Of Tracks and Trails: How Accessible Green Spaces Reshape Communities

• In Event: Cleaning the Water, Improving the Land: Policy Effects

Abstract

Jurisdictions have increasingly prioritized urban greening in areas with historically high urban imperviousness, with the aim of promoting environmental justice and enhancing community well-being. Understanding the long-term impacts of these transformations is important. While they may bring economic benefits, they can also generate concerns around the potential of gentrification and displacement of vulnerable populations. Identifying the true causal effects of urban greening on neighborhood change is challenging, as the placement of new green spaces often depends on endogenous local factors. To uncover the causal relationship, I exploit the presence of abandoned railroads as a source of exogenous variation in susceptibility to green space development. Using abandoned and active rail and trail spatial data, and drawing on institutional context, I demonstrate that abandoned rail corridors serve as a valid instrument for predicting trail placement. Long-difference estimates show that converting industrial spaces into green amenities leads to significant long-term neighborhood changes.

My findings indicate that, conditional on municipality fixed effects, neighborhoods where trails have been created experienced a 9.1% greater increase in median house values compared to areas without trails. In addition, these neighborhoods saw 4.8 percentage point less decline in the share of newly constructed housing and a 4.4 percentage point greater increase in multifamily housing. In terms of neighborhood demographics, trail-inclusive neighborhoods showed no significant difference in median household income growth relative to neighborhoods without trails, while the share of minority (non-white) residents increased by 7.6 percentage points less relative to neighborhoods without trails. These findings highlight both the economic benefits and social trade-offs of urban greening.

Author

• Xiyue Li, Harvard University
  Presenting Author