Locating Power and Justice within Place-based Land Use Conflict: Implications for Renewable Energy

• In Event: 331 - Section on Environment and Technology Refereed Roundtable Session and Business Meeting
  In Refereed Roundtable 60min: Table 12. Environmental Justice

Abstract

Social scientists studying public responses to land use change have recently focused on the way that one’s sense of place influences public acceptance or opposition. However, these place-based analyses neglect the ways in which underlying power relations influence the construction of place for different individuals and social groups. Similarly neglected are the social justice implications that differentially structured senses of place hold. We propose a ‘Place, Power, Justice’ framework meant to capture the relative importance of these concepts in public responses to changes in land use. Qualitative data from a case study detailing public contestation over renewable energy development in eastern Wyoming are used to illustrate the utility of the proposed framework.

Authors

• Shawn K. Olson-Hazboun, Utah State University

• Dylan Bugden, Cornell University