The urbanization of the world is a worldwide challenge that requires solutions at several levels of society. Cities are places for good opportunities for a high-quality life but with an increasing population growth in need more and different needs to be maintained. This study presents a case where the purpose of the study is to investigate the degree to which environmental justice is included in the planning of green areas in Swedish municipalities.  The study is based on the collection of documents as well as qualitative content analysis. A document for a Swedish municipality has been selected to be analyzed. Based on the purpose and issue of the study, the data material has been analyzed using a qualitative content analysis. Environmental justice and spatial justice form the theoretical framework of the study.  The results show that the investigated case has great potential to contribute to the development of a more equitable city as an environmental perspective is included in several parts of the planning of green areas. However, the material examined tends to be somewhat unclear in how the solutions will concretely solve the challenges of an increasingly dense and multicultural city, suggesting a lower consideration of the environmental justice perspectivein municipal planning of green spaces. / Urbaniseringen av världen är en världsomfattande utmaning som kräver lösningar på flera nivåer i samhället. Städer utgör platser för goda möjligheter till ett liv med hög kvalitet men med en ökande befolkningstillväxt i behöver fler och olika behov upprätthållas. I denna studie presenteras ett fall där syftet med studien är att undersöka i vilken grad miljörättvisainkluderas i planering av grönområden i svenska kommuner. Studien baseras på insamling av dokument samt kvalitativ innehållsanalys. Ett dokument för en svensk kommun har valts ut för analys. Utifrån studiens syfte och frågeställning har datamaterialet analyserats med hjälp av en kvalitativ innehållsanalys. Miljörättvisa och rumslig rättvisa utgör det teoretiska ramverket i studien. Resultatet visar att det undersökta fallet har stor potential att vara bidragande till utvecklingen av en mer rättvis stad då ett miljöperspektiv inkluderas i flera delar av planeringen av grönområden. Dock tenderar det undersökta materialet att vara något otydligt i hur lösningarna rent konkret ska lösa utmaningarna i en allt tätare och mångkulturell stad, vilkettyder på en lägre hänsyn till miljörättviseperspektivet i kommunal planering av grönområden.

[pt] A Dissertação de Mestrado Justiça Climática nos tribunais: territórios e litigância climática brasileira se propõe a realizar uma investigação sobre como a temática da Justiça Climática vem sendo abordada nos tribunais brasileiros. Buscou-se identificar como certos segmentos sociais, mais especificamente povos indígenas e quilombolas, têm se apropriado da pauta climática e levado suas demandas para os tribunais. A hipótese da pesquisa questiona se as ações de litigância climática brasileiras traduzem a importância que estas populações representam no debate acerca das mudanças climáticas no Brasil. Dessa maneira, o trabalho apresenta o histórico de conflitos territoriais no Brasil e sua conexão com a questão ambiental. Demonstra como as lutas oriundas de conflitos socioterritoriais evoluíram para direitos consagrados na Constituição Federal, notadamente os direitos socioambientias. Além disso, é apresentado o fenômeno de ambientalização das lutas sociais visando contextualizar as lutas por Justiça Ambiental no Brasil e a relação destas com as lutas territoriais. É apresentado o movimento por Justiça Climática e porque este deve levar em consideração as especificidades dos territórios. Em adição a isto, é apresentado o fenômeno de litigância climática no Brasil, a partir da análise de casos organizados na Plataforma de Litigância Climática no Brasil e classificados de acordo com a abordagem sobre Justiça Ambiental e Climática. A partir das ações analisadas, pode-se verificar que, apesar de protagonizarem algumas ações climáticas, as populações indígenas e quilombolas não figuram ações climáticas de maneira proporcional a sua importância no enfrentamento e mitigação desta crise. / [en] The Master s Dissertation Climate Justice in the courts: territories and Brazilian climate litigation aims to analyze climate litigation actions in Brazil that address the theme of Climate Justice. The objective is to identify how certain social segments, specifically indigenous peoples and quilombolas, have adopted the climate agenda and taken their demands to the courts. From this perspective, the dissertation is divided into three chapters. The first chapter presents territorial conflicts in Brazil and their connection with the environmental issue. The Brazilian agrarian history is briefly presented, and how socio-territorial conflicts evolved into enshrined rights in the Federal Constitution, notably socio-environmental rights. In addition, the environmentalization of social struggles movement is presented to contextualize the struggles for Environmental Justice in Brazil and their relationship with territorial struggles. Finally, the movement for Climate Justice is presented and contextualized. It is argued that to effectively address climate change, it is necessary to consider the specificities of the territories in question. Moreover, climate litigation in Brazil is presented, based on the analysis of cases organized in the The Brazilian Climate Litigation Platform and classified according to the Environmental/Climate Justice approach. Finally, the cases analyzed were selected by the active participation of indigenous people or quilombolas.

