Socio-environmental justice - diversity in access to and benefits from green infrastructure and urban forests in Europe

Green Infrastructure (GI) and Urban Forests (UF) provide important ecosystem services for urban and peri-urban populations. However, particular sections of society such as the income deprived, the disabled and ethnic minority groups may not have the same opportunities and access to GI and UF that more affluent sections of society enjoy. They may also face exposure to more environmental risks and benefits less of the ecosystem services provided by UF and GI. To understand why, researchers have turned to the perspective of socio-environmental justice combining social justice (every individual is entitled to fair and equal treatment and equal access to rights and benefits) and environmental justice (the right to a clean environment, equally shared benefits from ecosystems and fairly distributed negative impacts of nature). The presentation will focus on socio-environmental justice related to cultural ecosystem services (CES). We will outline which sections of society (in a range of different European countries) have access to and benefit from accessing urban GI and wider GI and, more importantly, which sections of society do not have this opportunity. We will elaborate on barriers for accessing and using urban green space for less privileged groups, with a special attention to how cultural norms and traditions are related to use of GI and UF. Experiences from several European countries show how newly developed urban green spaces are less used than expected by social groups for which high needs for green spaces were defined. This demonstrates how studies towards distributional socio-environmental justice, that comprise the majority of studies related to use and access of urban green space, are probably not tapping into the major issue: traditional urban green space is not in line with the expectations of the targeted users. Finally, we will discuss the issue of eco-gentrification, or how introducing more accessible green areas into the urban tissue for underserved communities can lead to thriving those communities out of their neighbourhoods. The study has been conducted within the framework of the COST-action GreenInUrbs (FP1204).

Transcript

1. Socio-­‐environmental  jus2ce diversity  in  access  to  and  benefits  from  green infrastructure  and  urban  forests  in  Europe Rik  De  Vreese,  Liz  O’Brien,  Thomas  Panagopoulos,  Erdogan Atmis,  Anton  Stahl  Olafsson,  Tuija  Sievänen,  Michael  Brennan, Tessa  Hegetschweiler,  Sjerp  de  Vries,  Maren  Kern &  much  more 19th European Forum on Urban Forestry, Ljubljana 03/06/2016
2. Socio-­‐Environmental  JusOce Social  jus2ce Every  individual  is  enOtled  to  a  fair  and  equal  treatment All  people  have  equal  access  to  rights  -­‐  in  all  aspects  of  life Environmental  jus2ce Distribu2ve  jus2ce:  distribuOon  of  (dis)benefits Procedural  jus2ce:  fair  access  to  decision-­‐making  processes (power) Interac2onal  jus2ce:  recognising  &  respecOng  differences (~  cultural  &  demographic  differences)
3. Barriers  to  accessing  &  using  GI  (1) Distribu2on  of  GI  &  rights  to  access Informal  use  of  GI  (private  land,  temporary,  semi-­‐public) Physical  barriers  to  access  (roads,  fencing) Lack  of  (adequate)  recrea2onal  infrastructure/equipment greenways,  benches,  play  equipment infrastructure  adapted  to  disabled,  older  &  younger too  abundant  infrastructure Low  quality  of  the  greenspace vandalism  &  misuse management safety
4. Barriers  to  accessing  &  using  GI  (2) Informa2on  &  knowledge Rights  of  access What  is  allowed?  Which  GI  is  accessible? What  shoes  do  I  need? Cultural  norms VisiOng  the  (urban)  forest  ... ...  is  dangerous ...  is  boring ...  is  loosing  Ome Mismatch  between  (potenOal)  visitors  wishes  &  actual  supply Equipment AcOviOes Design
5. SecOons  of  society  not  visiOng  GI Based  on  sample  of  surveys  in  different  European  countries,  selected by  parOcipants  to  COST  FP1204
6. Tempelhof  Berlin  -­‐  Green  JusOce  or  Just  Green?
7. Tempelhof  Berlin  -­‐  Green  JusOce  or  Just  Green? 1.  seaOng  accommodaOon  for  relaxing  &  meeOng? 2.  Large  trees? 3.  Smaller,  enclosed  areas  for  recreaOon?
8. Tempelhof  Berlin  -­‐  Green  JusOce  or  Just  Green?
9. Tempelhof  Berlin  -­‐  Green  JusOce  or  Just  Green? BBQ&picknick, talking, playing with kids (secluded) 27% 9% Immigrants Picknick, seating, playgrounds 11% 6% > 65 years Sport, sunbathing, playing Native Germans Preferred activity % district % visitors -­‐>  Eco-­‐gentrificaOon?
10. Conclusions Inequal  access  to  UF  &  GI  (distribuOonal  jusOce) Also  in  countries  with  everymen’s  right Similar  paderns  around  Europe  -­‐  older  people  &  lower  SES Informal  access,  informal  use,  temporary  use,  private  GI Not  only  about  “physical  accessibility”,  but  also  about  “mental accessibility”  (interacOonal  jusOce) Tailor  UF  &  GI  to  wishes  &  requirements  from  the  future  visitors Providing  access  to  GI&UF  is  not  enough Role  for  public  par2cipa2on  (procedural  jusOce) Avoid  eco-­‐gentrifica2on  (social  jusOce)