A review of community-engaged research approaches used to achieve environmental justice and eliminate disparities

Abstract

Community-based environmental justice (EJ) organizations engage in community-driven research to address local health issues, including metropolitan air pollution, low-quality infrastructure, pollution-intensive industries, locally unwanted land uses, transportation, and industrial animal production. This chapter presents community-driven research as an evolutionary process that relies on partnership building and participatory research to advance the reduction of health disparities. It provides examples of community-driven research in diverse areas among diverse groups in the US. Community–university EJ partnerships also form around issues of the built environment and chronic diseases. Photovoice taps into the contextual knowledge of residents on various issues, including the built environment, food access, and physical activity opportunities. Community-driven research is essential to EJ practitioners and advocates. Community-driven research, through the development of community–university partnerships and the implementation of citizen science methods, has emerged as an effective practice to solve EJ and health issues.