Bridging Temporal and Transport Justice

A case for considerations of time use in urban justice food

Maria Nordström

KTH Royal Institute of Technology

pp. 45-69

in: Sanna Lehtinen & Tea Lobo (eds), Philosophy of the City, East Asian Journal of Philosophy 1 (3), 2022.

Abstract

The transportation system is essential for urban life – the spatial nature of our cities requires us to travel. Hence, we need to spend time in transit. However, time is a scarce resource. In transportation research, travel time savings are the key benefit of transportation improvements. Yet, “time savings” primarily function as a proxy for presumed societal benefits rather than reflect actual reductions in travel time. Moreover, time constraints are rarely considered in the transport justice literature. Based on the case of gender differences in travel patterns and travel time, this paper argues that a lack of interest in time is partly due to accessibility being the established metric for transport justice. Nevertheless, temporal inequality should be a concern for urban justice. The answer to “justice of what” needs to include a temporal component. By connecting the literature on temporal justice with the literature on transport justice, this paper considers the foundations of a time-specific metric as well as its advantages and disadvantages.