Burdens and Benefits as Parallel Geographies: A Spatial-Justice Reading of Urban Environmental Equity Research, 2010 to 2024

Burdens and Benefits as Parallel Geographies: A Spatial-Justice Reading of Urban Environmental Equity Research, 2010 to 2024 | Research Square window.SnipcartSettings = { analytics: { enabled: false } }; (function() { var accessVector = localStorage.getItem('access_vector') || ''; window.dataLayer = window.dataLayer || []; if (accessVector) { window.dataLayer.push({ user: { profile: { profileInfo: { snid: accessVector } } } }); } })(); (function(w,d,s,l,i){w[l]=w[l]||[];w[l].push({'gtm.start':new Date().getTime(),event:'gtm.js'});var f=d.getElementsByTagName(s)[0],j=d.createElement(s),dl=l!='dataLayer'?'&l='+l:'';j.async=true;j.src='https://www.googletagmanager.com/gtm.js?id='+i+dl;f.parentNode.insertBefore(j,f);})(window,document,'script','dataLayer','GTM-K279D39R'); Browse Preprints In Review Journals COVID-19 Preprints AJE Video Bytes Research Tools Research Promotion AJE Professional Editing AJE Rubriq About Preprint Platform In Review Editorial Policies Our Team Advisory Board Help Center Sign In Submit a Preprint Cite Share Download PDF Research Article Burdens and Benefits as Parallel Geographies: A Spatial-Justice Reading of Urban Environmental Equity Research, 2010 to 2024 Nuo CHEN This is a preprint; it has not been peer reviewed by a journal. https://doi.org/ 10.21203/rs.3.rs-9625547/v1 This work is licensed under a CC BY 4.0 License Status: Posted Version 1 posted You are reading this latest preprint version Abstract Urban environmental equity is produced through two parallel geographies of scholarship that share a spatial-justice scaffold yet proceed largely in isolation. One documents the disproportionate concentration of environmental burdens (pollution, hazards, heat, waste) in low-income and racialised communities; the other, the uneven provision of environmental benefits (parks, tree canopy, ecological infrastructure) across the same populations. Read together as a single spatial-justice problem, the two literatures have nonetheless evolved through partly disjoint citation networks, journals, and measurement traditions, fragmenting the cumulative (dis)advantage each set out to describe. How wide that divide is, whether it is closing, and whether it reflects substantive disagreement or merely siloed citation practice remain unanswered at scale. We address that gap through a five-layer computational pipeline (descriptive bibliometrics, citation-network analysis, transformer-based and dynamic topic modelling, and qualitative synthesis) applied to 2,347 peer-reviewed articles indexed in Scopus and Web of Science (2010 to 2024). Two indices operationalise the bridging deficit: a Cross-Stream Citation Index (CSCI) and a Topic-Citation Alignment Index (TCAI). Bibliographic bridging is sparse and stable (median CSCI = 0.07; 11.3% of articles reach CSCI ≥ 0.30; Mann-Kendall τ = 0.11, p = 0.32). Semantic integration substantially exceeds bibliographic integration (16 of 38 BERTopic clusters span both streams; TCAI r = 0.24, 95% CI 0.07 to 0.39), a configuration interpretable as parallel discovery rather than as resolved theoretical disagreement. Knowledge production is markedly lopsided (country-level Gini 0.74 for burden, 0.83 for benefit), with Sub-Saharan African and Latin American first-author affiliations together producing approximately 8% of indexed output. Building on these patterns, we propose the Integrated Spatial Equity Framework (ISEF): a 4×2 diagnostic lattice, six convergence frontiers, and four spatial-analytic priorities, offered as a structured invitation for citation-infrastructure repair without dissolving specialisation. urban geography environmental justice spatial inequality bibliometrics citation networks Full Text Additional Declarations No competing interests reported. Supplementary Files Supplementary.docx Cite Share Download PDF Status: Posted Version 1 posted You are reading this latest preprint version Research Square lets you share your work early, gain feedback from the community, and start making changes to your manuscript prior to peer review in a journal. As a division of Research Square Company, we’re committed to making research communication faster, fairer, and more useful. We do this by developing innovative software and high quality services for the global research community. 