Sustainable Development and Environmental Justice

This chapter addresses the incorporation of environmental justice into the general plan.

While environmental justice is not a mandatory topic in the general plan, there is a strong case for its inclusion. Federal and state anti-discrimination statutes, which have a long history, apply to planning as they do to other policy areas.

As discussed below, environmental justice issues are often related to failures in land use planning. Planning policies that promote livable communities and smart growth can be tools for achieving environmental justice.

In keeping with that idea, this chapter begins with a discussion of sustainable development. Sustainable development provides a context for understanding how environmental justice fits into land use planning. This chapter concludes with a discussion of transit-oriented development, which has important implications for environmental justice and sustainable development.