Is life green on the other half? Linking urban green infrastructure to socio-economic inequality and spatial segregation in Tehran, Iran

Abstract

Urban Green Infrastructure provides a wide range of ecosystem services that promote overall quality of life. However, these benefits are not always distributed equally across the urban regions or among different population groups. The present study highlights urban green infrastructure inequality in the divided city of Tehran using occupation status data and open-source high-resolution satellite imagery. Our results reveal that high-income occupation groups live separately from the bottom occupational groups in the city, with a clear north-south division reflected in the urban spatial structure. The top occupation groups residing in the north benefit from both high vegetation density and tree canopy cover in private spaces and public street verges and live closer to urban parks, whereas the bottom occupation groups in the south suffer from the uneven provision and distribution of urban nature advantages. The average proportion of bottom occupation groups in census tracts with >300 m distance from public parks is almost double that of top occupation groups. The persistent historical north-south divide and environmental injustice further indicate that, over the decades, poorer citizens have been excluded from urban greening initiatives. Therefore, they should be brought back into the formal urban planning agenda to help rebuild an inclusive and sustainable city. We also highlight the potential of remote sensing techniques and occupation status data for studying environmental inequality across cities worldwide.