CONNECT with the CityEnvironmental Justice Element
Environmental Justice Element
Advancing equitable, healthy and livable communities for all San Diegans
The General Plan guides future development across the City through citywide policies addressing land use, mobility, urban design, economic prosperity, recreation, conservation, noise, historic preservation, public spaces, services and safety. The Environmental Justice Element was adopted on July 1, 2024 to further the City’s efforts to advance the equitable distribution of benefits and limit environmental burdens in the City to promote healthy and livable communities for all San Diegans.
View the Environmental Justice Element
The Environmental Justice Element includes goals toward a more equitable future, policies that inform City decision-making, proposed activities that build on existing programs to advance environmental justice, and a description of areas of the City most impacted and negatively affected by environmental burdens and associated health risks – collectively known as Environmental Justice Communities (EJ Communities).
Environmental Justice Communities
Goals, policies and proposed activities within the Environmental Justice Element are categorized by the following seven topics, adapted from SB 1000:
- Inclusive Public Engagement in City Decisions
- Pollution Exposure and Air Quality
- Active Play
- Promoting Healthy Food Access
- Safe and Healthy Homes
- Climate Change and Resilience
- Public Facilities and Infrastructure Prioritization
While the Environmental Justice Element applies Citywide, special attention is needed in EJ Communities to advance equity and sustainability goals. The varied development patterns in the city, while contributing to economic growth and community enrichment, reveal stark inequalities in how adverse effects are distributed. The Environmental Justice Element is critical in addressing these inequities.
The City of San Diego partnered with five community-based organizations (CBOs) to ensure community engagement is inclusive to all people in our City. The selected CBOs were:
- Bayside Community Center
- Bikes del Pueblo
- Casa Familiar
- City Heights Community Development Corporation
- The Urban Collaborative Project
Priorities identified by people living and working in EJ Communities were critical to informing the development of this element. Over forty engagement events were held in partnership with CBOs to connect with community members at places and events in their neighborhoods. We are thankful to the CBOs and all of the people who provided feedback through these engagement events to help shape the Environmental Justice Element.
Strategic Plan Priority Areas of Focus
This Environmental Justice Element focuses on advancing the following priority areas of the Strategic Plan:
Protect & Enrich Every Neighborhood
Includes policies that plan for cleaner air, high quality public spaces, safe and healthy homes, and other necessities that make great communities in traditionally underserved communities.
Champion Sustainability
Promotes reducing pollution exposure and advancing safe and sanitary homes to further support a built environment that best sustains our natural environment and public health.
Foster Regional Prosperity
Fostering connected and thriving communities equitably creates a livable city for San Diegans of all socio-economic backgrounds which supports workers at all levels crucial to a strong local economy.
The Preparation Period will occur between August 2022 and January 2023. Project Initiation will occur between January 2023 and March 2023. Public Outreach and Engagement will occur between March 2023 and September 2023. The Public Hearing Process is expected to begin in September 2023 and conclude between December 2023 and Spring 2024.
Understanding
Environmental Justice
Understanding
Environmental Justice
Varied development patterns within a city can lead to unequal impacts in communities. New development, such as a regional port, can generate new jobs and enrich a city but may also increase air pollution in the surrounding area. On the other hand, an absence of local development can also adversely impact a community. For example, a lack of grocery stores in a community limits access to healthy food choices, which has been linked to increased obesity rates. Some communities suffer more from the adverse effects of varied development patterns by carrying a more significant and disproportionate burden of the associated health risks. Environmental justice speaks to these historical imbalances that exist in our communities, despite all being part of one city.
The State of California defines environmental justice as:
"[The] fair treatment of people of all races, cultures, and incomes with respect to the development, adoption, implementation, and enforcement of environmental laws, regulations, and policies."
Environmental justice ensures that people of all races, cultures, and incomes are equally and equitably valued, protected and served by laws. This includes regulations and policies that impact the quality of the environment around us, such as transportation, parks, natural spaces, urban landscapes, City services and the overall use of land.
To learn more about these disparities view the Story Map
Purpose of the
Environmental Justice Element
Purpose of the
Environmental Justice Element
The purpose of the Environmental Justice Element is to identify and reduce unique or compounded health risks in our city with a focus on disadvantaged communities. Priorities outlined in the Environmental Justice Element will be reflected in community plans, City Council policies, infrastructure priorities and facility improvement programs, as well as annual City budgets that work together with the General Plan to advance improvements in neighborhoods throughout San Diego.
Topics addressed by the Environmental Justice Element work toward:
- Promoting physical activity
- Reducing barriers to civic engagement
- Reducing pollution exposure
- Creating comfortable public space and facilities
- Championing food access
- Advancing safe and sanitary homes
How to Make
Environmental Justice a Reality
How to Make
Environmental Justice a Reality
There are already great community-led projects and programs across the City of San Diego advancing environmental justice. The story map below highlights a few of these projects. This work will continue to be elevated by the Environmental Justice Element through supportive policies, objectives, and goals that inform future analyses, projects, and funding priorities.
The Environmental Justice Element prioritizes the following:
Related Documents
Outreach and Engagement Summaries
The draft Environmental Justice Element was developed with inclusive community input in mind. The documents linked below summarize outreach and engagement efforts as well as community input collected.
- EJ Outreach and Engagement Summary - This document provides an overview of the steps taken to create opportunities for meaningful public input and gather feedback from partner organizations on ways to better engage the public. It provides an overview of engagement events conducted, the project timeline and the overall strategy for outreach and engagement, followed by an engagement summary that informs the Environmental Justice Element.
- Previous Outreach and Engagement Summary- This document summarizes valuable feedback collected from past outreach and engagement activities across multiple initiatives to inform the goals, policies, and objectives of the Environmental Justice Element.
Environmental Justice Roundtable Meeting Summaries
The City worked closely with five community-based organizations (CBOs) on outreach efforts and engagement activities to gather feedback on environmental justice topics, with the goal of reaching those most impacted by unique and compounded health risk. A variety of engagement tactics were used to reach stakeholders to share and receive feedback on issues related to environmental justice. As part of this effort, Community-Based Engagement Team Roundtables were held monthly. Roundtable summaries for these meetings are listed below.
- Roundtable Summary 1
- Roundtable Summary 2
- Roundtable Summary 3
- Roundtable Summary 4
- Roundtable Summary 5
- Roundtable Summary 6
- Roundtable Summary 7
Environmental Justice Background Review Report
Mapping pollution data and characteristic data provides an initial glance at areas throughout the city that carry a greater share of the impact of development patterns. The Environmental Justice Background Review Report was a mapping exercise utilized to visualize several data points and help identify challenges communities are facing related to environmental justice.
Background Review Report of Findings - Full Document (90MB)
- Background Review Section 1 - Cover and Table of Contents
- Background Review Section 2 - Introduction
- Background Review Section 3 - Community Profile
- Background Review Section 4 - Health Outcomes and Healthcare
- Background Review Section 5 - Pollution Exposure
- Background Review Section 6 - Public Facilities and Physical Activity
- Background Review Section 7 - Healthy Food
- Background Review Section 8 - Safe and Sanitary Housing
- Background Review Section 9 - Civic Engagement and Investment Priority
- Background Review Section 10 - Climate Change and Resilience
Environmental Justice Survey Report
This survey sought to better understand environmental justice issues San Diegans experience in their neighborhood. Two documents are provided below: (1) the report and (2) the accompanying Microsoft Excel file providing a detailed analysis of responses by community.
