Analysis of Gentrification and Green Spaces in East Austin, Texas
type: CreativeWork
description: Gentrification, the urban process that results from uneven development within cities, can cause unjust displacement of traditional, low-income residents in residential neighborhoods, and inequitable access to community services and benefits. Because of the negative social impacts that gentrification can have, many local governments and agencies have been known to attempt to mitigate changes by initiating different types of planning policies. Such policies usually apply changes in housing or zoning rules to enable lower-income residents to have access to housing and community amenities in the area. Another aspect resulting from gentrification that local government will try to rectify is low access to green spaces for marginalized communities in order to tackle environmental justice issues. However, when this occurs, an ironic situation can emerge within the urban core known as the ‘green-space paradox’. This study, focused on the eastern part of Austin, Texas, USA, analyzed demographic census data and green space locations within a 5-year period before and after the ‘Imagine Austin’ plan was initiated to assess the relationship between gentrification and green spaces. This study intends to provide clarity over the potential impact of green infrastructure planning initiatives and the resulting urban social changes that can occur and negatively affect marginalized residents. This study utilized public data from the U.S. Census, the American Community Survey, and the City of Austin to analyze demographic trends near city parks for the years of 2010-2015 and 2017-2022 through use of spatial regression and buffer zone techniques. These tools revealed the parks that are experiencing green gentrification in the study area. In order to determine if the ‘Imagine Austin’ plan had an impact on the gentrification in the targeted area, the construction years of the parks experiencing high green gentrification were examined. While this study revealed that there is a correlation be…
abstract: Gentrification, the urban process that results from uneven development within cities, can cause unjust displacement of traditional, low-income residents in residential neighborhoods, and inequitable access to community services and benefits. Because of the negative social impacts that gentrification can have, many local governments and agencies have been known to attempt to mitigate changes by initiating different types of planning policies. Such policies usually apply changes in housing or zoning rules to enable lower-income residents to have access to housing and community amenities in the area. Another aspect resulting from gentrification that local government will try to rectify is low access to green spaces for marginalized communities in order to tackle environmental justice issues. However, when this occurs, an ironic situation can emerge within the urban core known as the ‘green-space paradox’. This study, focused on the eastern part of Austin, Texas, USA, analyzed demographic census data and green space locations within a 5-year period before and after the ‘Imagine Austin’ plan was initiated to assess the relationship between gentrification and green spaces. This study intends to provide clarity over the potential impact of green infrastructure planning initiatives and the resulting urban social changes that can occur and negatively affect marginalized residents. This study utilized public data from the U.S. Census, the American Community Survey, and the City of Austin to analyze demographic trends near city parks for the years of 2010-2015 and 2017-2022 through use of spatial regression and buffer zone techniques. These tools revealed the parks that are experiencing green gentrification in the study area. In order to determine if the ‘Imagine Austin’ plan had an impact on the gentrification in the targeted area, the construction years of the parks experiencing high green gentrification were examined. While this study revealed that there is a correlation be…
author: Fordyce, Carly
keywords: analysis, Austin, environmental justice, gentrification, geodesy, green space paradox, Geographically Weighted Regression (GWR), Texas, Environmental Studies, Geographic Information Sciences, Nature and Society Relations, Physical and Environmental Geography
date published: 2022-05-01T07:00:00Z
date modified: 2026-07-24T00:59:32Z
provider: University of Arkansas
publisher: Networked Digital Library of Theses and Dissertations
type: WebPage
source organization: University of Arkansas