Narratives of exclusion: A photovoice study towards racial equity and justice in public urban greenspaces

Introduction

During the COVID-19 pandemic, public urban greenspaces were sought as places of respite. However, deep inequities surfaced regarding who had access to safe high-quality greenspaces. The Park Perceptions and Racialized Realities study explored the experiences of racialized people in public urban greenspaces in Toronto, Canada.

Methods

This qualitative, community-based participatory action research took place in two neighbourhoods. Adapting photovoice methodology, participants were invited to (a) go on two individual greenspace visits, taking photographs in response to prompts on their experiences, and (b) participate in an online semi-structured interview to debrief their photographs and experiences. Eighteen racialized participants took over 200 photographs and videos, which were collaboratively thematically analysed by a community working group. This approach informed a deeper thematic analysis focused on racial justice and equity.

Results and discussion

Findings were mapped onto four environmental justice principles: distributional, procedural, recognitional, and restorative. This framework allowed for findings to contribute to environmental justice discourse on urban greenspaces, leverage Critical Race Theory, and offer action-oriented considerations for greenspace design and planning that center racialized experiences.

Conclusions

Racialized residents enjoy using public urban greenspaces but face barriers, including unequal provision, limited access, maintenance inequities, exclusion from design and planning processes and unmet needs. Greenspace planning often neglects lived experiences and reinforces systemic inequities derived from racism, falling into the same traps and tensions that Critical Race Theory has identified in other disciplines such as colorblindness, interest convergence and structural determinism. A critical race lens provides a critical, justice-oriented framework for improving equity in greenspaces.