Unlocking Urban Justice: Can Mosaic Governance Cultivate Green Equity in Marginalized Communities?
Authored by Romina Rodela (Dep. for Environment, Development and Sustainability Studies, Södertörn Univ, Sweden)
Have you ever wondered how green spaces in cities can become powerful agents of justice, transforming not just landscapes but entire communities? This is a question many professionals and researchers are actively working on and we have also been looking at it as part of our past collaborative project VIVA-PLAN (funded by FORMAS) in which we sought to advance research on Mosaic Governance. In that context, we have been considering if, when and how urban green projects can serve to champion environmental justice, particularly in overlooked neighbourhoods.
But what exactly is Mosaic Governance?
Mosaic Governance is a term used to suggest that there are certain benefits when civil society, governments, and other professionals, such as housing agencies, converge to collaborate on locally relevant projects as is the creation of urban green space. Mosaic Governance was a term developed by our project team member Arjen Buijs from Wageningen University and his colleagues. In an earlier project (GreenSurge), they researched urban grassroots initiatives in Europe and observed how structural and long-term collaborations between actors provide socio-ecological benefits and bring to life urban spaces and meeting places that resonate with the heartbeat of the community. As such it conveys the normative view on multi-level collaboration within municipal contacts where power is distributed, diversity is valued and interventions are attuned to context and local needs.
The Heartbeat of Mosaic Governance: Unpacking the Magic?
In the corners of Copenhagen, Utrecht, and Södertälje, we have looked at three economically deprived neighbourhoods and have tried to reflect on these communities via the Mosaic Governance analytical lens. We looked closer at place-based initiatives that breathe life into forgotten spaces, active citizen engagement that fuels communal bonds, a complex network connecting multiple levels, and a beautiful dance of diverse actors sharing power and agency and reported our observations in a recently published article.
Six Pathways Illuminating the Journey
As we progressed considering these initiatives we began to identify and reflect on six interconnected pathways illuminating Mosaic Governance’s impact on environmental justice. From greening neighbourhoods to empowering communities and bridging divides, each initiative tells a unique story of resilience, unity, and well-being.
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References / Further readings:
Isabelle Anguelovski, Jordi Honey-Rosés & Oriol Marquet (2023) Equity concerns in transformative planning: Barcelona’s Superblocks under scrutiny, Cities & Health, 7:6, 950–958, DOI: 10.1080/23748834.2023.2207929
Buijs, A.E., Mattijssen, T.J., Van der Jagt, A.P., Ambrose-Oji, B., Andersson, E., Elands, B.H. and Møller, M.S., 2016. Active citizenship for urban green infrastructure: fostering the diversity and dynamics of citizen contributions through mosaic governance. Current opinion in environmental sustainability, 22, pp.1–6.
Gentin, S., Herslund, L.B., Gulsrud, N.M. and Hunt, J.B., 2022. Mosaic governance in Denmark: a systematic investigation of green volunteers in nature management in Denmark. Landscape Ecology, pp.1–16
Mattijssen, T., Buijs, A., Elands, B. and Arts, B., 2018. The ‘green’and ‘self’in green self-governance–a study of 264 green space initiatives by citizens. Journal of Environmental Policy & Planning, 20(1), pp.96–113.
