Urban forest inequity

Urban forest inequity, also known as shade inequity or tree canopy inequity, is the inequitable distribution of trees, with their associated benefits, across metropolitan areas. Urban forest inequity is often seen as a form of environmental injustice because lower-income communities and marginalized groups commonly receive less of the social, environmental, and health benefits urban forest provide.

Urban forest inequity has a number of follow-on effects, including impacts on faunal biodiversity and the urban heat island effect. Urban heat inequity occurs when intra-urban heat islands, with their associated negative physical and emotional health consequences, are more common and more intense in lower-income communities. Researches have found relation between urban forest inequity to historical and institutional factors, such as redlining and uneven public investment in green infrastructure. Some impacts of the higher exposure to urban heat island include illness related to high heat, poorer air quality, and reduced access to the mental and physical health benefits associated with green space.

Research on urban forest inequity started from late 20th century environmental justice and expanded to the 2000s with the use of GIS, remote sensing, and census-linked analysis. With these tools researched have found demographic measures and data sources. Studies on spatial research influenced by urban forest inequity is global, as it includes case studies in North American, Asia, Africa, and Latin America. Proposed responses to this phenomenon include community engagement in large and big locations, initiatives to plant trees and how to maintain them, and planning strategies such as green belts. There is also debate among scholars about potential unintended consequences of greening intervention, such as green gentrification.