This book explores inequities in the urban built environment across a diverse range of places and considers practical solutions and strategies aimed at building more just, inclusive, and sustainable cities.
Achieving more equitable and prosperous urban places requires a critical examination of the design and layout of our cities. The 16 chapters of this book illuminate the ways in which the built environment, including buildings, roads, public spaces, and other infrastructure, shapes our health and prosperity through a complex set of physical and social interactions. It brings together experts from a variety of fields to identify, and suggest workable solutions for, inequities in the spatial distribution of amenities and disamenities and the processes and policies that give rise to these unjust patterns. Blending scholarly knowledge and practical experience, many of these strategies and solutions are presented through the lens of real-world case studies. One key takeaway is that the planning of our cities should be a communal effort that properly reflects the needs of all residents. Equity in the built environment can only be realized when people of diverse backgrounds, ethnicities, ages, and abilities feel welcome to both shape and enjoy the shared public realm.
This book is intended for a wide audience that primarily includes scholars, students, and professionals in the fields of urban geography, urban planning, landscape architecture, and urban studies. Professionals in urban planning and policy with a desire to advance equity goals will likely appreciate the strategies, recommendations, and best practices discussed within.
Equity in the urban built environment: An introduction and overview
Bradley Bereitschaft
1. Affordable housing, equity, and zoning
Megan E. Hatch, Dustin C. Major, and Jack Yochum
2. The Motor City's evolution: How the automotive industry fueled Detroit's transport
inequities
Timothy F. Welch
3. Equity in neighborhood walkability: Challenges and opportunities
Bradley Bereitschaft
4. Near-roadway pollution in South Central Fresno, California: Can state-led, place-based
community engagement advance environmental justice?
Douglas Houston, Gregg Macey, Jeannine M. Pearce, and Catherine Garoupa
5. Understanding environmental and food (in)justice through community-based research:
Stories from Sacramento community coalitions
Leah Joyner, Gabrielle Gonzales, Si Gao, and Adrienne Cachelin
6. Green space provision and equity in the city
Magdalena Biernacka
7. Public space and environmental justice in high-density cities
Bo-sin Tang and Anvar Muhamedjanov
8. Addressing environmental quality inequities: The role of information and collective action
Sandra Aguilar-Gomez
9. Locating representational equity: Intersections between child-friendly cities and
children’s roles in realizing environmental justice
Victoria Derr
10. Disparities in the obesogenic built environment for children: A pilot study in East Baton
Rouge Parish, Louisiana
Yutian Zeng, Senlin Chen, Amanda E. Staiano, and Fahui Wang
11. Health and equity in age-friendly cities and communities: A global geographic
perspective
Sarah Nelson
12. On equity and designing space for the range of human ability
Ann Heylighen and Elizabeth Guffey
13. Auditory ableism: Exploring aural diversity, equity and belonging in the built environment
William Renel
14. Digital equity in the United States: Disparities and socioeconomic influences on internet
access and use
Avijit Sarkar and James B. Pick
15. Impact of the urban built environment on public health during the COVID-19 pandemic
Amit Patel
16. Regenerative futures: Climate justice and equity in the built environment
Wendy Steele
Biography
Bradley Bereitschaft is Professor of Geography at the University of Nebraska Omaha. His research focuses on the role of urban design and transportation in achieving equitable, healthy, and productive urban places.
