Exploring Environmental Inequalities in Belgium: a New Theoretical and Empirical Way to Deal with Environmental Conflicts in Urban Areas?

Environmental Inequalities (EI) – the unequal distribution of environmental goods and bads among space and population – are a field of research at the crossroads of political science, environmental studies, and urban studies. Unlike US Environmental Justice movement, EI are not seen by actors or studied as a specific frame for action and collective mobilisation in Belgium in environmental matters.
Environmental conflicts are however numerous in urban areas in Belgium where industrial activities and housing cohabit. In this paper, I analyse the unequal consequences of urban policy in Belgium in terms of environmental quality and access to amenities, more precisely, of uneven access to “quality of life” in a context of “anti-urban policy”.
EI invite us to think about democracy in the cities (citizen participation, equal access to environmental quality of life) and about litigation and legal opportunities for individuals and groups in environmental conflicts. This paper examines alternative modes of public regulation in a “social and environmental justice in the city” perspective that could better integrate social and environmental issues.
After a general presentation of the doctoral research, this paper explores (1) how grassroots movements or individuals can mobilise the law to denounce environmental conflicts and inequalities providing insights into an environmental inequalities perspective. It then studies (2) how current urban and environmental policy in Belgium can contribute to explaining these inequalities.
Empirical evidence relies, on the one hand, on legal texts, public policy analysis and litigation cases and, on the other hand, on exploratory interviews with stakeholders in Belgium – main political parties, environmental non-profit organizations, legal practitioners, unions and scientific public institutions.