ABSTRACT
The purpose of this chapter is to discuss Rawls’s perspective of justice as fairness and to apply his ideas to the discipline and profession of urban and regional planning. In A T h eo ry o f J u s tic e (1971), Rawls explained that in much modern moral philosophy “the predominant systematic theory has been some form of Utilitarianism” (p. vii),1 which can be said to be concerned with the greatest good or the greatest happiness, sometimes for the greatest number (Allison 1975; Brown 1986; MacIntyre 1985; Sillence 1986; see chapter 1). However, Rawls’s 30
objection to this approach to decision making is that it does not take seriously the distinction between persons (p. 27). Individuals are consid ered as being equal in utilitarianism, whereas manifestly human beings are unequal and only some are born with qualities that enable them to compete successfully under free market conditions. Furthermore, the interests of minority groups tend to be outnumbered in a utilitarian approach to decision making.
