Whose Green City?: Contested Urban Green Spaces and Environmental Justice in Northern Europe (Sustainable Development Goals Series)

Against the backdrop of an accelerating global urbanization and related ecological, climatic or social challenges to urban sustainability, this book focuses on the access to “safe, inclusive and accessible green and public space” as outlined in United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goal No. 11. Looking through the lens of environmental justice and contested urban spaces, it raises the question who ultimately benefits from a green city development, and – even more importantly – who does not. While green space benefits are well-documented, green space provision is faced by multiple challenges in an era of urban neoliberalism. With their interdisciplinary and multi-method approach, the chapters in this book carefully study the different dimensions of green space access with particular focus on vulnerable groups, critically evaluate cases of procedural injustice and, in the case of Northern Europe that is often seen as forerunner of urban sustainability, provide in-depth studies on the contexts of injustices in urban greening. Chapters 1, 5, and 6 are available open access under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License via link.springer.com. Contents Contributors 1 Contested Urban Green Spaces and Environmental Justice in Northern Europe 1 Green Spaces in Times of Urbanisation: Between Sustainability, Contestation and Environmental Justice 2 More Than a Question of Distributive Justice: Environmental Justice Perspectives on Urban Green Spaces 3 Shifting the Gaze: The Region of Northern Europe 4 Zooming in: The Mixed-Method Approach 5 Overview of the Book Structure and Chapters 6 Concluding Remarks and Future Research Agenda Personal Acknowledgement References Urban Green Spaces and the Question of Environmental Justice 2 A Nearby Park or Forest Can Become Mount Everest. Access to Urban Green Areas by People in Wheelchair from an Environmental Justice Perspective: A Stockholm Case 1 Introduction 2 Access to Urban Nature: A Further Look at Current Research Access and Environmental Justice Access to Urban Green Areas: For Whom? Access to (Urban) Green Areas and Mobility Disability 3 Case Area: Urban Green Areas in Stockholm 4 Methodological Approach 5 Results and Analysis Experienced Values of Urban Nature Importance of Nearby Nature Barriers to Access: More than Ground Cover Before Visiting Green Spaces: Motivation and Planning Getting Out There: Dependence on Unreliable Logistics and Rights to Assistance Visiting a Green Area: Getting Around Access Revisited: To “What Nature”? Inventories with Limitations 6 Discussion Multiple Nature Values for All ‘the People’ as Part of Everyday Life Barriers to Access and Means to Overcome Them Accessibility and “Untouched” Nature 7 Conclusion: Access to Urban Green Areas Through the Lens of Environmental Justice Acknowledgements References 3 Not My Green Space? White Attitudes Towards Black Presence in UK Green Spaces. An Auto-ethnography 1 Introduction: Urban Green Space, Rural Green Space, Whose Dichotomy? 2 Conceptualisation Black People in Nature Racism and ‘Othering’ in Natural Settings 3 Methodology Participant Observation: Black Ethnographer Witnessing Whiteness Reflections on Positionality: Auto-ethnography in the Face of Racism 4 Analysis Black Disenfranchisement from Nature Reframing the White Narrative Systematic Racism in Form of Multiple Exclusions from the Field Exclusion by the Shadow Exclusion as ‘Less Than’ Exclusion from the Last White Bastion Economic Exclusion 5 Conclusion References 4 Environmental Justice in the Post-socialist City. The Case of Riga, Latvia 1 Introduction 2 Environmental Justice and Green Space Planning in Post-Socialist Countries: An Overview and Theoretical Framework 3 Study Context 4 Research Design Survey Data Analysis Identification of Urban Green Spaces Spatial Analysis 5 Discussion of Empirical Results Survey Data Analysis Identification of Urban Green Spaces Socio-Spatial Analysis Green Space and Urban Governance in Riga: Context 6 Conclusions Acknowledgements References Contested Urban Green Spaces 5 Private Events in a Public Park: Contested Music Festivals and Environmental Justice in Finsbury Park, London 1 Introduction Reflections on Methodology 2 Contested City Parks in the Neoliberal Era On Music Festivals and Juridification Park Live: Music Festivals in London’s Parks 3 Finsbury Park. The People’s Park? A Musical, Municipal Park: Music Events in Finsbury Park 4 The Wireless Dispute The Legal Challenge A Green Park The Licence and the Licentious Wireless as a Celebration of Local Youth and Black Cultures 5 Conclusions Acknowledgements References 6 Contested Urban Green Space Development: Rolling Back the Frontiers of Sustainability in Trondheim, Norway 1 Introduction 2 The SDGs as a Normative Framework for Urban Planning and Governance 3 UGS and Development in the Nordics and Trondheim 4 Methodology 5 Cases Presthus Høyskoleparken 6 Discussion Collaboration for Sustainable UGS Governance 7 Conclusion Acknowledgements References 7 Same, Same but Different? The ‘Right’ Kind of Gardening and the Negotiation of Neoliberal Urban Governance in the Post-socialist City 1 Introduction 2 Urban Gardening in the Neoliberal City: Conceptualisation Socio-Spatial Discourses Spatial Materialities Cultivated Subjectivities 3 Methodology Case Study Introduction: Why Gardening? Why in Estonia? Research Design and Database 4 Analysis Socio-Spatial Discourses Hegemonic Framing Place Promotion Spatial Materialities Land Ownership and Land Use Spatial Control and Landscape Aesthetics Exchange Value vs Use Value Cultivated Subjectivities Pro-Neoliberal Subjectivities Counter-Neoliberal Subjectivities 5 Discussion and Conclusion Acknowledgements References Invalid expression 8 Science, Art and Other Ways of Knowing: A Proposal from a Struggle Over a Helsinki Green Space 1 Introduction 2 Conceptual Approach: Ways of Knowing the Environment 3 Methodological Approach: Research from an Activist Position 4 The Case: Vartiosaari 5 Analysis Environmentalism is Always About People Environmentalism is About Matter and Meaning Ways of Knowing the Environment: Surveys and Other Data Ways of Knowing the Environment: Art 6 Conclusions: Knowledge and Environmental Justice References 9 Contingent Urban Nature and Interactional Justice: The Evolving Coastal Spaces of the City of Tallinn 1 Introduction 2 Methodological Remarks 3 Formations of Urban Nature and Extended Interactional Justice: Theoretical Discussion 4 Wider Trajectories of Change: The Case of Tallinn’s Waterfront 5 Analysis Kalarand: Making the Natural Beach Public in the Middle of Contested Waterfront Paljassaare: From Disturbances to Bird Protection and Valued Green Spaces 6 Discussion: Disturbances, Interventions and Interactional Justice Contributing to Urban Green Coastal Spaces 7 Conclusions Acknowledgements References