Lorien Nesbitt
![Lorien-Nesbitt-SQ800 Lorien Nesbitt](https://urbannatures.ca/wp-content/uploads/bb-plugin/cache/Lorien-Nesbitt-SQ800-circle-54e127358822a0c4e5aeed5c4611bee0-utjrc130mp2f.jpg)
Lorien Nesbitt
Assistant Professor
she/her
Lorien is an Assistant Professor in UBC's Faculty of Forestry. She seeks to create more liveable and equitable urban environments through her work. Her research focuses on environmental justice in urban greening and planning, with specific interests in green gentrification, recognition justice in urban greening stewardship, and supporting planetary health during the climate crisis.
RESEARCH INTERESTS
Urban forestry, environmental justice, urban green equity, green gentrification
RESEARCH
Attributes and benefits of urban green space visits – Insights from the City of Vancouver
This research explores the relationships between attributes of a green space visit (green space type, duration, activities, company) and 1) health-related benefits (including mental restoration, aesthetic appreciation), and 2) visitor demographics and health status. Exploratory analyses of our online survey show that the type of green space chosen has little relevance for benefits but that…
Comparison of Canadian urban forest perceptions indicates variations in beliefs and trust across geographic settings
Urban forests are characterized by relationships between people and trees, where urban trees provide benefits to people and people make decisions impacting trees. People’s perceptions of urban forests are related to the cognitive processes that underpin benefits received from trees, while also influencing support for or against trees and their management. A growing literature has…
Greening the gentrification process: Insights and engagements from practitioners
Green gentrification implicates urban greening as a driver of neighbourhood ‘upgrading’ and subsequent displacement. However, it is unclear whether the concept resonates with, or supports the work of, those responsible for much of the greening occurring in cities – urban green planners/practitioners. We interviewed 33 planners/practitioners in Canada to refine our understanding of the relationships…
Greening practitioners worry about green gentrification but many don’t address it in their work
As cities attempt to ameliorate urban green inequities, a potential challenge has emerged in the form of green gentrification. Although practitioners are central to urban greening and associated gentrification, there has yet to be an exploration of practitioner perspectives on the phenomenon. We fill this gap with an online survey of 51 urban greening practitioners…
Achieving the Urban Tree Trifecta: Scenario Modelling for Salubrious, Resilient, and Diverse Urban Forests in Densifying Cities
Background: Urban forests can provide nature-based solutions (NBS) to complex climate-change challenges via the provision of ecosystem services such as shade and cooling that offset increased risks of chronic diseases and excess mortality. They also confer indirect health benefits by providing regulating ecosystem services that can facilitate climate-change mitigation efforts: increased shade can encourage shifts…
How common is greening in gentrifying areas?
Green gentrification occurs when urban greening/sustainability interventions become implicated in neighbourhood upgrading and displacement of existing residents. However, current emphasis on urban sustainability in planning/policy agendas, coupled with political-economic factors producing uneven development, lead us to ask whether all gentrifying areas experience greening. Our descriptive analysis identified gentrifying areas in Vancouver, Calgary, and Toronto (Canada),…
Assessing changes in urban vegetation using Normalised Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI) for epidemiological studies
Urban vegetation is an important component of healthy, livable cities and has been linked to several benefits, including improved human health outcomes, natural system regulation, and habitat provision. Understanding and documenting changes to urban vegetation is essential for planning for sustainable cities. This study focuses on identifying where and when urban vegetation changed in Metro…
Modelling Four Neighbourhood-Scale Urban Forest Scenarios for 2050: Vancouver, Canada
Background: Urban forests are increasingly recognized as important tools in climate change mitigation and adaptation, prompting many cities to set tree canopy cover targets. However, current gaps in knowledge include understanding relationships and the feasibility of maximizing benefits between urban greening and other climate actions, such as densification. This study offers a data-driven and manageable…
British Columbia, Canada, as a bellwether for climate-driven respiratory and allergic disorders
Touching briefly on health effects related to climate change, we orient this Paradigms and Perspectives article within the context of British Columbia, Canada, in hopes that highlighting challenges in British Columbia will be informative and inspirational to others. We describe issues faced in our context, in which extreme climatic events have accelerated dramatically in a…
A Comparison of Value-Weight-Elicitation Methods for Accurate and Accessible Participatory Planning
This research analyzed six value-weight-elicitation techniques that are commonly used in participatory planning. It compared the techniques via measures of accuracy (within-subjects user-derived assessments and quantitative weight comparisons) and accessibility (time to complete, difficulty, and “boringness”). Visual sliders performed best across assessments. Pairwise comparison, visual sliders, and swing weighting were the most accurate, while visual…
Invited Perspective: Nature Is Unfairly Distributed in the United States—But That’s Only Part of the Global Green Equity Story
As we experience increased impacts of climate change and urbanization, the many benefits to health and well-being provided by green and blue spaces are becoming more important, and research has shown these health benefits to be particularly strong for lower-income populations. Given these benefits, we have seen increased societal concern about the inequitable distribution of…
Data-driven natural asset management – Rogers Demo Day Video
5G Data-Driven Natural Asset Management and Integration Smart Nature based Solutions for Sustainable Cities, a Campus as a Living Lab funded project, explores the use of smart and digital technologies to support urban forest health and create sustainable, equitable cities. As cities densify and climate change increasingly stresses our social-ecological systems, cities can leverage technological…
Wealthy, educated, and… non-millennial? Variable patterns of distributional inequity in 31 Canadian cities
This article assesses the distribution of urban vegetation in 31 Canadian cities to determine whether certain social-economic/demographic factors are associated with increased proximity to greenness. Using spatial lag models, Canadian census data, and urban ‘greenness fractions’ derived from Landsat imagery, we find diversity between cities in the factors associated with increased urban vegetation. This makes…
Improvement, not displacement: A framework for urban green gentrification research and practice
