Infrastructure (in)Justice: a multi-scalar framework and review of epistemic, restorative, and reparative justice dimensions

Abstract

Distributive, recognition, and procedural dimensions of justice in environmental justice frameworks are common starting points for justice-oriented research and practice. Additional dimensions of justice are being applied within mobility and transportation research to account for multi-faceted infrastructure development impacts. Epistemic, restorative, and reparative justice are emerging within several environmental and mobility justice frameworks in the literature and a review of these dimensions is lacking. In this paper, these three dimensions of justice are reviewed from the political philosophy literature. A clarifying distinction is made between restorative and reparative justice, two dimensions often applied interchangeably in research. To better incorporate epistemic, restorative, and reparative justice dimensions into practice and account for their unique and interrelated implications, an analytical Infrastructure (in)Justice (IJ) framework is proposed. The IJ framework further develops the 6 + 1D typology of injustice: Disinvest, Disrespect, Disenfranchise, Dismiss, Distress, and Dispossess. Scale, time, and intersectionality are accompanying frames of reference used to characterise past, present, and future (in)justice. In a time of significant transportation infrastructure investment, comprehensively characterising impacts experienced through transportation project delivery processes creates clearer pathways towards just transportation outcomes.