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Environmental Justice on the Streets

Advocacy Planning as a Tool to Contest Environmental Racism

Department of Urban and Regional Planning at the University of Illinois in Urbana-Champaign

This article argues that environmental racism should be broadened to include the maldistribution of beneficial environmental conditions and proposes that advocacy planning may be an effective way to address the spatial absence of beneficial environmental services and amenities. The article examines advocacy in the context of neighborhood improvement, specifically around the placement of a streetlight and stop sign. Neighborhood infrastructure and transportation planning are vital for safety and quality of life, especially for communities of color, yet planning at this level often revolves around physical aspects of the neighborhood with minimal attention paid to planning processes and outcomes likely to marginalize and even endanger communities. Through an examination of one municipality's neighborhood-based advocacy approach to neighborhood improvement, this article considers the opportunities and challenges in using advocacy planning as a strategy to promote environmental justice on the streets and sidewalks of distressed urban neighborhoods.

Key Words: environmental racism • neighborhood improvement • advocacy planning • environmental justice

Journal of Planning Education and Research, Vol. 23, No. 1, 24-38 (2003)
DOI: 10.1177/0739456X03255431


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