Why do urban green space (UGS) policies often fail to promote justice? This article investigates such a policy in Beersheba, the “capital” of Israel’s southern region and one of the nation’s fastest developing cities. The new municipal UGS policy aims for justice by investing an equal amount of resources per square meter in both old, inner-city neighborhoods and the newer, more desirable outlying neighborhoods. Nevertheless, most of the inner-city UGSs are still run down. The article reveals the disparity between justice and equality in the policy. The findings suggest that social and environmental injustice is an outcome of basic planning decisions. Beersheba continues to plan large UGSs, under the misguided notion that they will foster local prestige and improve residential quality. In reality, however, planning large UGSs creates nonurban spaces and encourages climatically unsuitable development that requires more maintenance. Thus, the city is, unintentionally, pouring public funds into large UGSs in the newer areas at the expense of smaller UGSs in the older, weaker, and denser inner-city neighborhoods. As a consequence, the current policy preserves existing social disparities and promotes social and environmental injustice instead of using the UGS policy to create a more just city.

为什么城市绿地（UGS）政策往往不能促进正义？本文调查了贝尔谢巴（以色列南部地区的“首都”和全国发展最快的城市之一）的此类政策。新的市政 UGS 政策旨在通过在旧的内城社区和较新的、更理想的外围社区每平方米投资等量的资源来实现正义。尽管如此，大多数市中心的 UGS 仍在运行。文章揭示了政策中正义与平等之间的差距。调查结果表明，社会和环境不公正是基本规划决策的结果。贝尔谢巴继续规划大型 UGS，其错误观念认为大型 UGS 将提升当地声望并提高住宅质量。然而实际上，规划大型 UGS 会创造非城市空间，并鼓励需要更多维护的气候不适宜的开发。因此，该市无意中将公共资金投入到较新地区的大型 UGS 中，而牺牲了较旧、较弱和密集的内城社区中较小的 UGS。因此，当前的政策保留了现有的社会差异并促进了社会和环境的不公正，而不是使用 UGS 政策来创建一个更公正的城市。