IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/gam/jsusta/v16y2024i23p10535-d1534178.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Uneven Burdens: The Intersection of Brownfields, Pollution, and Socioeconomic Disparities in New Jersey, USA

Author

Listed:
  • Shih-Chieh Chien

    (Department of Biology, Wartburg College, Waverly, IA 50677, USA)

  • Charles Knoble

    (Department of Earth and Environmental Studies, Montclair State University, Montclair, NJ 07043, USA)

Abstract

Brownfields, abandoned or underutilized lands having the potential for contamination due to industrial activities, pose health risks to nearby residents and raise environmental justice (EJ) concerns. This study examines the relationship between brownfield distribution and socioeconomic factors in New Jersey, a state with over 700 brownfield sites, using correlation, spatial autoregression, and instrumental variable regression methods. Results show that brownfields are associated with higher combined EJ stressors, indicating compounding environmental pollution and health risks in affected areas. Brownfields are disproportionately correlated with lower household income, higher rates of uninsured individuals, lower educational attainment, and a greater percentage of people of color. When accounting for spatial autocorrelation, relationships between income, education, and brownfield distributions are reduced, reflecting New Jersey’s historical, environmental, and social contexts. Overall, the presence of people of color maintains the strongest association with brownfield distribution. This study highlights ongoing EJ challenges faced by disadvantaged groups and emphasizes the need for targeted mitigation measures to enhance sustainability and equity. New Jersey serves as a critical case study given its ethnic diversity, growing urban population, and status as the state with the highest population density in the United States, illustrating broader trends of disproportionate exposure to environmental pollution among marginalized communities.

