Environmentally-Just NYC

EnvironmentallyJust NYC

Excecutive Summary

1. Introduction

2. New York City and Environmental Injustice

3. The Design Way Forward

Bibliography

New York City is one of the most diverse cities in the world, with communities from across the world living together. There is a constant increase in the population along with growing demand for utilities and services to provide for the citizens living here. But, with the increasing stress due to climate change and the existing inequalities, not all neighborhoods are healthy or equally provided for.

New York City is also a place known for its history of environmental justice movements that have influenced different countries across the globe. The city has come a long way since the 1970s when these movements just began. But, even after half a century of the fight and struggles environmental injustice still exists. Therefore, the Mayor’s Office of Climate and Environmental Justice works towards bridging this gap between the policies made for the city and the communities living in all the affected neighborhoods.

This report assesses the Environmental Justice New York City (EJNYC) Plan proposed by the Mayor’s Office to understand the scope of the plan and the proposed ideas. It focusses on the ideas of citizen participation proposed in the report for policy making to tackle the inequities existing. The foundation on which the report is based on is the idea that not many people in the city participate in any planning or engagement workshops or programs. Moreover, to participate in a program that addresses an issue like environmental justice, it is necessary to understand that most people are not aware of what the situation is. Hence, it is necessary to add a step that can involve community education and awareness so people can have strong ideas while suggesting ideas during any civic engagement program.

The first chapter of the report will introduce an overview on Environmental Justice at the global and local scale. This is to give an idea of the broadness of the subject and its correlation with Social Justice. Furthermore, the chapter will briefly describe the role of urban planning, urban design, and policy making to address such issues.

The second chapter is divided into three parts with the part one analyzing the current policies proposed by the city and the EJNYC plan. This will include maps and other data to describe the current state of the city in terms of environmental justice. The part two will be mapping the chosen indicators with transit lines and stops, which will later be used for the proposal. The part three will mention the gap in the EJNYC and the rationale behind the proposal.

The third chapter of the report is the design and is divided into two parts. The part one details out the program while talking about the role of education and awareness to design for issues like environmental injustice. Whereas the part two are the sample illustrations to support the described program.

The final chapter is the way forward. Apart from addressing the limitations of the report, this chapter includes suggestions to take this proposal forward and ways to integrate it in different ways to empower the minority communities living in New York City.

Excecutive Summary

Introduction

Climate change does not affect everyone equally. People experience the effects of climate change like floods, droughts, hurricanes, water security, food security, and others that come with it at different intensities. The difference in the effect of the events is mainly because of the existing social inequalities. Environmental injustice hence can be described as the state where the impacts of climate change or environmental disasters are extreme on people belonging to minority communities or communities of color.

In the global context, there are many indicators to compare climate and environmental injustice. One of them is the phenomenon of increasing sea levels. Due to this, many communities depending on the coastal region for their livelihood lost their homes and income. Furthermore, they are forced to move to another place in search of a new life without any support.

On similar lines, the map here shows the water access to explain the disparity between different countries due to varying social indices.

97 to 100 83 to 96 66 to 82 -98 to 65 -99

New York State - Potential EJ Areas

Though a developed country, the United States also has multiple cases of environmental injustice. One significant issue is the dumping of waste and the location of landfills. These landfills are located near the areas where communities belonging to lower-economic groups, or the minority population reside. Therefore, affects the health of the people living in these regions.

The New York State and the city is no exception. The Office of Environmental Justice in the New York State Environmental Conservation works to address the issues related to climate and environmental injustice at the state level.

According to NYSDEC, Potential EJ Areas are U.S. Census block groups of 250 to 500 households each that, in the Census, had populations that met or exceeded at least one of the following statistical thresholds:

1. At least 52.42% of the population in an urban area reported themselves to be members of minority groups; or

2. At least 26.28% of the population in a rural area reported themselves to be members of minority groups; or

3. At least 22.82% of the population in an urban or rural area had household incomes below the federal poverty level.

The issues related to environmental injustice are interrelated to housing conditions, quality of public spaces in the neighborhood, waste disposal methods, land uses, health care, water quality, and sanitation. For decades urban planning and policies have neglected minority communities and their needs without understanding the people living there and considering issues like inequality and inequity.

