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Paper short abstract

Urban greening has become a central in building climate-resilient cities. Who has access to greenspace as these areas change their economic value? This paper explores correlations between green gentrification and green redevelopment in Porto Alegre.

Paper long abstract

Globally, urban greening has become a central in building climate resilience. However, research shows correlations between quality greenspace and gentrification. Investments in green infrastructure can increase property values and community dis/replacement (Anguelovski et al., 2022). Unequal accessibility to greenspace could lead to uneven distribution of “ecological and climate impacts in cities” (Grabowski et al., 2022, p. 2). The flooding events from September 2023 and May 2024 in Rio Grande do Sul revealed how disinvestments in stormwater systems in Porto Alegre and the dismantling of environmental protections statewide might have amplified the socioecological impacts of the flooding. In this light, this piece explores how climate policies foreground equity and sustainability as cities are pushed to envision climate-resilient futures. Specifically, drawing on an interdisciplinary and comparative approach, I analyze whether sustainability and climate justice buttress the green redevelopment of the high-end Guaiba waterfront park in Porto Alegre. It seeks to shed light on how real estate projects tackle green gentrification and climate vulnerability risks through public-private partnerships. As such, this piece brings together on-site audiovisual registers and online discussions. Anthropology shows how infrastructure, society, and the environment are interconnected (Vaughn, 2022). Protestors in Porto Alegre contested before yet another flooding episode that “This is not a disaster, this is negligence!” Meanwhile, Indigenous critics stressed that the river was (re)correcting its course. This study asks what climate futures might be foreseeable otherwise when urban climate planning and disaster risk prevention are undertaken with communities and urban ecosystems (Grabowski et al., 2022, Sultana 2014)?