Theoretical review and Planning process of the Relation between Environment, Spatial Justice and Urban Governance

The concept of spatial justice has been widely employed in the recent literature that attempts to deal with concepts and practices of justice from a geographical perspective. However, the concept of spatial justice needs to be recast. Spatial justice could be the most radical offspring of law’s ‘spatial turn’. Spatial justice is arguably the most promising platform on which to redefine, not only the connection between law and geography but, more importantly, the conceptual foundations of both law and space. The current literature has defined spatial justice as simply a geographically informed version of social justice. Law’s spatial turn presents two opportunities: first, to rethink of the law’s spatiality, namely the novel unpredictability of geographical space that has now flowed into law. And second, to reclaim the concept of spatial justice from a socially diffusing, geographically applied concept of regionalism, while also making a case for it from within the law. This is a radical and novel research area which will be expected to address issues such as: What is the connection between law and justice from a geographical perspective? Is spatial justice merely a version of social/distributive justice? By theorizing spatial justice, I hope to develop an analytical framework that is gaining ground in urban planning and geography, yet remains theoretically undeveloped. I hope to extend an insight at the heart of environmental justice the places we live, work, and play have a profound effect on the social relations among us, and hence the justice relations among us. By extending this analysis to space more generally, I hope to give a new language to theorists of environment, justice, and contemporary political conflicts.