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Concepts for Studying Urban Environmental Justice

  • Methods in Environmental Epidemiology (EF Schisterman and AZ Pollack, Section Editors)
  • Published:
Current Environmental Health Reports Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

Purpose of Review

This paper offers research frameworks for understanding and acting to address urban environmental justice. Urban neighborhoods tend to concentrate and colocate vulnerable people and toxic environments. Cities are also where the poor and people of color tend to be disproportionately exposed to environmental hazards, such as air pollution, lead in paint and water, and polluting industries.

Recent Findings

Researchers and government agencies are increasingly recognizing the need to document cumulative exposures that the urban poor and people of color experience in addition to environmental hazards. These “toxic stressors” can exacerbate the health impacts of pollution exposures and include such social and economic factors as discrimination, racism, linguistic isolation, and political exclusion.

Summary

Urban environmental justice research can benefit from a structural racism approach, which requires documenting the historical decisions, institutions, and policies that contribute to today’s cumulative exposures. Key research frameworks and methods utilizing this approach for urban environmental justice include community-based participatory research, measuring cumulative stressors, and community-based asset and hazard mapping.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. School of Public Health & Department of City & Regional Planning, Institute of Urban and Regional Development, University of California, Berkeley, 316 Wurster Hall, Berkeley, CA, 94720, USA

    Jason Corburn

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  1. Jason Corburn
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Correspondence to Jason Corburn.

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Jason Corburn declares that he has no conflict of interest.

Human and Animal Rights and Informed Consent

This article does not contain any studies with human or animal subjects performed by any of the authors.

Additional information

This article is part of the Topical Collection on Methods in Environmental Epidemiology

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Corburn, J. Concepts for Studying Urban Environmental Justice. Curr Envir Health Rpt 4, 61–67 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1007/s40572-017-0123-6

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s40572-017-0123-6

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