Equity in Transportation Planning: An Analysis of the Boston Region Metropolitan Planning Organization

This article presents an analysis of representational equity within the Boston Region Metropolitan Planning Organization (MPO). MPOs are regional transportation organizations that exert significant influence over state transportation planning and the allocation of funding. The analysis shows that under almost any voting or membership configuration, population representation is correlated with racial and ethnic composition. This outcome is not just a function of the system of representation but also the geography of residential segregation. The results of this analysis highlight the problem of creating systems of equitable representation within the context of preexisting and persistent social inequalities.     

A new look at climate equity in the UNFCCC

Equity has been at the core of the global climate debate since its inception over two decades ago, yet the current negotiations toward an international climate agreement in 2015 provide a new and critical opportunity to make forward progress on the difficult web of equity issues. These negotiations and the discussions about equity are taking place in a context that has shifted: all countries will be covered under a new agreement; growing climate impacts are being felt, especially by the most vulnerable; and there is an emergence of new institutions and increasing complexity in the international climate regime. Innovative thinking on equity, including which countries should take action and how, is therefore essential to finalizing an agreement by 2015. A broader, deeper, and more holistic view of equity is necessary, one that sees equity as a multi-dimensional challenge to be solved across all the facets of the international climate process.

Policy relevance

This article is relevant to policy makers following the development of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) Ad Hoc Working Group on the Durban Platform as it prepares the way for a new agreement in 2015. The article focuses specifically on the issues most relevant to the debate around equity in the negotiations and how that debate is evolving with the expansion of the UNFCCC. It explains the current state of the negotiations and what issues are on the negotiating table, including the fact that negotiations on equity are now much broader than the mitigation commitments, to include the possible ‘equity reference framework’, concerns relating to adaptation and loss and damage, and the need for ambition in terms of mitigation and finance support.     

An operational framework for equity in the 2015 Agreement

Equity is a highly contentious but essential area of negotiation, if a stable and effective international climate agreement with broad participation is to be achieved. Three perspectives on the magnitude dimensions of equity are identified that need consideration in the process of formulating an agreement: agreement on a ‘safe’ temperature goal; agreement on the required global effort; and agreement on a fair division of contributions. The opportunities are explored for reconciling these perspectives in an operational framework for equity. Specifically, this means the importance of the adopted a global temperature goal of below 2°C temperature increase by the end of the century. In addition, an initial approach to quantifying adaption costs is suggested, while the importance of arriving at a global mitigation goal is emphasized. It is argued that finance and technology support commensurate with the required global mitigation and adaptation effort is an important element of equity.

Policy relevance

The centrality of equity, in terms of both form and magnitude, will be vital for the design and implementation of a 2015 Agreement that is capable of achieving the objectives of the Convention. Three central areas of debate within global negotiations are identified and discussed: an appropriate temperature goal; global goals for adaptation, mitigation, finance, and technological support; and the division of global effort. The opportunities for reconciling the areas of debate are explored specifically in the context of an Equity Reference Framework, along with suggestions for approaches to quantifying adaptation needs.     

Book Reviews

Books reviewed: D. Graham Burnett, Masters of All They Surveyed: Exploration, Geography, and a British El Dorado Garrett A. Sullivan, Jr., The Drama of Landscape: Land Property and Social Relations on the Early Modern Stage Sergio Díaz‐Briquets and Jorge Pérez‐López, Conquering Nature: The Environmental Legacy of Socialism in Cuba Karl F. Nordstrom, Beaches and Dunes of Developed Coasts Robin W. Doughty, The Eucalyptus: A Natural and Commercial History of the Gum Tree James K. Mitchell, ed., Crucibles of Hazard Gerald T. Koeppel, Water for Gotham: A History Arnold R. Alanen and Robert Z. Melnick, eds., Preserving Cultural Landscapes in America Kavita Pandit and Suzanne Davies Withers, eds., Migration and Restructuring in the United States Steven R. Nivin, Regional Innovation Potential: The Case of the U.S. Machine Tool Industry Douglas Meyer, Making the Heartland Quilt: A Geographical History of Settlement and Migration in Early Nineteenth‐Century Illinois David R. Meyer, Hong Kong as a Global Metropolis Mark Cleary and Goh Kim Chuan, Environment and Development in the Straits of Malacca David Zurick and P. P. Karan, Himalaya: Life on the Edge of the World Christer Jönsson, Sven Tägil, and Gunnar Törnqvist , Organizing European Space Tor Bernhardsen, Geographic Information Systems: An Introduction, 2nd ed.     

南水北调工程中的公平与效率问题

传统的公平与效率停留在经济系统内部，存在着很大的局限性，而可持续发展的公平是代内公平与代际公平的统一，可持续发展的效率是经济效率，生态效率和社会效率的统一，目前，我国水资源现状特别是北方地区的情况非常严峻，水资源分布和开发利用既不能实现公平也不能体现效率，文章在分析南水北调工程合理调配水资源，实现水资源可持续利用的公平与效率的基础上，提出了实施南水北调工程，实现水资源利用的公平和效率需要采取的对策建议。     

北京城市公共服务设施空间分布均衡性研究

利用空间分析和数理统计工具研究2014年北京市教育、医疗等城市公共服务设施空间分布的均衡性。以市域各街道和乡镇为评价单元,构建供给指数、需求指数度量各单元内城市公共服务设施的供给和需求,据此分析和评判北京市城市公共服务设施的空间分布及服务质量的均衡性。研究结果表明:在市域尺度上,由于城市发展历史的影响,北京城市公共服务设施空间分布均衡性呈现核心-边缘的格局;在区县尺度上,受行政体系和城镇体系的等级性影响,均衡性程度高低与城镇等级高低相一致;公共服务设施的供给指数与需求指数相关性显著,可判定设施空间分布总体上比较均衡;通过空间叠加分析发现北京市存在设施供给和需求不匹配的区域,其中教育设施、城市公园设施和医疗设施空间布局的均衡程度高于文体设施。     

