Making cities greener doesn't have to mean forcing out the people who already live there.
March 19, 2026
Original Paper
Greening Without Gentrification? Institutional Conditions and Spatial Inclusion
SSRN · 6437874
The Takeaway
It is often assumed that new parks and trees automatically drive up rents and displace the poor. By comparing 28 cities, this paper shows that 'green gentrification' only happens in cities that rely on property taxes and have weak housing laws; cities like Vienna prove you can massively improve the environment without displacing residents.
From the abstract
Green infrastructure has become central to urban climate adaptation worldwide, yet its implementation frequently displaces the very communities most vulnerable to climate risks. This paper develops a political economy framework explaining why greening produces spatial exclusion in some cities but enables inclusive green infrastructure in others. Synthesizing comparative quantitative evidence across 28 Global North cities with qualitative case analysis of Atlanta, Barcelona, and Vienna, This anal