NIMBY (Not in My Backyard) Phenomenon

NIMBY is an acronym for Not In My Back Yard. It has two distinct usages and categories of users. First, it connotes the selfish unwillingness of individuals to accept the construction by corporations of large-scale projects nearby, which might affect their quality of life and their properties’ value. Project proponents, usually consisting of the sponsoring corporation, construction labor unions and contractors, and the like, use the term in this way. Second, it implies a lack of social conscience and a class, race, or disability-based [Page 2483]opposition to the location of social service facilities in neighborhoods. Social service and environmental justice advocates use the term in this sense.

The phrase seems to have appeared first in the mid-1970s. It was used in the context of the last ...