Who Breathes Worse Air? Environmental Inequality in Warsaw

Abstract This paper presents the first fine‐scale examination of environmental justice in relation to air pollution in Warsaw, exploring whether environmental inequality patterns documented in Western Europe are reproduced in a post‐socialist urban context. Drawing on ecological data for 1,684 census tracts and a stakeholder workshop with 22 participants, we analyse distributional patterns of exposure to PM2.5, PM10 and NO 2 alongside local interpretations of environmental justice. Quantitative analyses reveal systematic but pollutant‐specific environmental inequalities, with the strongest social gradients observed for traffic‐related NO 2 . Multivariable and spatial models show that many observed gradients reflect Warsaw's broader socio‐spatial organisation, while unemployment remains the most robust correlate of exposure. Qualitative findings show that environmental inequalities are not automatically recognised as environmental justice issues but are interpreted through competing individualised and structural framings. Together, the findings demonstrate the partial transferability of Western European environmental inequality patterns to a post‐socialist city.