"Nature inequity and higher COVID-19 case rates in less green neighbourhoods in the United States," Nature Sustainability
This dataset includes all replication materials for Spotswood et al. 2021 ‘Nature inequity and higher COVID-19 case rates in less green neighbourhoods in the United States’. The materials allow users to reproduce analyses, figures, and calculations appearing the main text and extended data of the paper. This site hosts ArcGIS shapefiles with all relevant data and R code to reproduce all analyses and figures. See manuscript methods for further details for data preparation and sources.
The data package includes the following layers:
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Nature inequity data
This shapefile contains information for all urbanized areas in the US, including nature access, demographic information, and other urban form variables.
- Spatial extent: National for all 486 Urbanized areas
- Spatial scale: Block groups taken from US Census data
- Sample size: 142,325 block groups
- Associated code: Nature_Equity_Analysis_PUBLIC FINAL.R
Relevant variables:
- Average NDVI for all block groups in all urbanized areas in the US
- Average acres of park within 1,000 meters of block centroids, averaged across block groups
- Population density
- Income
- Race
- Land area of each block group
- Built up intensity
- Aridity index
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COVID-19 cases and nature inequity
This shapefile contains information from 17 states that reported COVID-19 cases at the ZIP Code scale during the first year of the COVID-19 pandemic (from March - October, 2020). Data include COVID-19 cases, nature access, demographic information, and other urban form variables.
- Spatial extent: 17 States
- Spatial scale: ZIP Code scale
- Sample size: 2,652 ZIP Codes
- Associated code: Covid_States_Analysis_PUBLIC FINAL.R
Relevant variables:
- COVID-19 Case rates (per 100,000 people) reported for each ZIP Code
- Average NDVI values for each ZIP Code
- Average acres of park within 1,000 m of block centroids, averaged across ZIP Codes
- Racial makeup of ZIP Code
- Median income of ZIP Code
- Population density
- Median age of ZIP Code
- The number of days since the first case was reported (county scale)
- Built up intensity
- Aridity index
Creation Date:
Thursday, October 7, 2021
Last Updated:
Thursday, October 7, 2021
Type of Data:
GIS imagery/raster
Programs and Focus Areas:
Urban Nature Lab
Associated Staff:
Funders:
Related Projects, News, and Events:
New article published in Nature Sustainability linking COVID-19 to nature equity, showing communities of color face starkest burden (News)
Erica Spotswood and a team of scientists published pioneering research in Nature Sustainability, finding that COVID-19 tracks neighborhood greenness in the US, exacerbating existing inequity. The study, titled “Nature inequity and higher COVID-19 case rates in less green neighbourhoods in the United States,” demonstrates a fundamental pattern that low-income and majority-minority communities systematically have less access to nature in urban areas across the U.S.