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Environmental goods provision and gentrification: Evidence from MillionTreesNYC

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  • Li, Liqing

Abstract

Urban trees offer extensive environmental benefits. However, the distribution of trees in urban areas often disproportionately favors higher-income neighborhoods. Implementing tree-planting programs in lower-income neighborhoods may provide environmental amenity values but may also lead to unintended consequences, such as gentrification. This paper focuses on one of the largest tree-planting programs in the U.S., the MillionTreesNYC Program, and estimates the impact of an increased supply of urban street trees on housing values and neighborhood compositions. The results demonstrate that the additional urban street trees did serve as an environmental amenity, resulting in higher housing values and attracting more white, educated, and young households to areas with new trees. However, the gentrification effects of this tree-planting program were relatively small, with minimal change in community composition. These findings suggest that it is possible to provide public goods without significant displacement of the existing population while also reaping the numerous benefits trees offer to urban areas.

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  • Li, Liqing, 2023. "Environmental goods provision and gentrification: Evidence from MillionTreesNYC," Journal of Environmental Economics and Management, Elsevier, vol. 120(C).
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:jeeman:v:120:y:2023:i:c:s0095069623000463
    DOI: 10.1016/j.jeem.2023.102828
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    1. Xinming Du & Lei Li & Eric Zou, 2024. "Trade, Trees, and Lives," Papers 2411.13516, arXiv.org.
    2. Wang, Yixuan, 2024. "Urban Redevelopment and Gentrification: Evidence from the Atlanta BeltLine," 2024 Annual Meeting, July 28-30, New Orleans, LA 343550, Agricultural and Applied Economics Association.
    3. Oday A. Hiary & Malik G. Al-Ajlouni, 2024. "Exploring Common Residential Landscape Types and Their Water Budget in Amman, Jordan," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 16(24), pages 1-20, December.

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