Lydia Nesbitt
Biographic Data
| ID | 768938 |
|---|---|
| NAME | Lydia Nesbitt |
| GIVEN NAMES | Lydia |
| FAMILY NAME | Nesbitt |
| SIGNATURE | NESBITT L |
| AFFILIATIONS | University of British Columbia |
| ORCID | 0000-0002-4018-1825 |
| VERIFIED | Yes |
| TOTAL WORKS | 23 |
| TOTAL CITATIONS | 34 |
| AUTHOR COUNT | 23 |
| EDITOR COUNT | 0 |
| FIRST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2010 |
| LATEST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2026 |
| H-INDEX | 4 |
Literature review of human interactions with urban nature and their mental health associations
This review explores the mental health benefits of human-nature interactions in urban areas. Considering increasing mental health concerns in cities, nature offers a widely available intervention to enhance well-being across diverse populations. We conceptualize nature interactions as behavior that occurs in/relates to a natural environment within a certain time frame, and examine associated mental health effects. Utilizing a structured literatur…
Urban vegetation and thermal indicators dynamics to address heat-related challenges: A review framed by Local Climate Zones
The Local Climate Zone (LCZ) classification system has facilitated analysis of heat-related disparities in urban planning worldwide. The LCZ classes are differentiated by urban morphological parameters (e.g., impervious surface fraction, building heights, and building surface fraction). While vegetation-temperature relationships within the LCZ framework are not comprehensively documented, understanding this dynamic can improve interdisciplinary u…
The relative importance of greening in attracting gentrifiers to urban Vancouver and suburban Calgary neighbourhoods
Green gentrification describes how greening neighbourhoods (e.g. by creating parks, community gardens, etc.) can result in higher-income households moving in and displacing/excluding marginalised residents. While some researchers assert that greening attracts higher-income households, this has rarely been empirically tested. Further, green gentrification research has focussed almost exclusively on greening attracting households to urban neighbour…
Pathways towards equity: Solutions-focused workshops with urban greening professionals
Urban green governance refers to the complex network of actors working across sectors to manage urban vegetation. While recent research has identified barriers to addressing green space inequities, there has been much less focus on how these barriers interact as self-reinforcing systems or on potential solutions. This study explores how urban greening professionals understand and operationalize pathways toward more equitable governance, applying …
Enhancing the structure of feedback forms increases trustworthiness and usefulness of peer feedback
Peer feedback is commonly used in higher education for both practical and pedagogical reasons. However, peer feedback has been criticized by teachers, researchers, and students for being superficial, harsh, uncritical, and/or detached from learning objectives. This study contributes to the existing literature on how to enhance the effectiveness of peer feedback by examining the impact of increasing the structure of peer feedback forms. Student pa…
One tree matters: Reflections on data as a design material in urban forestry
This exploratory study explores the potential contexts and opportunities for emerging visual data in urban forest design. Forestry experts deploy drone-mounted digital sensors to capture detailed visual and spatial data urban vegetation. These sensors generate point clouds that not only inform ecological analysis but also visually construct urban environments from a pedestrian perspective. Even though many data sources and visualisation tools suc…
Latin American immigrants in urban nature: Exploring mental health and belonging through walking interviews
Urbanization is linked to mental health challenges, while urban nature is increasingly recognized for its restorative benefits. Yet, access to these benefits remains unequal. Latin American (LA) immigrants—a small but growing population in Canadian cities—may face distinct barriers to engaging with natural spaces, despite often relying on public resources for mental health and belonging. This study explores how urban nature contributes to well-be…
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 considered urban forest perceptions, but most studies are limited t…
Advancing green space equity via policy change: A scoping review and research agenda
Urban green spaces – including parks, trees, and other vegetated areas – are inequitably distributed in cities worldwide, as underserved groups, such as low-income and people of color, have significantly lower provisions of such resources. Motivated by the health benefits of green spaces, advocates and policymakers in several countries have sought to ameliorate these systemic inequities by implementing green space equity initiatives. Many such in…
Different names for the same thing? A systematic review of green, environmental, eco-, ecological, climate, carbon, and resilience gentrification
What is equitable urban forest governance? A systematic literature review
