In this thesis, the public green space provision in Hamburg, Germany is critically examined and put into context by social indicators relating to social class and ethnic background. Urban green spaces offer a variety of benefits for citizens, ranging from recreation, improving physical and mental health, contribution to urban cooling and climate adaptation as well as providing spaces for biodiversity. Yet, provision and access to public green space is not always equal. This is reflected in the concept of urban environmental justice, which acknowledges that not all societal groups equally benefit from environmental services nor are equally affected by the burdens of environmental pollution. Urban environmental justice is used in this thesis to holistically assess public green space provision, from a distributive, procedural and corrective justice dimension. These dimensions relate to how public green space is distributed in the city, how policies surrounding green space incorporate urban environmental justice concerns, and lastly what measures are in place for correcting potential injustices. The thesis employs a mixed method approach. Critical mapping through QGIS was applied to showcase the distribution and proximity to public green space in the various neighbourhoods in Hamburg. Following this, a policy analysis was performed to investigate the procedural justice dimension. Lastly, semi-structured interviews with five planners and two activists were conducted to illuminate measures for correcting urban environmental injustices related to green space provision. The findings suggest that public green space is not evenly distributed, and issues of access exist in Hamburg. Procedural justice is not fully achieved as a legal framework for urban environmental justice is lacking and the existing policies do not consider the concept adequately. Simultaneously, both supporting and hindering measures for correcting urban environmental injustices exist and corrective justice is not fully achieved either. Overall, the discourse surrounding urban environmental justice should be advanced in Germany and more awareness needs to be raised.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:UPSALLA1/oai:DiVA.org:mau-68273 |
| Date | January 2024 |
| Creators | Büker, Hannah Maria |
| Publisher | Malmö universitet, Institutionen för Urbana Studier (US) |
| Source Sets | DiVA Archive at Upsalla University |
| Language | English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Student thesis, info:eu-repo/semantics/bachelorThesis, text |
| Format | application/pdf |
| Rights | info:eu-repo/semantics/openAccess |
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