Suggested Citation

  • Shih-Chieh Chien & Charles Knoble, 2024. "Uneven Burdens: The Intersection of Brownfields, Pollution, and Socioeconomic Disparities in New Jersey, USA," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 16(23), pages 1-23, November.
    • Handle: RePEc:gam:jsusta:v:16:y:2024:i:23:p:10535-:d:1534178
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/16/23/10535/pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/16/23/10535/
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Richard T. Melstrom & Rose Mohammadi, 2022. "Residential Mobility, Brownfield Remediation, and Environmental Gentrification in Chicago," Land Economics, University of Wisconsin Press, vol. 98(1), pages 62-77.
    2. Luna, Marcos & Nicholas, Dominic, 2022. "An environmental justice analysis of distribution-level natural gas leaks in Massachusetts, USA," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 162(C).
    3. Filip Stabrowski, 2015. "Inclusionary Zoning and Exclusionary Development: The Politics of ‘Affordable Housing' in North Brooklyn," International Journal of Urban and Regional Research, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 39(6), pages 1120-1136, November.
    4. John I. Gilderbloom & Wesley L. Meares & William Riggs, 2016. "How brownfield sites kill places and people: an examination of neighborhood housing values, foreclosures, and lifespan," Journal of Urbanism: International Research on Placemaking and Urban Sustainability, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 9(1), pages 1-18, March.
    5. Ruoniu Wang & Courtnee Melton-Fant, 2023. "Does Inclusionary Housing Alleviate the Negative Health Impacts of Gentrification?," Housing Policy Debate, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 33(1), pages 72-84, January.
    6. Nawshad Haque & Anthony Hughes & Seng Lim & Chris Vernon, 2014. "Rare Earth Elements: Overview of Mining, Mineralogy, Uses, Sustainability and Environmental Impact," Resources, MDPI, vol. 3(4), pages 1-22, October.
    7. Sandra Alker & Victoria Joy & Peter Roberts & Nathan Smith, 2000. "The Definition of Brownfield," Journal of Environmental Planning and Management, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 43(1), pages 49-69.
    8. Michael Greenberg & Kristen Crossney, 2006. "The changing face of public concern about pollution in the United States: A case study of New Jersey," Environment Systems and Decisions, Springer, vol. 26(4), pages 255-268, December.
    9. Juliana A. Maantay & Andrew R. Maroko, 2018. "Brownfields to Greenfields: Environmental Justice Versus Environmental Gentrification," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 15(10), pages 1-17, October.
    10. Alvarez, Camila H. & Evans, Clare Rosenfeld, 2021. "Intersectional environmental justice and population health inequalities: A novel approach," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 269(C).
    11. Shahsavari, Amir & Akbari, Morteza, 2018. "Potential of solar energy in developing countries for reducing energy-related emissions," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 90(C), pages 275-291.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Koutra, Sesil & Bouillard, Philippe & Becue, Vincent & Cenci, Jeremy & Zhang, Jiazhen, 2023. "From ‘brown’ to ‘bright’: Key issues and challenges in former industrialized areas," Land Use Policy, Elsevier, vol. 129(C).
    2. Bez, Charlotte S. & Ash, Michael & Boyce, James K., 2024. "Environmental inequality in industrial brownfields: Evidence from French municipalities," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 217(C).
    3. Song, Zhiying & Ji, Jie & Cai, Jingyong & Zhao, Bin & Li, Zhaomeng, 2021. "Investigation on a direct-expansion solar-assisted heat pump with a novel hybrid compound parabolic concentrator/photovoltaic/fin evaporator," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 299(C).
    4. Qian, Yuan & Scherer, Laura & Tukker, Arnold & Behrens, Paul, 2020. "China's potential SO2 emissions from coal by 2050," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 147(C).
    5. Yishu, Li, 2019. "A photovoltaic ecosystem: improving atmospheric environment and fighting regional poverty," Technological Forecasting and Social Change, Elsevier, vol. 140(C), pages 69-79.
    6. Iwona Bąk & Anna Spoz & Magdalena Zioło & Marek Dylewski, 2021. "Dynamic Analysis of the Similarity of Objects in Research on the Use of Renewable Energy Resources in European Union Countries," Energies, MDPI, vol. 14(13), pages 1-24, July.
    7. Alfandi, Mohammed & Seçkiner, Serap Ulusam, 2025. "Renewable energy and greenhouse gas reduction for water supply in conflict-affected Syria," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 211(C).
    8. Sultan Salem & Noman Arshed & Ahsan Anwar & Mubasher Iqbal & Nyla Sattar, 2021. "Renewable Energy Consumption and Carbon Emissions—Testing Nonlinearity for Highly Carbon Emitting Countries," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(21), pages 1-17, October.
    9. Kisha, Wigdan & Riley, Paul & McKechnie, Jon & Hann, David, 2021. "Asymmetrically heated multi-stage travelling-wave thermoacoustic electricity generator," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 235(C).
    10. Khatri, Rahul & Goyal, Rahul & Sharma, Ravi Kumar, 2021. "Advances in the developments of solar cooker for sustainable development: A comprehensive review," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 145(C).
    11. Perić Ana, 2016. "Institutional Cooperation in the Brownfield Regeneration Process: Experiences from Central and Eastern European Countries," European Spatial Research and Policy, Sciendo, vol. 23(1), pages 21-46, June.
    12. Davide De Maio & Carmine D’Alessandro & Antonio Caldarelli & Daniela De Luca & Emiliano Di Gennaro & Roberto Russo & Marilena Musto, 2021. "A Selective Solar Absorber for Unconcentrated Solar Thermal Panels," Energies, MDPI, vol. 14(4), pages 1-13, February.
    13. Singh, Sanjeet & Bansal, Pooja & Hosen, Mosharrof & Bansal, Sanjeev K., 2023. "Forecasting annual natural gas consumption in USA: Application of machine learning techniques- ANN and SVM," Resources Policy, Elsevier, vol. 80(C).
    14. Marjorie Tendero & Cécile Bazart, 2018. "" Empty lands " ? Social representations of contaminated brownfields in France," Working Papers halshs-01709548, HAL.
    15. Han, Qingye & Zhu, Yuming & Ke, Ginger Y. & Hipel, Keith W., 2019. "Public private partnership in brownfield remediation projects in China: Identification and structure analysis of risks," Land Use Policy, Elsevier, vol. 84(C), pages 87-104.
    16. Zhang, Wei & Li, Yuqing & Zheng, Caigui, 2023. "The distribution characteristics and driving mechanism of vacant land in Chengdu, China: A perspective of urban shrinkage and expansion," Land Use Policy, Elsevier, vol. 132(C).
    17. Kronenburg García, Angela & Meyfroidt, Patrick & Abeygunawardane, Dilini & Sitoe, Almeida A., 2022. "Waves and legacies: The making of an investment frontier in Niassa, Mozambique," EconStor Open Access Articles and Book Chapters, ZBW - Leibniz Information Centre for Economics, vol. 27(1).
    18. Ricardo J. G. Mateus & João C. Bana e Costa & Pedro Verga Matos, 2017. "Supporting Multicriteria Group Decisions with MACBETH Tools: Selection of Sustainable Brownfield Redevelopment Actions," Group Decision and Negotiation, Springer, vol. 26(3), pages 495-521, May.
    19. B Glumac & Q Han & W Schaefer, 2018. "A negotiation decision model for public–private partnerships in brownfield redevelopment," Environment and Planning B, , vol. 45(1), pages 145-160, January.
    20. Morteza Akbari & Hadi Memarian & Ehsan Neamatollahi & Masoud Jafari Shalamzari & Mohammad Alizadeh Noughani & Dawood Zakeri, 2021. "Prioritizing policies and strategies for desertification risk management using MCDM–DPSIR approach in northeastern Iran," Environment, Development and Sustainability: A Multidisciplinary Approach to the Theory and Practice of Sustainable Development, Springer, vol. 23(2), pages 2503-2523, February.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    ;
    ;
    ;
    ;
    ;

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:gam:jsusta:v:16:y:2024:i:23:p:10535-:d:1534178. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: MDPI Indexing Manager (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://www.mdpi.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.