Barcelona Lab for Urban Environmental Justice and Sustainability (BCNUEJ)

The Barcelona Lab for Urban Environmental Justice and Sustainability examines how we can create more just, resilient, healthy, and sustainable cities.

The Barcelona Lab for Urban Environmental Justice and Sustainability (BCNUEJ) was founded in partnership with the Institute of Environmental Science and Technology (ICTA) at the Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona (UAB) and a research group from the Hospital del Mar Medical Research Institute (IMIM) in Barcelona. The lab develops novel research that builds on urban planning and policy, social inequality, and development studies. Our main emphasis is on the opportunities and challenges created by urban municipal, community, or private initiatives that enhance sustainability, equity, and health in cities.

Our research examines processes and dynamics that lead to more just, resilient, healthy, and sustainable cities, bringing together theory and methods from urban planning, public policy, urban and environmental sociology, urban geography and public health. Our studies analyze the extent to which urban plans and policy decisions contribute to more just, resilient, healthy, and sustainable cities, and how community groups in distressed neighborhoods contest the existence, creation, or exacerbation of environmental inequities as a result of urban (re)development processes and policies.

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2024-05-30
08:33
14 p, 892.3 KB The multi-scalar inequities of climate adaptation finance : a critical review / Venner, Kayin (Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona. Institut de Ciència i Tecnologia Ambientals) ; García-Lamarca, Melissa (Lund University Centre for Sustainability Studies) ; Olazabal, Marta (Ikerbasque)
Purpose of Review Following a multi-scalar analytical approach, this critical literature review explores the factors that determine adaptation finance accessibility and allocation with particular attention to how the needs of climate-vulnerable communities are considered. [...]
2024 - 10.1007/s40641-024-00195-7
Current Climate Change Reports, (May 2024)  
2024-04-13
08:50
10 p, 1.2 MB The intersection of justice and urban greening : Future directions and opportunities for research and practice / Derickson, Kate (University of Minnesota. Department of Geography, Environment and Society) ; Walker, Rebecca (University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign. Department of Urban and Regional Planning) ; Hamann, Maike (University of Exeter. Centre for Geography and Environmental Science) ; Anderson, Pippin (University of Cape Town. Department of Environmental and Geographical Science) ; Adegun, Olumuyiwa Bayode (Federal University of Technology. Department of Architecture (Nigeria)) ; Castillo-Castillo, Adriana (University of Minnesota) ; Guerry, Anne (University of Washington. School of Environmental and Forest Sciences) ; Keeler, Bonnie (University of Minnesota. Hubert H. Humphrey School of Public Affairs) ; Llewellyn, Liz (University of Cape Town. Department of Environmental and Geographical Science) ; Matheney, Austin (Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona. Institut de Ciència i Tecnologia Ambientals) ; Mogosetsi-Gabriel, Nontsikelelo (Stellenbosch University. Centre for Sustainability Transitions) ; Mundoli, Seema (Azim Premji University) ; Pahwa Gajjar, Sumetee (PlanAdapt (South Africa)) ; Sitas, Nadia (Stellenbosch University. Centre for Sustainability Transitions) ; Xie, Linjun (University of Nottingham Ningbo. Department of Architecture and Built Environment)
The global uptake of green infrastructure in urban settings holds considerable promise for fostering both social and ecological benefits. Recognizing the imperative to ensure equitable distribution of these advantages, this paper draws on the rich traditions of justice considerations within urban studies to inform research on urban greening. [...]
