Abstract
The transport system influences everyone’s wellbeing on a daily basis. These impacts are both positive and negative and are borne directly and indirectly at a range of spatial and temporal scales and across different groups in society. Furthermore, they are often distributed unfairly and the people who are least able to use transport networks frequently bear the greatest costs. People also have various transport needs and these needs change throughout their lives. Due to these complexities, there is no straightforward answer as to how we should provide transport fairly. Policies and actions to decarbonise the transport system are urgently needed, but their equity effects are also important. We give a brief overview of distributive justice and equity in transport literature. We then develop a conceptual framework of distributive justice and a set of four principles to guide the application of the framework to transport policy. We then apply these to recent transport policies in Aotearoa/New Zealand, a country that shares common features with most highly motorised countries. We apply the Capabilities Approach to transport policy in a novel way that conceptualises transport policy as a social conversion factor which influences people’s ability to convert resources and opportunities into the things (‘beings and doings’) that they have reason to value. The consideration of transport policy as a conversion factor, rather than focusing on a specific capability, emphasises the role of transport policy as a promoter of a wide range of capabilities and highlights the inequitable distribution of positive and negative effects on people’s health and wellbeing. It also illuminates issues of power structures and procedural fairness in transport policy that are otherwise not covered by distributive justice approaches. Taking a broader view of distributive justice theory in transport provides a clearer picture of the impacts of transport on wellbeing and provides theory-based guidance on the actions to improve transport justice that can be readily integrated into existing policy institutions.
Highlights
There is currently an urgent global need to address inequalities
We describe a theoretical framework for distributive justice that is based on the Capabilities Approach, and apply this by, first, clarifying the concepts of equity and wellbeing and, second, providing guidance for the achievement of the goals of reducing inequities related to the transport system and shifting the policy focus from economic growth to wellbeing
To build on the transport justice framework presented by Pereira et al, we present a set of four principles that combines the Capabilities Approach with the normative principles of Rawls, focusing on transport policy as a social Conversion Factor
Summary
Aotearoa/New Zealand, like many of the developed nations that have committed to the Sustainable Development Goals, has a transport system that is typical of highly car-oriented societies This is characterised by high expenditure on roads and private vehicle infrastructure, low investment in public and active transport, sprawling low-density urban form, high levels of congestion and road injury, and low levels of physical activity. Aotearoa/New Zealand was one of the first countries in the world to shift its national accounting measures away from a focus on economic growth, with the recent release of the first national Wellbeing Budget This budget introduces alternative measures of progress that represent life quality for people living in Aotearoa/New Zealand, and covers twelve domains of wellbeing developed using the Capabilities Approach to Wellbeing [8]. The interpretation of this framework from a Maori perspective, taking a Kaupapa Maori approach [15], is important, it is beyond the scope of this paper to provide an in-depth exploration of Maori (or other indigenous populations’) views on wellbeing and the Capabilities Approach
Sign-in/Register to view highlights & summary Sign-in/Register to access full text options 
Talk to us
Join us for a 30 min session where you can share your feedback and ask us any queries you have
Schedule a callDisclaimer: All third-party content on this website/platform is and will remain the property of their respective owners and is provided on "as is" basis without any warranties, express or implied. Use of third-party content does not indicate any affiliation, sponsorship with or endorsement by them. Any references to third-party content is to identify the corresponding services and shall be considered fair use under The CopyrightLaw.
