Session 11. 6.

Environmental organizations have the capacity to shape urban nature landscapes through advocacy. However, most research on advocacy groups focuses on a broad understanding of urban systems with complex political, social, and occupational features. This study specifically focuses on the capacity of environmental organizations, who are closely networked with different levels of governance, to generate change in both policy and practice related to urban nature. First, we identified government and nonprofit organizations working on environmental issues within the Twin Cities. We then gleaned partners of these organizations and the nature of their functional relationships (e.g., collaboration, information sharing) from websites. Using social network analysis, we examined the landscape of environmental advocacy groups and how connections between these groups facilitate the flow of social and financial capital. This allows us to see the social pathways of how environmental advocacy happens across the Minneapolis-St. Paul metropolitan region, and where areas of overlap or gaps exist.

Urban commons experiences are diverse even in the same city. This the case concerning the city of Bologna which is known of its 2014 commons regulation. Prior to this institutional and governance framework, there was a long grassroots commons tradition in the city. Today there are hundreds of urban commons initiatives most of which participate or have participated in the municipality’s Pact. Once again, there is an incredible variety of such experiences, among which some date to the 1980s long before the creation of a legal framework. This paper analyses five different urban commons experiences along the lines of urban commons ideal types found in the literature and within different categories that are often present in urban citizenship-based initiatives (needs and issues targeted, politics and the political, democratic practices and inclusion, feminist values and practices, ecological values and practices, right to the city and appropriate of space, definition of urban commons). Our findings lead us to understand that in some cases the urban commons are part of a larger social movement dynamic whereas in other cases it takes on more of a neighbourhood dynamic. In all of the cases, the subjects act as intermediaries between citizens and the state by offering services and activities that in the past have been offered either by the state or by traditional socio-political institutions to a designated public. There is thus both continuity and rupture with the past in terms of socio-political moblisation.
Nevertheless, the urban commons go beyond a simple material issue to encompass urban identities and relationships between citizens, with the municipality and between residents and their urban environment. By analysing the practices, positions, spaces and visions of urban commons experiences, we can reflect critically on the heterogeneous nature of the commons and their role in urban governance and citizenship.

In the 21st century, cities have increasingly been centered as key spaces within sustainability movements. Modern urban sustainability practices can be categorized into two distinct forms: 1) “gray” approaches that leverage technology and infrastructure to lessen environmental impacts and reduce GHG emissions (e.g., denser development, high-speed public transit, building energy efficiency improvements), and 2) “green” approaches that preserve or create green spaces within the urban environment (e.g., parks, street trees, urban forests). In 2019, the city of Minneapolis passed its 2040 Comprehensive Plan, which calls for a substantial increase in density and elimination of single family zoning. Following the plan’s publication, there was an outcry of public concern, emphasized by a dismissed lawsuit brought forward by local environmental organizations arguing that increasing density would harm urban water, air, wildlife, and ecosystems. We systematically coded and analyzed newspaper articles from several local sources to understand how Minneapolis residents perceive this potential conflict between green and gray forms of sustainability, as evidenced by reactions to the 2040 Comprehensive Plan. Our results suggest that residents do perceive conflicts between green and gray sustainability goals, and in this case, the outcome was mediated by the legal system. Although the lawsuit was dismissed, conflict surrounding green and gray sustainability approaches persists in Minneapolis, affecting current public discourse and policy debates. Understanding conflicts surrounding the policy making process within urban sustainability movements can help future efforts better anticipate and navigate hurdles in sustainability-related planning.

Urban shorelines provide a wide range of recreational opportunities for large populations and health benefits offered by blue space exposure. They also face development pressures that potentially close off low-cost open access as cities face challenges in maintaining public spaces. The multilayered governance structure that characterizes coastlines diffuse management responsibilities for any one priority. This study examines the diversity of anglers at one urban Californian shoreline where the socioeconomic mix differs markedly with the local jurisdiction responsible for management, highlighting the shoreline's regional value despite reduction in historical fishing amenities over time. A travel cost analysis estimates demand for fishing at the location as a function of income and racial/ethnic background across three trip scenarios representing the current state, expected future behavior, and expected behavior with a reopened nearby fishing pier, representing revealed and stated preference responses framed as a pseudo-panel dataset. Results reveal that shoreline fishing is a “normal" good for some groups but an “inferior" good for others, showing preference heterogeneity across socioeconomic backgrounds in contrast to conventional expectations. The value of a fishing trip to the site is on average $78.03 per individual. Visit demand, and therefore value, increases dramatically should the fishing pier reopen, with the greatest shift among the high-income anglers. The implications suggest that decisionmakers need to assess not only the significant nonmarket value generated by urban shoreline fishing but also the distributional impacts of managing a resource with low-cost public access benefiting underserved communities, both local and nonlocal. The distinct behavioral patterns in recreation in the urban blue space commons could be overlooked within cities focused only on their own demographics.

Public open spaces (POS) are pockets of interaction and a means for reclaiming the ‘right to the city’ for those living in high-density urban spaces around the globe. Functioning as the ‘Poor man’s living room’, they provide social and environmental benefits to the city inhabitants while also nurturing a sense of community and belongingness. However, a disproportionate distribution of these spaces based on income and gender lines is a norm in the Global South – countering the idea of spatial justice and urban sustainability. With a rapid increase in urban population and resultant changes in urban infrastructure, POS are shrinking day by day.

In India, where smaller cities like Amritsar are experiencing 70% of its urban growth, this means a disproportionate reduction in distribution and access of a scarce public resource to an already deprived section of people (based on income and gender). With this discrepancy in mind, this paper aims to use a census-based cross-sectional and geospatial approach to study the status of distribution and accessibility to POS in Amritsar smart city. Geospatial and census data will be used to map the ward-wise distribution, per capita availability, and accessibility of the POS in Amritsar smart city and statistical methods will be used for their analysis. This work aims to contribute to the vision of sustainable urban development by focusing on spatial and distributive justice in the context of POS and by providing suggestions to reach the SDG target 11.7.1.