A distributive environmental justice index to support green space planning in cities

Abstract

Environmental justice (EJ) raises concerns about just allocating environmental harms and goods. It has been mainly analysed from a distributive lens through indicators and screening tools that have underlined communities' proximity to pollution and risk sources. However, for urban areas, existing gaps relate to the need for more comprehensive assessments of green space benefits distribution (e.g., flood mitigation, air pollution control and recreation, etc.) as well as aligning EJ indicators to local planning and policy efforts for simultaneously addressing planning issues and reinforce the evaluation of existing unjust realities. To address these issues, we developed a composite distributive environmental justice index (DEJI) structured into three sub-indices that reflect locally relevant patterns of environmental risks, disadvantaged communities, and the provision of green space benefits. The construction of this index also relies on a qualitative content analysis of planning and policy documents to contextualise EJ priorities relevant to the planning administration, and a detailed methodological rationale for composite indicator building. Applying the DEJI in Las Palmas de Gran Canaria (Spain) at the census tract level, we identified a complex city-wide pattern of distributive injustices driven by the historical segregation patterns of insular contexts. Based on our results, we discuss how using the DEJI could help planning and policymakers reach specific goals, including those related to enhancing greening interventions in urban areas. Moreover, we argue that EJ composite indicators are needed to support environmentally just trajectories in cities with realities and planning patterns different from those found in mainland territories.