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11 - Sanitation Justice?

The Multiple Dimensions of Urban Sanitation Inequalities

from Part III - Exclusion and Struggles for Co-Decision

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  26 February 2018

By
Maria Rusca ,
Cecilia Alda-Vidal  and
Michelle Kooy
Edited by
Rutgerd Boelens ,
Tom Perreault  and
Jeroen Vos
Rutgerd Boelens
Affiliation:
Wageningen Universiteit, The Netherlands
Tom Perreault
Affiliation:
Syracuse University, New York
Jeroen Vos
Affiliation:
Wageningen Universiteit, The Netherlands
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Summary

This chapter reflects on if and how current development approaches to increasing access to sanitation services are just. To answer this question, we develop a concept of sanitation justice. We define three dimensions of sanitation (in)justice - distributive, procedural, and recognitional. Using a case study of sanitation projects in the city of Kampala, Uganda, we illustrate the utility of the concept for broadening current conceptualizations of inequalities in relation to sanitation. We argue that sanitation justice entails three dimensions: (1) access to physical infrastructure and related sanitation services to encompass the fair distribution of impacts associated with human health and environmental pollution, (2) participation in setting definitions of what is adequate sanitation and the range of infrastructure and service options, and (3) recognition of social and emotional dimensions of sanitation. We suggest that moving current development terminology of improved sanitation towards articulating what is a just sanitation can help to shift development approaches from a singular focus on sanitation infrastructure to a multidimensional understanding of sanitation services.

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Water Justice , pp. 210 - 225
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Print publication year: 2018

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