Land use disadvantages in Germany: A matter of ethnic income inequalities?

Stefan Jünger

doi:10.1177/00420980211023206

Abstract

Environmental hazards affect people from different income groups and migration backgrounds on different levels. The research on environmental inequalities and environmental justice has proposed several theories to explain such inequities; still, it remains unclear which of these theories applies to the German societal context. This research investigates whether individual-level income differences between Germans and migrants account for objectively measured exposure to the environmental goods and bads of land use, specifically soil sealing and green spaces. Marginal effects and predictions based on georeferenced survey data from the German General Social Survey reveal that Germans with higher incomes live in areas with better neighbourhood quality. Germans with lower incomes are exposed to fewer disadvantages stemming from land use, and there is no marginal difference between nonurban and urban municipalities. Spatial assimilation in high-income groups occurs; however, the difference in low-income groups can be explained by place stratification and discrimination in the housing market. While this study uses more indirect and non-hazardous measures of environmental quality – in contrast to air pollution or noise – it provides evidence that such indicators also create distributional injustices in Germany.

Highlights

While environmental hazards deriving from industry emissions have been steadily decreasing over recent decades in Germany (Federal Agency for the Environment Germany, 2015), disadvantages originating from land use and urbanisation, such as soil sealing or a lack of recreational green spaces, are continually growing
This study investigates whether land use disadvantages affect Germans and migrants from different income groups at different levels, a common suspicion in the vast body of the environmental justice research but one that lacks individual-level contributions for Germany
Higher income is associated with fewer land use disadvantages, indicating that income helps people to afford to live in better neighbourhoods

Summary

Introduction

While environmental hazards deriving from industry emissions have been steadily decreasing over recent decades in Germany (Federal Agency for the Environment Germany, 2015), disadvantages originating from land use and urbanisation, such as soil sealing or a lack of recreational green spaces, are continually growing. These disadvantages involve environmental issues and give rise to societal questions concerning residential segregation and inequality, mainly because they impact individual well-being (Gidlof-Gunnarsson and Ohrstrom, 2007), stress processing (Thompson et al, 2012) and physical (Schulz et al, 2016) and mental health (Guite et al, 2006). Land use disadvantages differentiate from direct environmental hazards but still render theories of environmental inequalities applicable (Baroet al., 2019; Kabisch and Haase, 2014; Rigolon et al, 2019)

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