Equitable Planning Research Articles

Use of the Sociogram in Participatory Planning in Contexts of Social Exclusion: A Comparative Case Study in Cordoba Neighbourhoods, Spain

Urban regeneration and spatial planning have adopted a new participatory approach in recent decades, highlighting the importance of integrating the community in urban decision-making processes, especially in disadvantaged and socially excluded areas. In this context, the sociogram emerges as an essential tool for collaborative governance, allowing the visualization and analysis of the dynamics between the different actors involved. This study employs a comparative case study approach in three disadvantaged neighbourhoods in Córdoba, Spain, to examine how the sociogram can facilitate more effective and democratic participation in urban planning. Using heat maps, scatter plots and average analysis, relationships between actors are identified and characterized, providing a solid basis for more inclusive and equitable planning decisions. This analysis not only reveals the practical utility of the sociogram in participatory research but also underscores its theoretical relevance in building resilient and cohesive communities. Findings confirm the sociogram’s effectiveness in mapping stakeholder dynamics and enhancing participatory governance, ultimately fostering more informed and inclusive urban planning processes.

“A delivery vehicle for change and democracy”: Exploring care and scale in digital engagement

The Special Issue defines ‘housing disruptors’ as the emerging ideologies, practices, and logics capable of changing the housing system. In this paper, I argue digital engagement technologies were a housing disruptor for combining an ethic of care and technological scale in order to reimagine planning democracy and ultimately the delivery of equitable housing. First, I outline the care ethics of digital engagement and connect it to a lineage of planning theory that values deliberative participation and agonistic urban politics. I then interrogate the meaning of scale in digital engagement and how it contributes to urban democracy and justice issues. However, the structural limitations that practitioners faced in practice put into question how possible it was to apply a scale logic from the technological and business world, which sought to streamline and grow, to a planning system (that is complex) and solutions to the housing crisis (even more complex). My concluding remarks suggest that digital engagement was symbolic for the changing value principles in planning, as one that was committed to a fairer and more equitable planning system; but how successful it was (or has been) able to provide an alternative planning structure remains uncertain.

Urban green space exposure is low and unequally distributed in an Amazonian metropolis

AbstractUrban green spaces are important for interactions between people and non-human nature, with their associated health and well-being impacts, although their distribution is often unequal. Here, we characterize the distribution of urban green spaces in Belém, the largest city in the Amazon Delta, and relate it to levels of human development and social vulnerability across the city; this is the first such analysis to be conducted for a Brazilian Amazon city. We first conducted a supervised maximum likelihood classification of images at 5–m spatial resolution taken in 2011 by the RapidEye satellites to map the distribution of green space across the urban part of the municipality of Belém. We then calculated two measures of urban green space at the level of human development units: the proportional cover of vegetation (Vegetation Cover Index; VCI) and the area of vegetation per person (Vegetation Cover per Inhabitant; VCPI), and we used hurdle models to relate them to two measures of socioeconomic status: the Social Vulnerability Index and the Human Development Index, as well as to demographic density. We find that VCI and VCPI are higher in more socially vulnerable areas. We explain how this pattern is driven by historical and ongoing processes of urbanization, consider access to urban green space and the benefits to human health and well-being and discuss equitable planning of urban green space management in the Amazon. We conclude that the assumption that urban greening will bring health benefits risks maintaining the status quo in terms of green exclusion and repeating historical injustices via displacement of socially vulnerable residents driven by demand for access to urban green spaces.

