Process is just as critical as results: using community-based participatory research to unite environmental justice and sustainability

Environmental justice and sustainability are two critically important goals often prioritized by NGOs, planners, government agencies, and grassroots groups. Although complementary, these two bodies of literature are rarely integrated. This thesis examines the barriers that have impeded greater cohesion of environmental justice and sustainability efforts. To do this, I drew on community-based participatory research methods to elicit stakeholder perspectives on a local waterway remediation project in Milwaukee, WI. The objectives of my thesis were twofold: 1) conduct interviews to understand stakeholders’ definitions of injustice, as well as views on how injustice was created and can be remedied; and 2) discover the challenges and ethical dilemmas of community-based participatory research methods to increase the likelihood of win-win scenarios for communities, practitioners, and researchers. To understand how urban sustainability efforts were divisive and/or brought environmental justice and sustainability initiatives to the fore, I used a theoretical lens grounded in a theory of change. This enabled a critical and reflexive research process for overcoming hurdles and benefiting stakeholders and the ecosystems on which they rely.

Name thesis:degree_name

M.S.

Level thesis:degree_level

Thesis

Discipline thesis:degree_discipline

Natural Res & Env Sciences

Grantor

University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign

Year dc:date

2017

Author dc:creator

• Hornik, Kaitlyn Elise Tiegs

Contributors dc:contributor

• Cutts, Bethany B.
• Greenlee, Andrew J.
• Nigrelli, Caitlin
• van Riper, Carena J.

• Environmental justice
• sustainability
• community-based participatory research
• Milwaukee, WI

Statement dc:rights

• Copyright 2016 Kaitlyn Hornik

Language dc:language

en

Handle dc:identifier

http://hdl.handle.net/2142/95248

OAI identifier oai:identifier

oai:www.ideals.illinois.edu:2142/95248