Affective injustice and built environments: bringing together analytical and phenomenological insights

Abstract

The concept of affective injustice refers to harms inflicted upon someone in their affective capacity. Spatial or ecological injustices are subtypes of affective injustices that occur in relation to built environments, involving the limitation of spatial agency and powerlessness. In this paper I will review recent work on these concepts in order to map out how they employ a toolkit from both the analytical and phenomenological traditions. Specifically, these types of investigations seek to both clarify concepts and to capture the relevant lived experiences. I will further argue that a similar, if not even closer connection between the two, is required to further develop these investigations. Given the importance of the topic beyond philosophy, particularly in relation to urban studies, a broader point is that in order to address practically relevant issues, philosophical investigations need to move beyond the traditional divisions.

Keywords: injustice, affection, body, architecture, environment