Justice in the Green
Pascale Hofmann and Muki Haklay

Justice in the Green is a learning action project, undertaken for two consecutive years by students of the MSc in Environment and Sustainable Development (ESD) with support from the EPSRC funded Bridging the Gaps Programme during the second year. Organised and coordinated at the DPU by Adriana Allen, Alex Frediani, Pascale Hofmann and Rita Valencia, the project examined the access, use and appropriation of Hackney Marsh and connected green spaces by the surrounding communities. A variety of partners were involved in the project, including Dr Muki Haklay from the Civil, Environmental and Geomatics Engineering Department from UCL, Louise Francis from Mapping for Change, Ian Freshwater from the 2012 Legacy Team, Hackney Olympic and Paralympics Games Unit of Hackney Council, the Hackney based NGO Social Action for Health led by Elizabeth Bayliss and several local grass-roots organizations. A group of alumni provided valuable inputs in guiding the fieldwork of the students on six community areas in Hackney between October and December 2009 and also assisting the ESD team in the dissemination process.

While being a learning opportunity for the students to have hands on experience on issues related to environmental justice in the city, this initiative also generated outputs that hope to contribute to the use and appropriation of green spaces by local residents and organisations. This action learning project aims at supporting the engagement of local residents and organisations in the planning process affecting these areas and to strengthen their participation on the changes brought about by the 2012 Olympics Games.

You can see more about Mapping Change for Sustainable Communities in this presentation from the DPU (Development Planning Unit).