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Social Sciences
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Community-Engaged Research for Environmental Justice
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Community-Engaged Research for Environmental Justice

A special issue of Social Sciences (ISSN 2076-0760). This special issue belongs to the section "Community and Urban Sociology".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (1 January 2025) | Viewed by 7136

Special Issue Editors

Prof. Dr. Chad Raphael

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
Communication, Santa Clara University, Santa Clara, CA 95053, USA
Interests: community-engaged research; environmental justice; political communication encompasses environmental communication; news and politics; deliberative democracy; games for civic learning
Prof. Dr. Martha Matsuoka

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
Urban & Environmental Policy Institute, Occidental College, Los Angeles, CA 90041, USA
Interests: urban and environmental policy; community-based research; environmental justice
Dr. Ana Baptista

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
Environmental Policy and Sustainability Management, Tishman Environment and Design Center, The New School, New York, NY 10011, USA
Interests: environmental justice policies; climate justice and renewable energy policies; land use and zoning tools for environmental justice; zero waste systems; cumulative impacts, and mitigation strategies; community engaged scholarship
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

Community-engaged research (CER) advances environmental justice by centering the local knowledge and concerns of frontline communities in the research agenda, creating equitable and mutually beneficial relationships between these communities and professional researchers, and co-producing actionable data that can influence policies and practices. This Special Issue welcomes empirical and conceptual articles on environmental justice that employ any CER approach, including participatory action research, community-based participatory research, citizen science and community science, and Indigenous-led and decolonial research. This research may involve collaborations with community organizations and advocates by academic and other professional researchers, and/or government agencies. We are especially interested in CER that recognizes the intersectional roots of environmental injustices in colonialism, racism, economic exploitation and patriarchy, and that can inform policy and practical responses to urgent issues of environmental justice, including:

  • Climate justice, just transitions and debunking false solutions to climate and environmental justice;
  • Cumulative impacts of environmental and social harms, including relevant methodologies for measuring and mapping these impacts, modeling climate risk and social vulnerabilities, and conducting scans of current or proposed policies for addressing cumulative impacts;
  •  Planning, land use and zoning, such as efforts to counter green gentrification and climate gentrification, develop equitable climate mitigation and resilience plans, etc.;
  • Alternative approaches to community economic development, such as social and solidarity economies, buen vivir, degrowth and regenerative economies;
  • Food justice and food sovereignty;
  • Health equity, such as addressing environmental health threats from pollution, land grabs, occupational hazards and sociospatial exposures to policing, spatial stigma and White spaces;
  • Decolonization, such as strategies for Indigenous-led conservation and healthcare, land back, applying traditional ecological knowledge and restorative justice processes;
  • Demilitarization and decarceration, including the environmental justice dimensions of immigrant/migration justice, conflict transformation, criminal justice reform and peace with justice;
  • Democratizing legal, regulatory and public participation processes to increase the influence of environmental justice communities;
  • Transforming government and academia to support and enable environmental justice research, praxis, policy or funding.

Prof. Dr. Chad Raphael
Prof. Dr. Martha Matsuoka
Dr. Ana Baptista
Guest Editors

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a double-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Social Sciences is an international peer-reviewed open access monthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 1800 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

Keywords

  • community-engaged research
  • participatory research
  • citizen science
  • community science
  • environmental justice
  • environmental racism
  • climate justice
  • decolonization

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Published Papers (5 papers)