The planning practices and policies imposed led to gentrification, therefore displacing the existing communities from their neighborhoods to neighborhoods that were poorly maintained and low in terms of affordability and quality. Additionally, the lack of infrastructure along with waste disposal in neighborhoods that were ignored, and the lack of quality open spaces also led to health issues in people who could barely afford healthcare services. (US EPA, 2015)

Hence it is necessary for the current planners and policymakers to engage with the citizens, to understand the issues and needs better to implement inclusive policies and designs that address inequity. A few strategies that organizations can use are education, awareness, citizen engagement, community building, and improving the quality of infrastructure (US EPA, 2014).

Recently, the Mayor’s Office of Climate and Environmental Justice has initiated its work on reducing the issues caused due to social inequality and related injustices. The office involves citizen participation programs followed by the implementation of policies that are inclusive in nature. (Environmental Justice, n.d.)

New York City and Environmental Justice

As concluded in the previous chapter, the city of New York has currently proposed a program – Environmental Justice New York City (EJNYC) to address the issue of environmental injustice caused due to existing disparities. In the year 2017, Local Law 60 and Local Law 64 passed addressed the problem and established the role of different departments to focus on climate and environmental injustice. Under these laws, the advisory board is set up to work and plan for environmental justice in the city. These laws also facilitate the study of citywide concerns and include the publishing of the data on an online platform along with access to mapping for the public. (Environmental Justice, n.d.)

For the map, the city follows the division made by the state to map out areas affected due to environmental injustice and potential areas that can be affected in the future.

The program is divided into three stages:

The EJNYC Report

This report will document and analyze the extent of environmental injustice in different neighborhoods by defining a set of indicators. These indicators range from drinking water quality to the presence of open spaces in the neighborhood. The report will investigate the impacts of environmental disasters with the quality of infrastructure to understand the magnitude of issues in different neighborhoods. Furthermore, it will not only analyze the spatiality of the issue but will also identify the gaps and need for research in the areas of climate resilience and risk assessment to improve the quality of life in the city.

The EJNYC Web-Portal

The web portal is an initiative to involve New Yorkers who can contribute to the data for further analysis. This portal will be built on the data collected during the process of the report, to inform the citizens about the condition and extent of environmental justice or injustice in their neighborhoods. Later, this data will be used during the community engagement programs to develop inclusive practices and policies.

The EJNYC Plan

This plan will be the outcome of the previous two steps. This plan will provide recommendations and suggestions to move towards an environmentally-just city.

EJ Areas Potential EJ Areas Non EJ Areas Not Aplicable

For the purposes of the research, the analysis is done only in two of the boroughs – Manhattan and Brooklyn.

Both the boroughs have different demographics and history of development; hence the kinds of issues and concerns are also different when compared.

Gentrification is one common issue that is noticed in both boroughs, this is mainly due to changing urban policies, housing prices, and increasing cost of utilities and infrastructure To spatially understand environmental justice in terms of open spaces, trees, and heat the following indicators are mapped: Green space index Dead and stump trees Heat Index Number of children hospitalized due to asthma Mean family income 0.014 - 0.064 >0.064 - 0.123 >0.123 - 0.19 >0.19 - 0.285 >0.285 - 0.58

Green Space Index Map

The number indicates the sum total of dead and stump trees present in both the boroughs. The layer is layed over the number of children hospitalized due to asthma.

Based on the maps, it can be analyzed that a high number of children are diagnosed with asthma in areas with a smaller number of green spaces and many dead trees. These are also neighborhoods where families barely earn enough to live. Thus, the medical costs add to the existing stress.

Children Hospitalized due to Asthma & Dead Trees

The Design

Storytelling is an effective method for education and increasing awareness. In current times, digital platforms are used in different ways to tell these stories related to social equality and inequity. These digital platforms range from social media sites, podcasts, videos, documentaries, movies, music, and others (McLellan, 2008).

Along similar lines, the EJNYC’s proposal for an interactive web portal for documenting and collecting data on environmental justice is a platform that is anticipated to involve citizen participation from different communities and neighborhoods.

But the major challenge is to get citizens to participate in the program.

To solve issues related to social and environmental injustice, it is necessary that people belonging to different neighborhoods, irrespective of their backgrounds, come together to empower minority communities. Therefore, people must be aware of the issues that are systematically engraved within society for centuries and understand the impacts of climate change.

Lack of awareness is an important issue that needs to be addressed by the city for the citizens to engage with the platform for better outcomes. According to the Yale Climate Opinion Maps published in 2021,

- 79% of the people living in the metropolitan area of New York – Newark – Jersey City believe that “global warming is happening” and 75% are “worried about it”.

