IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/sae/urbstu/v44y2007i2p319-337.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Right Answers, Wrong Questions: Environmental Justice as Urban Research

Author

Listed:
  • Lisa Schweitzer

    (Urban Affairs and Planning, 205 Architecture Annex, Virginia Tech, Blacksburg, Virginia 24060, USA, lschwei@vt.edu)

  • Max Stephenson JR

    (Urban Affairs and Planning and the Centre for Public Administration and Policy, Institute for Governance and Accountabilities, School of Public and International Affairs, 103 Architecture Annex, Virginia Tech, Blacksburg, Virginia 24061, USA, mstephen@vt.edu)

Abstract

Environmental justice, a term that incorporates 'environmental racism' and 'environmental classism,' captures the idea that different racial and socioeconomic groups experience differential access to environmental quality. This article explores what previous studies have established about environmental justice as an urban phenomenon and critiques the focus and methodologies of those efforts within the larger context of urban inquiry. After assaying the concepts that have guided most of the research, the paper considers the arguments that analysts have offered for the causes of environmental injustice. The review of the literature reveals significant problems of focus, measurement, specification and research design. Nonetheless, environmental justice research raises critical concerns about how citizens should be treated and what constitutes a just distribution of collective urban goods in a democratic society. It is the authors' view that due consideration of these matters can enlighten urban and environmental inquiry and policy.

Suggested Citation

  • Lisa Schweitzer & Max Stephenson JR, 2007. "Right Answers, Wrong Questions: Environmental Justice as Urban Research," Urban Studies, Urban Studies Journal Limited, vol. 44(2), pages 319-337, February.
  • Handle: RePEc:sae:urbstu:v:44:y:2007:i:2:p:319-337
    DOI: 10.1080/00420980601074961
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1080/00420980601074961
    Download Restriction: no

