海角视频

Our industry has made 鈥� and continues to make 鈥� important strides in addressing critical climate and sustainability concerns. But too often, one area is not given due consideration: environmental justice. Here, we look at what this means 鈥� and why the built environment cannot afford to ignore it.

The role of the built environment on the climate crisis is well known (high levels of emissions and resource extraction, for example), as are the efforts that built environment professionals are making to create significant positive changes in the areas of decarbonisation, climate change adaptation and a move towards net-zero.

Simultaneously, the built environment is tackling associated crises in biodiversity and resource use. But there is an element of this which is often not given due consideration: environmental justice.

Environmental justice strives for fair treatment and meaning involvement of all communities in developing solutions to climate and environmental hazards.

Environmental justice strives for fair treatment and meaning involvement of all communities in developing solutions to climate and environmental hazards, and moving against the unequal, inequitable and unfair impact of their impact on people and communities.

More often than not, environmental justice communities contribute the least such hazards, yet they experience the most damaging effects, particularly historically marginalised communities such as ethnic minorities, indigenous persons, people of colour and those living in poverty. They have unequal access to environmental protections that others enjoy and are excluded from decision making processes.

So, how is this relevant for the built environment, and what can we do to address it?

What do our experts think about environmental justice?

The built environment touches all our lives and can be incredibly influential in our lived experience. This holds for how the climate crisis is experienced in the buildings, places, cities and communities in which we live.

Sarah Smyth is a senior cities consultant at 海角视频. She explains her view on environmental justice. She said, 鈥淓nvironmental justice issues are deeply interconnected, with cumulative impacts that can negatively affect health and well-being 鈥� especially for communities of colour and low-income communities.

“In the US, many have experienced a lack of investment in public amenities for decades, including parks and tree coverage. Today 鈥� many of those same communities experience and increased risk of heat-related health impacts.

鈥淲hen we approach sustainability and climate action through a lens of environmental justice, that means taking these considerations into the policy-making process 鈥� and to make sure that in our efforts to advance sustainability, that we are not also impeding social equity. These two things need to work in harmony: in an effort to move quickly on sustainability, we must not leave people behind.鈥�

Bianca Laura Latini is an associate engineer in the sustainability and physics team at 海角视频 and acts as global lead of social impact. She said, 鈥淲hen I think of environmental justice and the built environment, there is a local level and a global level.

“Communities in the outskirts of cities (where there is likely to be more industrial work, and poor air and water quality), with a dense population, can be disproportionately affected by climate change. And because of historical injustices, they are likely to be minority groups.

鈥淥n a broader, global scale of environmental injustice, we are talking about the global south, which suffers disproportionately from the impact of resource extraction and carbon emissions. This imbalance of dynamics between the global north and south are key environmental justice and climate justice issues.鈥�

What can the built environment do?

Meaningful community engagement is a central pillar in addressing environmental injustice, especially within the built environment. Bianca said, 鈥淥ur industry needs to be a lot better at community and stakeholder engagement.

“Not only must we have effective community engagement, but we must also feed in the outcomes of that engagement into our subsequent work. We have to engage with hard-to-reach groups and go in with an open mind 鈥� it can鈥檛 be a situation where industry goes in and imposes what they have already decided.鈥�

On a practical level, a specific example of framing environmental justice in the built environment is resource and material extraction. Supply chains in our industry are long and complex. Extraction of resources required for buildings and development impacts directly on the natural environment.

But people and communities at the beginning of supply chains feel the impact too, especially on how it relates to their day-to-day survival. If lands are mined or agricultural fields are lost, they won鈥檛 always be replaced or returned to how they once were. This is often hugely problematic for the people who live on these lands.

A reduction in initial material and resource extraction, and overall resource use, is therefore an obvious answer in how we can lessen both physical/environmental and social impacts. Building less through refurb and adaptive reuse should be prioritised, as should the promotion of a circular economy.

Not only must we have effective community engagement, but we must also feed in the outcomes of that engagement into our subsequent work.

Bianca Laura Latini, associate sustainability engineer, 海角视频

Bianca continued, 鈥淥ne of the best things we can do is just consume a lot less. There is a big intersection with embodied carbon when we talk about sourcing materials locally, adaptive reuse of buildings and refurb, but we also must consider extraction practices and how they affect local communities.

“More often than not, they are not the ones benefitting from it and their land is depleted. Those who are end users of these resources don鈥檛 see what is happening, because they are at the other end of the supply chain.鈥�

海角视频鈥檚 work and influence

Our approach is often guided by the historical, policy and cultural context of where we work. Sarah Smyth is based in Los Angeles and said, 鈥淓ach city is on their own journey with sustainability and environmental justice. We work closely with our clients to understand where they are, where they want to go and how their efforts can best align best practices and broader regional, state, or federal efforts.

“This is an exciting time for this work as more and more cities are incorporating equity into their sustainability and climate initiatives.鈥�

Sarah worked on the Los Angeles County Climate Vulnerability Assessment, which was the county鈥檚 first step in implementing their 鈥� The report assesses how people and infrastructure in LA County may be vulnerable to the changing climate. The analysis from this serves as the foundation for adaptation planning efforts and helps communities prepare for the increasing impacts of climate change.

Sarah said, 鈥淥ur work includes weaving together stakeholder engagement findings from our on the ground partners with robust technical analysis. This ensures that our final recommendations not only drive greenhouse gas emissions reductions or support resilient infrastructure in these communities but also prioritise those that will be most impacted by the effects of climate change.鈥�

Bianca Laura Latini said, 鈥淲e work at different scales and the approach is often different in different regions. In the UK, we are especially focused on data driven masterplans and how they can integrate with social impact and sustainability frameworks.

“In the US, we specialise in city environmental justice work, such as the climate vulnerability assessment for LA County and the New York environmental justice report and web portal.鈥�

New York City鈥檚 environmental justice report

Recently, 海角视频 led the consultant team who worked with the New York City Mayor鈥檚 Office of Climate and Environmental Justice (MOCEJ) and the NYC Environmental Justice Advisory Board to develop the which assesses historical and current environmental justice issues in New York City and identifies a series of policy opportunities to advance environmental justice that the City will explore further in the forthcoming EJNYC Plan.

David Bigio is senior cities consultant at 海角视频, based in New York. When referring to Local Laws 60 and 64, the local legislation passed by City Council in 2017 that set the EJNYC initiative in motion, he said, 鈥淭he legislation came about thanks to decades of work by environmental justice advocates. For many years they have been putting pressure on the local government and highlighting the issues that their communities face.

鈥淚t isn鈥檛 lost on us that a major finding of our research on this confirms what we and others have known to be true for many years: that, in large part, the environmental justice issues of today are connected to racism and segregation of the past. There are clear correlations that show the impact of these legacies persist today and are a major root of environmental injustice today.

鈥淣ew York City is a pioneer in taking action to address this. The EJNYC initiative puts the city at the forefront of this work, and we feel privileged to have been able to contribute to it. Crucially, the EJNYC Report advances a series of forward-looking policy opportunity areas that serve as a starting point for the future EJNYC Plan.鈥�

Learn more about New York City鈥檚 environmental justice report here.