Job Post

May 1, 2018 (or earlier if feasible)

2 years

PRBB – Barcelona Biomedical Research Park

Applications are invited for one 2 year ERC- (European Research Council) funded postdoctoral fellowship as part of the 1.5. Million Euros ERC-funded project GREENLULUS: Green Locally Unwanted Land Uses. The successful applicant will become a core member of the GREENLULUS team (which includes the Principal Investigator, a Senior Research Scientist, 3 postdoctoral researchers, 3 PhD students, and a Research Manager). The postdoctoral researcher will participate in GREENLULUs’ continued ‘conceptual and analytical development (see abstract below), support the supervision of doctoral students, and co-implement the project. In particular, the postdoctoral researcher will conduct a quantitative/spatial analysis of the social, health, and racial impact of the restoration or creation of new green amenities (parks, gardens, urban farms, ecological corridors, green promenades, etc) in US and EU cities and of investors’ responses to the creation or restoration of green amenities. Research will also include a qualitative analysis of community mobilization in the context of green amenity creation or restoration and of policy/planning interventions to address threats or presence of green gentrification. Part of the qualitative analysis will be based on selected field work in EU and/or US and Canadian cities by the postdoctoral researcher himself/herself. Last he/she will co-lead the development of a Fair Urban Greening index that will help compare green cities’ social and racial impact with each other.

The position is based at the Institute of Environmental Science and Technology (ICTA) at the Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona within the Barcelona Lab for Urban Environmental Justice and Sustainability (BCNUEJ).

About GREENLULUS

This project examines the role played by the restoration and creation of environmental amenities in the redistribution of urban quality of life. Since no large-scale study has been conducted to measure if greener cities are less racially and socially equitable, the project will analyze whether greening projects tend to increase environmental inequalities in 40 cities in the US and Europe and under which conditions such projects can address equity concerns. First, the study will a) develop a new method (an index) to quantify the racial and social impact of greening projects and to compare cities’ performance with each other; b) provide a spatial and quantitative analysis of neighborhood demographic, real estate, and environmental data; and c) apply the index methodology on a unique ranking of cities. Second, this research will analyze the response of private investors to the greening projects and identify the impact of new development projects proposed, approved, and implemented during or upon the completion of greening projects on the neighborhood socio-demographic characteristics. We will assess the extent to which development projects seem to encourage and/or accelerate gentrification, as such projects have been shown to be signs of residents’ exclusion. Additionally, this study will qualitatively analyze cases of community mobilization developed in response to new environmental amenities, through fieldwork in 16 critical neighborhoods (one neighborhood case per city) among the 40 cities. Last, we will use qualitative methods to analyze the policies and measures that municipalities develop to address exclusion in “greening” neighborhoods. This groundbreaking longitudinal, systematic, in-depth, and large-scale project in the field of environmental justice will lead to a paradigm shift by hypothesizing that the social and racial inequities present in sustainability projects make green amenities Locally Unwanted Land Uses (LULUs) for poor residents and people of color.

PhD in Urban Planning/Studies, Geography, Public Health, or any related field. Advanced quantitative analysis skills together with knowledge of qualitative methods research; Willingness to commit to a 2-year project based in Barcelona (although field work in EU and/OR US cities will be required); Oral and written fluency in English + one other European language. Excellent writing and communication skills. GIS experience or training preferred.

Please send Cover Letter, Writing Sample + CV by March 1, 2018 to Project Manager Laura Jimenez (Laura.Jimenez@uab.cat)