Street Science: Community Knowledge and Environmental Health Justice

by Jason Corburn

When environmental health problems arise in a community, policymakers must be able to reconcile the first-hand experience of local residents with recommendations by scientists. In this highly original look at environmental health policymaking, Jason Corburn shows the ways that local knowledge can be combined with professional techniques to achieve better solutions for environmental health problems. He traces the efforts of a low-income community in Brooklyn to deal with environmental health problems in its midst and offers a framework for understanding "street science"—decision making that draws on community knowledge and contributes to environmental justice. Like many other low-income urban communities, the Greenpoint/Williamsburg neighborhood of Brooklyn suffers more than its share of environmental problems, with a concentration of polluting facilities and elevated levels of localized air pollutants. Corburn looks at four instances of street science in Greenpoint/Williamsburg, where community members and professionals combined forces to address the risks from subsistence fishing from the polluted East River, the asthma epidemic in the Latino community, childhood lead poisoning, and local sources of air pollution. These episodes highlight both the successes and the limits of street science and demonstrate ways residents can establish their own credibility when working with scientists. Street science, Corburn argues, does not devalue science; it revalues other kinds of information and democratizes the inquiry and decision making processes.

Genres: Nonfiction, Cities

271 pages, Paperback

First published August 1, 2005

Reviews

[Mackenzie Quenneville · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5

Lots of really great information that I think more people should learn about! Coming from someone who is in an urban planning program that focuses a lot on what Corburn advocates for, my more critical review was that this repeated itself way too much and I found the first half of the book to be too repetitive and a bit hard to read for that reason.

[Maria · Rating 3 out of 5]

There is a lot of detail regarding each of the four major citizen science examples in the US the author presents. I see this as a good read for those of us interested in working with communities and galvanizing actions, but maybe not for someone who just wants to learn a bit about citizen science. It is better to have some prior understanding of some public health or planning issues, as well as of US based policies or laws and demographics, discussed here or else it will be hard to read.

[Steve · Rating 3 out of 5]

Outlines a theory of "street science": wherein top-down science meets bottom-up community activism to better inform health and science evaluations/programs/projects, and then gives case studies of this approach taken from the Greenpoint/Williamsburg neighborhood of Brooklyn. The case studies cover environmental health issues and assessments surrounding urban fishermen, asthma, lead poisoning, and the location of waste transfer stations and incinerators. I enjoyed the author's advocating for a more participatory, locally-informed science as well as the lessons gleaned from the case studies.

[Shreya · Rating 4 out of 5]

way more radical than anything i've read so far in public health school. briefly compares different approaches (like community based participatory research) and adds the street science approach of actually organizing communities in an environmental justice/health project. (whoa- imagine that) i wish he compared with a lil more depth. i also wish he didn't sell into the world view he is trying to challenge, so much, while creating a new one. some theory, contextualization, and 4 case studies of struggle and success. great.

still processing this book, chockfull of information.

[Rick]

This one's on the syllabus.