In many cities like Chicago, Barcelona or New York, green urban development schemes have been shown to produce inequalities. These inequalities may materialize as displaced communities as a result of new green spaces, their exclusion in the planning and design of green amenities, or simply a lack of investment in green spaces in marginalized neighborhoods. In response, community groups and civic society actors are increasingly mobilizing in support of low-income and minority communities that have unequal access to urban green space and infrastructure – and subsequently to healthy urban environments.
As part of our GreenLULUs research in 40 cities across the US, Canada, and Europe, we have started to examine community activism in defense of urban green equity. A deeper look at these movements reveals four major trends in how communities strategically organize in favor of policies where urban green amenities can become a true value for all. These trends involve strategies of community-led redevelopments, self-management of green spaces and demands for socially inclusive planning. In some, cases, these strategies are combined with tactics to avoid gentrification and risk of displacement.
Resistance against (green) gentrification
Protests and direct denunciations are one articulation of such resistance. In Valencia, the Parc Central is a public-private partnership consisting of a 230,000 m2 park designed to connect several neighborhoods by burying the railway tracks currently dividing the area. The redevelopment has resulted in the construction of four skyscrapers, luxury homes, shopping centers and hotels. Facing the risk of rising property prices and gentrification, residents from the surrounding low-income neighborhoods have organized to protect existing trees from demolition, having provided refuge to many during the civil war and possessing a significant symbolic value for long-term residents. Organized under the social platform “Salvem el Parc Central,” these residents also reject the construction of more skyscrapers in a city that already hosts dozens of empty buildings.
In the US, similar movements frame direct concerns about the appropriation of green spaces by whiter, more affluent communities and the creation of enclaves of green privilege. In Boston, for instance, environmental groups warn of the risk of appropriation and exclusive use over time of new green resilient parks in the neighborhoods of East Boston and South Boston, and eventually, the risk of new climate and home insecurities for long term residents.
An aerial view of Parc Central in Valencia. Photo via lasprovincias.es
Community-driven greening
Green space improvements such as tree planting, community gardens and park clean-up are also growing as a grassroots effort to improve access to food security, recreational opportunities, and urban nature. Examples of this include the successful development of community gardens in disadvantaged black and Latino neighborhoods in Oakland and communal green spaces that support citizens suffering from health problems related to environmental hazards or inadequate access to healthy food.
However, as many of these community gardens are being co-opted as a branding mechanism to sell a “greener” neighborhood to more affluent newcomers, original residents face the threat of displacement. In an interview for the New Yorker in 2014, a community activist described the gentrification that followed: “Our work wasn’t the cause of gentrification, but our programs and our aesthetics were being used to sell land and help displace people”. This, in turn, has led to the adoption of anti-displacement strategies.
Causa Justa housing march in San Francisco’s Mission District. Photo via Steve Rhodes/flickr
In some cases, larger green neighbourhood developments are initiated by communities themselves. In response to the risk of gentrification, Community Land Trusts (CLT) and the provision of affordable housing by housing co-operatives or community development corporations are becoming common strategies to secure access to affordable houses in low-income communities undergoing green development. One of the CLTs is currently being developed in Anacostia, Washington DC, in an attempt to address gentrification from the construction of a 11th Street Bridge Park.
Inclusive green development
Urban green equity claims are largely interrelated with demands for participatory policy-making and planning processes. This can be achieved through formal channels and alliances with the local government, or involve more unconventional strategies such as squatting. Often a combination of the two have been necessary, as is the case of Dublin’s historical working-class neighborhood, The Liberties, where residents squatted and developed community gardens on vacant land previously designated for private development. By building alliances with other civil society groups, the network of activists was able to achieve the development of a skate park through a participatory process.
Weaver Park in Dublin. Photo via Nick Moloney/The Liberty
Protection of green spaces in historically neglected areas
Civic organizations and community mobilizations also participate to maintain communal green spaces in historically neglected areas—many of them under threat of redevelopment. While many of these movements relate to issues of social and racial justice and form part of a broader alliance actively engaged with ecological restoration and public health, others participate in municipal sponsored programs aimed at restoring green spaces in cities. As municipal programs are often initiated due to budget cuts and insufficient governmental spending to maintain green spaces, these programs have become a way for communities to build alliances with local governments around green space.
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In conclusion, local activists and communities are increasingly contesting and resisting unjust processes and outcomes through a variety of strategies, laying the groundwork for cities that are both green and equitable. As common strategies are developing among these movements, they also articulate clear demands for policies that can ensure green and healthy environments for all.
Mai image: “Afrika Town” Community Garden in West Oakland. Photo via indybay.org
