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Full text release has been delayed at the author's request until August 02, 2025

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Environmental Justice for Whom? Three Empirical Papers Exploring Brownfield Redevelopment and Gentrification in the United States

Becerra, Marisol
http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=osu159362012689431

Abstract Details

2020, Doctor of Philosophy, Ohio State University, Environment and Natural Resources.
What happens after low-income neighborhoods achieve environmental victories? Historically, low-income people of color live near environmental hazards. Dominant narratives on brownfield redevelopment, the redevelopment of abandoned industrial sites, highlight increased property value as a positive economic development outcome for homeowners and reduced urban blight in the neighborhood. However, economically disadvantaged residents living close to redeveloped brownfield sites struggle to afford higher rents as their neighborhoods become more desirable to young professionals and the middle class after redevelopment. As scholars and activists aim to achieve environmental justice, it is important to address the racial, economic, and health implications of brownfield redevelopment. Environmental justice literature has focused on the siting of noxious industrial facilities and their relationship to the location of low-income communities and communities of color (UCC 1987; Bryant & Mohai 1992; GAO 1993; Bullard et. al. 2007; Taylor,2013). While this body of literature has grown over recent decades, it has not yet thoroughly explored the distribution of brownfield redevelopment. To this end, this dissertation contributes to the discipline through three empirical papers. The first paper examines the unintended consequences associated with brownfield redevelopment in the Little Village neighborhood in Chicago using the following qualitative methods: autoethnography, archival research, and semi-structured interviews with residents. The second paper uses Census and EPA Brownfield data from 1990-2017 to examine the national trends of brownfield redevelopment and gentrification in the U.S. using quantitative descriptives and paired t-tests. The third paper a multilevel liner regression analysis that examines the relationship between brownfield redevelopment and race / ethnicity in the U.S. All three papers demonstrate significant evidence of brownfield redevelopment and gentrification using quantitative and qualitative methods at the local and national scales.
Kerry Ard (Committee Chair)
Reanne Frank (Committee Member)
Cynthia Colen (Committee Member)
Kendra McSweeney (Committee Member)
115 p.
Environmental Justice
Brownfield Redevelopment; Green Gentrification; Environmental Gentrification; Environmental Justice; Chicago; Latinx Studies

Recommended Citations

Citations

  • Becerra, M. (2020). Environmental Justice for Whom? Three Empirical Papers Exploring Brownfield Redevelopment and Gentrification in the United States [Doctoral dissertation, Ohio State University]. OhioLINK Electronic Theses and Dissertations Center. http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=osu159362012689431

    APA Style (7th edition)

  • Becerra, Marisol. Environmental Justice for Whom? Three Empirical Papers Exploring Brownfield Redevelopment and Gentrification in the United States. 2020. Ohio State University, Doctoral dissertation. OhioLINK Electronic Theses and Dissertations Center, http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=osu159362012689431.

    MLA Style (8th edition)

  • Becerra, Marisol. "Environmental Justice for Whom? Three Empirical Papers Exploring Brownfield Redevelopment and Gentrification in the United States." Doctoral dissertation, Ohio State University, 2020. http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=osu159362012689431

    Chicago Manual of Style (17th edition)

osu159362012689431
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This open access ETD is published by The Ohio State University and OhioLINK.