Analyzing urban environmental justice based on supply, demand, and access to cooling ecosystem services in Tehran, Iran

Given the important role of environmental amenities such as ecosystem services on human well-being, this study investigates the unfair distribution of access to urban cooling ecosystem services in Tehran in order to examine urban environmental justice through the following methodological steps: (1) mapping socio-economic inequality through eleven indicators reflecting socio-economic status ranked by TOPSIS, (2) exploring urban land surface temperature (LST) by applying the mono-window algorithm, (3) estimating canopy cover, and (4) applying distributional justice dimensions through demand, supply, and access to urban cooling ecosystem services. The results revealed that urban cooling ecosystem service demand was high in districts with lower socio-economic status ranking. Cooling ecosystem service supply was high in northern districts with higher socio-economic status. This study indicates that residents of Tehran are confronting urban injustice in terms of the distribution pattern of urban cooling ecosystem services.