Abstract
Research has demonstrated the impact of historic discriminatory mortgage lending (i.e., “redlining”) on the distribution of environmental benefits and burdens, while the environmental legacies of other racially discriminatory housing policies remain unexplored. Using a novel dataset of racial covenants in Minneapolis and its suburbs, the first complete map for any U.S. city, we find a significant positive association between historic racial covenant presence and cooler temperatures, increased tree canopy, and reduced impervious surface today. When compared to redlining, we find that covenants have an environmental impact comparable to the two highest HOLC designations (A or B). Further, within each HOLC grade, covenant presence is associated with additional environmental benefits that mitigate the negative environmental impact associated with redlining. This analysis reveals that the positive environmental benefits associated with covenants are not simply driven by an urban-suburban land-use gradient but, rather, are related to the privilege afforded to the legal guarantees of whiteness embedded in the covenant itself.
Original language | English (US) |
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Article number | 105019 |
Journal | Landscape and Urban Planning |
Volume | 245 |
DOIs | |
State | Published - May 2024 |
Externally published | Yes |
Keywords
- Climate change
- Environmental justice
- Racial covenant
- Redlining
- Tree canopy
- Urban heat islands
ASJC Scopus subject areas
- Ecology
- Urban Studies
- Nature and Landscape Conservation
- Management, Monitoring, Policy and Law
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Study: Historic racial covenants in property deeds linked to disparities in exposure to dangerous heat
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