Improvement, not displacement: A framework for urban green gentrification research and practice

Expelled from the garden? Understanding the dynamics of green gentrification in Vancouver, British Columbia

“…We applied the dimensional framework of green gentrification (Sax et al, 2022) to a case study of the Pearson Dogwood redevelopment, specifically focusing on the intention to integrate a one-acre urban farm into its site design. We noted a limited orientation to sustainability mediated through hegemonic conceptions of urban agriculture and advancing a vision of food activism supportive of a neoliberal development vision (Alkon and McCullen, 2011;Guthman, 2011).…”

“…Applying a dimensional framework for green gentrification. Once major themes had been identified both within and across interviews and relevant documents, we applied a dimensional framework of green gentrification developed from a scoping review of the relevant literature (Sax et al, 2022). The framework identified three principal dimensions of green gentrification: (1) conceptual foundations driven by green hegemonies and sustainability capital; (2) design and implementation, involving processes of exclusion and suppression via procedural injustice; and (3) socio-spatial change characterized by physical and psychological displacement.…”

“…The first dimension of green gentrification identified through our prior analysis concerns the social and economic ideologies that justify and motivate urban greening (Sax et al, 2022). We found that green gentrification draws on a hegemonic orientation to sustainability that universalizes neoliberal, euro-centric notions of environmentalism grounded in individual accountability and market-based solutions to ecological crises.…”

“…Our second dimension of green gentrification encourages consideration of how the social and economic ideologies, motivations, and justifications underlying planning for urban greening translate into tangible design decisions and implementation strategies (Sax et al, 2022). Previous research indicated that urban greening often centers the behaviors, experiences, and needs of imagined, future residents as opposed to those of current residents or the surrounding community (Alkon et al, 2019;Horst et al, 2017;McClintock, 2018bMcClintock, , 2018a.…”

Invited Perspective: Nature Is Unfairly Distributed in the United States—But That’s Only Part of the Global Green Equity Story

“… 21 Recent research has found that green gentrification processes often include breakdowns in recognitional and procedural justice, applying a top-down “green is always good” approach to greening that does not consider the needs and desires of local communities or their potential vulnerability within a capitalist system. 22 …”