Who Plants Trees? A Geospatial Analysis of the EquiTree Program in San Antonio, Texas

The EquiTree Program is a free tree giveaway initiative managed by the City of San Antonio Parks and Recreation Department in an effort to enhance green infrastructure in socially vulnerable communities within the city. This initiative falls in line with previous research that has identified equity concerns with respect to access to green infrastructure. This study seeks to identify the geospatial patterns of the EquiTree participants in order to increase future participation and benefit all communities.

As a part of the research project funded by the City of San Antonio, Sam Rueda, a master’s student in urban and regional planning, led the poster presentation under the supervision of Dr. Ryun Jung Lee at the annual Association of Collegiate Schools of Planning conference in Chicago, Illinois on October 19, 2023. This poster highlights the comparison between EquiTree participants and non-participants on the property and neighborhood characteristics.  

The poster also won the best poster award. Congratulations!

https://www.acsp.org/page/BestPosterAward

2023 ACSP best poster award
Source: ACSP conference album
Source: ACSP conference album

Think Science: Using Data Science to Improve our City

Image source: UTSA Today

On September 12, 2023, Dr. Ryun Jung Lee attended a panel discussion led by Texas Public Radio and the UTSA School of Data Science to discuss how planners and designers use data to analyze existing green infrastructure and promote equity through tree planting. She highlighted that with increased access to numerous datasets, how researchers use the data to solve urban issues has become important.

This panel discussion was highlighted on UTSA Today. https://www.utsa.edu/today/2023/09/story/tpr-school-of-data-science-event.html

More information about this panel discussion can be found here: https://www.tpr.org/tpr-events-initiatives/2023-08-21/think-science-using-data-science-to-improve-our-city

Think Science: Using Data Science to Improve our City
Photo taken by Nathan Cone, Texas Public Radio