Green urban transitions and the reproduction of inequality: An environmental justice perspective

Abstract

Concepts such as the "green city" and the "green urban transition" have attracted sustained attention in recent decades, and it is important to examine them through the lens of environmental justice and regional disparities. Starting from the fact that cities generate the largest share of global GDP, but also a major share of greenhouse-gas emissions and waste, it becomes clear that the green transition is not only a technical challenge, but also a distributive and procedural one, as well as a challenge related to social recognition of these issues. This paper synthesizes three key policy domains, such as urban greening and nature-based solutions, sustainable mobility, and building energy effi ciency, and identifi es mechanisms through which inequalities are reproduced, including the spatial concentration of investment, "green gentrifi cation," infrastructural preconditions, and diff erences in institutional capacities.