2024 - 10.1016/j.ufug.2024.128279
Urban Forestry and Urban Greening, Vol. 95 (May 2024) , art. 128279  
2023-12-21
05:41
11 p, 2.8 MB Perceived urban ecosystem services and disservices in gentrifying neighborhoods : Contrasting views between community members and state informants / Rodgman, Mary Kathryn (Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona. Institut de Ciència i Tecnologia Ambientals) ; Anguelovski, Isabelle (Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona. Institut de Ciència i Tecnologia Ambientals) ; Perez del pulgar, Carmen (Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona. Institut de Ciència i Tecnologia Ambientals) ; Shokry, Galia (Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona. Institut de Ciència i Tecnologia Ambientals) ; García-Lamarca, Melissa (Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona. Institut de Ciència i Tecnologia Ambientals) ; Connolly, James J. T. (Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona. Institut de Ciència i Tecnologia Ambientals) ; Baró Porras, Francesc (Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona. Institut de Ciència i Tecnologia Ambientals) ; Triguero-Mas, Margarita (Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona. Institut de Ciència i Tecnologia Ambientals)
As assessing urban ecosystem services and disservices is of rapidly growing interest in a context of increasingly urbanized environments, greater scholarly attention needs to be placed on how different informants perceive these services and disservices. [...]
2024 - 10.1016/j.ecoser.2023.101571
Ecosystem services, Vol. 65 (February 2024) , art. 101571  
2023-07-06
15:36
12 p, 14.3 MB Seeking refuge? : The potential of urban climate shelters to address intersecting vulnerabilities / Amorim Maia, Ana Terra (Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona. Institut de Ciència i Tecnologia Ambientals) ; Anguelovski, Isabelle (Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona. Institut de Ciència i Tecnologia Ambientals) ; Connolly, James J. T. (University of British Columbia) ; Chu, Eric (University of California. Department of Human Ecology)
Climate shelters are critical urban infrastructures to support adaptation to extreme weather. They offer spaces - e. g. , parks, libraries, and civic centers - where residents can take refuge during episodes of extreme temperatures. [...]
2023 - 10.1016/j.landurbplan.2023.104836
Landscape and urban planning, Vol. 238 (October 2023) , art. 104836  
2023-07-04
04:25
10 p, 554.1 KB From the squat to the neighbourhood : Popular infrastructures as reproductive urban commons / Ruiz Cayuela, Sergio (Coventry University. Centre for Agroecology, Water and Resilience) ; García-Lamarca, Melissa (Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona. Institut de Ciència i Tecnologia Ambientals)
We are currently experiencing a manifold crisis of social reproduction which has seriously affected the capacity of popular access to basic goods such as housing, particularly in urban environments. This article seeks to contribute to and expand debates around the urban housing commons by looking at decommodified and collectively managed housing alternatives through the lens of the reproductive commons. [...]
2023 - 10.1016/j.geoforum.2023.103807
Geoforum, Vol. 144 (August 2023) , art. 103807  
2023-04-19
05:22
26 p, 401.5 KB Promoting Health Equity Through Preventing or Mitigating the Effects of Gentrification: A Theoretical and Methodological Guide / Cole, Helen (Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona. Institut de Ciència i Tecnologia Ambientals) ; Anguelovski, Isabelle (Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona. Institut de Ciència i Tecnologia Ambientals) ; Triguero-Mas, Margarita (Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona. Institut de Ciència i Tecnologia Ambientals) ; Mehdipanah, Roshanak (University of Michigan. School of Public Health) ; Arcaya, Mariana (Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Department of Urban Studies and Planning)
Public health researchers are increasingly questioning the consequences of gentrification for population health and health equity, as witnessed in the rapid increase in public health publications on the health (equity) effects of gentrification. [...]
2023 - 10.1146/annurev-publhealth-071521-113810
Annual Review of Public Health, Vol. 44, Issue 1 (April 2023) , p. 193-211  
2023-02-07
07:15
17 p, 5.5 MB From greening the climate-adaptive city to green climate gentrification? Civic perceptions of short-lived benefits and exclusionary protection in Boston, Philadelphia, Amsterdam and Barcelona / Planas-Carbonell, Aina (Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona. Institut de Ciència i Tecnologia Ambientals) ; Anguelovski, Isabelle (Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona. Institut de Ciència i Tecnologia Ambientals) ; Oscilowicz, Emilia (Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona. Institut de Ciència i Tecnologia Ambientals) ; Pérez-del-Pulgar, Carmen (Friedrich-Schiller-University. Department for Political Science) ; Shokry, Galia (Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona. Institut de Ciència i Tecnologia Ambientals)
Municipal governments are increasingly promoting green climate-adaptive infrastructure projects to address climate threats and impacts while maximizing multiple socio-environmental benefits. Although these strategies are repeatedly advanced as "win-win" solutions for all, recent literature has drawn attention to numerous negative effects, especially the displacement and exclusion of vulnerable social groups, pointing at yet another layer of climate injustice. [...]
