Spatial Justice and the Street

A walk along Princes Street in Edinburgh the other day brings issues into sharp focus.

Princes Street, as I am sure many will know, is the main thoroughfare in Edinburgh city centre. It is an unusual one-sided street in as much as all the buildings – shops and hotels mostly - are, with one prominent exception at its east end, all on the same side. Along most of the length of the other side is Princes Street Gardens, a wide open green space that gives fine views of Edinburgh old town and the castle. At this time of the year, the eastern part of the gardens are taken over by Edinburgh’s Christmas Market with its many stalls, bars and fairground attractions.

The street is very busy. Buses serving all parts of the city and the surrounding area line the street. Taxis queue to take visitors arriving at the nearby train station to their city destinations. The recently re-built tramlines connect the street with the airport and with Edinburgh’s fast developing waterfront at Leith and Granton. There are delivery cycles and some intrepid cyclists. No other types of vehicles are allowed along the street.

The wide pavements are crowded with tourists looking for their hotels, visitors to the Christmas Market, Christmas shoppers, some locals going about their work and daily business. Languages from all parts of the world are heard as directions are sought and deals are negotiated.

And then, by way of sharp contrast, are those who have no way of participating in all this activity – homeless folk trying to sleep on park benches, and others trying to collect a little cash from passers-by.

Princes Street vividly illustrates the many competing roles of a city street: as a thoroughfare to reach other places within and outwith the city, as providing access to shops and cultural facilities, as a venue for tourism and as part of the city heritage, and as part of the city heritage, and as a place for social interaction and recreation. It is also a place for the socially excluded to eke out their marginal existence.

It is perhaps worth saying that until quite recently, unusually for a city centre street, people still lived on Princes Street. That is no longer the case, although there are still residential properties in small streets nearby, so there is still a function for Princes Street of giving access to residential accommodation.

Social and spatial justice

This very vibrancy of Princes Street and the diversity and disparities in the circumstances of its users brings a vivid awareness of issues around social and spatial justice. Spatial justice is to be distinguished from social justice: the first is focused on spatiality whilst the second is concerned with the distribution of resources and opportunities across social groups. In essence, spatial justice is associated with the distribution of resources across spaces and securing the opportunities to use them. Spatial justice is an equitable spatial distribution of resources and opportunities, and fairness in the relations of power that shape and transform the social space. Spatial justice is concerned with the way resources are allocated across space, and how spatial patterns of living influence, enhance or confine people in their opportunities. Clearly there are a host of factors – socio-economic and political – which act to produce just or unjust spaces.

Streets as a social space

As my account of Princes Street shows, streets are not merely part of city infrastructure to enable mobility. Streets are vital social spaces which enable all kinds of other social and economic activities essential to urban living. The way they are organized can enable both social inclusion and social exclusion. Design features will boost access and mobility for some whilst inhibiting participation in activities for others. Allocation of space within the street is crucial for different modes of mobility – public transportation, walkability and the accessibility of facilities along its length. There is a growing number of accounts of a wide range of factors which influence the organization of the street and the extent to which it can fulfil a range of functions for diverse social groups.

The ’right to the city’ and the ‘just street’

This is not the place for a deep discussion of the complex notions of spatial justice, even if I had the competence to do so. Rather I want to highlight a couple of important strands in the literature, and look at their implications for the street in general and Princes Street in particular.

First is the notion of ‘the right to the city’ associated with Lefebvre and based on the principle that people should not be alienated from the spaces of everyday life. The right to urban life should be supported by proper rights of access to work, education, health and accommodation, rights which are difficult to sustain in a free market and competitive environment. Spaces are socially constructed, and as such will reflect the inequalities inherent in these systems, leading to segregation and exclusion of the least advantaged. In relation to spatial justice these same inequalities will be reflected in the shaping of urban spaces and access to its resources.

A just city, as defined by Fainstein (2014), is a city “in which public investment and regulation would produce equitable outcomes rather than support those already well off.” To take this idea to street level, Prytherch sees a just street as one that fairly distributes the rights and responsibilities of mobility in the public sphere, maximizing access for all while reducing inequity between people and the modes they choose to travel, that enhances the capabilities of diverse individuals to enjoy a good life without depriving present or future generations (human and nonhuman) of theirs.

So where does this leave Princes Street?

Streets are contested spaces. This is vividly exemplified on Princes Street in the festive season. There are the strong commercial interests represented in the promotion of the Christmas Market. There are the local retail interests which see boosted footfall from the presence of the Market. There are the travel and hospitality industries which wish to promote the city as a destination to bring as many visitors to the city as possible. There is the City of Edinburgh Council who likewise are keen to see their city portrayed as an attractive place to study and do business with a unique environment and a rich social and cultural heritage.

Then there are the interests of the residents of the city who find their cities main thoroughfare crowded with visitors which can make their own urban mobility more problematic. Some with mobility challenges such as older people and people with disabilities face particular difficulties from crowded footways and public transport.

Others are unhappy at the impact of major events on the unique cityscape of central Edinburgh and the ways in which the public greenspace of Princes Street gardens is re-allocated to commercial interests and especially when inflated prices in the Market and nearby hospitality venues limit or preclude participation in the event.

And then there are those who are homeless with nowhere to sleep or access to money, for whom the street offers very little in any case.

Edinburgh City Council finds itself conflicted: on the one hand keen to boost the economic well-being of the city through offering an attractive location for business and the travel industry. Its decisions on the design and allocation of street space reflect this. On the other, it face pressure from residents and from prominent city associations to recognize the interests of the city population and protect its unique environment and heritage.

There are proposals for a visitor levy, powers for which were given by the Scottish Government in 2023. The City Council would welcome the additional revenue to support public services, but commercial interests fear a ‘tourist tax’. Residents are concerned that the main objective of any levy should be to improve the city for its residential population, mitigating the impacts of mass tourism.

The search for ways to create Princes Street as a just street in the terms cited above continues. It is not only about the physical character of the street, although that is important. It is about the distribution of accessibility and participation it allows for residents and visitors to the amenities it provides. And it is about the political processes available to negotiate changes which are inclusive of the many different interests involved to secure the amenity of public assets, greenspaces, cultural attractions and streetscapes which would benefit residents and visitors alike.

Spatial justice addresses the inequities embedded in social spaces. It is about distribution of access to the facilities of the street, and it is about representation and amplifying the voices of all, including the more marginalized communities in decision-making.

Further reading

Fainstein, S, (2014), The Just City. International Journal of Urban Sciences 18(1)

Lefebvre, Henri (1996), Writings on Cities, Edited by Kofman and Lebas, Cambridge MA, Blackwell

Prytherch, D. (2018). Rethinking the Street as Space of Mobility, Rights, and (In)Justice. In: Law, Engineering, and the American Right-of-Way. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham.