{"id":{"repo_id":"texas","oai_identifier":"oai:repositories.lib.utexas.edu:2152/119202"},"canonical_url":"https://search.dev.ndltd.org/etd/texas/oai:repositories.lib.utexas.edu:2152/119202","repository":{"repo_id":"texas","name":"University of Texas","base_url":"https://repositories.lib.utexas.edu/server/oai/request"},"display":{"title":"Participatory budgeting's contributions to environmental justice : evaluating Green Projects funded through Greensboro PB","abstract":"Participatory Budgeting (PB) is a process in which the people most affected by a budget determine how it is spent. Since its onset in Porto Alegre, Brazil in 1989, PB has spread to thousands of cities globally and is lauded as a solution to top-down governing that enhances democracy, boosts civic engagement, and meets growing demands for direct democracy. PB is a new practice in the U.S. and its contributions to distributive justice are not well defined. This professional report analyzes PB in Greensboro, North Carolina (Greensboro PB) and uses an environmental justice (EJ) framework to evaluate whether PB’s benefits are equitably distributed and whether PB is contributing to EJ goals. Findings from Greensboro PB indicate that winning PB projects are more likely to be located in neighborhoods with lower incomes, lower percentages of white residents, and higher percentages of Black residents. These results hold true when evaluating all PB projects as well as green infrastructure (GI) projects specifically. The analysis found no significant difference in neighborhoods that win GI projects over other types of projects. While Greensboro PB voter demographic data indicates voters are over-represented by white and wealthy residents, the outcomes do not reflect this in terms of projects won, which raises questions about the relationship between procedures and outcomes. This report makes recommendations to build the relationship between participatory budgeting and environmental justice and suggests investing in capacity building, expanding budget sizes and sources, and building solidarity networks will yield more transformative outcomes.","abstract_html":"Participatory Budgeting (PB) is a process in which the people most affected by a budget determine how it is spent. Since its onset in Porto Alegre, Brazil in 1989, PB has spread to thousands of cities globally and is lauded as a solution to top-down governing that enhances democracy, boosts civic engagement, and meets growing demands for direct democracy. PB is a new practice in the U.S. and its contributions to distributive justice are not well defined. This professional report analyzes PB in Greensboro, North Carolina (Greensboro PB) and uses an environmental justice (EJ) framework to evaluate whether PB’s benefits are equitably distributed and whether PB is contributing to EJ goals. Findings from Greensboro PB indicate that winning PB projects are more likely to be located in neighborhoods with lower incomes, lower percentages of white residents, and higher percentages of Black residents. These results hold true when evaluating all PB projects as well as green infrastructure (GI) projects specifically. The analysis found no significant difference in neighborhoods that win GI projects over other types of projects. While Greensboro PB voter demographic data indicates voters are over-represented by white and wealthy residents, the outcomes do not reflect this in terms of projects won, which raises questions about the relationship between procedures and outcomes. This report makes recommendations to build the relationship between participatory budgeting and environmental justice and suggests investing in capacity building, expanding budget sizes and sources, and building solidarity networks will yield more transformative outcomes.","abstract_has_math":false,"creators":["Nemetz, Maggie G."],"institution":"The University of Texas at Austin","degree_name":"Master of Science in Community and Regional Planning","degree_level":"Masters","degree_discipline":"Community and Regional Planning","degree_department":null,"school":null,"contributors":[],"advisors":["Lieberknecht, Katherine E."],"committee_chairs":[],"committee_members":[],"year":2023,"date_issued":"2023-04-20","date_published":"2023-04-20","updated_at":"2026-07-24T05:00:54Z","subjects":["Participatory budgeting","Environmental justice","Direct democracy"],"languages":["en"],"rights":[],"rights_urls":[],"identifier_entries":[{"key":"dc:identifier.uri","label":"Identifier URI","values":["http://dx.doi.org/10.26153/tsw/46080"],"render_values":[{"text":"http://dx.doi.org/10.26153/tsw/46080","href":"http://dx.doi.org/10.26153/tsw/46080","code":true}]}]},"links":{"outbound_url":"https://hdl.handle.net/2152/119202","outbound_label":"Handle","outbound_source":"dc:identifier.uri"},"metadata_groups":[{"id":"people","label":"People","entries":[{"key":"dc:contributor.advisor","label":"Advisor","values":["Lieberknecht, Katherine E."]},{"key":"dc:creator","label":"Author","values":["Nemetz, Maggie G."]