Right Answers, Wrong Questions: Environmental Justice as Urban Research

Abstract

Environmental justice, a term that incorporates 'environmental racism' and 'environmental classism,' captures the idea that different racial and socioeconomic groups experience differential access to environmental quality. This article explores what previous studies have established about environmental justice as an urban phenomenon and critiques the focus and methodologies of those efforts within the larger context of urban inquiry. After assaying the concepts that have guided most of the research, the paper considers the arguments that analysts have offered for the causes of environmental injustice. The review of the literature reveals significant problems of focus, measurement, specification and research design. Nonetheless, environmental justice research raises critical concerns about how citizens should be treated and what constitutes a just distribution of collective urban goods in a democratic society. It is the authors' view that due consideration of these matters can enlighten urban and environmental inquiry and policy.