CNH2-L-RUI-Collaborative: Undoing Legacies of Inequality in Urban Tree-Human Dynamics: From redlining to equitable and resilient urban socio-ecological systems

城市森林为人类社区提供了丰富的商品和服务，人类活动决定了城市树木的健康和分布。这种树与人的关系是城市社会生态系统的核心，也是我们大多数人未来居住的地方，对于创造可持续和公平的城市环境至关重要。然而，历史上的歧视性住房政策和其他形式的边缘化系统地排除了树木及其生态系统服务的低收入和非白人社区。为了解决我们城市中的这些社会生态不平等，我们需要更好地了解管理城市树木与人类关系的动态和联系。这项研究将通过综合和跨学科的研究议程，结合树木健康的新措施与社会偏见的政策和做法的评估，以满足这一需求。这些信息将有助于开发和测试描述美国城市中树与人关系的新模型，并将汇集研究人员，学生，决策者和社区成员，开始消除不平等的遗产，为所有人建立更公平和更有弹性的城市环境。该跨学科项目旨在了解歧视的历史遗产如何反映在城市环境中预设的社会生态动态中，以及如何制定有效的战略来促进健康，公平和有弹性的城市社会生态系统。研究小组将通过整合植物生理学和遥感的最新进展（例如，超高分辨率超光谱成像和LiDAR）。然后，将在多个时空尺度和特定的历史背景下研究当前城市森林的范围和脆弱性，以阐明社会偏见的政策和做法的作用，这些政策和做法为不公平和非弹性的城市树木-人类动态奠定了基础。最后，将开发结构方程模型来描述社会和生态健康如何从美国主要城市的社会生态结构，功能和动态相互交织的方式流动。这些模型将提供一种手段来预测未来的城市森林健康和弹性可能的生态，社会和气候变化。大部分详细的自然和人类子系统工作将在俄勒冈州波特兰完成，这是一个城市社会生态系统，具有广泛的划红线历史和现成的社会和生物物理特征数据集。然后，将结构方程模型应用于美国和北美13个生态区的几十个主要城市，以确定确定城市特定和普遍的原则，这些原则决定了城市社会生态系统的公平性和弹性。总的来说，该项目推进了城市社会生态系统的研究和理论。该奖项反映了NSF的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的知识价值和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估，被认为值得支持。

Urban forests provide an abundance of goods and services to human communities, and human actions determine urban tree wellness and distribution. This tree-human relationship is at the heart of the urban socio-ecological system, where most of us will reside in the future, and it is critical for creating sustainable and equitable urban environments. However, a history of discriminatory housing policies and other forms of marginalization have systematically excluded trees and their ecosystem services from lower income and non-white neighborhoods. To address these socio-ecological inequities within our cities, we need a better understanding of the dynamics and connections that govern the urban tree-human relationship. This research will meet this need through an integrative and interdisciplinary research agenda combining novel measures of tree health with assessments of socially biased policies and practices. This information will aid the development and testing of new models that describe the tree-human relationship across US cities and will bring together researchers, students, decision-makers, and community members to begin undoing legacies of inequality and building more equitable and resilient urban environments for all. This interdisciplinary project aims to understand how historical legacies of discrimination are reflected in preset social-ecological dynamics in urban environments and how to develop effective strategies for promoting healthy, equitable, and resilient urban socio-ecological systems. The research team will develop novel indicators of urban tree and ecosystem health by integrating recent advances in plant physiology and remote sensing (e.g., ultra-high-resolution hyperspectral imagery, and LiDAR). Current urban forest extent and vulnerability will then be examined at multiple spatio-temporal scales and in specific historical contexts to elucidate the role of socially-biased policies and practices that set the stage for inequitable and non-resilient urban tree-human dynamics. Finally, structural equation models will be developed to describe how social and ecological health flow in intertwined ways from the socio-ecological structure, function, and dynamics of major US cities. These models will provide a means to forecast future urban forest health and resilience given possible ecological, social, and climatic change. The bulk of the detailed natural and human subsystems work will be completed in Portland OR, an urban socio-ecological system with an extensive past of redlining and readily available datasets on social and biophysical characteristics. Structural equation modeling will then be applied to several dozen major cities throughout the US and North America across thirteen ecoregions to identify city-specific and generalized principles that determine equity and resilience in urban socio-ecological systems. Overall, this project advances research and theory in urban social-ecological systems.This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.