Toward Just Sustainability in Urban Communities: Building Equity Rights with Sustainable Solutions

Agyeman, Julian; Evans, Tom

doi:10.1177/0002716203256565

Cited by 182 publications

(112 citation statements)

References 15 publications

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“…It opens new opportunities to form alliances between social justice in the city and more traditional environmental groups [52]. Despite the opportunities for alignment, controversies over community gardens tend to arise because of divergent valuation of and claims upon gardens by local residents and government agencies.…”

Section: Social Network and Community Building That Leverages Resourcmentioning

confidence: 99%

Growing Gardens in Shrinking Cities: A Solution to the Soil Lead Problem?

et al. 2016

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Abstract:As cities shrink, they often leave a patchwork of vacancy on the landscape. The maintenance of vacant lands and eventual transformation to sustainable land uses is a challenge all cities face, but one that is particularly pronounced in shrinking cities. Vacant lands can support sustainability initiatives, specifically the expansion of urban gardens and local food production. However, many shrinking cities are the same aging cities that have experienced the highest soil lead burdens from their industrial past as well as the historic use of lead-based paint and leaded gasoline. Elevated soil lead is often viewed as a barrier to urban agriculture and managing for multiple ecosystem services, including food production and reduced soil lead exposure, remains a challenge. In this paper, we argue that a shift in framing the soil lead and gardening issue from potential conflict to potential solution can advance both urban sustainability goals and support healthy gardening efforts. Urban gardening as a potential solution to the soil lead problem stems from investment in place and is realized through multiple activities, in particular (1) soil management, including soil testing and the addition of amendments, and (2) social network and community building that leverages resources and knowledge.

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Section: Social Network and Community Building That Leverages Resourcmentioning

confidence: 99%

Growing Gardens in Shrinking Cities: A Solution to the Soil Lead Problem?

et al. 2016

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“…Paying attention to the well-being of populations that have been historically overburdened by environmental hazards and excluded from policy and planning decisions is also crucial in the design of sustainable and equitable cities and regions [54]. For this reason equity is a key tenet of sustainability [1,71,72]. A transformative urban design process must incorporate justice and equity [73], and strategies for doing so should be informed by history, including socio-spatial analyses of patterns of settlement, displacement, and segregation of vulnerable populations, and the policy and planning procedures that shaped those patterns [74].…”

Section: A Model For Transforming the Urban Design-ecology Nexusmentioning

confidence: 99%

An Ecology for Cities: A Transformational Nexus of Design and Ecology to Advance Climate Change Resilience and Urban Sustainability

et al. 2015

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Cities around the world are facing an ever-increasing variety of challenges that seem to make more sustainable urban futures elusive. Many of these challenges are being driven by, and exacerbated by, increases in urban populations and climate change. Novel solutions are needed today if our cities are to have any hope of more sustainable and resilient futures. Because most of the environmental impacts of any project are manifest at the point of design, we posit that this is where a real difference in urban development can be made. To this end, we present a transformative model that merges urban design and ecology into an inclusive, creative, knowledge-to-action process. This design-ecology nexus-an ecology for cities-will redefine both the process and its products. In this paper we: (1) summarize the relationships among design, infrastructure, and urban development, emphasizing the importance of joining the three to achieve urban climate resilience and enhance sustainability; (2) discuss how urban ecology can move from an ecology of cities OPEN ACCESSSustainability 2015, 7 3775 to an ecology for cities based on a knowledge-to-action agenda; (3) detail our model for a transformational urban design-ecology nexus, and; (4) demonstrate the efficacy of our model with several case studies.

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“…Equity in the food chain remains an unsolved, contested and extra-local issue. Although the food chain is becoming less democratic and more (inter)national, with speculative external forces exploiting local conditions for high-value niche markets [43], significant levers do exist at the local level to increase distributive justice [44]. This begs the question, how can a city enhance the just distribution of available resources and responsibilities?…”

Section: Safe and Just Operating Spacementioning

confidence: 99%

Four Perspectives of Sustainability Applied to the Local Food Strategy of Ghent (Belgium): Need for a Cycle of Democratic Participation?

et al. 2016

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Abstract:As part of cities' increasing commitment to sustainable development, local food systems are becoming a policy priority. In this article we focus on the case of a local food system in Ghent, Belgium. We adopt the notion of Hajer et al. (2015) that top-down steering of environmental issues (so-called "cockpit-ism") is insufficient, incomplete and in need of revision. Using their four perspectives on sustainable development (Hajer et al., 2015), we explore, analyze and valorize the potential of the actors, motives and logics for change within the agriculture and food system in the Ghent region. Applying these four perspectives, we have mapped the current positive developments as well as identified the weaknesses, pitfalls and opportunities of a local food strategy. The discussion section contains two important strategies for good governance of sustainable urban development: first, a governance approach to stimulate participation and representation in a complex, unequal and rapidly changing context; and second, a reflection on how local food strategies can drive global sustainability. In conclusion, we argue for the integration of a global sustainability approach within sustainable urban development.

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Toward Just Sustainability in Urban Communities: Building Equity Rights with Sustainable Solutions

Cited by 182 publications

References 15 publications

Growing Gardens in Shrinking Cities: A Solution to the Soil Lead Problem?

Growing Gardens in Shrinking Cities: A Solution to the Soil Lead Problem?

An Ecology for Cities: A Transformational Nexus of Design and Ecology to Advance Climate Change Resilience and Urban Sustainability

Four Perspectives of Sustainability Applied to the Local Food Strategy of Ghent (Belgium): Need for a Cycle of Democratic Participation?

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