Rural accessibility, social inclusion and social justice: towards conceptualisation John Farrington a, * , Conor Farrington b a Department of Geography and Environment, University of Aberdeen, Elphinstone Road, Aberdeen AB24 3UF, UK b Department of Geography, University of Cambridge, Downing Place, Cambridge CBR 3EN, UK Abstract AccessibilityhasbecomeestablishedasamainstreampolicygoalintheserviceoftheUKGovernmentÕsaimsofachievinggreater social inclusion and social justice. It is argued that a better understanding of the relationship between conceptualisations of acces- sibilityandthesepolicyaimswouldbeofvalueinunderstandingthepotentialofaccessibilitytocontributetopolicy.Theaimofthis paper is to contribute to this understanding. Thepaperdiscussesaconceptualframeworkplacingaccessibilitycentrallyinthesocialjusticeandsocialinclusionagenda.The locationoftheideaofaccessibilityintheruralcontext,andasa ÔruralchallengeÕ,istraced.Itsrelationshipwithwelfaregeography, and its essentially normative nature, are discussed, and connections with need are made. Itissuggestedthatthereisnotjustoneaccount,eitherofwhat,intermsofaccessibility,people ÔneedÕ,orwhattheyexperience. Neithercantherebejustoneaccountofwhataccessibilitypeople ÔshouldhaveÕ.Theideasof ÔabsoluteÕ and ÔrelativeÕ accessibilityare referredto.A ÔnestedÕ frameworkissetoutwhichrelatessocialinclusionandaccessibility,inturn,tosocialjustice.Alternativephi- losophiesofsocialjusticeareexplored,andaccessibilityisdiscussedinthecontextsofphilosophicalpositionsonneeds,rights,wants and deserts. The development of accessibility as a policy element is analysed. Setting greater accessibility as a goal is a potentially powerful driver of policy because it requires that policy sectors interact: otherwise the goal of achieving greater accessibility as a means of greater social inclusion and social justice cannot be fully attained. It is concluded that the new narrative of accessibility, if itself soundly conceptualised, is a sine qua non for the social justice project. Ó 2004 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved. Keywords: Accessibility; Rural; Policy; Social justice; Social inclusion 1. Introduction Accessibilityisaconceptwhichhascomeofage.No longer solely a transport, or rural, geographerÕswayof expressing an ideological goal, or merely shorthand for aresearchparadigm,ithasgainedacceptanceasapolicy goal. Established in the 1960s and 70s as an important idea in understanding human experience and life chances,theaccessibilitydiscoursehasenteredUKpol- icy debates about social exclusion and social justice in the New Labour Governments, arguably before the establishmentofaclearunderstandingoftheaccessibil- ityconceptanditsinter-relationshipswiththesebroader concepts. The aim of this paper is to contribute to this understanding. The paper discusses a conceptual framework placing accessibility centrally in the social inclusion and social justice policy agenda. It emphasises the significance of the accessibility conceptÕs place in this agenda—explor- ing some of its implications in the process—and thus seeks to demonstrate its utility. The main focus is on the Western context: if the discussion can contribute to other contexts it will realise greater value. 0966-6923/$ - see front matter Ó 2004 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved. doi:10.1016/j.jtrangeo.2004.10.002 * Corresponding author. Tel.: +44 1224 272328. E-mail address: j.farrington@abdn.ac.uk (J. Farrington). www.elsevier.com/locate/jtrangeo Journal of Transport Geography 13 (2005) 1–12