scholarly journals Brownfields to Greenfields: Environmental Justice Versus Environmental Gentrification

2018 ◽  
Vol 15 (10) ◽  
pp. 2233 ◽  
Author(s):  
Juliana Maantay ◽  
Andrew Maroko
Keyword(s):  
New York ◽  
Environmental Justice ◽  
Urban Areas ◽  
Hot Spot ◽  
Community Gardens ◽  
Lower Income ◽  
Census Block Group ◽  
Proximity Analysis ◽  
Potential Impact

Gentrification is a growing concern in many urban areas, due to the potential for displacement of lower-income and other vulnerable populations. This process can be accelerated when neighborhood “greening” projects are undertaken via governmental or private investor efforts, resulting in a phenomenon termed environmental or “green” gentrification. Vacant land in lower-income areas is often improved by the existing community through the creation of community gardens, but this contributes to these greening efforts and paradoxically may spur gentrification and subsequent displacement of the gardens’ stewards and neighbors. “Is proximity to community gardens in less affluent neighborhoods associated with an increased likelihood of gentrification?” Using Brooklyn, New York as a case study, we examined this question using Geographic Information Systems and two spatial methods: a census block group proximity analysis, and a hot spot analysis, to determine the potential impact of proximity to community gardens in lower-income areas. The results of the analyses suggest that proximity to community gardens is associated with significant increases in per capita income over the five years study period, which is indicative of areas undergoing gentrification. This has implications for environmental justice because existing lower-income residents are likely to be displaced after their community is improved environmentally.

scholarly journals Bright Bounty

2013 ◽  
Vol 135 (04) ◽  
pp. 38-42
Author(s):  
Tom Gibson
Keyword(s):  
New York ◽  
New York City ◽  
Urban Areas ◽  
Food System ◽  
Renewable Energy Sources ◽  
The United States ◽  
Waste Energy ◽  
Locally Grown ◽  
A Company

This article is a case study on BrightFarms, which is a company in Midtown Manhattan that brings fresh, locally grown produce to underserved urban areas by engineering green gardening on a commercial scale. Based in Midtown Manhattan, BrightFarms builds and operates hydroponics greenhouse farms across the United States, mostly at supermarkets. The company tries to use renewable energy sources and waste energy from a host building. BrightFarms now focuses on commercial clients that can handle the high volumes of produce that come out of the greenhouses. The BrightFarms team has expertise spanning horticultural sciences, engineering, ecology, energy analysis, environmental education, and produce marketing. While much of BrightFarms’ work has focused on New York City till date, it is trying to build facilities not only wherever it makes economic sense, but also where it makes sense in the food system.

From the Ground Up: Why Urban Ecological Restoration Needs Environmental Justice

2010 ◽  
Vol 5 (3) ◽  
pp. 277-298 ◽  
Author(s):  
Colette Palamar
Keyword(s):  
New York ◽  
Environmental Justice ◽  
Ecological Restoration ◽  
Urban Ecosystems ◽  
Theory And Practice ◽  
Design Development ◽  
Community Gardening ◽  
Restoration Practices ◽  
Urban Restoration

While increasing urbanization intensifies the need for ecological restoration in densely populated areas, projects implemented in urban settings are often beset with conflicts stemming from a mismatch between traditional restoration practices and social realities. As ecological restoration practitioners seek to protect and remediate urban ecosystems, I contend that the broad set of principles developed by the environmental justice movement can provide an excellent conceptual framework for integrating social ecologies into restoration plans. Successful integration is constrained, however, by a number of challenges both within the Principles of Environmental Justice and ecological restoration theory and practice. Using a case study of New York City's Green Guerillas community gardening program, I show how the principles can begin to be operationalized to provide an effective grounding methodology for the design, development, and implementation of urban restoration projects.

Factorial Ecologies: Oblique and Orthogonal Solutions. A Case Study of the New York SMSA

1972 ◽  
Vol 4 (2) ◽  
pp. 147-162 ◽  
Author(s):  
J W Hughes ◽  
G W Carey
Keyword(s):  
New York ◽  
Spatial Structure ◽  
Inner City ◽  
Metropolitan Area ◽  
Urban Areas ◽  
Structural Variations ◽  
Methodological Implication ◽  
Analytic Methods ◽  
Factor Analytic

The utilization of factor analytic methods in the investigation of the spatial structure of urban areas has raised several methodological concerns. Two of these issues are examined in this study: the validity of the orthogonal model, and the possibility of bias through boundary drawing. This paper thus focuses on the effect of the choice of rotational technique upon the derived factor structures at three levels of metropolitan delineation—metropolitan area, city, and inner city sub-area. The rotational techniques are examined specifically in regard to dimensional interpretation and dimensional interrelationships at the three scales of observation. The findings have important methodological implication for the investigation of microregion structural variations.

