Abstract
Public parks and other forms of green space are incredibly important for a community to thrive. They provide both social and health benefits to those who live nearby. However, access to green space in cities is incredibly unevenly divided due in part to redlining. Redlining was a process begun in the 1930s where many United States cities had their neighborhoods graded based on how risky it would be for banks to lend in these areas. The lowest graded neighborhoods were considered redlined. These neighborhoods were almost always populated by either the poor or ethnic minorities, and systemic disinvestment into the communities has caused large issues over the course of decades, a major one being access to public green spaces.
My technical capstone involves the design of a fire station with a surrounding public park in the town of Chester, Virginia. The county has determined that its current fire response system is inadequate, so a new fire station is to be built. It is on a large parcel of land, so the county also wants a public park designed to complement the fire station. The fire station layout was provided to the group, but we were given creative latitude when it comes to the park design. The park includes a trail running the length of the property, a playground, a basketball court, and a large open field. The design also incorporates stormwater control measures to ensure all runoff is properly dealt with. This plot of land is located within a historically low income neighborhood, so it was important to consider the residents while creating our final design plans.
The STS problem I chose to focus on is the relationship between redlining and access to urban green space. To analyze this topic, I performed a historical and GIS analysis on the city of Richmond, which is near where my technical project is located. The historical lens was ideal for this topic, because I was able to research the causes and effects of the problem since redlining’s beginning. In addition to this, I would be able to see whether there had been any positive changes in recent years. Through this research, I found that in both 2014 and 2021, redlined neighborhoods had roughly 40% green land cover, while the top graded ones had approximately 60% green coverage. This difference is incredibly large, and did not change through the late 2010s in spite of many anti-redlining movements and organizations acting in Richmond. In spite of several large efforts, there is still much more work to be done in undoing the harmful effects of redlining.
The effects of redlining on urban green space are paralleled by access to parks in many suburban regions as well. Many individuals have difficulty accessing parks or other similar community spaces. This is the reason the county of Chesterfield decided to also add a public park surrounding the new fire station. The county determined that a park would be good for the community and help ease some of the concerns with having a fire station in the neighborhood. Because of the lasting effects of redlining and other discriminatory practices, it is incredibly important for civil engineers to consider the people in areas where they are designing, so that they can make a conscious choice to help undo these effects where possible.
