Elizabeth Gearin Tackles the Unexplored Consequences of Greener Cities
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In previous reporting, Hola Cultura’s podcast “The Climate Divide” has shared insights from experts who express growing concern over the removal of trees and the importance of urban tree planting, particularly in light of climate change. But what about the increase in property value after renovations with beautiful, rich greenery and the potential displacement of low-income residents?
Hola Cultura spoke with Elizabeth Gearin, an assistant professor of urban sustainability at the University of the District of Columbia and a former Arlington County Planning Commission member. She is a recognized expert in urban development, with a doctorate in city and regional planning from the University of Southern California.
Gearin’s recent work includes “Greened out: Mitigating the Impacts of Eco-gentrification through Community Dialogue,” a 2023 research paper on inclusive planning and collaboration with community members that provides insight into countering displacement and ensuring sustainable improvements to residents’ quality of life. Gearin examines the impact of green infrastructure, including green urban spaces and the benefits and challenges they bring to communities.
While green spaces improve public health, reduce heat and enhance ecosystems, they also increase property values, a process Gearin calls “environmental gentrification.” Inclusive decision-making, in which residents have a meaningful influence on residential planning, is a primary strategy to reduce community disruption.
As she shares in the following interview, balancing green space, affordable housing and cultural preservation requires thoughtful city planning and civic engagement.
How do we balance the need for green infrastructure with affordable housing and cultural preservation?
We’ve got to look and be creative with things like green roofs, green walls, maybe greening our streets more. Park space and architecture could reference the culture and history. There are ways we can provide greenery that might not look like the traditional big, open grassy park.
From an economic standpoint, developers want to maximize what they can get with the site, but there’s room to step back and keep the original facade of the building. Maybe add a green rooftop with trees accessible to residents. When we consider cultural preservation, housing, and green space, there are a lot of policies competing for limited resources. But we have to get beyond that fixed-pie mentality.
How do city planners consider housing policies that support lower-income individuals?
Local governments may have inclusionary housing policies that go closely with new developments. Not all do but it is something we see in many localities in our region. [Where there is inclusionary housing] anything new that needs to be built has to have a certain percentage of affordable housing units. We want to have a mix of people of different incomes. Part of this is because younger households are not really in a prime earning space. One might love their community, but their earning potential is still growing. People who live in gated retirement communities say that’s what they miss the most, being around younger folks, the energy and the enthusiasm they bring.
As a planning expert, how are listening forums effective in addressing community concerns with urban planning?
My first job was as a community organizer. The first thing one does with that job is to walk around the neighborhood and talk to everybody: businesses and residents. Tell me about your community. What do you like here? What would you really like to address? This was to find out what the issues are because I don’t think they’re monolithic.
There are ways to add these green infrastructure projects to communities that don’t completely displace the existing community, but it’s definitely not cookie-cutter. We go in and take the time to meet with the folks and do that due diligence, have those meetings and end up with a product, but it wouldn’t be the same product in every neighborhood.
We can’t ever assume. I prefer to let local leaders guide some discussions because they live there. They know how people use the park, and they know what people have said about the park’s uses. From community organizing through the planning commission, we’re always looking for new knowledge. One almost can’t even know what to ask or what to aim for until talking with the community.
Will adding green space inevitably raise property values and result in displacement?
It’s a balance. We want to make sure people can keep their jobs, jobs stay viable, attract business and support students, museums and hospitals. We want to make sure that we don’t displace too many people, and we definitely want to try to protect our natural resources.
We can have open space. Maybe not a lot more, and maybe not the traditional open space. We’re not going to have more baseball fields, for example. As a single-use, they take up a lot of space. But we may have more linear parks alongside major roads or more tree-lined boulevards. We can have that at the same time as we have more affordable housing, more housing in general and there’s a way to retain a lot of the cultural heritage as well.
– Story by Sbeyde Herrera
– Copy edited by Kami Waller
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