Digital Technology Use and Future Expectations

Problem, research strategy, and findings The implications of digital technologies for planning practice are receiving renewed interest in the wake of ever-improving capabilities in Big Data and artificial intelligence, as well as the rapid uptake of new technologies that allowed planners to work remotely during the COVID-19 pandemic. Despite this interest, there has been little cross-country comparative research regarding the adoption of technology within the planning profession and even less that addresses planners’ expectations and desires for future digital tools. We undertook a multinational online survey of planners in the United States, Canada, the United Kingdom, Australia, and New Zealand to gain a comprehensive understanding of current and expected future use of data and software in planning practice. Although the current use of data-intensive digital tools was limited, we found widespread expectations of change across the planning profession. Remarkable similarities were observed across the countries surveyed. The biggest differences in tech use were among planners undertaking strategic, specialist, and regulatory roles. Takeaway for practice Planning organizations around the world should prepare for a new wave of digital change as many technical obstacles that previously hindered the rapid exchange and analysis of vast amounts of data have now been overcome. Continued development of digital skills among planners is important but should be paired with career pathways for digital specialists within the profession. Planners should not complacently assume that adopting digital technologies will automatically lead to more effective and equitable planning outcomes. They should use digital processes to actively address biases in the underlying planning system.

U.S. cities’ integration and evaluation of equity considerations into climate action plans

While cities in the United States play an active role developing and implementing climate policy, urban centers are often sites of socio-spatial inequity. Thus, we explore how cities grapple with these inequities in their Climate Action Plans (CAPs). While CAPs can empower cities to engage in equitable planning practices that prioritize marginalized communities, little empirical research examines how equity goals are measured and evaluated. We find that among large U.S. cities with CAPs, less than one third include measurable indicators to evaluate progress towards achieving equity goals. Across climate adaptation and mitigation planning, nineteen cities consider equity goals as they relate to ten thematic areas, six outcomes, and five dimensions of equity. We suggest ways forward for cities to develop, implement, and measure a diverse and holistic set of equity indicators to use in their climate planning efforts and beyond.

A Socio-Spatial Approach to Define Priority Areas for Bicycle Infrastructure Using Covid-19 Data

The existing distribution of bicycle infrastructure is often quite unequal and concentrated in socially advantaged areas. One key issue is there remain less explored variables and models that could greatly assist in the equitable planning of new or improved bicycle infrastructure. To improve the allocation of cyclist-serving infrastructure, analysis should be: a) attuned to the needs of diverse users, b) temporally robust, and c) able to capture changes in use. I put forward an approach for siting bicycle infrastructure that utilizes administrative data, the inferential opportunity afforded by the interruption of the Covid-19 pandemic, and raster-based methods to describe a) where cycling behavior changed most during the pandemic compared to pre-pandemic conditions, b) where positive changes in cycling behavior during the pandemic concentrate across space and key population groups, and c) where such concentrations, in tandem with social and infrastructure variables, suggest areas for cyclist-serving infrastructure expansion under an equity-oriented paradigm. I find that positive changes in bikeshare trip durations during the pandemic can associate with low socioeconomic status (SES) areas of Philadelphia, and that many streets in these underserved areas may benefit from new or improved bicycle infrastructure.

Co-producing knowledge in action: Reflecting from the Main Bhi Dilli campaign for equitable planning in Delhi

Practices of insurgent or bottom-up planning, of community-based organisations, networks and social movements are understood to be peripheral to the dominant paradigm of planning in southern contexts. Yet there is a lot of knowledge collectively held and coproduced within and through these practices, which are also sites of knowledge production. This paper reflects on the process of coproduction of knowledge within a campaign for equitable urban planning in Delhi – Main Bhi Dilli Campaign. The campaign brings together urban actors with diverse positionalities – informal worker’s and resident’s collectives, researchers and academic actors, social movements, and civil society organisations, across sectors and lived experiences. In this paper we ask: how does co-production of knowledge take place at the scale of the city, and within a campaign with diverse membership and priorities? We reflect on the role of academic actors in such coproduction of knowledge. We draw from the archival material of the campaign produced through prolonged dialogue and practice-based research. We focus on one particular knowledge product that the campaign has produced called the Factsheets. Factsheets are 4-page documents that simply provide an overview of the theme (such as informal livelihood, housing, gender), and what the Master Plan can do to address the gaps in planning that exist. We use the ‘factsheets’ produced through the campaign, as an artefact of co-production, as a site that holds the processes of coproducing knowledge together. We reflect upon the processes of holding, contesting and channeling multiple knowledges within the campaign, highlighting the value of these internal processes for coproduction of knowledge. While the exact format and material may not be translatable in contexts with different social and political realities, we argue that the processes of coproducing knowledge for action while in a diverse coalition are useful across contexts for more equitable urban planning.

Development and Implementation of a GIS-Based Active Route Visualization Tool to Facilitate Equitable Planning for Walking and Cycling Routes in Small Communities

Active transportation modes such as walking and bicycling have demonstrated several benefits for health, the environment, the economy, and road safety. However, the transportation planning process in rural areas rarely incorporates this mode of transportation. In fact, many small and rural towns lack the resources, experience, and capabilities to conduct detailed modeling of active transportation. In response, this research developed an Active Route Visualization (ARV) Tool to support planning and decision making in small cities and rural towns. By incorporating a modified three-step modeling process that used active trip rates developed from the 2017 National Household Travel Survey, the ARV Tool provided a map that highlighted the daily volumes of active travel in the community and ranked the roadway segments that had greater potential to support walking and bicycling. This research demonstrated application of the ARV Tool in the city of Atmore, AL. Implementation of the tool was valuable in this rural city as it supported a community coalition effort in partnership with the Alabama Cooperative Extension System to promote active transportation. In this process, the community coalition reviewed and discussed the ARV Tool outputs and provided invaluable local knowledge and feedback that were incorporated into the action plans. Small and rural towns can benefit from an easy-to-use, practical, and data-driven tool that provides insights to initiate discussions to identify priorities and opportunities for active transportation.

Editorial introduction: Punctuated equilibrium, multiple streams, environmental governance, and many more

Editorial introduction: Punctuated equilibrium, multiple streams, environmental governance, and many more

Social relations in megaproject planning: exploring the roles of local government in the development of Indonesia’s special economic zones

As a manifestation of current approaches to global planning, megaproject planning is an openended process that unfolds through the contestation, negotiation and contradiction of social (power) relations. However, recent studies still perceive local government authorities as elusive actors in shaping megaproject planning and development processes. This article uses two case studies to investigate the multifaceted roles that local government played in dealing with actors’ overlapping interests in two Indonesian special economic zone (SEZ) megaprojects. The qualitative content analysis of the two cases relies on interviews, archival research and field observation conducted between 2019 and 2021. This article shows that rather than acting as entrepreneurial agencies that serve state or private actors, local government authorities can articulate and negotiate community interests in developing megaprojects. Moreover, the ‘social relation’ framework explains the conditions under which local government units can engage in political negotiations and demand equitable planning processes.

‘It really has made me think’: Exploring how informal STEM learning practitioners developed critical reflective practice for social justice using the Equity Compass tool

ABSTRACT Critical reflective practice is a foundation of socially just pedagogy. This paper focuses on the informal STEM (science, technology, engineering, and maths) learning sector, where there is an acute shortage of support for critical reflective practice despite long-standing, entrenched issues of inequity. We analyse how practitioners used a new reflective tool, the Equity Compass, co-developed by researchers and practitioners through a five-year partnership. We report on multimodal qualitative data (interviews, ethnographic observations, group discussions, partner site visits, and workshops) from 12 practitioners in four settings in the UK: a community zoo, regional science centre, digital arts centre and an initiative supporting girls and non-binary young people into STEM. We discuss how using the Equity Compass: (i) increased and deepened practitioners’ knowledge and understanding of equity issues; (ii) supported personal and institutional critical reflection, helping practitioners move beyond ‘gut instinct’ to interrogate their own positionality, ask new questions, and critically evaluate the effectiveness of attempts at inclusive practice; and (iii) fostered more intentional equitable planning and practice, such as participatory approaches that shared authority with learners and introduced more inclusive forms of representation. We conclude by discussing the challenges, limitations, and implications for supporting critical reflective practice among educators.

