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How just is transportation justice theory? The issues of paternalism and production

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  • Vanoutrive, Thomas
  • Cooper, Erin

Abstract

The topic of justice has increasingly attracted attention from transportation scholars, and a variety of perspectives and approaches are employed to study this topic. Arguably the most elaborate and sophisticated theory is put forward by Karel Martens in his 2017 book “Transport justice”. We start with a critical reading of Karel Martens’ work which is based on the work of liberal philosophers such as Richard Dworkin. While Martens makes several telling points, we explore how debates in the justice literature apply to the case of transportation, and may question aspects of transportation justice theory. In particular we discuss the issues of (1) the paternalistic treatment of people below the accessibility poverty line, and (2) the production and planning of transportation services. Two cases are used to inform this theoretical discussion, on the one hand, the Transportation Justice movement in California, and on the other, the “basic accessibility” debate in Flanders (Belgium).

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  • Vanoutrive, Thomas & Cooper, Erin, 2019. "How just is transportation justice theory? The issues of paternalism and production," Transportation Research Part A: Policy and Practice, Elsevier, vol. 122(C), pages 112-119.
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:transa:v:122:y:2019:i:c:p:112-119
    DOI: 10.1016/j.tra.2019.02.009
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    Cited by:

    1. Edward Randal & Caroline Shaw & Alistair Woodward & Philippa Howden-Chapman & Alex Macmillan & Jamie Hosking & Ralph Chapman & Andrew M. Waa & Michael Keall, 2020. "Fairness in Transport Policy: A New Approach to Applying Distributive Justice Theories," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 12(23), pages 1-20, December.
    2. Kębłowski, Wojciech & Dobruszkes, Frédéric & Boussauw, Kobe, 2022. "Moving past sustainable transport studies: Towards a critical perspective on urban transport," Transportation Research Part A: Policy and Practice, Elsevier, vol. 159(C), pages 74-83.
    3. Giovanni Vecchio & Ignacio Tiznado-Aitken & Bryan Castillo & Stefan Steiniger, 2024. "Fair transport policies for older people: accessibility and affordability of public transport in Santiago, Chile," Transportation, Springer, vol. 51(2), pages 689-715, April.
    4. Cunha, Isabel & Silva, Cecília, 2023. "Assessing the equity impact of cycling infrastructure allocation: Implications for planning practice," Transport Policy, Elsevier, vol. 133(C), pages 15-26.
    5. Vanoutrive, Thomas & Cooper, Erin, 2020. "How just is transportation justice theory? The issues of paternalism and production: A rejoinder," Transportation Research Part A: Policy and Practice, Elsevier, vol. 133(C), pages 387-390.
    6. Martens, Karel, 2020. "How just is transportation justice theory? The issues of paternalism and production: A comment," Transportation Research Part A: Policy and Practice, Elsevier, vol. 133(C), pages 383-386.
    7. Cooper, Erin & Vanoutrive, Thomas, 2022. "Is accessibility inequality morally relevant?: An exploration using local residents' assessments in Modesto, California," Journal of Transport Geography, Elsevier, vol. 99(C).
    8. Henrike Rau & Joachim Scheiner, 2020. "Sustainable Mobility: Interdisciplinary Approaches," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 12(23), pages 1-6, November.
    9. Pot, Felix Johan & Koster, Sierdjan & Tillema, Taede, 2023. "Perceived accessibility in Dutch rural areas: Bridging the gap with accessibility based on spatial data," Transport Policy, Elsevier, vol. 138(C), pages 170-184.
    10. Vecchio, Giovanni, 2020. "Microstories of everyday mobilities and opportunities in Bogotá: A tool for bringing capabilities into urban mobility planning," Journal of Transport Geography, Elsevier, vol. 83(C).
    11. Karner, Alex & Pereira, Rafael H. M. & Farber, Steven, 2023. "Advances and pitfalls in measuring transportation equity," SocArXiv y246u, Center for Open Science.
    12. Ryan, Jean & Martens, Karel, 2023. "Defining and implementing a sufficient level of accessibility: What’s stopping us?," Transportation Research Part A: Policy and Practice, Elsevier, vol. 175(C).
    13. Jafino, Bramka Arga, 2021. "An equity-based transport network criticality analysis," Transportation Research Part A: Policy and Practice, Elsevier, vol. 144(C), pages 204-221.
    14. Zhang, Mengzhu & Zhao, Pengjun, 2021. "Literature review on urban transport equity in transitional China: From empirical studies to universal knowledge," Journal of Transport Geography, Elsevier, vol. 96(C).

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