Promoting Environmental Justice Through Urban Green Space Access: A Synopsis

Abstract

This article reviews literature on the connection between urban green space access and environmental justice. It discusses the dynamics of the relationship as it relates to factors such as environmental quality, land use, and environmental health disparities. Urban development stresses the landscape and may compromise environmental quality. Since some communities are disproportionately impacted by changes in land use and land cover, understanding the environmental justice implications of changing the landscape is important. Likewise, the additive effects of degraded landscapes and decreased environmental quality have human health implications. The article covers information from a range of disciplines (e.g., urban ecology, sociology, public health, and environmental science) to address collective concerns related to green spaces and environmental justice. This article also articulates a gap in the literature related to empirical research on the subject.

Creating the park cool island in an inner-city neighborhood: heat mitigation strategy for Phoenix, AZ

“…These ecosystem services play a role in creating "salutogenic" urban environments that can help mitigate human health problems, such as asthma, allergies, obesity, and increased stress. It has been shown that lack of green spaces in cities contributes to health disparities among people in lower-and higher-income neighborhoods (Jennings et al 2012;Wilson 2009). Public outdoor heat mitigation strategies in parks and other public spaces are especially needed in socially and ecologically vulnerable areas of cities because residents in these areas have fewer household social and economic resources to adapt their microscale outdoor and indoor environments to extreme heat (Harlan et al 2006;.…”

Urban green space, public health, and environmental justice: The challenge of making cities ‘just green enough’

“…Access is often highly stratified based on income, ethno-racial characteristics, age, gender, (dis)ability, and other axes of difference (Byrne, Wolch, & Zhang, 2009;McConnachie & Shackleton, 2010). Over the past two decades, the uneven accessibility of urban green space has become recognized as an environmental justice issue as awareness of its importance to public health has become recognized (Dai, 2011;Jennings, Johnson Gaither, & Gragg, 2012). The literature has focused on how to measure access to urban green space, primarily parks; the relative access of socio-demographics to these spaces; and how lack of access affects public health.…”

Enhancing quality of life through the lens of green spaces: A systematic review approach

“…In this case, even distribution of green spaces in communities enhances environmental justice, as it helps all people, irrespective of their status, gender, race, and ethnicity, to have fair access to natural vegetation and enjoy the qualities of nature. Conversely, uneven distribution of green spaces may contribute to environmental injustice (Davis et al, 2012;Dai, 2011;Jennings et al, 2012). Therefore, green spaces supporting environmental justice help to enhance quality of life, as it protects individuals' right to enjoy a clean and healthy environment.…”