}]},{"id":"academic_context","label":"Academic Context","entries":[{"key":"dc:date.accessioned","label":"Dc Date Accessioned","values":["2023-06-09T20:52:06Z"]},{"key":"dc:date.available","label":"Dc Date Available","values":["2023-06-09T20:52:06Z"]},{"key":"dc:date.issued","label":"Date","values":["2023-04-20"]},{"key":"dc:type","label":"Dc Type","values":["Thesis"]},{"key":"thesis:degree_discipline","label":"Discipline","values":["Community and Regional Planning"]},{"key":"thesis:degree_level","label":"Degree Level","values":["Masters"]},{"key":"thesis:degree_name","label":"Degree Name","values":["Master of Science in Community and Regional Planning"]},{"key":"thesis:institution_name","label":"Thesis Institution Name","values":["The University of Texas at Austin"]}]},{"id":"subjects_keywords","label":"Subjects and Keywords","entries":[{"key":"dc:subject","label":"Dc Subject","values":["Participatory budgeting","Environmental justice","Direct democracy"]}]},{"id":"language_rights","label":"Language and Rights","entries":[{"key":"dc:language.iso","label":"Language (ISO)","values":["en"]}]},{"id":"identifiers","label":"Identifiers","entries":[{"key":"dc:identifier.uri","label":"Identifier URI","values":["https://hdl.handle.net/2152/119202","http://dx.doi.org/10.26153/tsw/46080"]}]},{"id":"additional","label":"Additional Metadata","entries":[{"key":"dc:description.abstract","label":"Abstract","values":["Participatory Budgeting (PB) is a process in which the people most affected by a budget determine how it is spent. Since its onset in Porto Alegre, Brazil in 1989, PB has spread to thousands of cities globally and is lauded as a solution to top-down governing that enhances democracy, boosts civic engagement, and meets growing demands for direct democracy. PB is a new practice in the U.S. and its contributions to distributive justice are not well defined. This professional report analyzes PB in Greensboro, North Carolina (Greensboro PB) and uses an environmental justice (EJ) framework to evaluate whether PB’s benefits are equitably distributed and whether PB is contributing to EJ goals. Findings from Greensboro PB indicate that winning PB projects are more likely to be located in neighborhoods with lower incomes, lower percentages of white residents, and higher percentages of Black residents. These results hold true when evaluating all PB projects as well as green infrastructure (GI) projects specifically. The analysis found no significant difference in neighborhoods that win GI projects over other types of projects. While Greensboro PB voter demographic data indicates voters are over-represented by white and wealthy residents, the outcomes do not reflect this in terms of projects won, which raises questions about the relationship between procedures and outcomes. This report makes recommendations to build the relationship between participatory budgeting and environmental justice and suggests investing in capacity building, expanding budget sizes and sources, and building solidarity networks will yield more transformative outcomes."]},{"key":"dc:format.mimetype","label":"Dc Format Mimetype","values":["application/pdf"]},{"key":"dc:title","label":"Title","values":["Participatory budgeting's contributions to environmental justice : evaluating Green Projects funded through Greensboro PB"]}]}],"canonical_facts":{"dc:contributor.advisor":["Lieberknecht, Katherine E."],"dc:creator":["Nemetz, Maggie G."],"dc:date.accessioned":["2023-06-09T20:52:06Z"],"dc:date.available":["2023-06-09T20:52:06Z"],"dc:date.issued":["2023-04-20"],"dc:description.abstract":["Participatory Budgeting (PB) is a process in which the people most affected by a budget determine how it is spent. Since its onset in Porto Alegre, Brazil in 1989, PB has spread to thousands of cities globally and is lauded as a solution to top-down governing that enhances democracy, boosts civic engagement, and meets growing demands for direct democracy. PB is a new practice in the U.S. and its contributions to distributive justice are not well defined. This professional report analyzes PB in Greensboro, North Carolina (Greensboro PB) and uses an environmental justice (EJ) framework to evaluate whether PB’s benefits are equitably distributed and whether PB is contributing to EJ goals. Findings from Greensboro PB indicate that winning PB projects are more likely to be located in neighborhoods with lower incomes, lower percentages of white residents, and higher percentages of Black residents. These results hold true when evaluating all PB projects as well as green infrastructure (GI) projects specifically. The analysis found no significant difference in neighborhoods that win GI projects over other types of projects. While Greensboro PB voter demographic data indicates voters are over-represented by white and wealthy residents, the outcomes do not reflect this in terms of projects won, which raises questions about the relationship between procedures and outcomes. This report makes recommendations to build the relationship between participatory budgeting and environmental justice and suggests investing in capacity building, expanding budget sizes and sources, and building solidarity networks will yield more transformative outcomes."],"dc:format.mimetype":["application/pdf"],"dc:identifier.uri":["https://hdl.handle.net/2152/119202","http://dx.doi.org/10.26153/tsw/46080"],"dc:language.iso":["en"],"dc:subject":["Participatory budgeting","Environmental justice","Direct democracy"],"dc:title":["Participatory budgeting's contributions to environmental justice : evaluating Green Projects funded through Greensboro PB"],"dc:type":["Thesis"],"thesis:degree_discipline":["Community and Regional Planning"],"thesis:degree_level":["Masters"],"thesis:degree_name":["Master of Science in Community and Regional Planning"],"thesis:institution_name":["The University of Texas at Austin"]},"updated_at":"2026-07-24T05:00:54Z"}