Redlining and the Long-Run Distribution of Urban Greenspace: A Border-Segment Fixed-Effects Design

• In Event: Community and Urban Sociology Section Roundtables
  In Refereed Roundtable (60 minute): Table 7: City and Environment

Abstract

How do the 1930s Home Owners’ Loan Corporation’s (HOLC) map onto today’s greenspace? Redlining has been linked to credit, investment, and health disparities, yet its connection to environmental amenities remains less clear. This study assembles digitized HOLC polygons, 1940 census tracts, enumeration districts, covariates, and urban greenspace indicators on 1940 geography. This study implements a spatial border design that compares tracts sharing the same A–B, B–C, or C–D border segment but lying on opposite sides. Preliminary results show, at the census tract level, there is a persistent deficit for D-side tracts when greenspace includes developed open space, but no systematic difference for core natural vegetation alone. The difference is near zero among tracts without Black residents, but increasingly negative where Black residents were present in 1940. Dynamic estimates indicate persistent penalties over four decades. Ongoing work extends the design to 1940 enumeration districts and adds tree-canopy-based outcomes.

Author

• Chunxu Fang, University at Albany, SUNY