Jan Anderson

Date of Award

1-2026

Document Type

Thesis

Degree Name

Bachelors

Department

Social Sciences

First Advisor

Hicks, Barbara

Area of Concentration

Social Sciences

Abstract

Urban green space interventions are increasingly being implemented around the world in order to mitigate the negative environmental and social impacts of urban living through the positive role green spaces can have on overall public health. The current study begins with an exploration of the common applications of urban green space, followed by an overview of approaches towards green space interventions in recent years. The latter provides recommendations to improve green space interventions by addressing negative outcomes observed and highlighting potential solutions referenced from recent examples, with a particular focus on interventions in Miami, Florida. The thesis culminates in an assessment of publicly available comments by residents of Miami-Dade County about particular locations, infrastructure and ordinances related to green space. Though limited in its scope, the differences observed in the types of comments by Commission District reveal multiple fruitful avenues of study, including coordination among residents regarding particular green space issues and a relatively high number of comments about both a loss of green space and a lack of public input in the district with the most tree canopy. The coordinated comments by community members raise questions for how public input should be taken into account, with residents pin-pointing particular green spaces for improvement or calling to stop changes in tree canopy ordinances, while the latter point could reflect a feeling amongst residents that they have little say in the coming removal of trees and green spaces. While these theories are purely speculative as part of this pilot study due to a lack of a representative sample, such findings are worth further consideration due to the particular descriptive details expressed in the comments that mass surveys may overlook.

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