New Directions in Urban Environmental Justice: Rebuilding Community, Addressing Trauma, and Remaking Place

Traditionally, environmental justice studies have examined the disproportionate burden suffered by marginalized populations in regards to contamination or resource extraction. However, to date little is known about how complex underlying goals shape community organization for long-term environmental quality in different cities around the world, and how concerns for health play out in projects such as park creation, gardens, or playground construction. Through an analysis of neighborhood mobilization around environmental projects in Boston, Barcelona, and Havana, I unravel common patterns of activism aimed at rebuilding community and remaking place, thereby addressing physical and psychological dimensions of environmental health.