Assessing urban vegetation inequalities: Methodological insights and evidence
Vegetation indixes have become increasingly popular in analyzing urban inequalities in access to and use of green spaces. However, the methodologies employed have been heterogeneous, leading to inconclusive or contradictory results. This study aims to conduct a scoping literature review of research...
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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Elsevier
2025-05-01
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| Series: | Ecological Informatics |
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| Online Access: | http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1574954124005296 |
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| author | Alicia González-Marín Marco Garrido-Cumbrera |
| author_facet | Alicia González-Marín Marco Garrido-Cumbrera |
| author_sort | Alicia González-Marín |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Vegetation indixes have become increasingly popular in analyzing urban inequalities in access to and use of green spaces. However, the methodologies employed have been heterogeneous, leading to inconclusive or contradictory results. This study aims to conduct a scoping literature review of research that evaluates methodologies used to estimate the inequal distribution of vegetation in cities, providing evidence to establish standardized guidelines for the selection of data sources, methodologies and indicators. The review includes 66 articles published between 2004 and 2023 from various global regions. We identified 10 vegetation indixes, with the Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI) being the most frequently used, typically derived from Landsat satellite data. The review highlights the importance of image acquisition times and temporal resolution in capturing dynamic urban environments. The spatial scale most adopted is the census block group, suitable for assessing urban inequalities. We observed substantial heterogeneity in the methodologies and statistical tools employed, with spatial autocorrelation analysis being the most common, followed by Pearson's and Spearman's correlation coefficients. ArcGIS was the most widely used GIS platform, closely followed by the cloud-based geospatial analysis platform Google Earth Engine, while R-Studio and Statistical Package for the Social Sciences (SPSS) were popular for statistical analysis. This study underscores the need for standardized methodologies to enhance the comparability and reliability of research on urban vegetation inequalities. |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj-art-cda5e4ac5c5a4408b6c161935208167b |
| institution | Kabale University |
| issn | 1574-9541 |
| language | English |
| publishDate | 2025-05-01 |
| publisher | Elsevier |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Ecological Informatics |
| spelling | doaj-art-cda5e4ac5c5a4408b6c161935208167b2025-02-09T04:59:51ZengElsevierEcological Informatics1574-95412025-05-0186102987Assessing urban vegetation inequalities: Methodological insights and evidenceAlicia González-Marín0Marco Garrido-Cumbrera1Corresponding author at: C/ Doña María de Padilla, S/N, 41004 Seville, Spain.; Departamento de Geografía Física y Análisis Geográfico Regional, Health and Territory Research, Universidad de Sevilla, SpainDepartamento de Geografía Física y Análisis Geográfico Regional, Health and Territory Research, Universidad de Sevilla, SpainVegetation indixes have become increasingly popular in analyzing urban inequalities in access to and use of green spaces. However, the methodologies employed have been heterogeneous, leading to inconclusive or contradictory results. This study aims to conduct a scoping literature review of research that evaluates methodologies used to estimate the inequal distribution of vegetation in cities, providing evidence to establish standardized guidelines for the selection of data sources, methodologies and indicators. The review includes 66 articles published between 2004 and 2023 from various global regions. We identified 10 vegetation indixes, with the Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI) being the most frequently used, typically derived from Landsat satellite data. The review highlights the importance of image acquisition times and temporal resolution in capturing dynamic urban environments. The spatial scale most adopted is the census block group, suitable for assessing urban inequalities. We observed substantial heterogeneity in the methodologies and statistical tools employed, with spatial autocorrelation analysis being the most common, followed by Pearson's and Spearman's correlation coefficients. ArcGIS was the most widely used GIS platform, closely followed by the cloud-based geospatial analysis platform Google Earth Engine, while R-Studio and Statistical Package for the Social Sciences (SPSS) were popular for statistical analysis. This study underscores the need for standardized methodologies to enhance the comparability and reliability of research on urban vegetation inequalities.http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1574954124005296Vegetation indexesInequalitiesSatellite remote sensingNDVIGIS |
| spellingShingle | Alicia González-Marín Marco Garrido-Cumbrera Assessing urban vegetation inequalities: Methodological insights and evidence Ecological Informatics Vegetation indexes Inequalities Satellite remote sensing NDVI GIS |
| title | Assessing urban vegetation inequalities: Methodological insights and evidence |
| title_full | Assessing urban vegetation inequalities: Methodological insights and evidence |
| title_fullStr | Assessing urban vegetation inequalities: Methodological insights and evidence |
| title_full_unstemmed | Assessing urban vegetation inequalities: Methodological insights and evidence |
| title_short | Assessing urban vegetation inequalities: Methodological insights and evidence |
| title_sort | assessing urban vegetation inequalities methodological insights and evidence |
| topic | Vegetation indexes Inequalities Satellite remote sensing NDVI GIS |
| url | http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1574954124005296 |
| work_keys_str_mv | AT aliciagonzalezmarin assessingurbanvegetationinequalitiesmethodologicalinsightsandevidence AT marcogarridocumbrera assessingurbanvegetationinequalitiesmethodologicalinsightsandevidence |