Environmental Systems, Human Behavior, and Equity in Urban Neighborhoods: A Case Study of Elm Glen Community Association
Overview
This project examines how environmental infrastructure systems in the Elm Glen neighborhood shape resident behavior and perpetuate inequities based on income and language barriers. It analyzes the relationship between unequal resource allocation, cultural bias, and environmental injustice, while proposing sustainability practices as a mechanism for promoting equity and community participation in infrastructure improvement.
What this coursework covers
- Sustainable Practices: Analysis of how degraded infrastructure (potholed streets, clogged drains) influences daily behavior, resource use impacts, and ideological factors affecting environmental systems management
- Profile and Equity: Examination of sustainability practice benefits for both human and environmental systems, with focus on how equitable infrastructure maintenance directly addresses health, safety, and economic disparities
- Conflict Resolution: Discussion of how community association advocacy meetings and collective action transform individual grievances into organized sustainability initiatives
Preview
IDS 150 Project
Identify your chosen scenario from the Scenario Profiles document.
Scenario 2: Social Justice – Elm Glen Community Association
Part One: Sustainable Practices
Describe how environmental systems in use in your chosen scenario impact human behavior.
Environmental systems in the Elm Glen neighborhood shape daily behavior through uneven infrastructure. Potholed streets in lower-income blocks force residents to walk longer routes, reducing physical activity and community interaction. Clogged drains cause flooding that damages homes, prompting protective hoarding of sandbags. Culturally, pride in well-maintained areas fosters volunteer cleanups, while neglected zones breed resignation. Organizationally, the association’s advocacy meetings channel frustration into collective action, turning passive complaints into petitions.
Describe the impact of the current resource use on the environment.
The group uses municipal road repair budgets and sewer maintenance funds. Current uneven allocation leaves 40 % of streets cracked, leading to soil erosion into drains and localized flooding that contaminates nearby streams with debris and sewage.
Describe how human ideology impacts behavior regarding the environmental systems.
City policy prioritizes commercial corridors over residential equity, reinforcing a vision of “economic hotspots first.” Residents in neglected areas practice avoidance, driving detours or staying indoors, while others maintain medians voluntarily, revealing ideological splits in civic duty.
Explain the role of cultural bias in your chosen group’s approach to global sustainability.
Cultural bias favors English-speaking, higher-income blocks, assuming they generate more tax revenue. This skews resource requests toward visible beautification over basic repairs, marginalizing non-English speakers and renters who face higher flood risk but less voice in association meetings.