The Paradox of Urban Greening: Does it Harm the Very People Who Need it the Most?

Urban greening and sustainability approaches are well accepted methods for improving the urban environment and combating the climate crisis. Cleaning up potentially contaminated lands and bringing them back into constructive public use is one of the benefits of greening. However, greening efforts may have unintended consequences, resulting in adverse social and economic impacts to the existing residents, who are often the most vulnerable urban populations. Spatial analyses of case study examples show that greening can spur “green gentrification.” Measures can be taken to integrate social equity objectives into urban sustainability planning, to mitigate gentrification, and to improve equitable distribution of environmental benefits