estimated their spatial concentration index based on the iterative proportional fitting approach, and explored the factors influencing their migration using the GeoDetector Model. The results showed the following: (1) In 2015, more than 76% of inter-provincial older adult migrants were distributed in Eastern China, and most intra-provincial older adult migrants were scattered in sub-provincial cities. (2) Compared to factors relating to economy and amenities, environmental health by itself played a relatively weak role in the migration of older adults, but the interaction among environmental health, economy, and amenities was a key driving force of older adult migration. (3) There were significant differences in the dominant environmental health factors between inter-provincial migration and intra-provincial migration, which were temperature and altitude, respectively. Our findings can help policymakers focus on the composition of older adult migrants based on urban environmental health characteristics and rationally optimize older adult care facilities to promote supply-demand matching.

Integrating the rent gap into the ground rent theory. Measurement and implications for different models of agriculture

The aim of this paper is to establish a conceptual framework for the rent gap theory in agriculture and to identify potential implications of the rent gap for socio-economic processes occurring in agriculture and rural areas. From an empirical perspective an attempt was made to determine the state and dynamics of the rent gap phenomenon in agriculture in Poland, considering the regional division. The authors used income approach and Capital Asset Pricing Model (CAPM) for estimating the capitalization rate. It was found that rent gap is a permanent phenomenon in Polish agriculture, the dynamics of which largely depends on macroeconomic factors. A widening rent gap may result in the withdrawal of land from farming and a decline in total factor productivity in agriculture. Thus, the implications of the rent gap may relate to food security. Measuring the rent gap can be a step towards determining the quasi-market value of environmental amenities of land.

Migration and the environment: A look across perspectives

The decisions related to migration – where to live, when to move, and where to move – have a long history in economics. Different fields, within economics and outside economics, have developed different empirical methods to study migration and its consequences. However, these literatures rarely cite each other and there is little crossover between them. The purpose of this paper is twofold. First, to provide a simple theoretical framework for understanding general equilibrium effects in migration models that can help researchers think through the specific contexts in which these will be a problem for reduced form estimation. Second, to examine the different literatures in economics that have addressed the question of the effects of environmental amenities on migration with an eye to the differences across them and the way they can complement each other.

The association between neighborhood social and built environment on loneliness among young adults with cancer.

Young adults with cancer (YAs, aged 18-39) are at increased risk of experiencing loneliness due to their unique challenges of coping with a cancer diagnosis and treatment during young adulthood. Understanding factors that impact loneliness is critical to improving survivorship outcomes for this vulnerable YA population. Neighborhoods are key determinants of health. However, little is known about how such neighborhood characteristics are associated with loneliness among YA survivors. YA survivors (N = 181) drawn from the National Institutes of Health All of Us Research Program completed measures of neighborhood social environment (e.g., shared values), aspects of their neighborhood built environment (e.g., access to transit, recreational activities), and loneliness. Two total scores were calculated with higher scores reflecting higher neighborhood social cohesion and higher neighborhood walkability/bikeability (i.e., built environment). Hierarchical linear regression examined associations between the social and built environment on loneliness. Higher levels of neighborhood social cohesion (β = - 0.28, 95% confidence interval (CI) = - 0.44, - 0.11) and neighborhood walkability/bikeability (β = - 0.15, 95% CI = - 0.31, - 0.006) were significantly associated with lower levels of loneliness. Findings suggest that living within a cohesive social environment with neighborhood walkability/bikeability to built environment amenities such as green space, grocery stores, and public transportation is protective against loneliness among YA survivors. More longitudinal research is necessary to understand the dynamic changes in loneliness among YA survivors living in diverse social and built environments. YA survivors may benefit from cultivating neighbor relationships and living within neighborhoods with walkability/bikeability.

RACIAL INEQUITY IN GREEN INFRASTRUCTURE AND GENTRIFICATION: Challenging Compounded Environmental Racisms in the Green City

AbstractThis article explores the role that green gentrification plays in exacerbating racial tensions within historically marginalized urban communities benefiting from new environmental amenities such as parks, gardens, waterfront restoration and greenways. Building on extensive qualitative data from three cities in Europe (Amsterdam, Vienna, Lyon) and four cities in the United States (Washington, Austin, Atlanta, Cleveland), we use thematic analysis and grounded theory to examine the complex relationship between historical environmental and racial injustices and current racial green inequities produced by the green city agenda. Our analysis also offers insights into the main differences in how community members articulate concerns and demands over racial issues related to green gentrification in Europe versus North America. Results show that urban greening—and green gentrification specifically—can create ‘compounded environmental racisms’ by worsening racial environmental injustices and further perpetrating green racialized displacement, re‐segregation and exclusion. The latter is produced by the racial inequities embedded in green infrastructure projects and the related unequal access to environmental benefits, affordable housing, political rights and place‐making. Moreover, we find that settler colonial practices combined with persisting exposure to toxins and re‐segregation in the United States together with neocolonial spatial and social practices in Europe shape how racialized community members perceive and interact with new green amenities.

Influence of personal mobility devices on environmental amenities

Electric scooters are rapidly involved in our life, and every year their lease increases and spreads to more cities. Urban infrastructure never keeps up with progress and cannot provide these vehicles with the appropriate infrastructure. In this regard, it is important to solve problems of adapting modern means of transportation with respect to comfortable and safe traffic.Purpose: The analysis of the current situation with personal mobility devices and their impact on the urban environment.Methodology/approach: Sociological survey and analysis of improving amenities environment to ensure the operation of personal mobility devices.Research findings: The analysis of introduced traffic rules for personal mobility devices in 2023, where the status of transport is officially assigned to electric scooters. there is a need to separate roads and create the bicycle path infrastructure to minimize accidents. Results show positive and negative consequences of using electric scooters in cities. It is shown that the urban environment quality index in different cities is determined by the distance of bicycle paths in cities.

Urban Revitalization in Small Cities across the Atlantic Ocean

City centers and riverfronts across the Atlantic Ocean have undergone substantial transformation over the last two decades. This paper analyzes walk-only precincts and waterfront revitalization in two pairwise cases (PCs) of small city exemplars on two continents in locations at about the same latitude but separated by the Atlantic Ocean. The argument is twofold. First, to be fully effective, city center revitalization interventions need to be coordinated with appropriate institutional programs to create collaborative management opportunities among multiple civic and business agents. Second, multiple cultural offerings, environmental amenities, and pro-active leadership positionalities have contributed positively to the evolution of waterfront community economic redevelopment opportunities in riverfront locations. The methods involved multiple site visits to cities of various sizes on the Iberian Peninsula and the Northeast of the United States at different times during the last twenty years, extensive literature reviews and syntheses, data analyses, assessment of policy priorities, and interviews with employees in various economic sectors, business owners, residents, elected officials, planning professionals, and community leaders. Two of the main conclusions are that, to be fully effective, the public space interventions on the Iberian Peninsula had to be coordinated with appropriate regulatory and institutional programs to generate collaborations with multiple civic and business agents and that the Northeastern cities have attempted to revitalize their riverfronts by conserving water-based and urban historic assets and amenities from further erosion due to downpours and floods as well as socio-economic and cultural transformations.