Rooted in Resilience: A Community-driven Plan for Addressing Urban Trees, Power Outages, and Energy in Bridgeport’s Red-Lined Areas
Monica Martinelli, Shashika Himandi Gardeye Lamahewage, Zhiqing (Lucy) Li

 

Description

We are developing a comprehensive communication plan for Rooted in Resilience: A Community-driven Plan for Addressing Urban Trees, Power Outages, and Energy in Bridgeport’s Red-Lined Areas. Our approach employs high-resolution remote sensing data, selected variables from the Tree Equity Score, alongside Census-block-level data on both power outage occurrences and social vulnerability. By analyzing these data, we assess the current living conditions in specific neighborhoods of Bridgeport, CT. We aim to identify the most effective strategies for enhancing urban tree coverage, mitigating power outages, and addressing energy and social inequities in historically marginalized areas. Ultimately, our goal is to foster a more resilient, sustainable, and equitable community.

Objectives

Evaluate the environmental characteristics and their relation to social and energy equity: Analyze the existing environmental conditions, such as urban tree coverage and power outages, and examine how these factors intersect with social vulnerabilities and energy inequities in the targeted neighborhoods.
Individuate the optimal combination of indicators related to tree coverage, power outages, and social and energy inequities to create an ideal livability model: Determine the most effective set of indicators that, when combined, can help identify a more equitable, sustainable, and resilient community, with an emphasis on improving livability in historically marginalized areas.

Methods

Geospatial mapping, Remote sensing analysis, Review of relevant literature, Index creation, Regression analysis, Model development, Development and design of a communication plan