InclusiVaart: (Re)defining shared neighbourhood spaces

2021 ◽  
Vol 5 (1) ◽  
pp. 3-4
Author(s):  
Giovanni Maria Bianchi ◽  
Ziloy Croughs ◽  
Elise Descheemaeker ◽  
Abigail Mier ◽  
Ariel Alexis Pacific ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Public Space ◽  
Urban Areas ◽  
Hot Spot ◽  
Interesting Case ◽  
Demographic Shift ◽  
Community Members ◽  
Transdisciplinary Approach ◽  
Public And Private ◽  
Residential Quarter

Cities and dense urban areas are dynamic environments, always adapting to changing circumstances and shocks, such as the recent COVID-19 pandemic. Vaartkom, a neighbourhood in Leuven, provides an interesting case-study, having undergone a drastic transformation in the past two decades, from dilapidated industrial zone to residential quarter and cultural hot-spot. This has introduced a demographic shift, which inevitably influences the use of public and private space in the neighbourhood, creating new areas for inclusion and exclusion. Our research focuses on how the use of public space has changed under COVID-19, and how community members envision their neighbourhood in a post-COVID context. We employed various methods – such as interviews, site visits, stakeholder and physical mapping exercises – and worked with the community to identify the different areas of in-and exclusivity. Some findings relate to the conflicting expectations about the use and future of public space and the link between the location of public engagement and the level of inclusiveness. This illustrates the magnitude and consciousness of the effort required to be truly inclusive. Above all, our own understanding of inclusivity broadened significantly over the duration of the project, illustrating the clear advantage of using a transdisciplinary approach in research. Our findings have been summarised in a small video.

Seeing the park for the trees: New York’s “Million Trees” campaign vs. the deep roots of environmental inequality

2017 ◽  
Vol 46 (5) ◽  
pp. 914-930 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jessica Debats Garrison
Keyword(s):  
New York ◽  
Environmental Justice ◽  
Low Income ◽  
Urban Forest ◽  
Tree Canopy ◽  
Environmental Benefits ◽  
Deep Roots ◽  
Census Block Group ◽  
Communities Of Color ◽  
Lack Of Commitment

Trees provide many environmental benefits, but low-income communities of color tend to have fewer of them. New York City attempted to correct this disparity by planting a million trees via public–private partnership between 2007 and 2015. This paper examines MillionTreesNYC’s environmental justice goals and planting strategies via program documents and interviews with program partners, and assesses equity outcomes via regression analysis of new trees planted, existing tree canopy, park space, and sociodemographic characteristics measured at the level of the census block group. Ultimately, MillionTreesNYC did not prioritize low-income communities of color to a measurable degree, and planted more trees in areas with greater existing tree canopy. Despite public–private partnerships’ reputation for prioritizing profit over equity, the problem was not a lack of commitment to environmental justice. Instead, MillionTreesNYC’s focus on parks, which are themselves inequitably distributed, frustrated the city’s efforts to equalize the urban forest. This paper therefore exposes the deep historical roots of environmental injustice, which are difficult to eradicate without careful attention to both past and present socio-spatial inequities.

scholarly journals Are heavy metals in urban garden soils linked to vulnerable populations? A case study from Guelph, Canada

2021 ◽  
Vol 11 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Fernando Montaño-López ◽  
Asim Biswas
Keyword(s):  
Heavy Metals ◽  
Human Health ◽  
Vulnerable Populations ◽  
Low Income ◽  
Potential Risk ◽  
Urban Areas ◽  
Management Practices ◽  
Community Gardens ◽  
Human Consumption

AbstractWith increasing population, there is growing concern for food security in urban areas. Though, urban gardening has gained popularity, several studies have found higher concentrations of contaminants in urban soils, especially heavy metals, often at toxic levels, which pose a potential risk for human health. Moreover, heavy metal polluted sites have been strongly associated with areas populated by low-income families, newcomers and racial minorities. In this study, heavy metals in the soils of community gardens in the city of Guelph, ON were examined as a case study and their relationship with vulnerable populations. We analyzed soil samples at two depths for a range of heavy metals and characterized their spatial patterns to see if they were related to disadvantaged communities. We estimated the pollution levels using two index-based approaches and assessed their potential risk for human health, although concentrations of most heavy metals were below the limits established by Canadian regulations, metals like Cd, Pb, Se and Zn exhibited a mild degree of pollution, whereas As exhibited a severe degree. Their association with vulnerable populations were weak, but hotspots were mainly located in low-income areas. This case study provides scientific evidence that could help to expand our understanding around the interconnection between pollution and poverty/racial inequality. Also the importance of generating strategies for the protection of human health and sustainable soil management practices in urban areas where food for human consumption is grown.

Gardening as More than Urban Agriculture: Perspectives from Smaller Midwestern Cities on Urban Gardening Policies and Practices

2019 ◽  
Vol 3 (1) ◽  
pp. 1-8
Author(s):  
Christopher Strunk ◽  
Ursula Lang
Keyword(s):  
Urban Agriculture ◽  
Green Space ◽  
Private Property ◽  
Community Gardens ◽  
Public Land ◽  
Vacant Lots ◽  
Urban Gardening ◽  
Privately Owned ◽  
Policies And Practices

For the most part, research and policymaking on urban gardening have focused on community gardens, whether in parks, vacant lots, or other public land. This emphasis, while important for many Midwestern cities, can obscure the significance of privately owned land such as front yard and back yard and their crucial connections with gardening on public land. In this case study, we examine how policies and practices related to gardening and the management of green space in two Midwestern cities exceed narrow visions of urban agriculture. The article explores the cultivation of vacant lot gardens and private yards as two modes of property in similar Midwestern contexts and argues that the management of green space is about more than urban agriculture. Instead, we show how urban gardening occurs across public/private property distinctions and involves a broader set of actors than those typically included in sustainability policies. Gardening also provides a key set of connections through which neighbors understand and practice sustainability in Midwestern cities.

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