Translating and embedding equity-thinking into climate adaptation: an analysis of US cities

Cities increasingly recognize the importance of furthering social equity in their climate adaptation planning. Such efforts are often in response to grassroots mobilizations, yet it is not clear to what extent they translate into urban coalitions, policy designs, and implementation efforts within city governments. In this paper, we respond to this knowledge gap by assessing how equity-thinking is translated into cities’ adaptation decision-making and governance arrangements, especially in ways that can lead to more inclusive and just climate adaptation outcomes for historically marginalized communities. We analyze adaptation plans for the 25 largest US cities using deductive and inductive coding strategies to uncover the ideas, rhetoric, and processes that guide equitable plans. We then map these outcomes of equity-thinking across procedural, distributive, and recognitional categories. Our analysis lends support to the operation of two social constructivist mechanisms of equity-thinking in adaptation planning—namely ideology and recognition. In an ideology-driven pathway, where beliefs are shared, adaptation efforts are mobilized through local actors and within public agencies who decide on the appropriateness of social equity definitions. Recognition-driven pathways occur when climate equity rhetoric is reflected and normalized through adaptation planning procedures, where cities strive to be early adopters of equitable climate strategies. This result therefore highlights the multiple ways urban leaders, decision-makers, and planners can have in steering policies and designing different planning and implementation processes.

Burden of occupational cancer in Brazil and federative units, 1990-2019.

To analyze the spatiotemporal distribution of the burden of occupational cancer in Brazil and federative units between 1990 and 2019. Data were extracted from the Global Burden of Disease (GBD) study. Deaths from cancer whose attributable risk factor was occupational carcinogens were considered. Spatial analysis was performed with the first and last years of the series (1990 and 2019). Age-adjusted mortality rates were used to estimate the global Moran's Index (Moran's I), and the local indicator of spatial association (LISA) to identify clusters in the country with the respective statistical significance. The occupational cancer mortality rate, adjusted for age, was analyzed based on its trend for Brazil and federative units, in the period between 1990 and 2019. Between 1990 and 2019, occupational cancer mortality rate showed a decreasing trend (R2=0.62; p<0.001) as well as the burden of disease indicator - DALY (R2=0.84; p<0.001). However, mortality is increasing in most states, suggesting that a minority of federative units induce the country's global trend. There is also the development of a spatial pattern of autocorrelation, indicating clusters of states with low mortality and DALY rates in the Northeast and high values in the South of the country. The overall decreasing trend in the trend of occupational cancer masks the heterogeneity across states. This scenario may be associated with the diversity of economic activities, and suggests a decentralized and equitable plan for occupational cancer surveillance.

An integrated approach for physical, economic, and demographic evaluation of coastal flood hazard adaptation in Santa Monica Bay, California

The increased risk of coastal flooding associated with climate-change driven sea level rise threatens to displace communities and cause substantial damage to infrastructure. Site-specific adaptation planning is necessary to mitigate the negative impacts of flooding on coastal residents and the built environment. Cost-benefit analyses used to evaluate coastal adaption strategies have traditionally focused on economic considerations, often overlooking potential demographic impacts that can directly influence vulnerability in coastal communities. Here, we present a transferable framework that couples hydrodynamic modeling of flooding driven by sea level rise and storm scenarios with site-specific building stock and census block-level demographic data. We assess the efficacy of multiple coastal adaptation strategies at reducing flooding, economic damages, and impacts to the local population. We apply this framework to evaluate a range of engineered, nature-based, and hybrid adaptation strategies for a portion of Santa Monica Bay, California. Overall, we find that dual approaches that provide protection along beaches using dunes or seawalls and along inlets using sluice gates perform best at reducing or eliminating flooding, damages, and population impacts. Adaptation strategies that include a sluice gate and partial or no protection along the beach are effective at reducing flooding around inlets but can exacerbate flooding elsewhere, leading to unintended impacts on residents. Our results also indicate trade-offs between economic and social risk-reduction priorities. The proposed framework allows for a comprehensive evaluation of coastal protection strategies across multiple objectives. Understanding how coastal adaptation strategies affect hydrodynamic, economic, and social factors at a local scale can enable more effective and equitable planning approaches.

