DISES: Addressing dynamic landscape inequalities in human well-being and bee health by greening

该项目旨在了解前院授粉花园是否可以被设计为随着时间的推移同时促进生态健康和人类福祉。这个项目是与来自低收入郊区社区的社区组织者共同创建的，这些社区组织者靠近一座以高房产空置率为特征的老城。空地是为城市蜜蜂提供宝贵栖息地的绿地；然而，它们也是不稳定的明显指标，并破坏了社区感知和实际的安全。该项目与社区团体协调，建立并评估了大约40个前院授粉花园对居民健康和城市生态系统的影响。作为项目的一部分，研究人员建立了一个当地园艺导师网络，创建了教育材料和课程，并举办了园艺研讨会。通过这些伙伴关系，该项目旨在解决长期存在的障碍，阻碍低收入有色人种居民可持续地参与保护活动。这项研究利用“关爱的线索”(CTC)理论，将包括生动开花的植物在内的景观特征描述为符合文化和当地标准的家居景观外观的视觉线索。CTC理论表明，人类福祉和蜜蜂健康必须通过设计保持一致，而不是假设居民理解或欣赏。在这项研究中，CTC前院花园网络被安装在物业空置率从低到高的社区。在这个网络中，该项目研究了空地和四氯化碳前院授粉花园如何相互作用，影响蜜蜂的健康和人类福祉，以及整个社区前院绿化的长期趋势。这种对前院花园的关注解决了社会环境学术中的一个主要理论知识缺口：遗产城市如何可持续地支持和增加传粉者的健康以及有色人种社区的人类福祉。该项目还有助于教育和培训参与研究的多名学生和博士后学者。该奖项反映了NSF的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的学术价值和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估，被认为值得支持。

This project seeks to learn whether front yard pollinator gardens can be designed to simultaneously promote ecological health and human well-being over time. This project was co-created with community organizers from lower income suburban neighborhoods near a legacy city characterized by high property vacancy rates. Vacant lots are greenspaces that provide valuable habitat for urban bees; however, they are also a visible indicator of instability, and undermine the perceived and actual safety of communities. Coordinating with community groups, this project establishes and evaluates the impact of approximately 40 front yard pollinator gardens on the health of residents and the urban ecosystem. As part of the projects, the researchers build a network of local gardening mentors, create educational materials and curricula, and hold gardening workshops. Through these partnerships this project aims to address longstanding barriers to sustainable participation in conservation activities among lower income residents of color.This study utilizes “cues to care” (CTC) theory, which describes landscape characteristics including vividly flowering plants as visual cues that meet cultural and local norms for home landscape appearance. CTC theory suggests that human well-being and bee health must be aligned by design rather than assumed to be understood or appreciated by residents. In this study, a network of CTC front yard gardens is installed in neighborhoods that range from low to high concentrations of property vacancy. Within this network, the project examines how vacant land and CTC front yard pollinator gardens interact to influence bee health and human well-being as well as the long-term trends in front yard greening across the community. This focus on front yard gardens addresses a major theoretical knowledge gap in socio-environmental scholarship: how legacy cities can sustainably support and increase pollinator health together with human well-being in communities of color. The project also contributes to the education and training of multiple students and postdoctoral scholars who are involved in the research.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.