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Environmental Justice
A rapidly contracting population is often viewed holistically, as a citywide and sometimes even regional struggle. However, shrinking cities – by their nature and how local officials respond to the phenomena – can have a disproportionate social and environmental impact on the less fortunate, resulting in the emergence of issues relating to environmental injustices.This paradigm was established almost immediately after cities started shrinking in significance during the mid-20th century and persists today in varying forms.

Historical Precedent
Although the concept of environmental justice – and the movement it sparked – was formally introduced and popularized starting in the late 1980's, its historical precedent in the context of shrinking cities is rooted in mid-20th century trends that took place in the United States.

In an American context, historical suburbanization and subsequent ill-fated urban renewal efforts are largely why the very poor and people of color are concentrated in otherwise emptied cities, where they are adversely plagued by conditions which are today identified as environmental injustices or environmental racism. These conditions, although created and exacerbated through mid-20th century actions, still persist today in many cases and include: living in close proximity to freeways; living without convenient access, if any, to healthy foods and green space. Unlike white people, people of color were socially and legally barred from taking advantage of federal government policy encouraging suburban flight. For example, the early construction of freeways coupled with practices such as “red lining” and racially restrictive covenants, physically prevented people of color from participating in the mass migration to the suburbs, leaving them in – what would become – hollowed and blighted city cores. Because income and race are deeply embedded in understanding the formation of suburbs and shrinking cities, any interventions responding to the shrinking city phenomenon will almost invariably confront issues of social and environmental justice. This is not the case in Europe, where suburbanization has been less extreme, and drivers of shrinking cities are also more closely linked to aging demographics, and deindustrialization.

Case Studies
In addition to discriminatory policy-driven decisions of the past, which caused cities to contract in population and created inhospitable living conditions for the poor and people of color in urban cores, environmental justices concerns also arise in present initiatives that seek solutions for cities struggling with considerable population losses.

New Orleans
New Orleans, like many major American cities, saw its population decrease considerably over the latter half of the 20th century, losing almost 50% of the population from its peak in 1960. In large part because of "white flight" and suburbanization, the population loss perpetuated existing racial segregation and left people of color (mostly African Americans) in the city center. By 2000, vacant and abandoned properties made up 12% of the housing stock. The city was struggling economically and in the wake of Hurricane Katrina, 134,344 of 188,251 occupied housing units sustained reportable damage, and 105,155 of them were severely damaged. Because of historical settlement patterns formed by racial restrictions in the first half of the 20th century, African Americans were disproportionately impacted by the destruction.

Responding to Hurricane Katrina, New Orleans Mayor C. Ray Nagin formed the Bring New Orleans Back Commission in September of 2005. The goal of the commission was to assist in redevelopment decision-making for the city. The commission shared its proposal for redevelopment in January 2006, however it faced some criticism related to environmental justice concerns. The commission's proposal was presented prior to many residents having returned to the city and their homes. The process was not very inclusive, particularly with locals of impacted areas, who were predominately from disadvantaged communities. While the proposal addressed future potential flooding by incorporating new parks in low-laying areas to manage storm water, the locations of the proposed greenspaces required the elimination of some of the low-income neighborhoods. Residents viewed the proposal as forced displacement and as benefitting primarily more affluent residents. Ultimately the proposal was roundly rejected by residents and advocates for residents.

A later intervention to alleviate the mounting abandonment and blight (which existed prior to Katrina, but was exacerbated by the disaster) was Ordinance No. 22605, enacted by the New Orleans city council in 2007. The rationale for the ordinance was to allow the city to establish a "Lot Next Door" program, which seeks to “assist in the elimination of abandoned or blighted properties; to spur neighborhood reinvestment, enhance stability in the rental housing market, and maintain and build wealth within neighborhoods.” The program intended to give owner occupants the opportunity to purchase abutting properties (city acquired properties formerly state-owned or owned by the New Orleans Redevelopment Authority) as a means of returning properties to neighborhood residents. It later expanded to allow any individual to purchase a property if that person or a family member would live there. The impact of the program, however, was unevenly distributed throughout the city. Although black neighborhoods in the low-laying topographical regions were hit the hardest by Katrina, affluent neighborhoods with high rates of owner occupancy better absorbed vacant and abandoned properties than areas with more rental units.

Detroit
Perhaps the city most commonly associated with the concept of "shrinking cities," Detroit too has grappled with issues of environmental justice. Detroit's current circumstances, as it struggles to deal with a population less than half of that from its peak in 1950, are partially the direct result of the same racist process which left only the poor and people of color in urban city centers. The city presently faces economic strain since only six percent of the taxable value of real estate in the tri-county Detroit area is in the city of Detroit itself, while the remaining ninety-four percent is in the suburbs. In recent years the city has made attempts, out of necessity, to address both its economic and population decline.

In 2010, Detroit mayor David Bing introduced a plan to demolish approximately 10,000 of an estimated 33,000 vacant homes in the city because they were “vacant, open, and dangerous.” The decision was driven by the reality that due to financial constraints, the city's existing resources simply could not maintain providing services to all areas. However, the decision also reflected a desire to “rightsize” Detroit by relocating residents from “dilapidated” neighborhoods to “healthy” ones. The idea of rightsizing and “repurposing” Detroit, however, is a contentious issue. Some locals are determined to stay put in their homes while others compare the efforts to past segregation and forced relocation. Mayor Bing clarified that people would not be forced to move, however residents in certain parts of the city "need to understand they're not going to get the kind of services they require."

In addition to "right-sizing" Detroit as a means to deal with a massively decreased city population and economic shortfall, Mayor Bing also undertook budget cuts. Although often necessary and painful, certain cuts, such as those to the city's bus services can produce harms in an environmental justice framework. In Detroit, despite the city's massive size and sprawl, roughly 26% of households have no automobile access, compared to 9.2% nationally. From an environmental justice perspective this is significant because a lack of automobile access, coupled with poor transit and historic decentralization, perpetuates what is often referred to as a “spatial mismatch.” While wealth and jobs are on the outskirts of the metropolitan region, disadvantaged communities are concentrated in the inner-city– physically far from employment without a means of getting there. Indeed, almost 62% of workers are employed outside the city limit and many depend on public transit. Some contend that for Detroit this situation should more specifically be termed a “modal mismatch” because the poor of the inner-city are disadvantaged because they lack automobile access in a region designed for automobiles. Regardless of name, the situation is little different and still embedded in historic racial and environmental injustices; the poor are clustered in an inner-city due to past policies, which were often racially discriminatory, and cuts to public transportation reduce job accessibility for the many households in Detroit that lack automobile access.