Planning for Environmental Justice. A Multi-methodological Approach

Urbanization is rapidly transforming natural landscapes, intensifying socio-environmental inequalities, and creating disparities in both the provision of ecosystem services (ES) and urban biodiversity. This paper suggests a multidisciplinary and multi-methodological approach to evaluate urban biodiversity, ES supply, and socioeconomic vulnerability to examine environmental justice. Based on the “Luxury Effect” hypothesis, which supposes a positive association between wealth and biodiversity in urban environments, the paper investigates the relationship between differences in urban nature and more general trends in social inequality. Biodiversity and green infrastructure may significantly improve urban quality of life, but the benefits are often unequally distributed, being wealthy communities usually favored more than others. To bridge the gap between theory and practice, the study suggests a new framework integrating quantitative and qualitative data, like biodiversity surveys with geographical and multicriteria decision analysis (MCDA). The methodology will be tested and validated in four Italian cities - Milan, Rome, Turin, and Naples - each reflecting distinct ecological, social, and economic situations. Our technique identifies regional patterns of inequality and prioritizes areas for policy intervention by overlaying biodiversity and ES data over socioeconomic characteristics. This integrated paradigm advances theoretical discussions on environmental justice and encourages the development of more inclusive, data-driven urban planning methods. The approach is still in the validation phase but shows strong potential for scalability and adaptability across diverse urban contexts. Ultimately, the study aims to inform sustainable planning practices that ensure a fairer distribution of environmental benefits, enhancing cities’ ecological resilience and social well-being.