Environmental Justice

Denver

Denver Tackling its Troubling Public Health Disparities

A distance of two miles can mean the difference of living more than ten years longer in the city of Denver. The city and its residents are gathering resources to improve public health outcomes in all the city's neighborhoods.

November 26, 2016 - The Denver Post

Flint

The U.S. EPA Recommits to Environmental Justice

By releasing the EJ 2020 Action Agenda earlier this week, the U.S. EPA has taken on a more ambitious role in pursuing environmental justice.

October 28, 2016 - Grist

Climate Change Protest

Climate Equity Agenda Key to Passage of California's Climate Legislation

Environmental advocacy is not enough. Environmental and social justice must play a role in California's legislative effort to battle climate change, opine two professors from UC Berkeley and USC in the San Francisco Chronicle.

September 21, 2016 - San Francisco Chronicle

Why Don't Environmentalists Support Washington's Carbon Tax Measure?

A largely revenue-neutral carbon tax proposal, similar to the carbon tax in British Columbia which began in 2008, qualified for the November ballot in Washington. Environmentalists and Democrats, not Big Oil, may cause it's defeat.

September 19, 2016 - Crosscut

Boyle Heights

East Los Angeles Community Groups Prove that Community Planning Matters

The landscape of community development in Los Angeles today differs vastly from even a few years ago. Two groups in East L.A. are developing solutions to accelerating gentrification and displacement and a compounding affordable housing crisis.

August 24, 2016 - The Planning Report

Environmental Injustice and Police Violence Overlap Across the U.S.

Being a person of color in the United States means being physically vulnerable to both environmental hazards and police violence, two professors argue.

August 8, 2016 - CityLab

Ciclavia

Active Transport (Walking and Cycling) Planning for Equity

A new FHWA report, "Pursuing Equity in Pedestrian and Bicycle Planning" identifies practical ways to achieve social equity by better responding to the active travel needs of currently underserved populations.

August 2, 2016 - Pursuing Equity in Pedestrian and Bicycle Planning

Port of Oakland

Environmental Justice Wins With Coal Ban in Oakland

The City Council in Oakland, California took its first, substantive steps toward banning the handling and storage of coal in the city.

July 3, 2016 - NBC Bay Area

Oil Drills

All Jokes Aside: Do Oil Companies Avoid Wealthy Areas?

Environmental justice alarms sounded when an oil industry executive made public remarks about how drilling sites get selected.

April 19, 2016 - Pittsburg Post-Gazette

Citizen's Carbon Tax Initiative Goes Before Washington State Senate

A group that calls itself Carbon Washington could be at the helm of a new environmental movement to address climate change. They have proposed a $25-per-ton, revenue-neutral carbon tax.

February 22, 2016 - Seattle Weekly

America's Coast-to-Coast Toxic Crisis

Flint, Michigan is not an anomaly.

February 19, 2016 - TomDispatch

Lead Poisoning in Children Common in Other Parts of the U.S.

The case of the lead contaminated waters in Flint, Michigan has renewed a national discussion of lead poisoning in children across the United States.

February 6, 2016 - Philadelphia Inquirer

Environmental Justice

The EPA's Lackluster Environmental Justice Record

The Center for Public Integrity has released a report criticizing the EPA's environmental justice competence. In only 12 cases has the agency taken official action on behalf of communities affected disproportionately by polluters.

August 20, 2015 - Next City

New App from the U.S. EPA Maps Environmental Justice

A publicly available web tool allows access to maps that overlay environmental impacts and the populations they impact (or the populations that manage to avoid such impacts, for that matter).

July 23, 2015 - Smithsonian Magazine

Mapping the Ongoing Challenges of Environmental Justice

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency released a new tool to visualize the ongoing realties of environmental justice in cities around the country.

June 18, 2015 - Fusion

Latest Hotbed of High Speed Rail Opposition: San Fernando Valley

Opposition, followed by legal action to the California High-Speed Rail project began in Northern California, spread to the Central Valley, and now has hit southern California, particularly in the San Fernando Valley of Los Angeles County.

June 17, 2015 - Los Angeles Times

First New U.S. Waste-to-Energy Plant in 20 Years to Open in Florida

Waste-to-energy plants, or incinerators, are classified as renewable power plants by the EPA. A controversial Baltimore plant is under construction as well. More common in Europe, they may be catching on stateside due to low recycling rates.

January 13, 2015 - The New York Times

How 'Just Green Enough' Adds the Equity to 'Green'

A Fast Co. Design article explains the "just green enough" concept as advanced by Jennifer Wolch, dean of the College of Environmental Design at the University of California, Berkeley.

October 21, 2014 - Fast Co. Design

Pedestrian Safety Suffers in Low-Income Areas

Focusing on street safety conditions in Miami as a case study of larger findings, a Governing magazine analysis finds that pedestrians are much more likely to be killed by cars in impoverished neighborhoods.

August 5, 2014 - Governing

High Line Crowds

Making Planning 'Just Green Enough' to Balance Environmental Justice and Gentrification

A growing body of research examines the question of how to make places more attractive and healthy, without then making them more expensive.

July 24, 2014 - Next City

Top Books

An annual review of books related to planning.

Top Websites

The best of the Internet—since 2002.

Top Apps

Planning apps for a brave new world.

Top Schools

The definitive ranking of graduate planning programs.

Urban Design for Planners 1: Software Tools

This six-course series explores essential urban design concepts using open source software and equips planners with the tools they need to participate fully in the urban design process.

Planning for Universal Design

Learn the tools for implementing Universal Design in planning regulations.