University of South Florida, Tampa, Florida, USA.
University of South Florida, Tampa, Florida, USA.
J Environ Manage. 2020 May 1;261:110150. doi: 10.1016/j.jenvman.2020.110150. Epub 2020 Mar 2.
Brownfields redevelopment creates opportunities for enhanced environmental conditions, improved physical and mental health, community cohesion, and economic prosperity. However, brownfields cleanup and recycling projects sometimes fail due to a lack of community engagement. Recent research suggests that such failures can stem from a lack of equitability in the planning process, especially when it comes to decision making. This paper examines issues of equitability in a recent brownfields redevelopment project in Tampa, Florida funded by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. The project focused on an underserved and under-resourced community with long-term environmental burdens and health disparities. Our ethnographic research shows that, while the project engaged in multiple and intersecting efforts to include a diversity of community voices in the decision-making process, ultimately structural and organizational power imbalances in sustainability transitions influenced participation in redevelopment initiatives. This study suggests that attending to issues of power articulated through expressions of local and authoritative knowledge about environmental cleanup and redevelopment can lead to deeper levels of community engagement.
棕地再开发为改善环境条件、增进身心健康、增强社区凝聚力和促进经济繁荣创造了机会。然而，由于缺乏社区参与，棕地清理和回收项目有时会失败。最近的研究表明，这种失败可能源于规划过程中缺乏公平性，尤其是在决策方面。本文研究了美国环境保护署资助的佛罗里达州坦帕市最近一个棕地再开发项目中的公平性问题。该项目侧重于一个长期面临环境负担和健康差距的服务不足和资源匮乏的社区。我们的人种学研究表明，尽管该项目在决策过程中进行了多次和相互交织的努力，以纳入各种社区声音，但可持续性转型中结构性和组织性权力失衡最终影响了再开发计划的参与。本研究表明，关注通过对环境清理和再开发的本地和权威知识表达出来的权力问题，可以促进更深层次的社区参与。
