Mapping the distributive environmental justice of urban waters

Abstract

In this paper, we identify patterns of distributive environmental justice in the Helsinki Metropolitan Area (HMA) in terms of spatial proximity of urban waters, as a potential provider of a diverse set of environmental goods and well-being. Our focus is on the question how equally these benefits are distributed in HMA? To answer this we apply a GIS-based clustering analysis with spatial statistics to map the good and deprived access of different socio-economic and demographic groups to urban blue. We use income, education, language and age as factors to delineate residential areas and found not only differences in how various population groups are located in the four different municipalities of the HMA, but also differences in group distances to the nearest water areas. Results show that high income and high educational background, Swedish language and high age are factors more frequently related to living closer to water areas. At the same time, children, foreigners, and people having lower economic status tend to live further away from urban blue. This is important knowledge to be integrated into urban planning. The recognition of lacking opportunities suggests more consideration towards these aforementioned population groups to reduce inequality and to ensure just distribution of accessible and usable urban nature in the HMA.

Racial, Ethnic, and Socioeconomic Disparities in Multiple Measures of Blue and Green Spaces in the United States

“…Associations of SES with natural environment measures in this study are generally consistent with recent studies. 5 , 11 , 12 , 30 , 31 These associations may be due to the fact that green and blue spaces are highly valued, especially in urban areas, and proximity to natural environments and private greenery may increase house prices. 32 – 34 Another possible explanation could be that there is less green infrastructure investment in low SES and minority race areas than in other areas.…”

A review of nature-based solutions to environmental hazards through the lens of environmental justice

“…Ecological justice concerns the establishment of fair and balanced relationships between human beings and non-human entities (Kortetmäki 2017). In our study, we incorporate urban green space (Kato-Huerta and Geneletti 2023), urban blue space (Viinikka, Paloniemi, and Assmuth 2018), biodiversity (Martin, McGuire, and Sullivan 2013), as well as other non-human elements that are considered recipients of justice. Our investigation aims to determine whether their rights are adequately protected.…”

América Latina ante los (nuevos) retos de la justicia social y ambiental.

“…En cuanto a aquellas variables que no aparecen en la bibliografía, vale mencionar que ni en sus aspectos contaminantes ni en los vinculados a la degradación del paisaje, se aplican indicadores que incluyan la presencia y gestión de residuos urbanos; siendo este un factor ambiental importante en las ciudades latinoamericanas. Al mismo tiempo, tampoco se identificó la utilización de indicadores de gentrificación verde urbana o indicadores de acceso a espacios acuáticos, que sí aparecen en otros estudios de ámbitos no latinoamericanos (Amorim Maia et al, 2020;Anguelovski et al, 2018;Laatikainen et al, 2015;Maantay y Maroko, 2018;Viinikka et al, 2018) y que podrían arrojar resultados interesantes en la región. Al mismo tiempo, no se mide, por ejemplo, el riesgo frente eventos meteorológicos, como pueden ser vientos fuertes asociados a ciclones extratropicales o huracanes presentes en la zona.…”