- 53% of the people have “personally experienced the effects of global warming”.

- 35% do not believe that it is “already harming the

people living in the U.S. or believe that it might 25 years later”.

- 65% rarely hear anything about global warming in the media.

A huge number of people do not believe that people living in the city and the country are impacted by the effects of climate change. There is a need to change this perspective to make policies inclusive.

Hence, the proposed design aims to create awareness and educate New Yorkers regarding the in-depth issues of climate change and environmental injustice using storytelling through digital platforms.

Step 1: Integrating the transit cards with the location data. That is, based on the location the card is used the resident will be notified about the environmental condition/situation of that respective neighborhood. This can be done in collaboration with the NOTIFY NYC Department

Step 2: The notification is later linked to the website created by the Mayor’s Office where the citizens can contribute their ideas and opinions.

NYC Transit Map

Sample Notifications

Station : Columbus Circle

Did you know?

Hey! This is your neighbor from Chelsea. Both of us together have 634 dead trees in our neighborhood. Let’s meet and change this!

To know more about, visit the EJNYC Web-Portal to contribute!

Did you know?

You produce 28 kilograms of waste every year, that is equal to 101.5 kilograms of carbon dioxide.

To know more about how can you contribute to reducing impacts of climate change, go on to EJNYC Web-Portal

Station : Jay Street - Metrotech

Station : West 4

Did you know?

You produce 31 kilograms of waste every year, that is equal to 108.5 kilograms of carbon dioxide.

To know more about how can you contribute to reducing impacts of climate change, go on to EJNYC Web-Portal

Did you There borhood when To know visit the proving

Did you know?

There are 571 dead trees in your neighborhood and less number of open spaces when compared to other neighborhoods.

To know more about your neighborhood, visit the EJNYC Web-Portal and help in improving your neighborhood

Station : Inwood

you know?

are 691 dead trees in your neighborhood and less number of open spaces compared to other neighborhoods.

know more about your neighborhood, the EJNYC Web-Portal and help in improving your neighborhood

Station : Euclid Avenue

Sample Poster

Not all people have access to smartcards or smartphones, and not all people prefer notifications. Hence, posters and videos can be used in the transit stops to convey data and stories to people, about their neighborhood

This poster in particular is for the bus stops and subway stops located in Manhattan’s Upper West Side.

These poster could also contain QR codes that could be linked to the EJNYC’s Web-Portal for people to know more and get involved

Due to limitation in time, only a few indicators were analyzed for the study. The program can be extended to indications addressing other issues like waste disposal, waste management, floods, water quality and more.

This program can also be extended to other subway lines and bus lines to increase awareness and participation from various groups using the transit system.

1. Bureau, U. C. (n.d.). Census.gov. Census.Gov. Retrieved October 12, 2022, from https://www.census.gov/en.html

2. Environmental Justice. (n.d.). Retrieved October 12, 2022, from https://www1. nyc.gov/site/sustainability/our-programs/environmental-justice.page

3. Islam, N., & Winkel, J. (2017). Climate change and social inequality.

4. McLellan, H. (2008). Digital Storytelling: Expanding Media Possibilities for Learning. Educational Technology, 48(5), 18–21. http://www.jstor.org/stable/44429603

5. The U.S. Neighborhoods With the Greatest Tree Inequity, Mapped. (2021, June 25). Bloomberg.Com. https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2021-06-25/ mapping-the-unequal-distribution-of-trees

6. US EPA, O. (2014, January 7). Creating Equitable, Healthy, and Sustainable Communities [Reports and Assessments]. https://www.epa.gov/smartgrowth/creating-equitable-healthy-and-sustainable-communities

7. US EPA, O. (2015, April 13). Equitable Development and Environmental Justice [Overviews and Factsheets]. https://www.epa.gov/environmentaljustice/equitable-development-and-environmental-justice

8. US EPA, O. (2015, April 15). Environmental Justice Timeline [Collections and Lists]. https://www.epa.gov/environmentaljustice/environmental-justice-timeline

9. Yale Climate Opinion Maps 2021. (n.d.). Yale Program on Climate Change Communication. Retrieved October 12, 2022, from https://climatecommunication.yale. edu/visualizations-data/ycom-us/

Vaishnavi Akilla Fall 2022 - Civic Analytics and Urban Intelligence (NYU CUSP)

NYU Steinhardt School of Culture, Education, and Human Development va2303@nyu.edu