A collaboration with the Green Inequalities blog from the Barcelona Lab for Urban Environmental Justice and Sustainability (BCNUEJ), which seeks to highlight new research and reflections on the linkages between the dominant forms of “green” redevelopments taking place in cities and questions of urban environmental justice.

June 1, 2021

Portland’s Lauded Sustainability Falls Short on Racial Justice

By Margarita Triguero-Mas, Mario Fontán-Vela. Despite Portland’s reputation as a champion of sustainability, the city still struggles to overcome its legacy of racist policies and environmental injustice when it comes to the inclusion of Black residents.
December 3, 2020

What will Glasgow’s Smart Canal Mean for its Historically Deprived Communities?

By Melissa García-Lamarca and Neil Gray A massive regeneration of the post-industrial canal is prioritizing higher-income newcomers over the housing needs of long-term, low-income residents.
November 3, 2020

Not All That Is Green Becomes Gentrified

By Ana T. Amorim-Maia. The photos you post of a park may hide clues about what leads to green gentrification in cities.
October 20, 2020

To Green Or Not To Green: Four stories of urban (in)justice in Barcelona

By Emilia Oscilowicz. A new short documentary shot and edited by filmmaker Alberto Bougleux sheds light on the dilemmas of greening cities.
October 6, 2020

Community Gardens, Gentrification, and Placekeeping in Minneapolis

By Kelsey Poljacik and Rebecca Walker. The newest contribution to the “Green Inequalities in the City” series analyzes the complex relationship between community gardens and gentrification in Minneapolis, and the choices and tensions community leaders face in shaping the impact these gardens have on their neighborhoods.
June 2, 2020

Are ‘Nature-based Solutions’ an answer to unsustainable cities or a tool for furthering nature’s neoliberalisation?

By Panagiota Kotsila. Nature-based Solutions (NBS) are broadly perceived as positive ‘triple-win’ strategies, though they have so far shown contradictions and limited transformational potential for advancing environmental justice and sustainability in cities. We can, however, recover the underlying idea of respecting and protecting biodiversity as well as caring for and with nature to repair or transform some of our broken systems.
April 21, 2020

Will Cleveland’s greening efforts perpetuate racial inequalities?

By Margarita Triguero-Mas. If equity is not made a priority, Cleveland’s vision of becoming a “green city on a blue lake” risks falling victim to the injustices of green gentrification felt in similar revival cities across the US.
March 24, 2020

How one of Montréal’s poorest neighborhood became ripe for green gentrification

By Melissa García Lamarca. Greening projects both large and small in the rapidly developing Saint Henri neighborhood are stitching together a post-industrial landscape to create new and exclusionary forms of urban living.
February 18, 2020

Can trees address environmental inequities in Mediterranean cities? 

By Amalia Calderón-Argelich, Francesc Baró, Johannes Langemeyer and James Connolly While the uneven distribution of street tree benefits in Barcelona favors elderly residents in particular and partially compensates for the lack of larger green spaces in several districts, it is clear that street trees must be accompanied by other sustainable mobility measures to advance urban environmental health and justice.
January 21, 2020

Can a denser Austin be both green and affordable?

By James Connolly and Mateus Lira. Austin is considered one of the most ecological cities in the US, but due to a history of racial segregation, environmental injustice, gentrification, and misguided policies, access to housing and green space remains a privilege for wealthier residents.
December 3, 2019

How green gentrification is compromising Seattle’s last affordable neighborhood

By Helen Cole. In South Park, the fight for environmental justice is giving way to an affordable housing crisis.
November 19, 2019

Why Green is Not Enough: Creating Relational Well-Being in Children Through Urban Play Spaces

By Carmen Pérez del Pulgar. A study of two parks in Barcelona that have had very different impacts on children’s social skills shows the importance of considering social structures in the planning of new parks and urban play spaces.