JUST-PLAN - Environmental justice and spatial planning decisions

Objectives

 Climate change (CC) adaptation policies based on nature rarely integrate social and economic dimensions. The literature has shown that this can lead, in the case of renaturation policies, to prioritizing urban areas that are poorly endowed with natural spaces but where resident populations have higher incomes and education levels, better access to employment, higher life expectancy, and greater access to health services (Liotta et al., 2020). More broadly, socio-spatial segregation leads to an unequal distribution of vulnerabilities, as well as unequal adaptive capacities in the face of a changing environment. There is therefore a need to broaden the perspective adopted in spatial planning policies aimed at climate change adaptation through renaturation or the fight against land artificialization, in order to better address issues of environmental justice. To this end, we develop theoretical and empirical contributions on diagnosing environmental justice and identifying the locations of corrective actions by confronting and enriching existing approaches, while considering a set of ecosystem services associated with natural spaces.

Approach

First, the approach includes a comprehensive literature review aimed at identifying existing indicators of environmental inequality and environmental justice, as well as methods for targeting priority areas within renaturation or anti-land-artificialization policies, particularly those characterized by a cumulative concentration of social and environmental disadvantages. This analysis seeks to compare their conceptual and methodological differences and to assess their implications for public policy. Particular attention is paid to the effects of spatial unit choices (municipalities, neighborhoods, grid cells) and the analytical boundaries considered (urban centers, peri-urban areas) on the measurement of inequalities. Various data sources are mobilized, including land-use data, socio-economic data, and data revealing individual preferences or behaviors. We examine the evolution of environmental inequalities across several dimensions, such as access to natural spaces, exposure to urban heat, and vulnerability to flooding. An analysis of the economic mechanisms underlying these dynamics also constitutes a central component of the research. Targeting methods are then employed to identify priority areas for public intervention, taking into account the cumulative nature of inequalities, through measures of the marginal contribution of spatial units or simulations of renaturation or conservation policies. Finally, in order to incorporate the potentially undesirable dynamic effects of environmental policies, such as gentrification, we use residential choice models to construct counterfactual scenarios. Overall, this approach aims to inform future strategies for spatial planning and climate change adaptation.

Contacts

Yves Schaeffer (LESSEM)

Mihai Tivadar (LESSEM)

Léa Tardieu (TETIS)

Elie Maudry (LESSEM)