Accessing Flexibility: A Historical Institutional Analysis of Water Use for Oil and Gas Development in Colorado

US Mountain West Water access and allocation institutions have a history of adapting policy and practice to increase flexibility for diverse water uses. We examine how flexible access has developed over time and space by operationalizing the historical institutional (HI) theoretical and methodological framework. We trace historical water access for oil and gas (OG) development in Colorado, working from contemporary water right data to examine historical critical events, policies, and political contexts. OG water use has iteratively shaped water governance institutions in the top OG producing regions of Colorado, Weld, and Garfield Counties. The analysis suggests that to more accurately capture institutional change and continuity in resource allocation systems, an analysis of informal institutions is an essential theoretical contribution to the HI framework. While increased flexibility makes multiple uses easier, policies favor the most economically lucrative beneficial uses and generate issues of transparency, an important consideration for the public’s resource. Future practices of flexibility are contingent on market structures and institutional access mechanisms shaped during previous government policy processes, illuminating the value of the HI framework to inform future water policy.     

Social Applications of Geographical Information Systems: technical tools for social innovation

ABSTRACT

The establishment of the National Key Centre for Social Applications of Geographical Information Systems (GIS) in 1995, under the directorship of Professor Graeme Hugo, was a turning point in the use of GIS in Australia. The field of GIS, previously dominated by environmental applications, now broadened its focus to include populations, services and the interactions between people and the environment. Social applications of GIS offered a unique opportunity to make service planning, reporting, funding allocations and research both smarter and fairer. Geography and geographic relationships as implemented in GIS became the integrating platform for social spatial information, invigorating social research, planning and policy. A key strength of this approach, recognised by Professor Hugo, was the ability to ‘put people back into the planning process’. Further to being an integrating platform, GIS also offered the ability to generate new information and knowledge, which could facilitate evidence-based decision making. This paper focuses in particular on providing a written record of the development of the Accessibility/Remoteness Index of Australia (ARIA) suite of spatial accessibility indices. The lasting legacy and continued relevance of this work in social applications of GIS is also reviewed in this paper, with reference to key examples of how social research and planning in Australia have been made both smarter and fairer through the contributions of Professor Hugo and his team.     

Indigenous community benefits from a de-centralized approach to REDD+ in Brazil

Successful efforts of indigenous groups to reduce emissions from deforestation and forest degradation in developing countries (REDD+) will likely vary with how the initiatives are designed and implemented. Whether REDD+ initiatives are carried out by national governments or decentralized to sub-national or project-level institutions with a nested approach could be of great consequence. I describe the Suruí Forest Carbon Project in Amazonian Brazil, one of the first REDD+ pilot projects implemented with indigenous people in the world. I emphasize (1) how enfranchisement of community members in the policy-planning process, fund management, and carbon baseline establishment increased project reliability and equity, and (2) how the project's quality would have likely been diminished if implemented under a centralized REDD+ scheme.

Policy relevance

This article explores a decentralized REDD+ intervention established in an indigenous land in Brazil. It expands the theoretical discussions on REDD+ governance and highlights how centralized REDD+ programmes are likely to be less effective than project-level interventions assisted by NGOs in terms of social benefits and community engagement. Additionally, the case study described can serve as reference for the design of critical social and technical components of REDD+.     

Narratives in REDD+ benefit sharing: examining evidence within and beyond the forest sector

REDD+ was designed globally as a results-based instrument to incentivize emissions reduction from deforestation and forest degradation. Over 50 countries have developed strategies for REDD+, implemented pilot activities and/or set up forest monitoring and reporting structures, safeguard systems and benefit sharing mechanisms (BSMs), offering lessons on how particular ideas guide policy design. The implementation of REDD+ at national, sub-national and local levels required payments to filter through multiple governance structures and priorities. REDD+ was variously interpreted by different actors in different contexts to create legitimacy for certain policy agendas. Using an adapted 3E (effectiveness, efficiency, equity and legitimacy) lens, we examine four common narratives underlying REDD+ BSMs: (1) that results-based payment (RBP) is an effective and transparent approach to reducing deforestation and forest degradation; (2) that emphasis on co-benefits risks diluting carbon outcomes; (3) that directing REDD+ benefits predominantly to poor smallholders, forest communities and marginalized groups helps address equity; and (4) that social equity and gender concerns can be addressed by well-designed safeguards. This paper presents a structured examination of eleven BSMs from within and beyond the forest sector and analyses the evidence to variably support and challenge these narratives and their underlying assumptions to provide lessons for REDD+ BSM design. Our findings suggest that contextualizing the design of BSMs, and a reflexive approach to examining the underlying narratives justifying particular design features, is critical for achieving effectiveness, equity and legitimacy.

Key policy insights

• A results-based payment approach does not guarantee an effective REDD+; the contexts in which results are defined and agreed, along with conditions enabling social and political acceptance, are critical.

• A flexible and reflexive approach to designing a benefit-sharing mechanism that delivers emissions reductions at the same time as co-benefits can increase perceptions of equity and participation.

• Targeting REDD+ to smallholder communities is not by default equitable, if wider rights and responsibilities are not taken into account

• Safeguards cannot protect communities or society without addressing underlying power and gendered relations.

• The narratives and their underlying generic assumptions, if not critically examined, can lead to repeated failure of REDD+ policies and practices.