Against the backdrop of an accelerating global urbanization and related ecological, climatic or social challenges to urban sustainability, this book focuses on the access to "safe, inclusive and accessible green and public space" as outlined in United Nations' Sustainable Development Goal No. 11. Looking through the lens of environmental justice and contested urban spaces, it raises the question who ultimately benefits from a green city development, and - even more importantly - who does not. While green space benefits are well-documented, green space provision is faced by multiple challenges in an era of urban neoliberalism. With their interdisciplinary and multi-method approach, the chapters in this book carefully study the different dimensions of green space access with particular focus on vulnerable groups, critically evaluate cases of procedural injustice and, in the case of Northern Europe that is often seen as forerunner of urban sustainability, provide in-depth studies on the contexts of injustices in urban greening.

Chapters 1, 5, and 6 are available open access under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License via link.springer.com.

Autorentext

Helen Sooväli-Sepping is Professor of Environmental Management at the School of Natural Sciences and Health and a senior research at the Centre for Landscape and Culture at Tallinn University in Estonia. She holds a PhD in Human Geography from the University of Tartu. Her research focuses on the field of environmental studies in urban space (participatory planning, urban green commons, sustainable mobility), and cultural geography (especially heritage culture, cultural sustainability, landscape imaginary). She has published more than 20 articles in international journals and has prior experiences in editing (Sooväli-Sepping, H. et al (eds.) Ruptured Landscapes: Landscape, Identity and Social Change. Dordrecht: Springer), most recently as editor-in-chief of the 2020 Estonian Human Development Report entitled "Public Space and Democracy".

Bianka Plüschke-Altof is Researcher in Environmental Sociology at the School of Natural Sciences and Health at Tallinn University. She holds a PhD in Economics from the University of Tartu and an undergraduate in Social Sciences from the Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin. Her research focuses on human-nature relations in the city, as well as questions of environmental and socio-spatial justice (especially in CEE). She has published more than 10 publications in national and international journals and has prior experiences in editing, most recently as guest editor of the special issue on "(Not) my green city? The role of green space for a sustainable development in times of urbanization" in the peer-reviewed journal "Socialni Studia - Social Studies".

Inhalt

Introduction1. Contested urban green space and the question of socio-spatial justice in the Nordic-Baltic cities: Bianka Plüschke-Altof and Helen Sooväli-Sepping Section I. Green Contestations in Space Focus: Struggles and dynamics of environmental injustices of urban green space provision

1. Access to urban green space for wheelchair dependent people from an environmental justice perspective. A case study in Stockholm, Sweden: Annika Dahlberg* and Sara Borgström

2. Private events in a public park. The contested commercialisation of Finsbury Park: Guy Osborn, Andrew Smith*, Goran Vodicka

3. Contingent encounters and public value towards green-blue urbanity. Tallinn's coastal terrains: Tarmo Pikner*

4. Making the unseen present: calculations and artworks in struggles for a cherished landscape: Eeva Berglund*

5. Socio-spatial inequality and the environment: A multi-level analysis of urban green space accessibility in Riga, Latvia: Maris Berzins, Guido Sechi* and Zaiga Krisjane Section II. Rethinking the Usage and Planning of Urban Green Spaces Focus: Discussion of underlying socio-cultural and governance-related reasons as well as potential solutions/alternative approaches

6. Abandoned urban spaces. Rethinking problems and potentials on the cases of Tallinn and Riga: Simon Bell*, Jekaterina Balicka, Peeter Vassiljev

7. Not my green space? Black presence in UK green spaces: Beth Collier*

8. Same, same but different? Framing the 'right' kind of urban gardening in the CEE context. A case study from Estonia: Lilian Pungas*, Bianka Plüschke-Altof, Anni Müüripeal, Helen Sooväli-Sepping

9. Multifunctional green infrastructure in Finland. Urban allotment gardens as community health promotion strategy: Megan L. Resler* and Seona Candy

10. Contesting the logic and application of greenspace strategies in a semi-urban region: The case of Trondheim, Norway: Bradley Loewen*, Alenka Temeljotov-Salaj, Stig Larssæther