NSF Convergence Accelerator Track K: Unraveling the Benefits, Costs, and Equity of Tree Coverage in Desert Cities

NSF 融合加速器轨道 K：揭示沙漠城市树木覆盖的效益、成本和公平性

• 批准号: 2344472
• 负责人: Alex Mayer
• 金额: $ 65万
• 依托单位: University of Texas at El Paso
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Standard Grant
• 财政年份: 2024
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2024-01-15 至 2024-12-31
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2344472&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: NSF; Convergence; Accelerator; Track; Unraveling

The “project,” consisting of Convergence Accelerator Phase 1, will produce decision-making tools that optimize tree canopy coverage in desert cities. It will balance three central concerns: tempering the effects of heat on health and well-being, water consumption, and environmental justice (equitable benefits of water devoted to trees). These effects pull in different directions, so end-user-oriented decision-making tools will help decision-makers at multiple scales, from householders to community organizations to city and county planners. The overall deliverables for this project are to produce decision-making tools for stakeholders to select and distribute trees while optimizing justice and effectiveness in water-heat tradeoffs. In Phase 1, the team will develop, test, and deliver use-inspired prototype tools, driven by the convergence of community partner discussions with key research questions about urban trees, water, heat, and social equity. Phase 1 components include: tree selection and distribution decision-making tools for planners in desert cities; use of thermal data to assess tree water-heat-health tradeoffs; fine resolution environmental justice mapping of tree benefits and costs, especially water; improvement of software for assessing household energy and water conservation measures with focus on trees; and community health worker training programs for household and neighborhood tree planning. The project will use the large, arid, and relatively low income/high Hispanic city of El Paso as its test bed. The broader impacts are substantial. First, this addresses environmental justice in terms of the trade off of limited water and urban heat. It strengthens procedural justice by putting user-oriented planning tools and promoter training in the hands of community organizations and householders, as well as wider agencies. It strengthens distributive justice by directing limited water resources toward reducing urban heat inequalities most effectively. This set of prototype tools will be made openly available; they will be immediately useful for semi-arid and arid areas of the United States and have implications for water and tree planning across the country. Second, four of the five academic institutions in the proposed project are Hispanic Serving Institutions with especially high fractions of Hispanic students and high classifications for social mobility. Third, the Phase 1 project will include community organizations in the heavily Hispanic (84%) city of El Paso, Texas, where the poverty rate is nearly twice that of the national figure. The project will target low-income portions of El Paso and census tracts that have been determined to be vulnerable by the US Climate & Economic Justice Screening Tool.This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.

由收敛加速器1组成的“项目”将生产决策工具，以优化沙漠城市的树冠覆盖范围。它将平衡三个核心问题：降低热量对健康和福祉，水消耗和环境正义的影响（专用于树木的水的公平益处）。这些效果朝着不同的方向发展，因此，以最终用户为导向的决策工具将帮助决策者在多个尺度上，从住户到社区组织再到城市和县规划师。该项目的总体可交付成果是为利益相关者提供决策工具，以选择和分发树木，同时优化水热权衡的正义和有效性。在第1阶段，团队将开发，测试和交付受使用启发的原型工具，这是由社区合作伙伴讨论的融合以及有关城市树木，水，热量和社会公平的关键研究问题的融合所驱动的。第1阶段的组件包括：针对沙漠城市计划者的树木选择和分销决策工具；使用热数据来评估树木热的健康权衡；精细解决的环境正义制图树木利益和成本，尤其是水；改善用于评估家庭能源和节水措施的软件，重点是树木；以及针对家庭和邻里树计划的社区卫生工作者培训计划。该项目将使用大型，干旱且相对较低的收入/高西班牙裔城市埃尔帕索（El Paso）作为测试床。更广泛的影响是巨大的。首先，这是根据有限的水和城市热量的权衡来解决环境正义的。它通过将面向用户的计划工具和促进者培训置于社区组织和住户以及广泛的机构的手中，从而增强了程序上的正义。它通过指示有限的水资源来最大程度地减少城市热不平等，从而加强分配正义。这组原型工具将公开可用；它们将立即对美国的半干旱和干旱地区有用，并对全国的水和树木规划产生影响。其次，拟议项目的五个学术机构中有四个是西班牙裔服务机构，其中西班牙裔学生的分数特别高，并且具有高度的社会流动性分类。第三，第一阶段项目将包括西班牙裔（84％）的德克萨斯州埃尔帕索市的社区组织，那里的贫困率几乎是国家人物的两倍。该项目将针对El Paso的低收入部分和人口普查区域，这些部分被美国气候和经济司法筛查工具确定为易受伤害。该奖项反映了NSF的法定任务，并被认为是通过基金会的知识分子优点和更广泛的影响审查标准通过评估来评估的。