Metropolitics

A Crisis of Habitation in LA's Last Remaining Wetland

Deike Peters & Sam Lutzker — 2025-03-18T06:00:00Z

As housing crises become increasingly entangled with environmental crises, the question of just outcomes requires different ways of thinking. In their exploration of the politics of Los Angeles' Ballona Wetlands, Deike Peters and Sam Lutzker suggest the concept of multispecies justice may offer a pathway for negotiating these conflicts.
The Ballona Wetlands Ecological Reserve lies just south of famous Venice Beach in Los Angeles. Its 600 acres (240 ha) are all that remains of the once mighty

- From the Field / environmental justice, environment, ecology, urban ecology, housing crisis, housing, housing justice, habitat, wetlands, multispecies justice, United States, California, Los Angeles

The Banality of Innovation: Mythic Discourse and the Long Road to Shore Power in New York City

Iain McDavid — 2024-12-03T06:00:00Z

If the New York City Economic Development Corporation is committed to the city's “green transformation, ” then why is it dragging its feet to curb cruise-ship pollution at city ports? Iain McDavid explains how clean air doesn't align with EDC's primary concern of encouraging investment.
By allowing ships to plug into the electrical grid while at berth, shore power installations can drastically reduce carbon emissions and harmful pollutants produced by a vessel's auxiliary engines (CLIA 2024;

- Debates / cruise ships, pollution, air quality, Brooklyn, New York, United States, energy, environmental justice, environment, shore power

The Just Transition, Economic Democracy, and the Green New Deal

Evan Casper-Futterman & Jason Spicer — 2019-11-05T06:00:00Z

Can participatory and economic democracy in the US support a Green New Deal? Evan Casper‑Futterman and Jason Spicer review two recent books that assess how radical social and institutional transformation could make a Green New Deal effective, and underscore the challenges that remain.
Earlier this year, US Representative Alexandra Ocasio-Cortez introduced a Congressional resolution for a Green New Deal (GND), an idea since supported by a number of 2020 Democratic presidential candidates. The

- Reviews / environmental justice, just transition, democracy, participatory democracy, economic democracy, Green New Deal, United States, participation

Global Climate Crisis and the City: An Interview with Ashley Dawson

Ashley Dawson & Maura McGee — 2019-04-03T09:58:34Z

An interview with Ashley Dawson, professor of English at the College of Staten Island and the Graduate Center, CUNY, about his most recent book Extreme Cities: The Peril and Promise of Urban Life in the Age of Climate Change. He talks with Maura McGee about the global convergence of urbanization and climate change, strategies to confront climate chaos, and how communities and social movements can act.
Cities are the defining social and ecological form of the 21st century. They are home to the

- Interviews / global warming, environment, anthropocène, climate change, sustainable development, Global South, Global North, sea-level rise, crisis, environmental justice, just transition

Killing Them Softly: The Environmental Vulnerability of Black Women in Albany, New York

Tanesha A. Thomas — 2018-10-23T05:00:00Z

In Albany's South End, a predominantly low-income African-American neighborhood, tanks storing environmentally harmful toxins pose risks to the community's health. Tanesha Thomas combines sociological and geographical methods of analysis to show that Black women, as primary householders in communities hosting environmental hazards, bear a disproportionate environmental burden. This research incorporates gender into an intersectional analysis of environmental inequality.
A chain-link fence is

- From the Field / housing, gender, environment, United States, race, environmental justice, environmental classism, environmental racism, ecological disaster, toxic loading, Black women, Albany

Planning for the Unimaginable: Puerto Rico and Strategies for Climate-Change Adaptation

Cecelia Walsh-Russo — 2018-05-01T05:00:00Z

The damage from the two hurricanes that struck Puerto Rico was multiplied by US austerity plans that deprived the island of resources to implement its carefully crafted climate plans. Public debt and calls for privatization are further hampering Puerto Rico's recovery. Repairing damaged housing, utilities, and creating greater resilience requires major investment and community-based adaptation initiatives.
---- Series: Climate Change and Social Change During late September 2017, the island of

- From the Field / catastrophe, disaster, environment, inequalities, United States, hurricane, climate change, climate action plans, austerity, environmental justice, climate justice, storm recovery, social change, Puerto Rico, weather

Climate Change and Social Change

Gregory Smithsimon — 2018-04-03T05:30:00Z

Cities are home to more than half the world's population and the source of most global CO2 emissions—and yet often occupy vulnerable sites particularly sensitive to the effects of climate change. Out of necessity, cities have therefore become pioneers when it comes to responding to these changes. In this series, we examine not just the different strategies they deploy but also the associated social issues, and more specifically how questions of social justice and equity are taken into

- Series / environment, social justice, urban ecology, energy, climate change, sea-level rise, climate action plans, environmental justice, climate justice

The Urban Heart of a Just Transition: How Cities Plan for Social Justice in Climate Action

Alexa Waud — 2018-04-03T05:00:00Z

Cities are often framed as sustainability saviors. Alexa Waud analyzes 20 climate action plans of cities that participate in the international Carbon Neutral Cities Alliance, and argues that in order to minimize the impacts of decarbonization on vulnerable populations, cities must understand the historical context of racial and social justice struggles, the immediacy and impact of climate action plans, and the strong potential for action on climate change.
---- Series: Climate Change and

- Essays / sustainable development, social justice, energy, climate change, sustainable city, climate action plans, environmental justice, climate justice, urban sustainability, energy transition, ecological transition, decarbonization, just transition

Institutional Roadblocks to Achieving Environmental Justice Through Public Participation: The Case of CSO Control in US Cities

Rebekah Breitzer — 2018-01-24T06:00:00Z

Rather than meaningfully involving representatives of environmental-justice communities in decisions about the hazards that disproportionately affect their health, public participation efforts initiated by federal and municipal agencies often perpetuate inequities. Rebekah Breitzer argues that the problem stems in part from the adoption of social diffusion theory, which conditions policymakers to think of low-income people as targets for behavior modification rather than as potential

- Essays / participation, environment, inequalities, water, New York, socio-spatial inequalities, citizens, Philadelphia, environmental justice, combined sewer overflow, social diffusion theory

Between Green Paris and Immigrant Paris: The Politics of the Jardins d'Éole

Maura McGee — 2017-03-21T06:00:00Z

As leaders in global cities reimagine and rebuild their metropolises as green capitals of the future, who has the right to the new sustainable city? In her review of Andrew Newman's Landscape of Discontent: Urban Sustainability in Immigrant Paris, Maura McGee comments on the contradictions of ecological urbanism in northeast Paris.
Global discourse on urban sustainability has sparked a green turn in urban policy, planning, and design. Local officials deploy environmental policies not just to

- Reviews / France, parks, Paris, green spaces, environmental justice, urban sustainability, ecological urbanism, Jardins d'Éole, Cour du Maroc, Mal-Logés, Bertrand Delanoë