When Does Unequal become Unfair? Judging Claims of Environmental Injustice

Abstract

The purpose of this paper is twofold. Firstly, it presents a pluralistic framework for justice that combines an expanded interpretation of distributive justice with concerns for recognition, participation, capability, and responsibility. It argues that the latter has not attracted the scholarly attention that it deserves in the environmental justice debate. Secondly, the paper demonstrates how this multidimensional framework can be applied in practice to inform practical judgments about particular environmental justice claims by using an example of traffic-related air pollution in the city of Newcastle upon Tyne in the United Kingdom.

Distributive justice and equity in transportation

“…In this literature, concepts are also used to denote different things and sometimes without rigorous definitions. Moreover, there is often limited engagement with the philosophical literature on justice, even if a small but expanding number of publications explore how different ethical theories and principles can be used to incorporate equity concerns in transport planning and appraisal (Davoudi & Brooks, 2014;Khisty, 1996;Lucas et al, 2015;Martens, 2012Martens, , 2016Mullen et al, 2014;Van Wee & Roeser, 2013). Such works tend to advocate pluralistic perspectives on justice, drawing on different moral principles that need to be balanced in each situation, and argue for a focus on accessibility when addressing questions over distributive justice and transport disadvantage.…”

Distributive Justice and Transportation Equity: Inequality in accessibility in Rio de Janeiro

“…Lucas et al, 2015;Martens, 2016;van Wee & Roeser, 2013). A more consistent engagement with ethical theories of justice can help provide conceptual clarity about what justice means in the context of transport policies (Davoudi & Brooks, 2014;van Wee, 2011). From a theoretical point of view, this conceptual clarity also allows for a more nuanced understanding of the relationship between transport disadvantages and social inequalities.…”

“…While this thesis focused on the distributive aspects of transportation equity, there is more to justice than just distribution. Much research still needs to be done to address the distributive implications of governmental policies while critically examining the political processes and institutional context that determine those distributive patterns (Davoudi & Brooks, 2014;Young, 1990). This calls for further efforts to expand the social justice agenda in urban and transport studies and develop theoretical frameworks that accommodate equity with concerns related to democracy and diversity within the realm of urban and transport policies and beyond them (Fainstein, 2010).…”

Institutional ‘lock-out’ towards local self-governance? Environmental justice and sustainable transformations in Dutch social housing neighbourhoods

“…Capability refers to the capacities and ability of communities and individuals to function and flourish. Taking responsibility for other humans, society and non-human nature at individual and collective levels relates to structural and institutional contexts, physical and mental vulnerabilities, social norms and cultural values [11]. They summarise the pluralistic environmental justice approach as follows: "The focus is not only on who gets what, but also on who counts, who gets heard, what matters and who does what" [12].…”

“…Davoudi and Brooks [11] extended the environmental justice framework by adding two more dimensions -capability and responsibility -to the three dimensions of distribution, recognition and participation. Capability refers to the capacities and ability of communities and individuals to function and flourish.…”