Communities affected by contaminated sites are often overburdened by environmental and social fragilities living a depression in their potentialities and destabilisation in health and quality of life. The paradigm of Environmental Justice and the framework of community capacity (com- munity capacities) are at stake in promoting environmental public health in communities affected by contaminated sites. Three community changes foreseeing the following objectives appear as priorities: centralisation in decisions regarding the use of their territories; an active (i.e. partic- ipated) role in decision-making processes; a view of a possible future without contamination. These transitions require the activation of technical, scientific, and cultural domains. While environmental public health research, especially if implemented through a community partici- pative approach, has a central role in promoting the community capacity of ‘knowledge’, per- forming arts have great potential for empowering the other capacities. Different collective theatrical approaches are reviewed and analysed in the cultural domain, identifying those of community theatre as the practices with the greatest participative and transformative impact. A community-based approach for promoting environmental justice in contaminated sites requires the development of interventions integrating technical-scientific with cultural domains.
Promoting environmental justice in contaminated areas by combining environmental public health and community theatre practices
Innocenti Malini G.
Writing – Original Draft Preparation
2022-01-01
Abstract
Communities affected by contaminated sites are often overburdened by environmental and social fragilities living a depression in their potentialities and destabilisation in health and quality of life. The paradigm of Environmental Justice and the framework of community capacity (com- munity capacities) are at stake in promoting environmental public health in communities affected by contaminated sites. Three community changes foreseeing the following objectives appear as priorities: centralisation in decisions regarding the use of their territories; an active (i.e. partic- ipated) role in decision-making processes; a view of a possible future without contamination. These transitions require the activation of technical, scientific, and cultural domains. While environmental public health research, especially if implemented through a community partici- pative approach, has a central role in promoting the community capacity of ‘knowledge’, per- forming arts have great potential for empowering the other capacities. Different collective theatrical approaches are reviewed and analysed in the cultural domain, identifying those of community theatre as the practices with the greatest participative and transformative impact. A community-based approach for promoting environmental justice in contaminated sites requires the development of interventions integrating technical-scientific with cultural domains.I documenti in IRIS sono protetti da copyright e tutti i diritti sono riservati, salvo diversa indicazione.
