Applying Moral Principles to Growth Management

Abstract Abstract Different growth management programs provide different levels of benefits to any given community group. Planners must understand the way their growth management programs' goals determine the distribution of benefits among the community's populations. This article presents several possible goal orientations for growth management and argues that programs should be guided by the theory of justice expounded by John Rawls. Using that theory, the planner considering various growth management programs would select the one that provided more benefits to the least-advantaged group than any other program could provide, regardless of its benefits to other groups. After explaining that concept, the author extends it to include equity outside the community's own jurisdiction and proposes an approach that growth managers can use in deciding what their communities owe to people elsewhere who are affected by their decisions.