Join us on January 12, 2023, for the online launch of our new web documentary! The event will be held over Zoom and feature talks by the filmmaker Alberto Bougleux, housing and climate justice activists from various cities, and a panel discussion about how communities are responding to tensions around greening developments in their neighborhoods.
For the last six years, our GreenLULUs ERC-funded research analyzed patterns of inequity and injustice in the context of urban greening across cities in Europe, N. America and Canada. To shed light on the real-world impacts of green gentrification and unequal greening on residents, we partnered with filmmaker Alberto Bougleux to document their experiences and activism in an interactive web documentary titled The Green Divide. In a series of short documentaries filmed in six neighborhoods across Europe and North America, residents explain how new parks and public spaces have led to increased living costs and feelings of exclusion, claiming that bold greening agendas have failed to consider the needs of vulnerable residents like themselves who are most at risk. Motivated by their right to a green and healthy city, activists and neighbors call for policies to prevent gentrification and its impacts, including affordable housing and improved access and inclusivity of neighborhood green amenities and spaces.
“We wanted to amplify the voices of the people affected by climate and housing injustice in cities, which is something we feel we have a responsibility to do, as researchers,” says BCNUEJ director Isabelle Anguelovski. “Ultimately this is the goal of much of our work.”
Featuring Boston, Portland, Washington DC, Montreal, Nantes, and Barcelona, each city features three specific cases of urban injustice that can be explored through video testimonials accompanied by photographs, maps, historical analyses, and reports highlighting green policies, anti-displacement tools, and activism strategies.
Filmmaker Alberto Bougleux, who filmed the footage for the webdocumetary, said “This project has been an amazing opportunity to meet a generation of local activists struggling for a new social and environmental awareness, especially amidst the current climate crisis. It was a unique chance to make documentary where it matters.”
Below is quick summary of what you’ll find in each city section.
Boston | Learn how the expansion of the Logan airport in East Boston together and industrial contamination drastically disrupted the life ofresidents, and how community organizations are fighting for environmental justice, equitable climate resilience, and public health.
Portland | In the mostly Latinx neighbourhood of Cully, grassroots political power has emerged as a force against gentrification and to demand improved housing access and affordability together with equity-driven climate greening projects.
Montreal | In the working-class neighbourhood of Saint-Henri, residents are faced with large scale environmental clean-up and green redevelopment while fighting for the maintenance of more informal, community-owned green projects.
Washington DC | East of the Anacostia River in Washington DC, where the legacy of segregation runs deep, civic groups are advocating for community-driven equitable green redevelopment and housing stability.
Nantes | Neighbors of the post-industrial neighbourhood of Chantenay mobilize to save smaller green spaces threatened by green-centered redevelopment projects aimed at higher-income residents and tourists.
Barcelona | In the tech- and design-centered neighborhood of post-industrial Poblenou, residents are advocating for a more inclusionary green and climate-resilient redevelopment, where housing rights arethe center of local plans and policies.
Explore The Green Divide platform here or watch the testimonial videos on our youtube channel.
This post is co-authored by Isabelle Anguelovski.
