The pursuit of justice is a principle that runs throughout all areas of a local Green New Deal, but it also entails taking a serious look at how our institutions (our departments, committees, and services) as well as our government processes can be improved to seek justice. The practice of policy making and governance are not inherently equal; cities and regions are commonly working with departments and processes that are decades old and have not been examined for the unintentional outcomes they create, whether it be gentrification, economic inequity, unequal service provision across neighborhoods, or racial injustice. How local governments operate and how they make decisions must be continually revisited to fully address the roots of our urban inequalities.

There are many different types of justice and local governments should consider all of them: distributive, procedural, reparative, and transformative justice. We emphasize transformative justice on the Hub because it acknowledges the necessity of transforming our government’s institutions and processes from ones that create inequality to ones that build shared wealth and healthy communities. Justice is about bringing past wrongs to light, achieving equitable power sharing, restructuring unjust structures, and creating a community that consciously supports us all. A Green New Deal would address all forms of justice as it reforms government institutions and processes.