Justice in access to urban ecosystem services: A critical review of the literature

A recent study on justice in access to urban ecosystem services, authored by Ayyoob Sharifi who is one of the MIRAI Resilient Cities Global Challenges Team and Md Nazmul Haque, was published in the journal Ecosystem Services. This study critically reviewed the literature on the state of access to urban ecosystem services using deductive content analysis. An important finding was that most publications highlighted a lack of justice in access to these services. The authors revised the taxonomy of justice definitions within this realm, categorizing them into typological and dimensional categories. Among these typologies, environmental justice stood out prominently, with considerable attention directed toward the distributional and recognitional dimensions. Furthermore, the study found that cultural and regulating services received more attention in the literature compared to other types of ecosystem services. Results also indicated a notable prioritization of green infrastructures over blue infrastructures as sources of urban ecosystem services. Moreover, a key shortcoming identified was the inadequate representation of cities in the Global South in the literature, despite their significance for achieving sustainable urban development in the coming decades.

For more information see: Haque, M. N., & Sharifi, A. (2024a). Justice in access to urban ecosystem services: A critical review of the literature. Ecosystem Services, 67.

Another related work is Haque, M. N., & Sharifi, A. (2024b). Who are marginalized in accessing urban ecosystem services? A systematic literature review. Land Use Policy, 144, 107266.