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Contribution short abstract

Based on my ongoing PhD project, this poster-presentation explores how people living in socioeconomically disadvantaged neighborhoods in Gothenburg, Sweden, conceptualize and experience climate (in)justice. It therein seeks to contribute to diversifying critical debates on urban climate justice.

Contribution long abstract

As cities struggle with growing inequalities and implementing climate action locally, there is growing scholarly interest in urban climate justice. Researchers and activists have stressed that climate change impacts and related policy measures will hit certain groups in cities more than others and might reinforce existing inequities. Meanwhile, both planning and knowledge production have been dominated by scientific and technocratic ‘experts’, triggering calls to engage particularly with marginalized and vulnerable groups. Addressing this need from a critical feminist perspective, my ongoing PhD project aims to gain better understanding of how people living in socioeconomically disadvantaged neighborhoods in Gothenburg, Sweden, conceptualize and experience climate (in)justice. Through narrative interviews with individuals, and group discussions, I collaboratively explore participants’ ‘senses of justice’ regarding climate change in the city. After initial inductive analysis, my presentation will inquire how these emic understandings relate to dominant Western-philosophical thought on climate justice, and local climate governance. Considering the sometimes-evasive meaning of ‘recognition’ justice and potential risks of paternalistic interpretations, it seems particularly relevant to examine what affected populations themselves demand concerning political and cultural recognition to address underlying structural inequalities. I will further discuss how disadvantaged groups relate to questions of representation both within and beyond participatory governance, possibly touching upon tensions between procedural justice and the ‘tyranny of participation’. By centering hitherto neglected voices in epistemic processes, my work contributes to diversifying critical debates on urban climate justice, as I embrace a political ecological praxis seeking to coproduce knowledge with disadvantaged groups, and for better policy-making.