Julian Agyeman

Notable ideasJust sustainabilities (social justice and environmental sustainability) WebsiteOfficial website

Julian K. Agyeman FRSA FRGS is a professor of Urban & Environmental Policy & Planning and Fletcher Professor of Rhetoric and Debate at Tufts University.^[1] He is a co-founder and the editor-in-chief of the journal Local Environment.^[2][3] During his career, Agyeman has developed the concept of just sustainabilities, defined as "the need to ensure a better quality of life for all, now, and into the future, in a just and equitable manner, whilst living within the limits of supporting ecosystems."^[4]

Agyeman was born on November 20, 1958,^[5] in Beverley, East Riding of Yorkshire.^[6] He received a Bachelor of Science degree with joint honors in geography and botany from Durham University in 1980, a Master of Arts in conservation policy from Middlesex University in 1987, and a Doctor of Philosophy in urban studies from the University of London in 1996.^[1]

Including his books and journal articles, Agyeman has over 150 publications in his field.^[7] His article, Mind the Gap: Why do people act environmentally and what are the barriers to pro-environmental behavior?, published in Environmental Education Research, is the most cited journal article by a North American urban planning scholar.^[8] His publications have led him to be ranked as one of the top 10 most highly cited urban planning faculty in North America.^[9] His work integrates multiple academic disciplines, including geography, sociology, urban planning and policy, environmental justice, and sustainability.^[10]

Books

• Sustainable Communities and the Challenge of Environmental Justice (NYU Press, 2005)
• Introducing Just Sustainabilities: Policy, Planning and Practice (Zed Books, 2013)

Co-authored books

• Sharing Cities: A Case for Truly Smart and Sustainable Cities (MIT Press, 2015)

Co-edited books

• Just Sustainabilities: Development in an Unequal World (MIT Press, 2003)
• The New Countryside? Ethnicity, Nation and Exclusion in Contemporary Rural Britain (Policy Press, 2006)
• Environmental Justice and Sustainability in the Former Soviet Union (MIT Press, 2009)
• Speaking for Ourselves: Environmental Justice in Canada (UBC Press, 2010)
• Cultivating Food Justice: Race, Class and Sustainability (MIT Press, 2011)
• Environmental Inequalities Beyond Borders: Local Perspectives on Global Injustices (MIT Press, 2011)
• Incomplete Streets: Processes, Practices, and Possibilities (Routledge, 2014)
• Food Trucks, Cultural Identity, and Social Justice: From Loncheras to Lobsta Love (MIT Press, 2017)
• The Immigrant-Food Nexus: Borders, Labor, and Identity in North America (MIT Press, 2020)
• Sacred Civics: Building Seven Generation Cities (Routledge, 2022)

• Co-founder (1996) and Editor-in-Chief of Local Environment: The International Journal of Justice and Sustainability
• Co-Editor of the Routledge Equity, Justice and the Sustainable City Series
• Co-Editor of the Bristol University/Policy Press Series Smart Sharing Cities: Technology, Sustainability, Ethics and Politics
• Contributing Editor to Environment: Science and Policy for Sustainable Development
• Member of the editorial board of the Australian Journal of Environmental Education
• Series Editor of Just Sustainabilities: Policy, Planning and Practice published by Zed Books

He is a Fellow of the Royal Society of Arts (1996) and the Royal Geographical Society (2016). He received the Benton H. Box Award from Clemson University Institute for Parks in 2015^[11] and the Athena City Accolade from the KTH Royal Institute of Technology in 2018.^[12] In 2023, he became Hedersdoktorer (Honorary Doctor) at KTH Royal institute of Technology, Stockholm, Sweden.^[13]

Agyeman has been a visiting professor at University of South Australia (2008–13), Northumbria University (2010-14), University of British Columbia (April–May 2011) and McGill University (2017-18); he also held the Walker Ames Visiting Professorship at the University of Washington (2017). He is currently the TD Walter Bean Visiting professor at the University of Waterloo, Canada (2020–21). He held a Visiting Fellowship at The Pacific Institute for Climate Solutions, hosted by the University of Victoria (2011). Agyeman was a Senior Scholar at the Center for Humans and Nature (2013–16) and a Fellow of the McConnell Foundation's Cities for People program in Montréal (2017).^[14]

Agyeman currently sits on the Academic Board of The Centre for the Future of Places (KTH Royal Institute of Technology, Stockholm) and the Board of Directors of EcoDistricts. He is also on the Advisory Boards of Shareable, Boston University Initiative on Cities, Institute for Transportation & Development Policy - US, Participatory City, Urban Sharing, Equiticity and Sharecity,^[15] and the McConnell Foundation's Cities for People Future Cities Canada programs.^[14] In November 2021, he was an advisor on Michelle Wu's Transition Committee for her transition into the office of mayor of Boston.^[16] Additionally, he is a Founding Senior Advisor/Thought Leader at PlacemakingX.

• Official Julian Agyeman Website
• Julian Agyeman’s Tufts Faculty Page
• Just Sustainabilities Blog
• Interview with WBUR