RACIAL INEQUITY IN GREEN INFRASTRUCTURE AND GENTRIFICATION: Challenging Compounded Environmental Racisms in the Green City

This article explores the role that green gentrification plays in exacerbating racial tensions within historically marginalized urban communities benefiting from new environmental amenities such as parks, gardens, waterfront restoration and greenways. Building on extensive qualitative data from thre...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:International journal of urban and regional research 2024-03, Vol.48 (2), p.294-322
Main Authors: Lewartowska, Emilia, Anguelovski, Isabelle, Oscilowicz, Emilia, Triguero‐Mas, Margarita, Cole, Helen, Shokry, Galia, Pérez‐del‐Pulgar, Carmen, Connolly, James JT
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Affordable housing
Amenities
Cities
Colonialism
Community
community mobilization
Europe
Gardens & gardening
Gentrification
green gentrification
Green infrastructure
Grounded theory
Inequality
inequity
Infrastructure
Marginality
Neocolonialism
Qualitative analysis
Race relations
Racial differences
Racial justice
Racialization
Residential segregation
Rights
Segregation
Toxic substances
Toxins
Urban areas
urban greening
USA
Waterfronts
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Summary:This article explores the role that green gentrification plays in exacerbating racial tensions within historically marginalized urban communities benefiting from new environmental amenities such as parks, gardens, waterfront restoration and greenways. Building on extensive qualitative data from three cities in Europe (Amsterdam, Vienna, Lyon) and four cities in the United States (Washington, Austin, Atlanta, Cleveland), we use thematic analysis and grounded theory to examine the complex relationship between historical environmental and racial injustices and current racial green inequities produced by the green city agenda. Our analysis also offers insights into the main differences in how community members articulate concerns and demands over racial issues related to green gentrification in Europe versus North America. Results show that urban greening—and green gentrification specifically—can create ‘compounded environmental racisms’ by worsening racial environmental injustices and further perpetrating green racialized displacement, re‐segregation and exclusion. The latter is produced by the racial inequities embedded in green infrastructure projects and the related unequal access to environmental benefits, affordable housing, political rights and place‐making. Moreover, we find that settler colonial practices combined with persisting exposure to toxins and re‐segregation in the United States together with neocolonial spatial and social practices in Europe shape how racialized community members perceive and interact with new green amenities.
ISSN:0309-1317
1468-2427
DOI:10.1111/1468-2427.13232