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Research

18 pages, 2079 KiB  
Article
Surveying Community Environmental Justice: Urban Runoff Patterns in Eastern Tijuana, México
by Carolina Prado, Guillermo Douglass-Jaimes and Colectivo Salud y Justicia Ambiental
Soc. Sci. 2025, 14(2), 63; https://doi.org/10.3390/socsci14020063 - 26 Jan 2025
Viewed by 1044
Abstract
In an urban region of eastern Tijuana, there are long-standing water runoff sites which community members have identified as having an impact on residents, including contributing to flooding. This community-based participatory research (CBPR) project in collaboration with the Colectivo Salud y Justicia Ambiental [...] Read more.
In an urban region of eastern Tijuana, there are long-standing water runoff sites which community members have identified as having an impact on residents, including contributing to flooding. This community-based participatory research (CBPR) project in collaboration with the Colectivo Salud y Justicia Ambiental (CSJA) used the geospatial surveying tool Survey 123 to conduct community-based monitoring of five runoff sites. Results from 170 completed surveys showed that water runoff was present at these sites on forty-five percent of the days surveyed, although there was no significant relationship between the temporal factors studied and the water quality characteristics surveyed. These findings contribute to the field of border environmental justice by focusing on the understudied issues of runoff and urban flooding as environmental exposures that some communities experience disproportionately. Moreover, while there was a significant relationship between water runoff volume and precipitation events at the water runoff sites, there were sixty-five surveys collected that showed water present when there had been no precipitation event at the site. This finding supports the CSJA members’ assertions that the runoff experienced in the study area is not always connected to precipitation events or pluvial flooding. This project’s results contribute to policy advocacy by countering the policy narrative that this issue is simply a stormwater issue, and by identifying the specific runoff sites to be prioritized in this region. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Community-Engaged Research for Environmental Justice)
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20 pages, 1511 KiB  
Article
Mosaicos de la Comunidad (Mosaics of the Community): Community-Engaged Participatory Muraling with Madres Emprendedoras
by Jesica Siham Fernández and Laura A. Nichols
Soc. Sci. 2025, 14(1), 25; https://doi.org/10.3390/socsci14010025 - 9 Jan 2025
Viewed by 743
Abstract
In this paper, we describe a collaborative community-based research project that centered on community members’ lived experiences, which led to the identification of key community issues that resulted in a representative art project in the form of a public mural. Eleven mothers who [...] Read more.
In this paper, we describe a collaborative community-based research project that centered on community members’ lived experiences, which led to the identification of key community issues that resulted in a representative art project in the form of a public mural. Eleven mothers who were long-time residents of the community were the drivers of the issue identification and mural creation. The issues identified, and subsequently depicted in the mural, revealed the importance of the environment in neighborhoods, with residents dealing with encampments, illegal dumping, prostitution, eviction, and gentrification. In the mural Mosaicos de la Comunidad (Mosaics of the Community), a group of madres (mothers) sought to emphasize their shared admiration of art as a form of remembrance of ample food, clean air, and beautiful spaces to live and raise their children. Drawing from the madres’ reflections and written testimonials, this paper describes the collective mural-making process; moving from research-based issues identified by the madres into the mural design stage, including the identification of symbols and their meanings, to the creation and painting, and the culmination with a mural-unveiling celebration. The paper ends with a description of the value of community-based art as a form of resistance and as a reminder to concretize the environmental justice issues and values that are central to community members. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Community-Engaged Research for Environmental Justice)
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36 pages, 19447 KiB  
Article
¿Dónde Vive la Ciencia en su Comunidad?: How a Community Is Using Photovoice to Reclaim Local Green Spaces
by Espacio: Familias y Comunidad
Soc. Sci. 2025, 14(1), 13; https://doi.org/10.3390/socsci14010013 - 31 Dec 2024
Viewed by 873
Abstract
The ¿Dónde Vive la Ciencia en su Comunidad? (where does science live in your community?) photovoice project is a community-based participatory research project that investigates the presence and influence of science within local environments. In collaboration with researchers, science, technology, engineering, [...] Read more.
