Urban Environments and Environmentalisms

Within academia, professional practice, and stakeholder groups concerned with environmental issues, urban environment carries many meanings. This chapter demonstrates the framing of environmental problems, especially as concerns cities, is driven by different normative and theoretical positions. The various social, economic, and political contexts in place play a strong role in shaping the perception of how the problems are conceived, how they gain support, and who will be involved. Often, common dichotomized perspectives underpin the conceptual and analytical framing used to examine urban socioenvironmental problems. To advance both future research and practice, this chapter argues that a more inclusive defi nition of the urban environment is needed and proposes a broad and inclusive framing that recognizes that these different, seemingly contradicting views actually refl ect the various aspects of its multifaceted nature.