Traffic is a problem across the globe, reaching perniciously into cities and communities nearly everywhere. The United States (US) has its share of traffic problems; of the ten cities with the highest traffic delay times in 2022, four were in the US. While nearly everyone living in the US has likely experienced traffic congestion of some kind, some cities are notoriously worse than others. In New York City (NYC), traffic congestion has been a problem as far back as 1913, when Fifth Avenue was so traffic-clogged it could take 40 minutes to go 23 blocks. Today, of the 25 most congested traffic corridors in the US, three are in NYC. One of these runs through the South Bronx, an environmental justice neighborhood we highlight in this dissertation. Traffic congestion is a source of air pollution (traffic-related air pollution, or TRAP) and noise, and it can result in property damage, injuries, and fatalities from collisions with other vehicles, pedestrians, or those using other forms of transportation. Both traffic congestion and TRAP have been associated with numerous negative health outcomes. For example, TRAP is associated with respiratory, cardiovascular, neurological, and pregnancy outcomes, including asthma exacerbation, incident childhood and adult asthma, reduced lung function, atherosclerosis, hypertension, stroke, myocardial infarction, cardiovascular-related mortality, cognitive decline, neurodevelopmental outcomes, pregnancy loss, term low birth weight, and small for gestational age birth. In general across the US, communities of color and higher-poverty neighborhoods face greater exposure and health burden from traffic. Throughout this dissertation, we study traffic congestion and TRAP through two lenses: (1) environmental justice; and (2) policy. Additionally, we assess the cardiovascular health impacts of TRAP. In Chapter 1, we provide background on the problem of traffic, focusing on NYC and the South Bronx. In Chapter 2, we present a case study from the South Bronx, where a new trucking-intensive warehouse was opened in 2018. In this study, we quantified the increase in vehicles and trucks following the opening of the warehouse and estimated the resulting increases in black carbon (BC) and noise. We discuss the injustice in the methods used to assess the environmental impact of the warehouse, the warehouse’s siting in a predominantly Black and Lantinx community already overburdened with trucking-intensive industries, and the desire of the community to instead use the land for a community park. In Chapter 3, we present a study quantifying how traffic congestion in NYC changed during the COVID-19 pandemic. We assess how NY on Pause, the state’s stay-at-home order, impacted traffic congestion by comparing the magnitude of traffic decreases in environmentally burdened or systematically disadvantaged neighborhoods to the magnitude of decreases in less burdened and more advantaged neighborhoods. We discuss the implications of these results for upcoming traffic policies in NYC, such as congestion pricing. In Chapter 4, we present a study evaluating diurnal changes in TRAP in NYC during NY on Pause. We discuss the implications of these results for congestion pricing, including the potential timing of TRAP decreases. In Chapter 5, we present an epidemiologic study of TRAP and myocardial infarction (MI) in New York State, identifying hazard windows of exposure in a study period where the mean nitrogen dioxide (NO₂) concentration was substantially lower than the hourly national standard. We discuss implications for the NO₂ National Ambient Air Quality Standards (NAAQS) and suggest that the current standard may be insufficient to protect population cardiovascular health. Finally, in Chapter 6, we conclude with a discussion of recommended research directions and policy considerations.

No description available.

Climate change is one of the most important issues in today's world. Its effect reaches beyond geographical borders and deeply connects to human welfare, rights, and possibilities. Climate change affects the climate and all other sectors of development in the world. The complexity of climate justice lies in its ability to recognize and confront the injustice and unfairness of climate change (Schapper, 2018). As a result of the consequences of climate change, water scarcity is becoming an increasingly serious issue in many places of the world today. In our global community, about 2 billion people do not have reliable access to safe drinking water, and 3.6 billion lack proper sanitation services. Additionally, 2.3 billion individuals do not have basic handwashing facilities. These challenges arise from uneven access to water and sanitation, increasing populations, development practices that use a lot of water, unpredictable changes in rainfall, and pollution. Moreover, a staggering 2.3 billion individuals face the absence of fundamental handwashing facilities (World Bank, 2023). To obtain two viewpoints on the concerns, we focused the study on India and Somalia, two countries facing water scarcity. Although they differ in many other aspects, they face comparable water scarcity and climate change challenges. Furthermore, the urgent issue of climate change is important to study as it could worsen tensions, create more conflicts, and hurt the most vulnerable groups. Examining this matter is crucial for creating frameworks and policies to increase resilience, safeguard vulnerable communities, and protect human rights. The definition of human rights is basic entitlements for everyone, no matter race, gender, sexuality, or who they are. We follow the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR) definition. The theory is that regardless of where they are from or who they are, they are treated daily and have the same opportunities (United Nations, 2023). This research aims to understand and address the complex correlations between climate change, water resources, human rights, and the legal framework for climate justice.

In an ever-moving world, urban governance and infrastructure have to adapt to climate change. In the meantime, people's concerns and engagement towards urban projects which will affect their lives are growing. The climate change adaptation process is inevitable to implement, considering the multiplicity of climate change threats. Hawai'i is no exception, and it has to adapt its infrastructures to stronger and more frequent floods. This master's thesis highlights the case of the Ala Wai risk flood management plan in Hawai'i, the U.S., and the engagement of some Hawaiians in the Protect Our Ala Wai Watershed (POAWW) grassroots movement against the proposed project. The conflict creates the emergence of two paradigms, which are translating two opposing strategies of action. Each paradigm aligns with a specific approach that reflects the interests and value systems of the individuals that constituted it. On the one hand, there is the economic growth paradigm supported by the United States Army Corps of Engineers (USACE), which manages the project and unfolds the resilience strategy by protecting Honolulu's dominant economic interests. On the other hand, there is the environmental justice paradigm, mobilized by the POAWW grassroots movement. This latter one is positioned within the transition strategy and demands the integration of indigenous knowledge into the project. To go beyond this conflictual standoff, the master's thesis argues that a hybrid paradigm, which would move towards a transformation strategy, would be preferable to surpass the current cleavages. This paradigm shift gives keys of actions and could be transferable in a contextualized way to other urban conflicts linked with the climate change adaptation process.

No description available.

No description available.

No description available.

No description available.