Ryun Jung Lee

This study examines how neighborhood perceptions, measured through satisfaction and observable conditions, relate to risk perception and shape residents’ disaster preparedness behaviors. It employs regression models using the 2017 American Housing Survey data. Findings indicate that households satisfied with their neighborhoods are more likely to engage in disaster preparedness behaviors. Moreover, the presence of abandoned structures or the lack of good schools discourages such actions. In communities with low awareness of disaster risks, improving neighborhood conditions can encourage disaster preparedness behaviors and increase community protection against disaster risks.

Municipal urban tree planting programs play a critical role in enhancing environmental justice, yet the influence of residents’ neighborhood perceptions on program participation remains understudied. This study investigates the role of neighborhood satisfaction in tree planting decisions and long-term survival outcomes within the EquiTree program in the City of San Antonio, USA. Using survey data from 306 respondents and logistic regression models, we find that higher neighborhood satisfaction significantly increases both participation in San Antonio’s tree planting program and the likelihood of tree survival. While neighborhood and property tree canopy coverage influence initial participation, they do not significantly impact survival rates, suggesting that personal commitment and community sentiment play a stronger role in tree survival efforts. These findings underscore the importance of neighborhood environment and community-based engagement strategies, including resident education on tree care, to enhance participation and survival efforts.

Green infrastructure in college campuses and their surrounding communities can bring public health benefits. Using green infrastructure measures in three university towns in Texas, United States, this study explores if and how green infrastructure can impact the physical and mental health status of university campus users in the community. Campus users were estimated as the number of visitors to campus using the SafeGraph mobility data, green infrastructure was measured with land cover and Landsat 8 satellite images, and health status was measured with the CDC health status data. The results of spatial error models suggest a significant moderating effect of tree canopy coverage indicating that green infrastructure could potentially benefit campus users’ health. This gives indirect evidence supporting the health-significant roles of the campus environment. For city planners and policymakers, increasing tree canopy coverage stands out as a promising green infrastructure planning and management strategy that can contribute to the health of campus users/communities.

Urban vacancies have been a concern for neighborhood distress and economic decline and have gained more recent attention as potential green infrastructure is known to benefit communities in diverse ways. To investigate this, this study looked into the relationship between land cover, natural environment, and urban vacancies in Austin, Texas. Additionally, we investigated the spatial patterns of green infrastructure and urban vacancies by different income groups to see if low income communities would potentially lack the benefits of green infrastructure. To measure green infrastructure, we used different land covers such as forests and shrublands, as well as natural environments such as tree canopies and vegetation richness, using remote sensing data. Urban vacancy information was retrieved from the USPS vacant addresses and parcel land uses. Through a series of multivariate analyses examining green infrastructure variables one by one, the study results indicate that green infrastructure interacts with residential and business vacancies differently. Additionally, low-income communities lack green infrastructure compared with the rest of the city and are exposed to more urban vacancies in their neighborhoods. Further study is required to understand the dynamics of vacancies in underserved communities and examine how existing vacant land can benefit the communities as ecological resources.

Vacant and abandoned land can be public eyesores that can potentially result in neighborhood distress in the long term. In some cases, the contextual conditions of a neighborhood have been shown to have more of a negative effect on communities than the vacant property itself. Maximum opportunities to actually reuse vacant and abandoned land is known to primarily exist in cases where the surrounding area has locational benefits or when local economic conditions are hopeful. This study examines and compares neighborhood socioeconomic characteristics around vacant lots in Minneapolis, Minnesota, USA, to identify spatial heterogeneity within vacancy types and neighborhood characteristics. Specifically, we examine 1) if the socioeconomic characteristics of a neighborhood can predict existing vacant lots and 2) what neighborhood characteristics are associated with certain vacant lot types. Three logistic regressions were tested with different buffers around each vacant lot, and a total of eighteen regressions were performed to capture the effects on six vacancy types. Results suggest that there are various types of vacancies interacting differently at the neighborhood scale, and that a large-scale neighborhood context matters when predicting vacancy types. The results also indicate three salient points. First, minority populations are a strong predictor of residential and commercial vacancies. Second, high-income areas tend to predict vacancies with potential investment opportunities or vacancies as a part of an existing park or recreational system. Third, vacant properties designated for institutional land uses tend to be found in lower-income areas, yet, not necessarily in areas with high minority populations. Managing and repurposing vacant and abandoned land should be handled more progressively with a better understanding of the socioeconomic characteristics of neighborhoods. Further, examining vacancy types by community can be a way to diagnose potential neighborhood risks associated with vacant and abandoned land.

Populating and depopulating cities have some degree of underutilised land. The duration of vacancy, or length of time a property remains unused, more strongly influences urban decline than the amount of vacant land. Assessment of the duration of vacancy is seldom conducted, due to a lack of linking longitudinal data. This research creates and applies a Python script to track the duration of vacancy in Minneapolis, MN, U.S.A, to create a tool that can be utilised by cities with vacant land inventories. The tool can be used globally to prioritise treatment areas for urban regeneration plans.

This study develops a methodology to distinguish vacant land types and introduces a classification scheme using a citywide vacancy inventory. Using Minneapolis, MN as a study area, three land characteristics associated with vacant properties – parcel size, ownership, and land use – are examined. Kaplan-Meier survival rates are then estimated to evaluate and compare the durations of vacancy between 2005 and 2015. The results indicate that a vacant property, in general, has the lowest probability to remain vacant within its first two years after becoming vacant. Smaller-sized parcels tend to result in a longer-term vacancy; while publicly owned, industrial, institutional, and/or recreational vacancies show similar tendencies. From this analysis, this study then develops a six-category classification scheme that can be used as (1) a novel tool to inventory vacant urban lands, (2) a diagnostic tool to identify repurposing opportunities, and (3) reliable means of comparing vacant properties across localities.