Perspectives on urban justice: is sustainable Malmö reality or utopia? A spatial analysis of socio-economic inequalities in availability of urban green spaces in Malmö, Sweden

Sammanfattning: UGS can provide extensive health benefits for city dwellers, especially those with close availability. However, previous research in the US has shown that UGS are not equally distributed within the city. This paper uses an urban justice approach to examine the distribution of UGS in Malmö, Sweden. Following a spatial analysis linking availability of UGS to socio-economic variables using ArcGIS, the variables are correlated using SPSS to demonstrate trends. An observation is conducted to examine qualitative differences. The results show that socio-economically, Malmö is deeply segregated and there are disparities in the availability of UGS, particularly green space per person. Population density and proportion of high incomers were the key explanatory variables, and affluent neighbourhoods with low population density, located further away from the city core enjoyed the best availability. From an urban justice perspective, affluent groups thereby have better access to health. In addition, the analysis demonstrates that Malmö prioritizes its economic and environmental goals ahead of social, which contributes to social, economic and health disparities within the city. Health equality is essential to ensure a sustainable urban development, and this paper concludes that urban injustices exist on multiple scales in the distribution of UGS in Malmö, which can be linked to its social geography. Physical planning can provide better availability of UGS for deficiency groups, thus promoting social sustainability on a structural level.