Rooftops for Whom? Some Environmental Justice Issues in Urban Green Roof Policies of Three North American Cities

Abstract

Green roofs provide multiple benefits to households and urban neighbourhoods by lowering temperatures, reducing energy costs, and reducing stormwater runoff. However, green roofs are expensive and may not be available to all residents, which raises questions about who benefits from green roofs and urban policies that support this technology. Policies to support different social groups’ access to this green infrastructure is important for achieving equity. This study aims to identify and analyze to what extent existing different rooftop greening incentives and mandatory policies in three American cities, including New York, Chicago, and Philadelphia, address environmental justice. Nine policies were analyzed from three cities based on three dimensions of environmental justice. The results show that all policies have neglected a degree of distributional, recognitional, and procedural environmental justice in their policies. Although incentives try to advance distributional justice by implementing green roofs in different parts of the city, these policies do not pay enough attention to support themes such as zoning, size, rental status, land value, and affordability in all urban areas.

Decentralizing infrastructure: expanding architectural practice towards equity and health

“…Some cities try to recruit private sites to expand green infrastructure goals with policy, some using 'carrots' such as the green roof density bonus in Chicago, 11 and others 'sticks' such as groundwater infiltration requirements triggered by increase in building footprints in Boston. 12 However, one-size fits all policies often target economic interests more than environmental justice, 13 thus are less able to address microspatial inequities. This led to our hypothesis-if planners and designers can adequately characterize how the built environment affects the intensity of hazards at a micro-scale, then theoretically they could modify it in specific ways to mitigate specific impacts to vulnerable communities.…”

Sustainable Urban Environment through Green Roofs: A Literature Review with Case Studies

“…In New York, Chicago, and Philadelphia, GR policies may be classified into two categories [111]: mandatory regulations and incentive programs, each of which has its own advantages and disadvantages. These policies seek primarily to mitigate the effects of climate change, such as UHIs and stormwater management.…”