Distributive fairness as a criterion for sustainability: evaluative measures and application to project selection

In evaluating civil engineering projects and management alternatives, the distribution of project impacts among groups in the same generation (intratemporal impact distributions) and between groups in different generations (intertemporal impact distributions) may be used as indicators of project viability and potential sustainability. Empirical measures of distributive fairness among groups at one point in time have typically been applied in project selection. These measures are often based on one of three views of fairness, namely allocation of impacts based on equality, equity, or need. The appropriateness of these measures for different applications may be determined based on whether they meet a set of required characteristics. This paper classifies the common distributive fairness measures for impact distributions at one point in time, describes the required characteristics of each measure, and extends these measures for considering impact distributions that are experienced over time. New measures of intratemporal and intertemporal distributive fairness are suggested and the challenge of evaluating these in a long time horizon is discussed. The application of distributive fairness measures to the selection of an electricity supply project is then presented.