Making sense of The Just City. Defining, choosing, and applying different conceptions of urban justice

The Just City is a concept of justice that has gained traction in both planning theory and practice. Despite its popularity, the definition of alternative conceptions, the tradeoffs between them, and thinking them through systematically towards policy measures, has received less attention. The goal of this paper is to provide a framework that helps to inform academic and policy discussions about planning for urban justice. In doing so, it draws on political and economic philosophy. Four different ideal types of The Just City, based on four different philosophies, are being identified and compared: The Happy City (utilitarianist), The Equal City (egalitarian), The Supportive City (sufficientarian), and The Free City (liberal). The paper shows that each of these translates into different planning policies. Moreover, although each of them might appear sympathetic and desirable, at least at first glance, they do not all go well together or are even incompatible. Being precise and making choices about what urban (in)justice entails is necessary for effective and legitimate policy-making, especially in the long run.