Intergenerational Practice: An Approach to Implementing Sustainable Development and Environmental Justice

Abstract

“Sustainable development”—the concept hardly pursued in non-environmental Criminal Justice, still nascent in Crime Prevention, especially with respect to the role of women and children—is strongly linked to the concept of Environmental Justice, including via the nexus of social, economic and environmental dimensions, as well as the intergenerational context and the role of public participation in both notions. This chapter introduces an idea of Intergenerational Practice as a way to operationalize sustainable development and environmental justice principles on the local level. The importance of involving younger and older generations in communities and in sustainable development has been recognized on the international level. Intergenerational practice has been shown to enhance community cohesion, improve understanding among the younger and older population, increase participation in community development by the elderly persons, children and youth, and diminish the fear of crime in communities. Although not an explicit goal, such initiatives also offer equal opportunities to engage for younger and older women. Accordingly, this chapter provides generic clues for projecting the precepts of intergenerational learning and practice in Environmental Justice into Crime Prevention.