dc.title: Redevelopment, green infrastructure, and displacement : evaluating equity outcomes at Austin's Mueller project dc.description.abstract: Scholarship on green gentrification has grown in the last 30 years. Proclaimed green cities such as Austin, Texas, have been praised for their environmental achievements, while being critiqued as they experience historic losses in black and brown communities. Affordability and community loss are among the top-reported reasons black Austinites relocate. Under new paradigms of just transitions and equity-focused climate goals, understanding the simultaneous existence of displacement and climate concerns, with the values of environmental justice and true sustainability. Among the esteemed green projects is the Mueller development, a public-private partnership intended as a model for new urbanism and sustainability. Despite the community's real affordability and environmental achievements, concerns about the gentrifying forces in surrounding communities prevail. This thesis addresses the disparities of green redevelopments and equity through a time of displacement around Austin's Mueller Redevelopment Through time series mapping and an evaluation of Mueller's equity measures, this study will examine how large-scale master planned redevelopments reshape its social and economic landscape even when certain equity goals are planned within a sustainable development. Results showed a pronounced concentration in economic uplift within the bounds of Mueller, while affordability burdens occurred in surrounding neighborhoods, resulting in dramatic racial shifts. Both planners and developers pay an important role in protecting the communities around green developments to prevent reiterations of injustice.
Redevelopment, green infrastructure, and displacement : evaluating equity outcomes at Austin's Mueller project
Washburn, Jordan