    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1080/00420980601074961?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Heitgerd, Janet L. & Virginia Lee, C., 2003. "A new look at neighborhoods near National Priorities List sites," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 57(6), pages 1117-1126, September.
    2. Marcy Burchfield & Henry G. Overman & Diego Puga & Matthew A. Turner, 2006. "Causes of Sprawl: A Portrait from Space," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 121(2), pages 587-633.
    3. Paul Slovic, 1999. "Trust, Emotion, Sex, Politics, and Science: Surveying the Risk‐Assessment Battlefield," Risk Analysis, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 19(4), pages 689-701, August.
    4. Manuel Pastor & James L. Sadd & Rachel Morello‐Frosch, 2004. "Waiting to Inhale: The Demographics of Toxic Air Release Facilities in 21st‐Century California," Social Science Quarterly, Southwestern Social Science Association, vol. 85(2), pages 420-440, June.
    5. James T. Hamilton, 1995. "Testing for environmental racism: Prejudice, profits, political power?," Journal of Policy Analysis and Management, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 14(1), pages 107-132.
    6. W. Adger & P. Kelly, 1999. "Social Vulnerability to Climate Change and the Architecture of Entitlements," Mitigation and Adaptation Strategies for Global Change, Springer, vol. 4(3), pages 253-266, September.
    7. Michael Taquino & Domenico Parisi & Duane A. Gill, 2002. "Units of Analysis and the Environmental Justice Hypothesis: The Case of Industrial Hog Farms," Social Science Quarterly, Southwestern Social Science Association, vol. 83(1), pages 298-316, March.
    8. Diane Hite, 2000. "A Random Utility Model of Environmental Equity," Growth and Change, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 31(1), pages 40-58.
    9. Susan L. Cutter & Danika Holm & Lloyd Clark, 1996. "The Role of Geographic Scale in Monitoring Environmental Justice," Risk Analysis, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 16(4), pages 517-526, August.
    10. Makram Talih & Ronald D. Fricker, 2002. "Effects of neighbourhood demographic shifts on findings of environmental injustice: a New York City case‐study," Journal of the Royal Statistical Society Series A, Royal Statistical Society, vol. 165(2), pages 375-397, June.
    11. Jeremy Mennis, 2002. "Using Geographic Information Systems to Create and Analyze Statistical Surfaces of Population and Risk for Environmental Justice Analysis," Social Science Quarterly, Southwestern Social Science Association, vol. 83(1), pages 281-297, March.
    12. John C. Pine & Brian D. Marx & Aruna Lakshmanan, 2002. "An Examination of Accidental‐Release Scenarios from Chemical‐Processing Sites: The Relation of Race to Distance," Social Science Quarterly, Southwestern Social Science Association, vol. 83(1), pages 317-331, March.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Karen Bickerstaff & Harriet Bulkeley & Joe Painter, 2009. "Justice, Nature and the City," International Journal of Urban and Regional Research, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 33(3), pages 591-600, September.
    2. Douglas S. Noonan, 2008. "Evidence of Environmental Justice: A Critical Perspective on the Practice of EJ Research and Lessons for Policy Design," Social Science Quarterly, Southwestern Social Science Association, vol. 89(5), pages 1153-1174, December.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Douglas S. Noonan, 2008. "Evidence of Environmental Justice: A Critical Perspective on the Practice of EJ Research and Lessons for Policy Design," Social Science Quarterly, Southwestern Social Science Association, vol. 89(5), pages 1153-1174, December.
    2. D. K. Yoon & Jung Eun Kang & Juhyeon Park, 2017. "Exploring Environmental Inequity in South Korea: An Analysis of the Distribution of Toxic Release Inventory (TRI) Facilities and Toxic Releases," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 9(10), pages 1-14, October.
    3. William Bowen & Mark Atlas & Sugie Lee, 2009. "Industrial agglomeration and the regional scientific explanation of perceived environmental injustice," The Annals of Regional Science, Springer;Western Regional Science Association, vol. 43(4), pages 1013-1031, December.
    4. Andrea L. Moore, 2017. "An examination of the influence of environmental justice policy, Executive Order 12898, on the spatial concentration of manufacturing facilities in EPA Region 6 1988-2009," Journal of Environmental Studies and Sciences, Springer;Association of Environmental Studies and Sciences, vol. 7(3), pages 377-385, September.
    5. Baryshnikova, Nadezhda V., 2010. "Pollution abatement and environmental equity: A dynamic study," Journal of Urban Economics, Elsevier, vol. 68(2), pages 183-190, September.
    6. Banzhaf, H. Spencer, 2011. "The Political Economy of Environmental Justice," MPRA Paper 101191, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    7. Hannah Aoyagi & Oladele A. Ogunseitan, 2015. "Toxic Releases and Risk Disparity: A Spatiotemporal Model of Industrial Ecology and Social Empowerment," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 12(6), pages 1-19, June.
    8. Michael Greenberg & Charles Haas & Anthony Cox & Karen Lowrie & Katherine McComas & Warner North, 2012. "Ten Most Important Accomplishments in Risk Analysis, 1980–2010," Risk Analysis, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 32(5), pages 771-781, May.
    9. Becker, Randy A., 2005. "Air pollution abatement costs under the Clean Air Act: evidence from the PACE survey," Journal of Environmental Economics and Management, Elsevier, vol. 50(1), pages 144-169, July.
    10. Garrone, Paola & Groppi, Angelamaria, 2012. "Siting locally-unwanted facilities: What can be learnt from the location of Italian power plants," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 45(C), pages 176-186.
    11. Baden, Brett M. & Coursey, Don L., 2002. "The locality of waste sites within the city of Chicago: a demographic, social, and economic analysis," Resource and Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 24(1-2), pages 53-93, February.
    12. Schoolman, Ethan D. & Ma, Chunbo, 2012. "Migration, class and environmental inequality: Exposure to pollution in China's Jiangsu Province," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 75(C), pages 140-151.
    13. Marc D. Shapiro, 2005. "Equity and information: Information regulation, environmental justice, and risks from toxic chemicals," Journal of Policy Analysis and Management, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 24(2), pages 373-398.
    14. Germani, Anna Rita & Morone, Piergiuseppe & Testa, Giuseppina, 2011. "Enforcement and air pollution: an environmental justice case study," MPRA Paper 38656, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    15. Yushim Kim & Yongwan Chun, 2019. "Revisiting environmental inequity in Southern California: Does environmental risk increase in ethnically homogeneous or mixed communities?," Urban Studies, Urban Studies Journal Limited, vol. 56(9), pages 1748-1767, July.
    16. Roxanne E. Lewis & Michael G. Tyshenko, 2009. "The Impact of Social Amplification and Attenuation of Risk and the Public Reaction to Mad Cow Disease in Canada," Risk Analysis, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 29(5), pages 714-728, May.
    17. Eloi Laurent, 2010. "Environmental justice and environmental inequalities: A European perspective," Working Papers hal-01069412, HAL.
    18. Hausman, Catherine & Stolper, Samuel, 2021. "Inequality, information failures, and air pollution," Journal of Environmental Economics and Management, Elsevier, vol. 110(C).
    19. Jones, Lindsey & d'Errico, Marco, 2019. "Whose resilience matters? Like-for-like comparison of objective and subjective evaluations of resilience," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 124(C), pages 1-1.
    20. Beyer, Robert C.M. & Franco-Bedoya, Sebastian & Galdo, Virgilio, 2021. "Examining the economic impact of COVID-19 in India through daily electricity consumption and nighttime light intensity," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 140(C).

    More about this item

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:sae:urbstu:v:44:y:2007:i:2:p:319-337. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: SAGE Publications (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.gla.ac.uk/departments/urbanstudiesjournal .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.