Toward an environmental justice of the rural-urban interface

• Published in: Geoforum Vol. 77; pp. 174 - 177
• Main Author: Sharma-Wallace, Lisa
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Oxford Elsevier Ltd 01.12.2016; Elsevier Science Ltd
• Subjects: Boundaries; Ecology; Environmental justice; Exploration; Oppression; Rural communities; Rural environments; Rural urban relations; Rural-urban fringe; Rural-urban interface; Social justice; Urbanization; Wildland-urban interface; Rural-urban fringe; Urbanization; Rural-urban interface; Environmental justice
• ISSN: 0016-7185; 1872-9398
• DOI: 10.1016/j.geoforum.2016.11.002

In this article, I make the case for an explicit extension of environmental justice research to the rural-urban interface or fringe. A more systematic exploration and synthesis of the blurred boundaries and transitional character of the interface might advance the empirical scope of environmental justice research while contributing to the environmental justice literature’s evolving treatment of space, ecology, and oppression. I subsequently synthesize previous research to outline some fringe characteristics, which signal the interface as a distinct geographical space deserving of closer attention in environmental justice studies, before proposing a few unique dimensions of injustice on the interface. In light of these new facets of rural-urban injustice, I finally outline some preliminary empirical and conceptual questions the interface might pose to environmental justice studies more broadly.