Examining facilitators and challenges to implementing equitable green space policies: Lessons from Los Angeles County

ABSTRACT

Many cities and counties in the U.S. have recently passed equity-oriented policies to improve access to green space for disadvantaged communities. However, the implementation of these policies could limit their intended outcomes, and scant research has focused on their implementation. To address these knowledge gaps, we explored the facilitators and challenges to effectively implementing equity-oriented policies that dedicate green space funding to low-income communities of color in Los Angeles County. We conducted interviews with 25 green space practitioners (in public agencies and nonprofits) and participant observation at 28 meetings. We found that facilitators of equitable implementation include nonprofit advocacy and technical assistance programs, while challenges include limited capacity and funding for nonprofits and cities, politics and bureaucracy, and market conditions. Our results align with policy process theories describing actors and streams in policymaking, and call for consideration of how systemic issues such as structural racism hinder equitable implementation.

KEYWORDS:

• Parks
• policy implementation
• equity
• environmental justice
• nonprofits

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Additional information

Funding

Funding for part of this research was provided by the Los Angeles County Regional Park and Open Space District.

Notes on contributors

Alessandro Rigolon

Alessandro Rigolon is an Assistant Professor in the Department of City & Metropolitan Planning at the University of Utah. His research centers on planning for urban green space and health equity, using an environmental justice lens. His current work covers three related areas: planning and policy determinants of (in)equitable park provision, drivers and resistance to gentrification fostered by new green spaces (i.e., green gentrification), and the public health impacts of urban green space on marginalized communities.

Jon Christensen

Jon Christensen is an adjunct assistant professor in the Institute of the Environment and Sustainability, Luskin Center for Innovation, and Center for Digital Humanities at the University of California, Los Angeles. His multidisciplinary research focuses on equity and the environment, strategic environmental communication, and journalism, media, and storytelling. He has been an environmental journalist and science writer for more than 30 years. His work has appeared in the New York Times, Nature, High Country News, and many other newspapers, magazines, journals, and radio and television shows.