City Nature: Naturehoods in 38 U.S. cities

We can evaluate the state of urban nature at various scales. Often we measure park area and count facilities within city limits or greater metropolitan areas; there have been many studies of residents' access to parks. This project examines nature at the neighborhood level.

For example, San Francisco as a whole is relatively "park-rich" (21% of city area) and Louisville is not (1.5%).

As the city and neighborhood-scale maps show, however, the distribution of parks is not uniform in these cities. So, access to parks and open space within cities varies considerably...

The Trust for Public Land (TPL) has derived a ParkScore® index for the 40 largest US cities - a more meaningful way of classifying and comparing city nature than simple park acreage statistics. City markers here are sized according to their ParkScore, which takes into account park acreage, median park size, playgrounds per resident, park spending per resident, and access - defined as "percentage of the population living within a ten-minute walk of a public park." For details see TPL's ParkScore® index web site, parkscore.tpl.org.

But smaller scales of analysis may be valuable too, and designated parks and open space are not the only ways we experience nature in cities...

The Trust for Public Land (TPL) has also produced a "park access gap," or "equity" measure to indicate two levels of park need within cities, suggesting areas which should be given priority for new park development. This map shows park needin Denver for example, at 30-meter resolution.
park need level: 1 2

But nature can be found in other areas too. Click to display the following 4 links in sequence (or toggle them off).

We have found that areas of "park-level greenness" occur throughout cities, with considerable variation between neighborhoods. We developed a surface for "distance to park-level greenness" and averaged those distances for each neighborhood to arrive at a "greenness" measure reflecting more than simply parks.

Additional details can be found in this short essay; results for all cities are found under the Maps and Naturehoods Explorer tabs.

In Fresno, neighborhoods with the lowest home values are, again, frequently the least green, and high home values can be found within any greenness value. The same is true in Portland.

You can explore data for the other cities in this study under the 'Maps' and 'Naturehood Explorer' tabs.

Naturehood Explorer

What if we grouped similar neighborhoods from different cities into one city? We call these "Frankencities"– sets of neighborhoods across 34 large U.S. cities with similar "naturalness" and similar social variables. This parallel coordinates plot visualizes 2,661 of the study's neighborhoods on 11 dimensions [legend].

To visually explore possible correlations, in effect creating your own Frankencities, select areas of one or more dimensions by dragging selection windows over them as shown below. Selection windows themselves can be dragged as well.

For example, neighborhoods with the lowest average home value. Or the highest percentage of home ownership.

"Naturehoods": Nature at the neighborhood scale in 34 large U.S. cities

Trust for Public Land ParkScore® index

Naturehood Explorer

Urban nature and demographic variables at the neighborhood scale

Nature measures (background)

Demographics (markers)

NOTE:
To examine individual neighborhoods more closely, try the Naturehood Explorer app!

Frankencities

"Naturehoods": Nature at the neighborhood scale in 34 large U.S. cities

Trust for Public Land ParkScore® index

Naturehood Explorer

Urban nature and demographic variables at the neighborhood scale

Nature measures (background)

Demographics (markers)

NOTE:To examine individual neighborhoods more closely, try the Naturehood Explorer app!

Frankencities

NOTE:
To examine individual neighborhoods more closely, try the Naturehood Explorer app!