The ¿Dónde Vive la Ciencia en su Comunidad? (where does science live in your community?) photovoice project is a community-based participatory research project that investigates the presence and influence of science within local environments. In collaboration with researchers, science, technology, engineering, mathematics (STEM) educators, and community members from the Latine community in Corona, Queens, the project investigated where science is found in our communities. Community researchers used photography to document their surroundings and identified key themes related to the role of science through technology, community health, safety, and wellness. The photovoice method elevated social justice issues through critical dialog, creating opportunities for change through collective action. Among the critical issues discussed were urban planning, specifically the impacts of gentrification on the local community and the possibilities that greening offered as a site of agency, multigenerational learning, and resistance through ways of knowing. Community researchers examined the dual nature of STEM as both a tool of control and a means for justice, interrogating whose voices and experiences are prioritized in decision-making processes. Establishing shared green spaces emerged as an act of epistemic disobedience and resistance for sustaining community health and cultural identity. The project highlights how collaborative, community-led initiatives promote the reclamation of political power through collective action and disrupt colonizing forces, offering actionable recommendations for policy, research, and practice to guide justice-oriented change. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Community-Engaged Research for Environmental Justice)
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27 pages, 1303 KiB  
Article
Community-Engaged Research Projects in School Settings: Science Teachers’ Practices and Reflections
by Won Jung Kim
Soc. Sci. 2024, 13(12), 661; https://doi.org/10.3390/socsci13120661 - 9 Dec 2024
Viewed by 999
Abstract
Community-engaged research (CER) is a justice-oriented research paradigm that emphasizes equitable and reciprocal knowledge co-production with community members and organizations, sharing power, benefits, contributions, and responsibilities among all participants. This study explores nine teachers’ cases of facilitating CER projects in their respective school [...] Read more.
Community-engaged research (CER) is a justice-oriented research paradigm that emphasizes equitable and reciprocal knowledge co-production with community members and organizations, sharing power, benefits, contributions, and responsibilities among all participants. This study explores nine teachers’ cases of facilitating CER projects in their respective school settings, aimed to support students’ critical consciousness and action for environmental issues and injustices. This study contributes to educational research by adapting an existing framework for CER for environmental justice that can guide K-12 teaching and research on it. By analyzing data from teacher community meetings and individual interviews in the CER framework, this study articulates classroom practices that addressed the Distribution, Procedure, Recognition, and Transformation dimensions of CER, as well as the positive impacts and challenges of these implementations. The findings report teacher practices categorized by the CER dimensions they addressed (the what of the practices) and the instructional strategies they employed (the how of the practices). The findings also compare the frequency of these practices as an indicator of variation in teacher practices and illustrate this variation through three teachers’ CER cases. The findings also document the positive outcomes of CER in student empowerment, as well as the challenges related to time, resources, assessment, and stakeholder skepticism, underscoring the need for systemic support to enhance CER in school settings. The discussion focuses on the implications of these findings and ways to address the identified challenges through future research and institutional efforts. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Community-Engaged Research for Environmental Justice)
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20 pages, 4992 KiB  
Article
Shifting Power in Practice: Implementing Relational Research and Evaluation in Conservation Science
by Tamara J. Layden, Sofía Fernández, Mynor Sandoval-Lemus, Kelsey J. Sonius, Dominique David-Chavez and Sara P. Bombaci
Soc. Sci. 2024, 13(10), 555; https://doi.org/10.3390/socsci13100555 - 17 Oct 2024
Cited by 2 | Viewed by 1761
Abstract
Elevating Indigenous leadership in conservation science is critical for social and ecological wellbeing. However, Indigenous knowledges are frequently undermined by persistent colonial research standards. In response, calls to implement ethical guidelines that advance Indigenous research and data governance are mounting. Despite this growing [...] Read more.
Elevating Indigenous leadership in conservation science is critical for social and ecological wellbeing. However, Indigenous knowledges are frequently undermined by persistent colonial research standards. In response, calls to implement ethical guidelines that advance Indigenous research and data governance are mounting. Despite this growing movement, most environmental studies continue to follow largely colonial, extractive models, presenting a widening gap between ethical guidelines and practical applications across diverse research contexts. To address this gap, our study aims to design and evaluate a wildlife conservation research project based on the Relational Science Model, which outlines guidance for improving research relations with Indigenous Peoples. To achieve this aim, we conducted a post-survey to evaluate the project from the perspectives of the intended beneficiaries of La Bendición in southwestern Guatemala, accompanied by researcher reflections and observations. The results revealed strong agreement between community research partner experience and Relational Science Model outcomes, including relevant and innovative knowledge generation, alongside improved trust in research collaborations. Respondents also outlined several areas of improvement, including a desire for more diverse community engagement, particularly regarding youth. Overall, this study outlines pathways and recommendations for researchers, institutions, and agencies to improve relational accountability in conservation science practice, supporting Indigenous conservation governance and environmental justice. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Community-Engaged Research for Environmental Justice)
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