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A platform for research: civil engineering, architecture and urbanism
Modelling Equity: A Debate About Values
Abstract This paper discusses equity issues in relation to climate change. Models of long-term climate assessments study changes in relative prices. These changes lead to gains and losses for different economic actors and these consequences are held responsible for problems related to social acceptability. Policy recommendations issued by such models cannot be put into practice. Equity should be integrated into those models in order to make them more relevant for policy. This paper considers this problem in three parts. The first part shows that equity is only one aspect of the social dimension of sustainable development, which cannot be treated separately. It invites an understanding of complexity. Equity is also interrelated with the economic and ecological dimensions of sustainable development. The second part deals with the fact that different aspects of equity have to be taken into account and several concepts of equity co-exist. If only distribution of income is taken into account, equity can effectively be addressed through economic growth, but the specific characteristics of sustainable development are left out of the analysis. Therefore, the third part is a questioning of traditional modelling approaches and of the reasons why modelling should be carried out. The paper concludes with a short discussion about the normative content of any attempt to model climate change.
Modelling Equity: A Debate About Values
Abstract This paper discusses equity issues in relation to climate change. Models of long-term climate assessments study changes in relative prices. These changes lead to gains and losses for different economic actors and these consequences are held responsible for problems related to social acceptability. Policy recommendations issued by such models cannot be put into practice. Equity should be integrated into those models in order to make them more relevant for policy. This paper considers this problem in three parts. The first part shows that equity is only one aspect of the social dimension of sustainable development, which cannot be treated separately. It invites an understanding of complexity. Equity is also interrelated with the economic and ecological dimensions of sustainable development. The second part deals with the fact that different aspects of equity have to be taken into account and several concepts of equity co-exist. If only distribution of income is taken into account, equity can effectively be addressed through economic growth, but the specific characteristics of sustainable development are left out of the analysis. Therefore, the third part is a questioning of traditional modelling approaches and of the reasons why modelling should be carried out. The paper concludes with a short discussion about the normative content of any attempt to model climate change.
Modelling Equity: A Debate About Values
Bürgenmeier, B. (author)
Environmental Modeling & Assessment ; 8 ; 165-174
2003-09-01
10 pages
Article (Journal)
Electronic Resource
English
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