Abteilung Umweltsozialwissenschaften

Fairness in der Planung von neuen Abwasserinfrastrukturen

Equality und Equity

In der Schweiz sind zurzeit die meisten Haushalte über Abwasserkanäle an eine zentrale Kläranlage angeschlossen. Vor allem in dünn besiedelten Gebieten braucht es dafür lange und dadurch teure Anschlussleitungen. Möglicherweise wäre es sinnvoll, in solchen Gebieten langfristig auf dezentrale Infrastrukturen umzustellen. Kleinkläranlagen, die zum Beispiel in jedem Haushalt installiert würden, könnten längerfristig billiger und flexibler sein.
Ein solcher Übergang von alten Infrastrukturen zu neueren kann bewirken, dass die Vorteile und Kosten für die Endnutzer/-innen neu verteilt werden. In dieser Studie wollen wir herausfinden, welche Vorgehensweisen und Prinzipien in der Bevölkerung als fair wahrgenommen werden.

Es gibt verschiedene Fairness-Prinzipien, die bereits untersucht wurden. In unserer Studie sollen diese Prinzipien erstmals mit der Abwasserentsorgung in Zusammenhang gebracht werden.

Forschungsfragen

  • Welche Fairness-Prinzipien werden im Zusammenhang mit der Einführung neuer Abwasserinfrastrukturen am ehesten akzeptiert?
  • Welche Empfehlungen bezüglich einem fairen Vorgehen kann man geben, wenn es um die Einführung neuer Abwasserinfrastrukturen in dünn besiedelten Gebieten der Schweiz geht?
  • Gibt es Unterschiede zwischen ländlichen und städtischen Gebieten (zwischen Kantonen, zwischen Männern und Frauen, etc.) in der Wahrnehmung der Fairness?

Das Projekt ist eine Zusammenarbeit mit Prof. Dr. Rudolf Vetschera, Fakultät für Wirtschaftswissenschaften, Universität Wien.

Team

PD Dr. Judit Lienert Gruppenleiterin, Gruppe: DA Tel. +41 58 765 5574 Inviare e-mail

   Prof. Dr. Rudolf Vetschera

   Sara Schmid

Kontakt

PD Dr. Judit Lienert Gruppenleiterin, Gruppe: DA Tel. +41 58 765 5574 Inviare e-mail

Projektinformationen

Projektstart: Februar 2018
Projektdauer: 1 Jahr

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
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      journal => protected'Group Decision and Negotiation' (30 chars)
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      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