Greening for All - A Path towards social justice in green urban planning : A combined qualitative interview study and text analysis with a focus on the municipality of Jönköping

Sammanfattning: Maintaining and achieving a sustainable city is today a challenge, specifically as urbanisation and climate change continue to increase. Green cities are an opportunity to achieve a sustainable society. It promotes urban sustainability in several aspects: Trees reduce heat islands and flooding; Green areas provide space for physical activity and social cohesion; And plants promote recreation which generates better public health. However, social injustice risks arise when the green structure is insufficiently planned, and some areas are prioritised sooner than others. It is common for socio-economically vulnerable areas to become less prioritised in urban planning, and the distance to the nearest green area can have a major impact on whether it is used or not. This study examines the municipality of Jönköping, which is located in Småland, Sweden. The aim is to investigate how the municipality plans to advocate social justice when implementing and planning green structures. The study is based on a text analysis of the municipality’s planning documents in parallel with semi-structured interviews to examine visions and efforts further. The study identifies how social justice is taken into consideration in the planning, and what challenges exist in the urban planning. The study refers to Agenda 2030 and specifically sub-goals #10.2 and #11.7 to study the municipality’s planning. In addition, social- and environmental justice serves as the theoretical framework of reference in the analysis. The result confirms that the municipality uses a variety of different selective measurements to strive for social justice, however, there still exist challenges that are difficult to prevent.