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Also discoverable on Platform About Our Team In Review Editorial Policies Advisory Board Help Center Resources Author Services Accessibility API Access RSS feed Manage Cookie Preferences © Research Square 2026 | ISSN 2693-5015 (online) Privacy Policy Terms of Service Do Not Sell My Personal Information {"props":{"pageProps":{"initialData":{"identity":"rs-9625547","acceptedTermsAndConditions":true,"allowDirectSubmit":true,"archivedVersions":[],"articleType":"Research Article","associatedPublications":[],"authors":[{"id":639564544,"identity":"7d0863cb-3838-4a89-8163-a1700da30943","order_by":0,"name":"Nuo CHEN","email":"data:image/png;base64,iVBORw0KGgoAAAANSUhEUgAAAZAAAAAyAQMAAABI0h/eAAAABlBMVEX///8AAABVwtN+AAAACXBIWXMAAA7EAAAOxAGVKw4bAAABFklEQVRIie3RP0vDQBjH8ScGLssv6Bio+BoeKSQUpXkrB4G6VOlUupmpLnXv4JsQwTklg8u1rhEXQcjkIIhQEP9cAlqFa3AUvC/cwQ2f4zmOyGb7k0Gv0f5xSm72edQJIkYTUT0nJSHrI35FnHGuCfjrikYSefPZ/UC4Lnnq+QLU3Y6DPtPjMKcImZF0JkdJewohCIeXt6AE0MSZLnLqnKZGwgXCFgIgLvyKZDVx/XFOfG0eTJPoBRwEFKBckddmErqQzJqIFXEqMl8zmOq3W8ikJPTCmzPWb1HlYDZZHICV+fl8pXaf/Ld3SV5eFg+jbuydJOd3y+HeDitpnux7G/XXbEmqrl/7kT9yltW+aZ7HZrPZ/m8fEERTXgPiWZEAAAAASUVORK5CYII=","orcid":"","institution":"City University of Hong Kong","correspondingAuthor":true,"prefix":"","firstName":"Nuo","middleName":"","lastName":"CHEN","suffix":""}],"badges":[],"createdAt":"2026-05-06 06:08:22","currentVersionCode":1,"declarations":"","doi":"10.21203/rs.3.rs-9625547/v1","doiUrl":"https://doi.org/10.21203/rs.3.rs-9625547/v1","draftVersion":[],"editorialEvents":[],"editorialNote":"","failedWorkflow":false,"files":[{"id":109760632,"identity":"49bcaddf-a669-4032-b7ab-b5451ca7b03e","added_by":"auto","created_at":"2026-05-22 07:28:56","extension":"pdf","order_by":1,"title":"","display":"","copyAsset":false,"role":"manuscript-pdf","size":835805,"visible":true,"origin":"","legend":"","description":"","filename":"Manuscript.pdf","url":"https://assets-eu.researchsquare.com/files/rs-9625547/v1_covered_399a2eae-c02d-4a6b-aba1-83a11570059d.pdf"},{"id":109491661,"identity":"28aaf8a9-5c08-472e-a2b5-91bf7236a5e0","added_by":"auto","created_at":"2026-05-18 17:56:15","extension":"docx","order_by":0,"title":"","display":"","copyAsset":false,"role":"supplement","size":67112,"visible":true,"origin":"","legend":"","description":"","filename":"Supplementary.docx","url":"https://assets-eu.researchsquare.com/files/rs-9625547/v1/4c9d5de57bd0e54ded9da0ff.docx"}],"financialInterests":"No competing interests reported.","formattedTitle":"Burdens and Benefits as Parallel Geographies: A Spatial-Justice Reading of Urban Environmental Equity Research, 2010 to 2024","fulltext":[],"fulltextSource":"","fullText":"","funders":[],"hasAdminPriorityOnWorkflow":false,"hasManuscriptDocX":false,"hasOptedInToPreprint":true,"hasPassedJournalQc":"","hasAnyPriority":false,"hideJournal":true,"highlight":"","institution":"","isAcceptedByJournal":false,"isAuthorSuppliedPdf":true,"isDeskRejected":"","isHiddenFromSearch":false,"isInQc":false,"isInWorkflow":false,"isPdf":true,"isPdfUpToDate":true,"isWithdrawnOrRetracted":false,"journal":{"display":true,"email":"[email protected]","identity":"researchsquare","isNatureJournal":false,"hasQc":true,"allowDirectSubmit":true,"externalIdentity":"","sideBox":"","snPcode":"","submissionUrl":"/submission","title":"Research Square","twitterHandle":"researchsquare","acdcEnabled":true,"dfaEnabled":false,"editorialSystem":"","reportingPortfolio":"","inReviewEnabled":false,"inReviewRevisionsEnabled":true},"keywords":"urban geography, environmental justice, spatial inequality, bibliometrics, citation networks","lastPublishedDoi":"10.21203/rs.3.rs-9625547/v1","lastPublishedDoiUrl":"https://doi.org/10.21203/rs.3.rs-9625547/v1","license":{"name":"CC BY 4.0","url":"https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/"},"manuscriptAbstract":"\u003cp\u003eUrban environmental equity is produced through two parallel geographies of scholarship that share a spatial-justice scaffold yet proceed largely in isolation. One documents the disproportionate concentration of environmental burdens (pollution, hazards, heat, waste) in low-income and racialised communities; the other, the uneven provision of environmental benefits (parks, tree canopy, ecological infrastructure) across the same populations. Read together as a single spatial-justice problem, the two literatures have nonetheless evolved through partly disjoint citation networks, journals, and measurement traditions, fragmenting the cumulative (dis)advantage each set out to describe. How wide that divide is, whether it is closing, and whether it reflects substantive disagreement or merely siloed citation practice remain unanswered at scale. We address that gap through a five-layer computational pipeline (descriptive bibliometrics, citation-network analysis, transformer-based and dynamic topic modelling, and qualitative synthesis) applied to 2,347 peer-reviewed articles indexed in Scopus and Web of Science (2010 to 2024). Two indices operationalise the bridging deficit: a Cross-Stream Citation Index (CSCI) and a Topic-Citation Alignment Index (TCAI). Bibliographic bridging is sparse and stable (median CSCI\u0026thinsp;=\u0026thinsp;0.07; 11.3% of articles reach CSCI\u0026thinsp;\u0026ge;\u0026thinsp;0.30; Mann-Kendall τ\u0026thinsp;=\u0026thinsp;0.11, p\u0026thinsp;=\u0026thinsp;0.32). Semantic integration substantially exceeds bibliographic integration (16 of 38 BERTopic clusters span both streams; TCAI r\u0026thinsp;=\u0026thinsp;0.24, 95% CI 0.07 to 0.39), a configuration interpretable as parallel discovery rather than as resolved theoretical disagreement. Knowledge production is markedly lopsided (country-level Gini 0.74 for burden, 0.83 for benefit), with Sub-Saharan African and Latin American first-author affiliations together producing approximately 8% of indexed output. 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