Broadening equitable planning: Understanding indirect displacement through seniors’ experiences in a resurgent Downtown Detroit

Displacement is most commonly conceptualized as forced relocation or dislocation due to physical or economic reasons. However, this conceptualization reduces displacement to a simple spatial moment in time and overlooks indirect forms of displacement. Yet, indirect displacement holds serious implications for equitable planning initiatives that seek ‘revitalization without displacement’, as these initiatives tend to only address physical dislocation. Incorporating a better understanding of the different dimensions of displacement will help inform equitable development efforts that are more inclusive and just. This research uses Detroit as a case study to examine senior tenant experiences of indirect displacement in a rapidly gentrifying downtown. These ‘perspectives from below’ help shed light on the redevelopment impacts on seniors, which could then be concretely incorporated in community planning approaches. Based on in-depth qualitative interviews and participant observation, the findings illustrate the material ways in which seniors have experienced indirect displacement through feelings of exclusion and non-belonging, diminishing social space, and fears of direct displacement – all of which contribute to an on-going loss of sense of place. These experiences suggest a diminishing ability to create place for some, which reduces their ability to assert their right to the city. The paper concludes by considering how an intersectional approach to understanding displacement could help strengthen equitable planning approaches.

Drivers of (in)equity in collaborative environmental governance

AbstractCollaborative environmental governance seeks to engage diverse stakeholders to tackle complex challenges efficiently, sustainably, and equitably. However, mixed empirical evidence underscores a need to understand the conditions under which particularly equity is or is not achieved. Here, we use the empirical case of California Sustainable Groundwater Management to quantify the extent to which vulnerable small and rural drinking water users' needs are addressed in collaborative groundwater planning. Drawing on a diverse array of mixed method data, we then employ Boosted Regression and Classification Trees (BRCT) to assess potential driving factors including collaboration, representation, elite capture, stakeholder engagement, and problem severity/salience. We find each to be influential, highlighting their relevance for equitable planning. We also find evidence that these relationships are complex and outcome specific. Nonetheless, the overall effect on the three equity measures is modest at best. More institutional analysis of collaborative governance regimes from diverse contexts is needed to build a comprehensive understanding of how to meaningfully advance social and environmental equity in such decentralized reforms. Based on our results, we suggest the answer, if there is one, may transcend current focal domains such as stakeholder representation and engagement.

Indigenous environmental justice through coproduction of mining restoration supply chains in Australia

Mining activities often cause displacement and disruption of Indigenous socio‐cultural relations to land, water, biodiversity, and sacred entities. Due to the high disturbance and degradation that occurs as a result of mining on Indigenous lands, mine restoration and closure (MR&amp;C) must mobilize the political agency of Indigenous Australians and provide enduring benefits beyond the life‐of‐mine. Here, we demonstrate that Indigenous engagements with mining restoration supply chains in Australia can only succeed if institutionalized socio‐environmental inequalities are recognized and dismantled. Through environmental justice lenses, we examine critical mine restoration injustices and how Indigenous Australian participation can energize environmental self‐determination. We analyze emerging restoration supply chains through the native seed collection and production activities as opportunities for nurturing transformative local collaborations, Indigenous entrepreneurship, and political participation. Our analysis shows the potential for community practices to coproduce MR&amp;C through enduring partnerships, Indigenous‐led organizations, and plural knowledge systems. Indigenous Australian leadership in coordinating investments, collaborations, techniques, and business operations is critical to transforming MR&amp;C into democratic and equitable plans and actions on Indigenous lands where mining operates. When aligned with progressive institutional changes, restoration interventions can potentially strengthen environmental self‐determination for Indigenous Australian political control over the customary use and stewardship of their lands.

Masculinity and Novel Male Contraceptives: Does Masculine Norm Conformity Influence Preference?

