Ethics and Justice in Planning 28.11.2018 Planning Theory Satu Räty, Liisa Mustonen, Heikki Salko, Thijs Kroep, Emeka Amakihe
Planning for social justice: Strategies, dilemmas, tradeoffs by Justus Uitermark & Walter Nicholls Introduction Planners as leaders Planners as servants Planners as agent of social justice Power of representation dilemma Strategies and tradeoffs
How to put the special assets of intellectuals in the service of their quest for social justice? Marxist intellectuals: finding the universal social justice with scientific knowledge + achieving a strong substantive understanding of justice and steering the masses to a more just society - Devalues the particularistic knowledge of communities Tradeoff: Detached from people s particular features and conditions Criticism: assuming intellectuals possess a monopoly on legitimate knowledge Organic intellectuals: help the community to identify what s true and just with in-built knowledge + sources of political action and knowledge - Continue to value one knowledge over others; requires silencing alternative ideas of justice Tradeoff: knowledge is validated if it aligns with the historical missions of intellectuals Foucault: The oppressed know their struggles best, intellectuals shouldn't define fixed ideal of justice. Planners (specific intellectuals) should play supportive role with technical skills. Focus: local and sectoral struggles. - Not universal and cannot transcends particular conditions
For Discussion Who should determine what social justice is? Why do you think so? Is social justice possible between all the different opinions?
Dilemmas of planning a just city Planning strategies & tradeoffs for a just city based on conception of social justice and participation Universal planning intellectual concept Planner s mandate to pursue social justice based on their role as professionals and experts Collaborative planning Planners task is to help create a communicative space where different stakeholders can reconcile their differences and work together Democratic socialist planning Planner works with marginalized communities and ensures an active role of all urban users Insurgent planning Planners immerse themselves in the communities they work with and for.
For Discussion What is your role as a planner?
On having imperial eyes Autobiography Research in Indigenous community Feeling superior Partly due to education Not being a part of the community
For Discussion How can we start to unravel the planner s multiple biases? What about the community s biases? How can the community find out and prioritize what they want? And how does this transfer to planning? Do you have imperial eyes?
Pereira et al.: Distributive Justice and Equity in Transportation Insights from political philosophy for transport policy and accessibility 1. Utilitarianism Focus: Utility of transport is access to activities with utility; should be maximized in aggregate Criticism: What about how accessibility is distributed among individuals? 2. Libertarianism Focus: The free market is the best instrument to expand people s choices about how to better satisfy their transport needs Criticism: What about those situations where efficiency is in conflict with equity? 3. Intuitionism Focus: The allocation of transport investments and services to improve people s accessibility is context sensitive and may be guided by different moral justifications across individual cases Criticism: Does not offer a consistent moral scheme to balance competing claims of justice
4. Rawlsian egalitarianism Focus: Any transport project should be guided by respect for individuals basic rights Criticism: Difficulty in defining universal basic rights 5. Capability approaches Focus: Policies should primarily guarantee individuals a minimum level of access to those key activities that are essential for meeting basic needs Criticism: Difficulty in defining accessibility and its thresholds Conclusions We should build a dialogue between Rawlsian egalitarianism and capability approaches in future transport studies, as their problems are merely matters of definition
For Discussion What do you think are the major issues in distributive justice and accessibility in transport? And how to solve them?