Environmental Justice in the Post-socialist City. The Case of Riga, Latvia

The specificities of socialist planning and the deep socio-spatial transformations from the early 1990s make former Soviet and Eastern Bloc cities relevant case studies in the environmental justice domain. This chapter assesses distributive environmental justice in the capital city of Latvia, analysing possible socio-spatial inequalities in terms of the quantitative and qualitative distribution of urban green spaces. To this aim, the study integrates spatial and survey data analysis. First, survey data are analysed to investigate social status-based inequality in terms of green space availability. Second, green spaces in Riga are mapped according to their formal and informal status based on official documents. Third, georeferenced socio-demographic data from population census and registers are analysed to understand static and dynamic patterns of inequality in terms of UGS distribution. Finally, to grasp the dynamics and factors behind urban green space availability and accessibility, the results are discussed and framed within the context of urban governance trends by outlining examples of how urban development and planning logic and practises affect environmental justice in Riga. The study concludes that elements of distributive injustice do exist in Riga: poorer residents are more likely to be ‘bound’ to residential areas with low urban green space availability and accessibility, and spatial dynamics show an increasing concentration of wealthy residents in areas with higher urban green space quality. Moreover, the neoliberal governance logic, the lack of protection of informal green spaces and insufficiently participatory decision-making practices raise concerns about further increasing environmental injustice in the future.