Department Environmental Social Sciences

Fairness in the planning of new wastewater infrastructures

Equality und Equity

Currently, most households in Switzerland are connected via a sewer system to a central wastewater treatment plant. Especially in rural areas, sewers can become very lengthy. In these areas, it could be reasonable to change the current system to a decentralised wastewater infrastructure system. As an example, package plants installed in every household could be cheaper and more flexible in the long term.
Such a transition in infrastructure systems can bring about a change in the distribution of costs and benefits between users. The aim of our study is to find out, which procedures and principles are perceived as fair by the population.
Different fairness principles have already been studied and discussed in the literature. We now want to connect these principles to the topic of wastewater management.

Research questions

  • Which fairness principles are perceived as the most appropriate, when it comes to the implementation of new wastewater infrastructure systems?

  • Which recommendation could be given regarding a fair procedure in implementing decentralised wastewater systems in rural communities?

  • Are there differences in the perception of fairness between different groups (e.g. rural and urban, different cantons, male and female)?

The project is carried out in collaboration with Prof. Dr. Rudolf Vetschera, Fakultät für Wirtschaftswissenschaften, University Vienna.

Team

PD Dr. Judit Lienert Group Leader, Group: DA Tel. +41 58 765 5574 Send Mail

   Prof. Dr. Rudolf Vetschera

   Sara Schmid

Contact

PD Dr. Judit Lienert Group Leader, Group: DA Tel. +41 58 765 5574 Send Mail

Project information

Project start: February 2018
Project duration: 1 year

Publikation

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      authors => protected'Schmid, S.; Vetschera, R.; Lienert, J.' (53 chars)
      title => protected'Testing fairness principles for public environmental infrastructure decision
         s' (77 chars)
      journal => protected'Group Decision and Negotiation' (30 chars)
      year => protected2021 (integer)
      volume => protected30 (integer)
      issue => protected'' (0 chars)
      startpage => protected'611' (3 chars)
      otherpage => protected'640' (3 chars)
      categories => protected'distributive justice; environmental policy; influence factors; population su
         rvey; procedural justice; public infrastructure' (123 chars)
      description => protected'Public infrastructure decisions affect many stakeholders with various benefi
         ts and costs. For public decisions, it is crucial that decision-making proce
         sses and outcomes are fair. Fairness concepts have rarely been explored in p
         ublic infrastructure planning. We close this gap for a global issue of growi
         ng importance: replacing sewer-based, centralized by decentralized wastewate
         r systems. We empirically study fairness principles in this policy-relevant 
         context, and identify possible influencing factors in a representative onlin
         e survey of 472 Swiss German residents. In a transition phase, innovative, d
         ecentralized pilot wastewater systems are installed in households. We design
         ed two vignettes for this context to test the adhesion to principles of dist
         ributive justice—equality, equity, and need—at individual and community 
         levels. A third vignette tests procedural justice with increasing fulfilment
          of fair process criteria. The results confirm our hypotheses: equity is per
         ceived as fairer than equality at individual and collective levels. Contrary
          to expectations and literature, need is perceived as even fairer than equit
         y. Procedural justice results confirm literature, e.g., the majority (92%) o
         f respondents deems a policy fair that includes them in decision-making. Onl
         y few demographic and explanatory factors are significantly correlated with 
         respondents' fairness perceptions. Although unexpected, this is positive, im
         plying that introducing decentralized wastewater technology can be designed 
         for the entire population independent of characteristics of individuals. Gen
         erally, our results confirm literature: fairness perceptions depend on the c
         ircumstances. Hence, they should be elicited in the exact application contex
         t to be able to enter negotiation processes and provide concrete advice to d
         ecision makers.' (1839 chars)
      serialnumber => protected'0926-2644' (9 chars)
      doi => protected'10.1007/s10726-021-09725-2' (26 chars)
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Testing fairness principles for public environmental infrastructure decisions

Public infrastructure decisions affect many stakeholders with various benefits and costs. For public decisions, it is crucial that decision-making processes and outcomes are fair. Fairness concepts have rarely been explored in public infrastructure planning. We close this gap for a global issue of growing importance: replacing sewer-based, centralized by decentralized wastewater systems. We empirically study fairness principles in this policy-relevant context, and identify possible influencing factors in a representative online survey of 472 Swiss German residents. In a transition phase, innovative, decentralized pilot wastewater systems are installed in households. We designed two vignettes for this context to test the adhesion to principles of distributive justice—equality, equity, and need—at individual and community levels. A third vignette tests procedural justice with increasing fulfilment of fair process criteria. The results confirm our hypotheses: equity is perceived as fairer than equality at individual and collective levels. Contrary to expectations and literature, need is perceived as even fairer than equity. Procedural justice results confirm literature, e.g., the majority (92%) of respondents deems a policy fair that includes them in decision-making. Only few demographic and explanatory factors are significantly correlated with respondents' fairness perceptions. Although unexpected, this is positive, implying that introducing decentralized wastewater technology can be designed for the entire population independent of characteristics of individuals. Generally, our results confirm literature: fairness perceptions depend on the circumstances. Hence, they should be elicited in the exact application context to be able to enter negotiation processes and provide concrete advice to decision makers.
Schmid, S.; Vetschera, R.; Lienert, J. (2021) Testing fairness principles for public environmental infrastructure decisions, Group Decision and Negotiation, 30, 611-640, doi:10.1007/s10726-021-09725-2, Institutional Repository