The unjust nature of urban green space PA’s: The justice of Den Bosch municipality’s urban green space PA
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2024-08-30
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en
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There is a significant role for cities to enhance sustainability, liveability, resilience, and equity. Urban Green Spaces (UGS) are often seen and used as a common ‘strategy’ to cope with the negative impacts of climate change, influx of humans and decline of biodiversity, yet there are questions that can be raised regarding Environmental Justice (EJ) in urban green space policies. Previous research shows that science is not used enough or not used effectively to balance human and ecological needs. It also shows that policies often fail in justice; planners think they are doing right by certain decisions while in reality this does not match the wishes of residents or results in green gentrification for example. This research, by using the Policy Arrangement Approach (PAA) and its four dimensions (discourses, rules of the game, resources/power and actors), focuses on how just the urban green space Policy Arrangement (PA) of the municipality of ‘s-Hertogenbosch (Den Bosch) has become, by comparing the old and current urban green space PA of Den Bosch. Justice is measured through three EJ aspects; recognition-, procedural- and distributional justice. To examine to what extent and how the urban green space PA of Den Bosch has become more just, semi-structured interviews, document analysis and observations have been used. The urban green space PA of Den Bosch shows both stability and change, with the municipal council continuing to hold significant resources/power, and a gradual shift towards prioritising a more equitable distribution of UGS and resources. The rules of the game have evolved to include more human citizen-led initiatives and broader participation, although procedural justice remains limited as participation often involves only a selection of actors and takes place after decisions have been made. Despite the growing emphasis on UGS for climate resilience and intrinsic value, the continued marginalisation of individual non-humans, businesses and ‘ordinary residents’ indicates that recognition justice is still lacking, highlighting that while progress has been made, full justice in all dimensions has yet to be achieved.
This research shows that it is possible to combine the PAA and three aspects of EJ.
The research not only confirms the versatility and robustness of the PAA as an analytical tool but also highlights its potential to contribute to more just urban environments. Further research should show the extent to which the urban green space PA dimensions could become even more just. Besides, this research gives a helpful reflection about the need for a national green norm.
Keywords: Green gentrification, Urban Green Spaces (UGS), urban green space Policy Arrangement (PA), Environmental Justice (EJ), Policy Arrangement Approach (PAA)
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Faculteit der Managementwetenschappen