Mapping Green Justice Opportunities In Minneapolis: Spatial Evidence Of Racialized Greenspace And Physical Activity Inequities

In the United States (U.S.), residents in marginalized communities often have less access to “green” environments, limiting opportunities for physical activity (PA) and improvements in health outcomes. Racially restrictive property deeds, known as “racial covenants,” were used in the early-to-mid 1900s in the U.S. to legally prevent the sale, rental, or occupation of land by non-White people in designated neighborhoods and to shape the urban landscape. PURPOSE: To characterize neighborhoods in the greenspace-rich city of Minneapolis, MN by racial covenant density patterns and to descriptively examine residents’ greenspace access and moderate-vigorous intensity PA (MVPA). METHODS: Using geospatial data from young adults (n = 504; age = 22.6 ± 2.0 yrs; Black, Indigenous, or Person of Color [BIPOC] = 80.1%) in the Project EAT (Eating and Activity Over Time) 2018 study, we assigned participants to three neighborhood groups based on racial covenant density (e.g., on average, none, <1.0, or 1.0+ covenants per city block) within a 1,600-meter GIS network buffer of their home. RESULTS: Participants in the “Highly Saturated” racial covenant neighborhoods (n = 72; BIPOC = 62.0%; greenspace land-use = 9.0 ± 6.0%) had greener environments than those in “Less Saturated” (n = 308; BIPOC = 83.2%; greenspace land-use = 7.6 ± 4.6%) and “No Racial Covenant” neighborhoods (n = 124; BIPOC = 83.3%; greenspace land-use = 7.8 ± 4.0%). Similarly, MVPA was highest among those living in the "Highly" covenanted neighborhoods compared to the "Less" covenanted and "No Racial Covenant" neighborhoods: 5.3 ± 4.6 hrs/wk compared to 4.3 ± 4.1 and 4.5 ± 4.0 hrs/wk, respectively. In historically Black (non-covenanted) neighborhoods, residents lived twice as far from parks compared to those living in “Highly” and “Less” covenanted neighborhoods; 1,729.9 ± 2,167.5 versus 921.8 ± 1,080.1 and 760.7 ± 1,103.1 meters, respectively. CONCLUSION: Spatial evidence demonstrates that historically covenanted (“White-only”) neighborhoods in Minneapolis retain structural privilege across time and, contemporarily, have greater environmental access to green PA opportunities. To address these disparities, non-gentrifying green justice initiatives are needed. Project EAT was supported by NHLBI Grant Numbers R01HL127077 and R35HL139853 (PI: Dianne Neumark-Sztainer). EN Kramer-Kostecka and K Johnson were supported by NHLBI Grant Number T32HL150452. JN de Brito was supported by NIH Award Number K12AR084223 .