Abstract
Transport plays an important role in helping people to access activities and participate in life. The availability of transport networks, the modes available, new infrastructure proposals, and the type of urban development can all impact on and change activity participation, and hence contribute to social equity in the city. This article uses surveys in low and high income neighbourhoods in Manila, the Philippines, to assess the social equity implications of differential access to transport. The analysis demonstrates how the theoretical framework of the Capability Approach (Nussbaum, 2003; Sen, 1985, 1999, 2009) can be used to assess what individuals might be able to access (capabilities) versus their actual travel (functionings). The spatial patterns of travel and access to activities are assessed, demonstrating significant differences by gender, age, income and neighbourhood, in terms of travel mode and cost of travel; health, physical and mental integrity; senses, imagination and thoughts; reasoning and planning; social interaction; natural environment; sustainable modes; and information. This approach to assessing the transport dimensions of social equity offers much potential, based not only on access to resources or consumption of mobility, but also in the opportunities that people have in relation to their activity participation. The case study context is also informative, with Manila providing an example of an Asian city with high levels of private car usage, high levels of congestion, and large spatial and income differentials in travel and associated social equity.
Highlights
The first Human Development Report (United Nations Development Programme, 1990) was published almost three decades ago, and since there have been various attempts to improve levels of social equity, over many contexts internationally
Index of FuncƟonings port options available, accessibility to transport modes, level of information available, accessibility to employment in local neighbourhood and monthly transport costs are significant. Examining this in more detail, it is found that people aged between 18–24 are mostly satisfied with the proximity to other transport users when driving cars or taking taxis/FX taxis, but when travelling on public transport, such as Light Rapid Transit (LRT)/Philippine National Railway (PNR) or buses, they tended to feel uncomfortable; the same applies to cycling and walking
Transport plays an important role in helping people access activities and participate in life—it is an important factor in human development
Summary
The first Human Development Report (United Nations Development Programme, 1990) was published almost three decades ago, and since there have been various attempts to improve levels of social equity, over many contexts internationally. This article uses the Capabilities Approach (CA), developed by Amartya Sen (Sen, 1985, 1999, 2009) as a theoretical framework to understand the differences in travel and participation in activities It applies CA, using surveys in high and low income neighbourhoods in Metro Manila, the Philippines.. The contribution of the article is to understand the opportunities that people have and aspire to, and what they achieve, relative to accessing activities, and to examine how this is distributed by gender, age, income and neighbourhood These issues are seen as important in a context such as Manila, where the activities that individuals might be able to or like to access, relative to their actual travel, are likely to be very uneven across population cohorts and spatially. Reflections are given on the implications of using CA as a framework for assessing the social equity impacts of transport systems
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