Urban forest governance comprises the formal and informal rules, institutions, and processes that influence collective decision-making in urban forest management. As such, it shapes key processes and outcomes that are implicated in urban environmental justice, including whose priorities and values are reflected in urban forest management and how and where urban trees are distributed. However, despite its central role in determining urban forest p…
Urban density and the urban forest: How well are cities balancing them in the context of climate change
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 between urban greening and gentrification. We fo…
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 (1) accuracy (within-subjects user-derived assessments and quantitative weight comparisons) and (2) accessibility (time to complete, difficulty, and “boringness”). Visual sliders performed best across assessments. Pairwise comparison, visual sliders, and swing weighting were the most accurate,…
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, Calgar…
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 gentrification scholarsh…
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 it difficult to establish a single ov…
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 paid to the influence of greening characteri…
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 dimensional analysis conducted across green gentrification, urban greening, and related…
Alignment of municipal climate change and urban forestry policies: A Canadian perspective
Who has access to urban vegetation? A spatial analysis of distributional green equity in 10 US cities
The dimensions of urban green equity: A framework for analysis
Mercado inmobiliario y administración urbana en Ciudad Juárez
El propósito de este artículo es demostrar que la ausencia de una concepción económica al utilizar las técnicas de Administración del Desarrollo Urbano (adu) se ha traducido en la afectación a una parte del mercado inmobiliario en Ciudad Juárez. En esta ciudad, la flexibilización en los criterios de zonificación y el fomento de políticas de expansión territorial han contribuido a la pérdida de identidad urbana y a depreciar el valor de las propie…
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 dimensional analysis conducted across green gentrification, urban greening, and related…
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 gentrification scholarsh…
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 between urban greening and gentrification. We fo…
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, Calgar…
Alignment of municipal climate change and urban forestry policies: A Canadian perspective
Urban density and the urban forest: How well are cities balancing them in the context of climate change
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 (1) accuracy (within-subjects user-derived assessments and quantitative weight comparisons) and (2) accessibility (time to complete, difficulty, and “boringness”). Visual sliders performed best across assessments. Pairwise comparison, visual sliders, and swing weighting were the most accurate,…
Mercado inmobiliario y administración urbana en Ciudad Juárez
El propósito de este artículo es demostrar que la ausencia de una concepción económica al utilizar las técnicas de Administración del Desarrollo Urbano (adu) se ha traducido en la afectación a una parte del mercado inmobiliario en Ciudad Juárez. En esta ciudad, la flexibilización en los criterios de zonificación y el fomento de políticas de expansión territorial han contribuido a la pérdida de identidad urbana y a depreciar el valor de las propie…
The dimensions of urban green equity: A framework for analysis
Who has access to urban vegetation? A spatial analysis of distributional green equity in 10 US cities
Alignment of municipal climate change and urban forestry policies: A Canadian perspective
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 it difficult to establish a single ov…
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 paid to the influence of greening characteri…
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 dimensional analysis conducted across green gentrification, urban greening, and related…
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 (1) accuracy (within-subjects user-derived assessments and quantitative weight comparisons) and (2) accessibility (time to complete, difficulty, and “boringness”). Visual sliders performed best across assessments. Pairwise comparison, visual sliders, and swing weighting were the most accurate,…
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, Calgar…
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 gentrification scholarsh…
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 considered urban forest perceptions, but most studies are limited t…
Advancing green space equity via policy change: A scoping review and research agenda
Urban green spaces – including parks, trees, and other vegetated areas – are inequitably distributed in cities worldwide, as underserved groups, such as low-income and people of color, have significantly lower provisions of such resources. Motivated by the health benefits of green spaces, advocates and policymakers in several countries have sought to ameliorate these systemic inequities by implementing green space equity initiatives. Many such in…
