Austin markets itself as green, active, outdoorsy. But this image hides deep racial and income-based disparities.
As a social worker in Austin, I see every day how class determines access to health, safety, and even the simple act of being outside. Austin presents itself as an outdoor paradise, but the lived reality is that low-income residents rarely experience that version of the city. Greenbelts, trails, and waterfronts are often accessible only to those who can afford cars, free time, and housing in walkable neighborhoods. For many working families, nature is not a resource they can reach. It is something they ride past, or dream about on the way to a shift they cannot afford to miss.
This is not an accident. It is class-based environmental exclusion.
Austin’s most celebrated parks sit in or adjacent to higher-income neighborhoods. Meanwhile, many families east of I-35 or living in dense multifamily housing must travel long distances on unreliable transit, cross dangerous high-speed corridors, or walk through heat-soaked, unshaded streets just to reach a patch of grass. These barriers were designed this way. The 1928 city plan, which formerly segregated Black and Hispanic populations to East Austin, shaped the city’s modern landscape, limiting access to parks and green spaces for these communities. This can especially be seen in the economic exclusion in access to public pools and parks, rooted in segregationist policies and urban planning decisions that prioritized white, affluent communities.
The public health consequences of these decisions are catastrophic. Limited access to nature is associated with higher stress levels, increased symptoms of depression and anxiety, decreased cardiovascular fitness, poorer immune functioning, and higher rates of chronic disease. Children in “park-poor” neighborhoods are more likely to struggle with attention, behavioral challenges, and reduced physical activity. Adults working multiple jobs or facing economic instability already carry higher allostatic load, which is the cumulative biological wear and tear caused by chronic stress. Lack of outdoor access compounds this burden.
I once had a client who had lived in Austin for 10 years and had never visited Barton Springs. How could she? She works constantly to survive and has no car or access to it. A trip that takes 15 minutes by car becomes an hour-and-a-half commute via transit, including 30 minutes of walking through unshaded streets. Deadly in the summer heat.
Nature should not belong only to those with cars, money, and proximity.
Low-income neighborhoods have less tree canopy, more pavement, and fewer cooling resources. This creates temperatures that can be 10 to 20 degrees hotter than wealthier areas. Extreme heat increases risks for dehydration, asthma exacerbations, cardiovascular strain, and heat-related hospitalizations. When public transit routes to parks are long and unshaded, simply trying to access green space can become dangerous.
These conditions reflect a long history of disinvestment in neighborhoods where communities of color and low-income families live. Despite Austin’s growth bringing in billions of dollars in infrastructure improvements, many of the same families who keep the city running through service labor, care work, construction, and hospitality are excluded from the very public resources intended to support well-being. Green space should be universal. Instead, it mirrors economic inequality.
Owning a car remains the largest determinant of whether a family can enjoy the outdoors. Without one, Zilker Park feels impossibly far away. The Greenbelt is unreachable. The Lady Bird Lake trail might as well be another city. Meanwhile, affluent neighborhoods maintain shaded sidewalks, pocket parks, and well-kept trails that support routine physical activity and stress relief. Austin’s outdoor culture is collectively celebrated, but its benefits are privately enjoyed.
Nature should not belong only to those with cars, money, and proximity. Austin’s identity as an outdoor city rings hollow if half the city is left out of that experience. Enjoying our city’s abundance of natural resources should not depend on class. It should be a right shared by every person who calls this city home.
Dhvani Shukla is a social worker and nonprofit professional who is passionate about environmental equity and culturally specific community care. Her interests include climate justice, accessibility to the outdoors, and community-based solutions that empower marginalized voices to shape lasting systemic change.
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This article appears in December 12 • 2025.