As researchers have continued to expand the bounds of green gentrification scholarship, understanding of what green gentrification is and how to identify the phenomenon on the ground has grown obscured. In an attempt to bring clarity to this conversation, our research presents an urban green gentrification framework, based on findings from a scoping review and…
Expelled from the garden? Understanding the dynamics of green gentrification in Vancouver, British Columbia
There is substantial evidence detailing the ecological and social benefits provided through urban greening. However, research in the field of urban green equity has revealed that these benefits are not enjoyed equitably by all residents; existing disparities in the distribution, accessibility, and experience of urban greening disproportionately affect historically marginalized communities and residents. Furthermore, green…
How well do we know green gentrification? A systematic review of the methods
This systematic literature review identifies and critiques methodological trends in green gentrification research (focusing on studies of vegetative greening) and provides suggestions for advancing this field. Findings reveal (1) research has largely focused on U.S. case studies; (2) early work employed qualitative methods but quantitative analyses have become more common; (3) little attention has been…
The influence of early-life residential exposure to different vegetation types and paved surfaces on early childhood development: A population-based birth cohort study
Background: Growing evidence suggests that exposure to green space is associated with improved childhood health and development, but the influence of different green space types remains relatively unexplored. In the present study, we investigated the association between early-life residential exposure to vegetation and early childhood development and evaluated whether associations differed according to land cover…
Neighborhood environmental exposures and incidence of attention deficit/hyperactivity disorder: A population-based cohort study
Background: Emerging studies have associated low greenspace and high air pollution exposure with risk of child attention deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD). Population-based studies are limited, however, and joint effects are rarely evaluated. We investigated associations of ADHD incidence with greenspace, air pollution, and noise in a population-based birth cohort. Methods: We assembled a cohort from administrative…
Intercultural learning in contested space: The biocultural realities of global cities through the lens of Vancouver, Canada
Chapter 10 in Urban nature: enriching belonging, wellbeing and bioculture
Urban Forest Governance in the Face of Pulse Disturbances–Canadian Experiences
The sustainable provision of urban forest benefits can be threatened by the occurrence of sudden, major disturbance events, such as forest fires, insect outbreaks, and extreme weather events, which are considered to be “pulse” disturbance events from a socio-ecological systems perspective. Sound urban forestry programs are needed to prepare for these disturbances and reduce their…
The Digital Forest: Mapping a Decade of Knowledge on Technological Applications for Forest Ecosystems
Forest ecosystem resilience is of considerable interest worldwide, particularly given the climate crisis, biodiversity loss, and recent instances of zoonotic diseases linked to deforestation and forest loss. Novel, digital-based technologies are also increasingly ubiquitous. We provide a more comprehensive understanding of how these new technologies are being used for forest management in different sectors and…
The association between natural environments and childhood mental health and development: A systematic review and assessment of different exposure measurements
Several studies have assessed the relationship between exposure to natural environments (NEs) and childhood mental health and development. In most cases, a positive association has been found, but results are inconsistent, and the strength of association is unclear. This inconsistency may reflect the heterogeneity in measurements used to assess NE. This systematic review aims to…
Alignment of municipal climate change and urban forestry policies: A Canadian perspective
While being major greenhouse gas (GHG) emitters, cities also suffer some of the most severe climate change impacts. Urban forests have gained increasing recognition as nature-based solutions to climate change via the various benefits they provide, such as carbon sequestration and temperature regulation. Many cities have developed climate change and/or urban forest policies to enhance…
Governing for diversity: An exploration of practitioners’ urban forest preferences and implications for equitable governance
Urban forests are increasingly acknowledged as sources of multiple benefits and central to climate resilience and human well-being. Given these diverse and significant benefits, it is important to govern urban forests so as to ensure that all residents have equitable access and enjoyment. Understanding urban forest preferences, and including them in planning and management, is…
Who has access to urban vegetation? A spatial analysis of distributional green equity in 10 US cities
This research examines the distributional equity of urban vegetation in 10 US urbanized areas using very high resolution land cover data and census data. Urban vegetation is characterized three ways in the analysis (mixed vegetation, woody vegetation, and public parks), to reflect the variable ecosystem services provided by different types of urban vegetation. Data are…
Women in urban forestry and arboriculture: Experiences, barriers and strategies for leadership
Urban forestry and arboriculture are male-dominated industries. Although women have experienced current and historical marginalization in these industries, recent years have seen more young women embrace opportunities and pursue careers in these fields. In order to understand and enhance women’s participation in urban forestry and arboriculture, this research assesses the current status of women’s participation…
Urban green equity on the ground: Practice-based models of urban green equity in three multicultural cities
Urban green equity, broadly defined as equitable access to and governance of urban forests, mediates urban residents’ ability to derive ecosystem services from urban forests. This article explores conceptions of, barriers to, and strategies for urban green equity as understood by urban forestry and related green practitioners in three multicultural cities in the US. Practitioners…
Natural environments and perceived health in Metro Vancouver, Canada
Background: Growing evidence demonstrates the health benefits of natural environments (NE), but the effect of different NE types remains relatively unexplored. This study assesses the association between perceived health and different types of NEs by analysing both access (i.e., living within proximity to a public park) and exposure (i.e., high percentage of NE in residential…
SDG 11: sustainable cities and communities–impacts on forests and forest-based livelihoods
Addressing global urban challenges through the implementation of SDG 11 depends on how cities prioritise resources and strategies over the next decade. This prioritisation is context-specific, relating to socioeconomic development trajectories and spatio-temporal urbanisation patterns. Implementing SDG 11 will affect forests and forest livelihoods near and far from urban centres. The strategic inclusion of urban…