Cited by 85Environmental Justice and Health DisparitiesUrban Planning and GovernanceExtractivism and Socioeconomic Issues

What is environmental racism for? Place-based harm and relational development

Seamster, Louise, Purifoy, Danielle·2021·Environmental Sociology

Abstract

This paper argues that observed environmental racisms are instrumental to the development of white places. Rather than limiting the view of environmental harms to Black communities as spatial violence enacted via white NIMBYism, we argue that such spoilage is what produces white places. We call this process ‘creative extraction,’ the taking of resources from Black places to invest in white places. Those resources range from regressive sales tax revenues to water and sewer infrastructure to land devalued through waste disposal. Creative extraction involves seemingly unconnected actors reinforcing mutual interest in white spatial control and placemaking. Drawing on our case study of Montgomery County, Texas, we show how development, infrastructure, and environmental harm are intimately linked through legal and political contestation, and resource redistribution. We focus on Texas’ mechanism for creating new water infrastructure through ‘Municipal Utility Districts’ to illustrate how apolicy can create literal and symbolic boundaries to enable overdevelopment and underdevelopment. Our proposed vantage point on the relationship between communities can improve future research on both environmental racism and ‘the city’.

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Crossref · 10.1080/23251042.2020.1790331

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  • Ditches' very existence can become a symbol of neglect and disempowerment.

    “Ditches' very existence can become a symbol of neglect and disempowerment [95][96][97] .”

    From Lines in the landscape (2025) · cites this paper as [96]

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Authors
Seamster, L., & Purifoy, D.
Affiliations
  • University of Iowa (US)
  • University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill (US)
Corresponding author
Seamster, Louise
Venue
Environmental Sociology
Published
2020-07-22
Volume
7
Issue
2
Pages
110-121
ISSN
2325-1042 (ISSN-L)
OpenAlex
W3044967939
Cited by
85
References
47
Citations by year
2026: 19 · 2025: 16 · 2024: 12 · 2023: 20 · 2022: 10 · 2021: 6 · 2020: 2
FWCI
12.68
Type
journal article
Language
en
Open access
closed
Locations
Environmental Sociology (publishedVersion)
Funders
Temple Hoyne Buell Center for the Study of American Architecture
Topics
  • Social Sciences › Sociology and Political Science › Environmental Justice and Health Disparities
  • Social Sciences › Urban Studies › Urban Planning and Governance
  • Social Sciences › Sociology and Political Science › Extractivism and Socioeconomic Issues
Keywords
environmental racism, NIMBYism, municipal utility districts, water infrastructure, sales tax revenue, waste disposal, place-making, resource redistribution, racial boundaries, Montgomery County, Texas, Black communities, urban development

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