Can Environmental Justice guide Sustainable Development? Case of Pune and Sabarmati Riverfront Development Projects, India

Abstract

This thesis joins a growing scholarship focusing on connections between Sustainable Development (SD) and Environmental Justice (EJ). This qualitative research, uses interviews, media discourse analysis, literature review and secondary research: a) to understand the linkages between EJ & SD and whether EJ can inform SD-based policies, b) to document Pune RFD and the Sabarmati RFD case studies (focusing on public perception around EJ and SD related to context, conditions and challenges) in order to c) understand the relevance and potential of EJ as a means towards SD. Although claimed to be sustainable and just in the official narratives, the thesis argues that RFD as a concept is a contradiction both in terms of SD and EJ. The thesis shows that SD and EJ are conceptually linked in theory, albeit with certain contradictions between them. Therefore, as shown through the two case studies, it is critical to explore empirically the arena of EJ-SD nexus, which requires aspects of EJ to enter SD-based policies.