Different names for the same thing? A systematic review of green, environmental, eco-, ecological, climate, carbon, and resilience gentrification
What is equitable urban forest governance? A systematic literature review
Urban forest governance comprises the formal and informal rules, institutions, and processes that influence collective decision-making in urban forest management. As such, it shapes key processes and outcomes that are implicated in urban environmental justice, including whose priorities and values are reflected in urban forest management and how and where urban trees are distributed. However, despite its central role in determining urban forest p…
Urban density and the urban forest: How well are cities balancing them in the context of climate change
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 between urban greening and gentrification. We fo…
Pathways towards equity: Solutions-focused workshops with urban greening professionals
Urban green governance refers to the complex network of actors working across sectors to manage urban vegetation. While recent research has identified barriers to addressing green space inequities, there has been much less focus on how these barriers interact as self-reinforcing systems or on potential solutions. This study explores how urban greening professionals understand and operationalize pathways toward more equitable governance, applying …
Enhancing the structure of feedback forms increases trustworthiness and usefulness of peer feedback
Peer feedback is commonly used in higher education for both practical and pedagogical reasons. However, peer feedback has been criticized by teachers, researchers, and students for being superficial, harsh, uncritical, and/or detached from learning objectives. This study contributes to the existing literature on how to enhance the effectiveness of peer feedback by examining the impact of increasing the structure of peer feedback forms. Student pa…
One tree matters: Reflections on data as a design material in urban forestry
This exploratory study explores the potential contexts and opportunities for emerging visual data in urban forest design. Forestry experts deploy drone-mounted digital sensors to capture detailed visual and spatial data urban vegetation. These sensors generate point clouds that not only inform ecological analysis but also visually construct urban environments from a pedestrian perspective. Even though many data sources and visualisation tools suc…
Latin American immigrants in urban nature: Exploring mental health and belonging through walking interviews
Urbanization is linked to mental health challenges, while urban nature is increasingly recognized for its restorative benefits. Yet, access to these benefits remains unequal. Latin American (LA) immigrants—a small but growing population in Canadian cities—may face distinct barriers to engaging with natural spaces, despite often relying on public resources for mental health and belonging. This study explores how urban nature contributes to well-be…
Literature review of human interactions with urban nature and their mental health associations
This review explores the mental health benefits of human-nature interactions in urban areas. Considering increasing mental health concerns in cities, nature offers a widely available intervention to enhance well-being across diverse populations. We conceptualize nature interactions as behavior that occurs in/relates to a natural environment within a certain time frame, and examine associated mental health effects. Utilizing a structured literatur…
Urban vegetation and thermal indicators dynamics to address heat-related challenges: A review framed by Local Climate Zones
The Local Climate Zone (LCZ) classification system has facilitated analysis of heat-related disparities in urban planning worldwide. The LCZ classes are differentiated by urban morphological parameters (e.g., impervious surface fraction, building heights, and building surface fraction). While vegetation-temperature relationships within the LCZ framework are not comprehensively documented, understanding this dynamic can improve interdisciplinary u…
The relative importance of greening in attracting gentrifiers to urban Vancouver and suburban Calgary neighbourhoods
Green gentrification describes how greening neighbourhoods (e.g. by creating parks, community gardens, etc.) can result in higher-income households moving in and displacing/excluding marginalised residents. While some researchers assert that greening attracts higher-income households, this has rarely been empirically tested. Further, green gentrification research has focussed almost exclusively on greening attracting households to urban neighbour…
Urban Green Space and Health (18 works) · Geography (14 works) · Land Use and Ecosystem Services (14 works) · Political science (14 works) · Urban Agriculture and Sustainability (11 works) · Environmental planning (9 works) · Economics (8 works) · Sociology (7 works) · Ecology (6 works) · Environmental resource management (6 works)