Pursuing justice in a community experiencing environmental injustice: The practice of community revitalization

ABSTRACT

Justice is perceived divergently by the stakeholders of revitalization projects for the community experiencing environmental injustice. Weaving different conceptions of justice into revitalization practice is critical for correcting injustice faced by the community. This paper investigates brownfield revitalization projects implemented in the Arkwright community in Spartanburg, South Carolina and explores stakeholders’ definitions of justice and how the abstract thoughts were transformed into elements of the projects. The stakeholders defined justice as equality, fairness, correctness, and involvement. Equality was pursued by programs of improving community living quality for giving every resident an equal opportunity to enjoy a better neighborhood. Fairness was sought by providing services to help residents reach an ideal living status regardless of race, ethnicity, and income. Correctness was attempted by correcting past transgressions. Involvement was addressed by keeping stakeholders informed, building communication channels and improving the community’s capacity for meaningful participation. Two factors necessary for successful community regeneration are extracted, trust between stakeholders and a holistic revitalization approach. Pursuing a vision shared by stakeholders through the coordination of grassroots organizations that witness the injustice history and insist on correcting it, restorative justice between environmental offenders and victims could be achieved even if that was not their original purpose.

KEYWORDS:

• Environmental justice
• brownfield revitalization
• ReGenesis Project
• community redevelopment

Acknowledgments

Special thanks to Harold Mitchell, a former member of the South Carolina House of Representatives and Executive Director of ReGenesis, Inc. This report could not have been completed without his help. I also extend my appreciation to all interviewees.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author.

Correction Statement

This article has been republished with minor changes. These changes do not impact the academic content of the article.

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by the Ministry of Science and Technology under Grant number [104-2410-H-194-049-MY2].

Notes on contributors

Tsuey-Ping Lee

Tsuey-Ping Lee received her PhD in Public Administration and Policy from University at Albany, SUNY. She is currently professor in the Department of Political Science at National Chung Cheng University in Taiwan. Her recent areas of research focus on environmental justice, environmental governance, brownfield public participation, and brownfield redevelopment. She is the author of Brownfield Redevelopment Policy Analysis: A Community Capacity Perspective (2012) and Analysis of Social Welfare Policy Implementation Networks (2006).