Background: The impact of masculine norm endorsement on decision making regarding male contraceptive methods is a bounteous, yet unexplored, area of research. Aim: The aim of this paper is to understand how masculinity and attitudes towards sex impact male contraceptive usage and how preference could inform strategies to ultimately improve uptake and usage. Increased contraceptive use could have profound public health and financial impact given the potential to prevent unwanted pregnancies and promote equitable family planning. Method: 103 male participants aged 18+ completed a self-report electronic survey assessing masculine norm endorsement, attitudes towards sexuality and likelihood-of-usage of three novel male contraceptives; namely Nestorone, MENT and RISUG. Masculine norm endorsement was measured using an adapted version of Parent and Moradi’s Conformity to Masculine Norms Inventory-46, and the Sexual Opinion Survey was used to assess positive-negative attitudes toward sex. Participants were also asked which of the three contraceptive they would be most likely to use and why Results: The data showed no significant correlation between either masculine norm endorsement or attitudes towards sexuality and likelihood-of-usage for novel male contraceptives. However, the sample did show a hierarchy of preference; Nesterone was the most preferred method, followed by RISUG, and finally the sample indicated a significant aversion to MENT. For each contraceptive, common themes for preference were easily identifiable. Those who preferred Nesterone cited ‘Non-invasiveness’ and ‘Ease of use’ as their reasoning. Those who preferred RISUG indicated the ‘Convenience’ and ‘Longevity’ of the method as the reason for preference. Those who preferred MENT, cited ‘Non-daily use’ and ‘Less invasive [than RISUG]’. Those who preferred MENT seemed to fit a niche between RISUG and Nesterone: while they do not wish to partake in the daily application of Nesterone, they are also opposed to the procedure involved with RISUG. Conclusions: The results of this study indicate that the sample showed preference with regards to the novel forms of male contraceptives. The reasons indicated by the sample regarding their preference pointed to specific driving factors, motivated by what the individual values. Namely: ease of use, longevity, and surgical procedure avoidance. Furthermore, this suggests the need for multiple methods of male contraceptives to satisfy a broader range of individuals. Thus, this study yields important data that may help to inform future contraceptive design and research to meet the needs and preferences of young adult males.

An equitable and accessible vaccine supply chain network in the epidemic outbreak of COVID-19 under uncertainty.

Vaccination is one of the most efficient ways to restrict and control the spread of epidemic outbreaks such as COVID-19. Due to the limited COVID-19 vaccine supply, an equitable and accessible plan should be prepared to cope with. This research focuses on designing a vaccine supply chain while aiming to achieve an equitable and accessible network. We present a novel mathematical formulation that helps to optimize vaccine distribution to inoculate people with various priority levels to achieve an equitable plan. The transshipment strategy is also incorporated into the model to enhance the accessibility of COVID-19 vaccine types between health facilities. The nature of COVID-19 is dynamic over time due to mutations, and the protection level of each vaccine type against this disease is not exact. Besides, complete information about the demand for different vaccine types is not available. Hence, we use Multi-Stage Stochastic Programming as a reliable strategy that is organized to manage stochastic data in a dynamic environment for the first time in the vaccine supply chain network. The scenarios in this approach are generated using a Monte Carlo simulation method, and then a forward scenario reduction technique is conducted to construct a suitable scenario tree. The practicality and capability of the model are shown in a real-life case of Iran. The results show that the performance of the Multi-Stage Stochastic Programming is significantly improved compared with the two-stage stochastic programming regarding the total cost of the vaccine supply chain and the number of the shortage units.

Interrogating park access and equity in Johannesburg, South Africa

Equitable access to green spaces is essential in cities, especially those with complex socio-economic challenges. This study considers how socio-economic characteristics influence traditional park access measures, using a geographically weighted regression (GWR) to analyse park access equity in Johannesburg. The use of a spatially sensitive statistical approach enables a more nuanced analysis of equity than previous studies have permitted in Johannesburg, thus empowering better park access planning. The method considers the number of parks and distance to the nearest park as important access measures. The study shows a complex relationship between different interpretations of park access relative to various socio-economic considerations, such as population density, unemployment rates and education levels, and that inequity in access to park space according to these measures varies across the city. The findings offer an opportunity for an improved understanding of local environmental justice and could potentially inform more equitable park planning and management policies in cities.