The Legacy Effect: Understanding How Segregation and Environmental Injustice Unfold over Time in Baltimore

Abstract

Legacies of social and environmental injustices can leave an imprint on the present and constrain transitions for more sustainable futures. In this article, we ask this question: What is the relationship of environmental inequality and histories of segregation? The answer for Baltimore is complex, where past practices of de jure and de facto segregation have created social and environmental legacies that persist on the landscape today. To answer this question, we examine the interactions among past and current environmental injustices in Baltimore from the late 1880s to the present using nearly twenty years of social and environmental justice research from the Baltimore Ecosystem Study (BES), a long-term social–ecological research project. Our research demonstrates that patterns and procedures in the city's early history of formal and informal segregation, followed by “redlining” in the 1930s, have left indelible patterns of social and environmental inequalities. These patterns are manifest in the distribution of environmental disamenities such as polluting industries, urban heat islands, and vulnerability to flooding, and they are also evident in the distribution of environmental amenities such as parks and trees. Further, our work shows how these legacies are complicated by changing perceptions of what counts as an environmental disamenity and amenity. Ultimately, we argue that the interactions among historical patterns, processes, and procedures over the long term are crucial for understanding environmental injustices of the past and present and for constructing sustainable cities for the future.

社会与环境不正义的遗产, 能够在当下留下深刻的印记, 并对转变成为更具可持续性的未来产生限制。我们于本文中质问此一问题: 环境不公与隔离历史之间的关系为何？对巴尔的摩而言, 答案相当复杂, 因其过往法律上与实际的隔离, 已创造了今日在地景上续存的社会及环境遗产。为了回答此一问题, 我们运用巴尔的摩生态系统研究 (BES) 这个长期的社会生态研究计画近乎二十年的社会与环境不公研究, 检视自 1880 年代晚期至今, 巴尔的摩的过往与当下环境不公之间的互动。我们的研究显示, 该城市早期正式与非正式的隔离历史模式与过程, 伴随着 1930 年代“拒绝贷款区”的划设, 已遗留了难以磨灭的社会与环境不公模式。这些模式, 在诸如污染工业、城市热岛和面对洪灾的脆弱性等不友善环境的分佈上十分显着, 且同时在诸如公园与植栽等友善环境的分佈上相当明显。再者, 我们的研究显示, 这些遗产如何受到有关何谓环境不友善与环境友善的认知改变而复杂化。我们最终主张, 长期的历史模式、过程与程序, 对于理解过往与当下的环境不正义以及打造未来可持续发展的城市而言至关重要。

Los legados de las injusticias sociales y ambientales pueden trasmitir una huella al presente y obstaculizar las transiciones a futuros más sustentables. En este artículo formulamos esta pregunta: ¿Cuál es la relación entre la desigualdad ambiental y las historias de la segregación? Para Baltimore, la respuesta es compleja, donde las prácticas pasadas de la segregación de jure y de facto han generado legados que persisten en el paisaje actual. Para responder esta pregunta, examinamos las interacciones entre las injusticias ambientales pasadas y presentes de Baltimore desde los años 1880 hasta la actualidad, utilizando cerca de veinte años de investigación sobre justicia ambiental y social del Estudio del Ecosistema de Baltimore (BES), un proyecto de investigación socio-ecológica a largo plazo. Nuestra investigación demuestra que los patrones y procedimientos en la historia temprana de segregación formal e informal de la ciudad, seguida por la “discriminación” de los años 1930, han dejado patrones indelebles de desigualdades sociales y ambientales. Estos patrones se manifiestan en la distribución de incomodidades ambientales como industrias contaminantes, islotes urbanos de calor y vulnerabilidad a las inundaciones, las cuales también son evidentes en la distribución de atractivos ambientales, tales como parques y arbolado. Adicionalmente, nuestro trabajo muestra cómo estos legados se complican por las percepciones cambiantes sobre lo que cuenta como una incomodidad ambiental o un atractivo. Por último, argüimos que las interacciones entre los patrones, procesos y procedimientos históricos a plazo largo son cruciales para entender las injusticias ambientales del pasado y del presente y para construir ciudades sostenibles para el futuro.

Key Words:

• Baltimore
• distributive justice
• environmental justice
• procedural justice
• segregation

关键词：:

• 巴尔的摩
• 分配正义
• 环境正义
• 程序正义
• 隔离。

Palabras clave:

• Baltimore
• justicia distributiva
• justicia ambiental
• justicia procedimental
• segregación

Acknowledgments

We thank two anonymous reviewers and the editor for their constructive suggestions. They added clarity to the article and identified novel directions.

Notes

1. We note that other scholars have examined segregation in Baltimore and its relationships to public health (Roberts 2009; Markowitz and Rosner 2013), recreation (Wiltse 2007), policing (Alexander 2012), and government at federal and local levels as public actors in segregation (Rothstein 2017). These phenomena are critical to a systematic study of segregation and environmental justice.

2. For an assembly of HOLC maps for the United States, see Nelson et al. (n.d.).

Additional information

Funding

This material is based on work supported by the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) Forest Service and the National Science Foundation (NSF) under Grant No. DEB-1027188 to the Baltimore Ecosystem Study, a project of the NSF Long-Term Ecological Research (LTER) Program, and to the National Social–Environmental Synthesis Center under Grant No. DBI-1052875. Any opinions, findings, and conclusions or recommendations expressed in this material are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the views of the USDA Forest Service or the National Science Foundation.

Notes on contributors

Morgan Grove

MORGAN GROVE is the team leader for the U.S. Department of Agriculture Forest Service's Baltimore Field Station, Baltimore, MD 21228. E-mail: [email protected]. His research interests include the social and ecological dynamics of residential landscapes and neighborhoods, particularly in the context of environmental justice.

Laura Ogden

LAURA OGDEN is an Associate Professor in the Department of Anthropology at Dartmouth College, Hanover, NH 03755-3529. E-mail: [email protected]. Her research interests include the political ecology and ethnography of rural and urban landscapes.

Steward Pickett

STEWARD PICKETT is a Senior Scientist at the Cary Institute of Ecosystem Studies, Millbrook, NY 12545-0129. E-mail: [email protected]. His research interests include spatial heterogeneity and dynamics of social-ecological systems in urban areas.

Chris Boone

CHRIS BOONE is Professor and Dean of the School of Sustainability at Arizona State University, Tempe, AZ 85287-2402. E-mail: [email protected]. His research includes ongoing debates in sustainable urbanization, environmental justice, vulnerability, and global environmental change.

Geoff Buckley

GEOFF BUCKLEY is Professor in the Department of Geography at Ohio University, Athens, OH 45701-2978. E-mail: [email protected]. His research focuses on environmental history and the legacy effects of past decisions, practices, and processes of urban systems.

Dexter H. Locke

DEXTER H. LOCKE is a Postdoctoral Fellow at the National Socio-Environmental Synthesis Center, Annapolis, MD 21401. E-mail: [email protected]. His research focuses on the social-environmental dynamics of residential landscapes.

Charlie Lord

CHARLIE LORD is an environmental lawyer and Principal in Renew Energy Partners, Boston, MA 02111. E-mail: L[email protected]. His research and activism has focused on environmental justice in Boston and Baltimore.

Billy Hall

BILLY HALL is a Postdoctoral Fellow at the National Socio-Environmental Synthesis Center, Annapolis, MD 21401. E-mail: [email protected]. His research has focused on the relationship between historic segregation and food deserts in cities.