Document Type

Article

Publication Date

2015

Keywords

Sustainability, Inequitable development

Abstract

This paper examines the tensions of sustainable development in Seattle, Washington, a commonly recognised urban environmental leader. Drawing on the perspective of sustainability as a conflicted process, this research expected a negative relationship between gentrification and environmental justice when affluent residents outcompete less affluent ones for neighbourhoods with fewer environmental hazards. The methods combine geographic cluster analysis and longitudinal air toxic emission comparisons to analyse socioeconomic changes in Seattle Census block-groups between 1990, 2000, and 2009 coupled with measures of relative potential risk and pollution volume. The property and development conflicts embedded within sustainability lead to pollution exposure risk and socioeconomic vulnerability converging in the same areas and reveal one of the ‘Emerald City’s’ significant environmental challenges. Inequitable development and environmental injustice remain overlooked dimensions of sustainability that interdisciplinary research should address.

Publication Title

Interdisciplinary Environmental Review

Volume

16

Issue

2/3/4

First Page

124

Last Page

157

Required Publisher's Statement

Copyright © 2015 Inderscience Enterprises Ltd.

DOI: 10.1504/IER.2015.071014

Comments

This paper is a revised and expanded version of a paper entitled ‘Gentrified sustainability: inequitable development and Seattle’s riskscape’, presented at the Just Sustainability: Hope for the Commons, Seattle University, Seattle, WA, August 7–9, 2015.

Subjects - Topical (LCSH)

Environmental justice--Washington (State)--Seattle; Sustainable urban development--Washington (State)--Seattle; Gentrification--Environmental aspects--Washington (State)--Seattle; Urban policy--Washington (State)--Seattle

Geographic Coverage

Seattle (Wash.)

Genre/Form

articles

Type

Text

Language

English

Format

application/pdf

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