An approach to empowering vulnerable communities against green gentrification

Yildirim, Seyda 2023. An approach to empowering vulnerable communities against green gentrification. Presented at: AHRA Research Student Symposium 2023, Cardiff, UK, 12-14 April 2023.

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Abstract

In today's world, where more than half of the world's population lives in cities, it is a known fact that rapid urbanization and climate change make cities and their residents even more vulnerable. Recent research indicates that climate change and environmental exposures are perceived extremely by vulnerable communities (Ferguson et al., 2018; Zhu et al., 2019; Gill et al., 2007; Griggs, 2020) and this has various consequences according to social and economic status (Jennings, Reid and Fuller, 2021). On the other hand, the number of greening projects implemented to make cities more sustainable and resilient has been increasing in recent years. However, not putting justice at the centre in the planning of green space projects has revealed the problem of 'green gentrification', which is an under-researched topic. Many studies focus merely on the ecological and economic outcome of green space design. Moreover, since a precise procedure is not pursued in urban green space planning and design, vulnerable communities cannot benefit from these projects and are excluded. This research will be completed in three stages in a systematic way from macro to micro scale. Firstly, the historical process of the impact of urban greening strategies, socio-economic, environmental and gentrification layers will be analysed through secondary sources. Secondly, the priority neighbourhood will be determined by GIS software. Finally, a needs assessment will be made by conducting various surveys and interviews with the residents of this neighbourhood. The research shares the expected findings that there is a correlation between the socio-economic status and the quantity of green space. In addition, low socio-economic communities suffer from air pollution and Urban Heat Island. Apart from that, real estate prices have risen due to the implementation of new green projects and as a result people with low socio-economic profile have been displaced. This study is novel in that it combines environmental and socio-economic data. At the same time, it will be the first study to develop a methodology for how to design green spaces in a participatory approach in the just city context, without excluding socioeconomically vulnerable communities. Keywords: green space, green gentrification, justice, vulnerable community

Item Type:	Conference or Workshop Item (Speech)
Status:	Unpublished
Schools:	Schools > Architecture
Date of Acceptance:	7 February 2023
Last Modified:	22 Jul 2025 19:51
URI:	https://orca.cardiff.ac.uk/id/eprint/179479

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