EXPLORING GREEN GENTRIFICATION IN ESTABLISHED URBAN PARKS: A STUDY OF PHILADELPHIA’S NEIGHBORHOOD PARKS

Abstract

This dissertation seeks to examine whether neighborhood public parks have a relationship to neighborhood change, including gentrification outcomes, through the investigation of a city-wide study of the neighborhood parks system in Philadelphia. It addresses the gap in the literature that examines investments in existing neighborhood parks and examines how they effect the surrounding community. In this dissertation, I ask the following research questions: What does a multi-dimensional concept of public park accessibility look like? What effect does proximity to a small neighborhood park have on the demographics and quality of the surrounding built environment? What effect does park quality of small neighborhood parks have on the quality of the surrounding built environment? Four methodological tools were used in this study: analysis of policy documents, Google Street View remote surveying, geographic information system (GIS) analysis, and statistical analysis. This study is the first of its kind that examines existing neighborhood parks, their quality, and the relationship to demographics and development in neighborhoods at a city-wide scale. The findings expand existing green gentrification literature and finds that while parks themselves are associated with gentrification and increased built environment development, the number of amenities in a park is not associated with an increase in the gentrification of the surrounding neighborhood. This key finding opens the door for cities to invest into their existing neighborhood parks without fear that improvements will trigger gentrification and displacement in vulnerable neighborhoods as long as additional policy steps are enacted to keep residents in place.