Access to Green Spaces and Equitable Economic Growth - The impact of Copenhagen’s green infrastructure on socio-economic mobility

Abstract: The aim of Copenhagen municipality to attract socio-economically strong residents with its green infrastructure strategy inspired the analysis which aimed to assess whether improving access green areas in the city has had any impact on socio-economic mobility of its residents. Additionally, the concerns of potential displacement of socio-economically weaker residents warranted consideration of how income inequality affects the impact of access to green spaces. The objective of the research thus to investigate how access to green spaces within 300 meters is related to socioeconomic migration in Copenhagen, specifically if the development of access to green spaces in Copenhagen municipality significantly attracted higher income residents, and if this effect has simultaneously displaced low-income residents. The scope of the analysis covers the 67 neighborhoods in Copenhagen over the year intervals of 2008, 2012 and 2018. The research supported the hypothesis that overall increased access to green spaces has a positive impact on attracting increasing income levels through migration, and especially so at negative migration levels, which suggested that displacement of poorer residents occurs. Furthermore, it specified how the effect of access to green space varies for areas with different income inequality levels, finding that with increasing levels of access to green space in a neighborhood the gentrification effect is mostly evident in areas with high income inequality, while areas with lower income the effects of green space show less evidence of gentrification. The findings should be of interest to historic as well as current green infrastructure policies of Copenhagen municipality aiming toward improvements of agglomeration economics through urban environmental sustainability, while having to balance these changes with measures to ensure socially responsible outcomes. The results of the analysis may help narrow down the parameters and conditions where green infrastructure policies can achieve their desired effects.