2023 - 10.1016/j.uclim.2022.101295
Urban climate, Vol. 48 (March 2023) , art. 101295  
2022-10-26
07:50
12 p, 698.5 KB "Silk Road here we come" : Infrastructural myths, post-disaster politics, and the shifting urban geographies of Nepal / Apostolopoulou, Elia (Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona. Institut de Ciència i Tecnologia Ambientals) ; Pant, Hitesh (University of Cambridge. Department of History and Philosophy of Science)
In this paper, we explain how China's Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) drives urban transformation in Nepal reconfiguring geopolitical and geoeconomic relations and remaking the sociopolitical, cultural and material fabric of hitherto peripheral spaces. [...]
2022 - 10.1016/j.polgeo.2022.102704
Political Geography, Vol. 98 (October 2022) , art. 102704  
2022-07-12
08:54
10 p, 1.5 MB Active use and perceptions of parks as urban assets for physical activity: A mixed-methods study / Fontán-Vela, Mario (Universidad de Alcalá. Departamento de Cirugía, Ciencias Médicas y Sociales) ; Jesús Rivera-Navarro, Jesús (Universidad de Salamanca. Departamento de Sociología y Comunicación) ; Gullón, Pedro (Universidad de Alcalá. Departamento de Cirugía, Ciencias Médicas y Sociales) ; Díez, Julia (Universidad de Alcalá. Departamento de Cirugía, Ciencias Médicas y Sociales) ; Anguelovski, Isabelle (Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona. Institut de Ciència i Tecnologia Ambientals) ; Franco, Manuel (Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health. Department of Epidemiology)
Parks are potential key urban assets for improved population health; however, their use is not equal among all social groups. Individual and contextual factors could influence residents' perceptions of parks and how they interact with and, eventually, benefit from them. [...]
2021 - 10.1016/j.healthplace.2021.102660
Health & Place, Vol. 71 (September 2021) , art. 102660  
2022-02-03
11:31
8 p, 883.0 KB Estimating personal solar ultraviolet radiation exposure through time spent outdoors, ambient levels and modelling approaches / Soueid, Lara (Institut de Salut Global de Barcelona) ; Triguero-Mas, Margarita (Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona. Institut de Ciència i Tecnologia Ambientals) ; Dalmau, A. (Institut de Salut Global de Barcelona) ; Barrera-Gómez, José (Institut de Salut Global de Barcelona) ; Alonso García, Lucía (Institut de Salut Global de Barcelona) ; Basagaña, X (Institut de Salut Global de Barcelona) ; Thieden, E. (Bispebjerg Hospital) ; Wulf, H. C. (Bispebjerg Hospital) ; Diffey, B. (Newcastle University) ; Young, A. R. (King's College London) ; Nieuwenhuijsen, Mark (Institut de Salut Global de Barcelona) ; Dadvand, Payam (Institut de Salut Global de Barcelona)
Background: Evidence on validation of surrogates applied to evaluate the personal exposure levels of solar ultraviolet radiation (UVR) in epidemiological studies is scarce. Objectives: To determine and compare the validity of three approaches, including (i) ambient UVR levels, (ii) time spent outdoors and (iii) a modelling approach integrating the aforementioned parameters, to estimate personal UVR exposure over a period of 6 months among indoor and outdoor workers and in different seasons (summer/winter). [...]
2021 - 10.1111/bjd.20703
British journal of dermatology, 2021