Phoenix GO Bond - Tree Equity & Urban Planning

How many times have you caught yourself staring up at the stars in the night sky, searching for familiar shapes, in awe of the time it took for them to get here? The way they dress the sky in spotted flickers of yesterday’s light. Why is it we do not take the time to appreciate trees in this way? Why is it that, so often, we forget the ways in which they dress our days, accenting our commute, providing us shade in the summer, and filtering our air for us to exhale easy in the park? For some, this may be due to a lack of reference, from living in communities where trees sprinkle sparse, going unseen for miles in all directions. This discrepancy in shaded accent illustrates a clear example of tree inequity, primarily impacting low-income communities. While this may appear to be a trivial observation at first, this inequity only sheds light on prior geographic inequities. The heat resiliency projects proposed within Phoenix GO Bond recommendations propose long-term solutions to these inequities by funding a greener infrastructure citywide.

What is Phoenix GO Bond?

Phoenix City Council approved a $500 million General Obligation (GO) Bond, which will be utilized to fund essential infrastructure projects and city services. Phoenix GO Bond provides funding for: Arts & Culture, Public Safety, Parks & Recreation, Economic Development & Education, Streets & Storm Drainage, Neighborhoods & City Services, Housing & Homelessness, Human Services, and Environment & Sustainability. Under the umbrella of Environment & Sustainability, has been proposed a project surrounding Heat Resiliency.

Within this article, we will outline how efforts in heat resiliency can better the lives of Phoenicians who have been historically neglected in urban planning and development, how this proposal provides an opportunities to support a more equitable distribution of resources, and provides links to research about historical inequity.

How does this relate to the GO Bond Initiative?

The Phoenix GO Bond proposes $7.7 million of the $500 million Bond initiative be allotted for citywide heat resiliency projects. This project proposal aims to mitigate the effects of climate change on Phoenix residents through green infrastructure, cool pavement programs, and cool roofs/corridors. In the recommendation letter submitted by the GO Bond committee, they are quoted in seeking, “equitable distribution of projects throughout the City.” Cool roofs and corridors are examples of the many ways this projects aims to mitigate the detrimental impacts of climate change. Cool corridors, in particular, serve as walkways adjacent to an arterial street. This design sets to provide relief from the sun for pedestrians by casting shade for those traveling on foot.

With regards to the unhoused population, these mitigation efforts could mean the difference between life and death. Beyond the stark truth of our desert landscape and historically unjust urban planning, Phoenix residents who must travel to work, school, daily errands, etc. are subject to these heightened elements because of these disparities. Amongst rising temperatures and lesser tree canopy, bus stops can become saunas in these Phoenix summers.

What are the benefits of more trees? Why should we consider those communities with fewer?

When we think of trees, we think of the basics. Something we may fail to consider is the effects these trees have on our daily lives, as well as our long-term health. To begin, we will start with the jargon: “tree equity,” “canopy footprint,” and “urban forestry.” Tree equity refers to the disproportionate amount of trees in lower-income communities in relation to more affluent neighborhoods. Canopy footprint refers to the space and surface area trees shade in a specific area. And, urban forestry refers to the care and management of trees in urban areas. 

Urban forestry, enacted through this proposed heat resiliency project, stands to serve the community in a wide, more long-term way, beyond planting trees simply for the shade. Apart from mitigating the effects of climate change, tree equity initiatives and urban forestry stand to help the community through reductions in energy consumption, as well as decreased temperatures.

What are the impacts of tree inequity?

Studies conducted by the U.S. Forest Service have illuminated research on tree inequity and how it negatively impacts communities of color, often centralized in neighborhoods of lower socioeconomic status. Historically marginalized communities have been shown to have a significantly smaller canopy footprint, resulting in more heat-related deaths per year, as well as increased rates of childhood asthma.

Many of the growing symptoms of climate change are affecting these neighborhoods with less tree canopy at a higher rate, placing the Phoenix residents within them at higher risk for heat-related deaths and childhood asthma. These are systemic issues that the Phoenix City Council has the opportunity to redefine.

Research from the U.S. Forest Service has demonstrated that:

“Neighborhoods with a majority of People of Color have one-third less tree canopy than mostly white communities”

“Neighborhoods with 90% or more residents living in poverty have less than half of the canopy than those of more affluent communities”

“Neighborhoods with fewer trees are subject to more heat-related deaths, air pollution, lower property values and higher unemployment rates”

Tree inequity has also been linked to higher power usage, bringing greater financial burden

Creating Jobs within the Community

This allocation of funds towards evolution in urban planning through community forestry brings with it the opportunity to create long-term employment for those within the community. This will be enacted through job creation in urban forestry and maintenance of these efforts, which will provide livable wages.

Tree Equity Scores in Phoenix Neighborhoods

These images were pulled from treeequityscore.org, a website that will be linked below for you to visit and research your own neighborhood’s score. This website takes tree coverage and illustrates disparities across communities.

Here, we are comparing the Tree Equity Score (T.E.S.) of South Phoenix to that of Arcadia. These statistics show the percentage of people of color in these neighborhoods, health burden (in relation to the health burden index), the proportions of people living in poverty, and heat disparity. Heat disparity is calculated by taking the overall average of temperatures throughout the city and determining the difference in degrees, if any, in relation a zones T.E.S. and current canopy cover. The benchmark for a neighborhood has been assessed by the U.S. Forest Service as 20% canopy cover. As you can see in the maps above, a difference in T.E.S. and canopy coverage can mean a lot.

A T.E.S. score of 59 is shown to negatively impact a community in which 94% of community members are people of color, where 70% live in poverty, and there exists an eight-degree increase in their heat disparity (relative to the rest of Phoenix).

These scores demonstrate perpetual inequities throughout the community. These inequities are demonstrated in walkability scores, heat indexes, property values, and health outcomes. Phoenix GO Bond has the potential to take a step towards improving these outcomes for all communities.

Why Vote YES

Phoenix GO Bond allocates funding to reverse these historical inequities and the effects they perpetuate within historically-marginalized communities. In these recommendations, we find plans that work to benefit these communities, ideally beginning with those that have gone unshaded. Voting yes on these recommendations is your chance to raise your voice to ensure that Phoenix provides shade and shelter to all communities equitably.

Phoenix GO Bond will go to Phoenix voters for approval in the November 7, 2023 election. Vote YES to bring more trees to Phoenix!