Inclusive Cities: Towards Cities for All



Inclusive Cities:

Towards Cities for All

The most important thing that makes people excluded in cities is the sense of isolation in the midst of all this [wealth]. I think that’s the real crisis today in all cities: citizenship is not universal. It’s like ‘we’ and ‘they’ and the poor are ‘they’. And there’s confusion about whether ‘they’ are citizens.[1]

One of the most unpleasant faces of globalisation has been the expanding gulf between the rich and the poor. The 1999 Human Development report notes that the income gap between the world’s richest and the world’s poorest has increased from 60 to 1 in 1990 to 74 to 1 in 1997.[2] The top fifth of people in the richest countries produce 86 percent of the world’s GDP; the bottom fifth produced just 1 percent. Amidst such unprecedented wealth, the contrast of deepening poverty and social exclusion is shocking.

Nowhere is this contrast more apparent than in cities. University of Chicago sociologist and long-time observer of urban life, Saskia Sassen, describes this contradiction as one between the “glamour zone” and the “war zone”:

“The urban glamour zone has fine restaurants, state of the art buildings, state of the art residences. It has it all: beautiful streets, private security, world class culture… The urban war zone, for me, is a part of the city that has been neglected in terms of basic public services, such as garbage collection… It’s a zone where you have a sense of surplus population, a sense of who needs these people. And also a sense that these people have been robbed of something.”[3]

That “something” that has been taken from the urban poor is their citizenship – the sense of belonging to and contributing to society. “I don’t feel like a citizen of São Paulo,” says Ester, who lives in a slum on the periphery of Brazil’s largest city. “I feel like an animal, an animal that nobody feels sorry for.”[4] As Nigerian commentator, Akin Mabogunje notes, “For most citizens, the local government and particularly their officials are seen as rapacious and corrupt agents of the state... Yet good urban governance requires that all of these people must be made to feel a strong sense of ownership about the city and be involved as citizens in its decision-making processes.”[5] One of the greatest challenges of the coming “urban millennium,” therefore, will be to create a new urban citizenship. “To humanize the city is to build citizenship, making the rights of its inhabitants effective and making possible the exercise of their responsibilities.”[6]

Habitat’s Global Campaign on Urban Governance promotes a vision of the “Inclusive City,” a place where everyone can participate in and benefit from the opportunities cities offer. At the heart of the “Inclusive City” are three inter-related ideas that contribute to the realization of full citizenship: respect for human rights, good urban governance and equitable growth.

By virtue of our common humanity, everyone is entitled to the full realization of their fundamental human rights. The 2000 Human Development Report, building on the theories of Nobel Laureate, Amartya Sen, characterizes these rights into seven core freedoms: freedom from discrimination – for equality; freedom from want – for a decent standard of living; freedom for the realization of one’s human potential; freedom from fear – with no threats to personal security; freedom from injustice; freedom of participation, expression and association; and freedom for decent work – without exploitation.[7] A city that is committed to the full realization of these freedoms is on the path to becoming an Inclusive City.

Human rights, however, must be realized within a society. The quality of urban governance – the way individuals and institutions, public and private, plan and manage the common affairs of the city – therefore is crucial. New roles and relationships between national government, city government, the private sector and civil society are required to address the challenges posed by an urbanizing and globalizing world. This is one of the central messages of the 2001 State of the World’s Cities report: “a country’s global success rests on local shoulders. For the good of all citizens, city and state must become political partners rather than competitors.”[8]

Cities that are committed to realizing human rights and to practicing good urban governance are more likely to ensure that economic growth is equitable. One of the central messages of the 2001 Global Report on Human Settlements is that “inequality weakens the impact of growth on fighting poverty. Indeed, research shows that decreasing inequality can have as much impact on reducing poverty as increasing economic growth.”[9] In short, more equal cities will have a greater impact on poverty reduction than more unequal cities because the distribution of wealth will more effectively reach the urban poor.

But equity and inclusiveness are not only good for poverty reduction, it is also good for growth. As political scientist Richard Stren observes, “Social inclusiveness is an important goal for municipal governance: it is just, it is democratic and it is productive. As the world globalizes, diversity is going to be more, not less important. And the successful governance of diversity will distinguish the most accomplished and creative cities from all the rest.”[10] Wealthier countries, such as the United States, are increasingly recognizing the economic benefits of diversity. “the relatively open immigration policies of the past decade have been a boon to cities – adding to population, and bringing in small-business growth and cultural vitality.”[11] In developing countries, where cities account for 60 to 80 percent of national wealth and where the poor often account for 50 percent of the urban population, diversifying the economy to incorporate the productivity of the poor is an urgent priority.

There are at least six areas where local governments can have an impact on promoting social inclusion, poverty reduction and economic growth.[12] First, most local authorities control access to land and are responsible for land-use planning and regulation. The ease of access, the cost and the location of land available to the poor has a significant impact on their livelihoods. Second, access to infrastructure and basic services highlights the linkages between the health costs incurred by the poor due to unsafe water supply and inadequate health care. Third, the degree of success in local economic development determines the resources available for capital investments in such things as improved access to land, infrastructure and services. Fourth, local economic policies can be supportive of the poor, by promoting labour intensive work methods and providing support for small-scale enterprises and the informal sector. Fifth, local authorities can improve the poor’s access to justice and the enforcement of laws which, if unenforced, most adversely affect the poor (for example, corruption in public office, pollution control and personal safety in informal settlements). Finally, and perhaps most importantly, the ability of the urban poor to influence local decision-making greatly determines the “pro-poorness” of local strategic planning, priority setting and capital investments.

These areas reveal the linkage between urban governance, poverty reduction and social inclusion: progress in poverty reduction depends on the quality of the participation of the urban poor in the decisions affecting their lives and on the responsiveness of urban planning and policy-making processes to the needs of the urban poor and other socially excluded groups.

Through its new Inclusive Cities initiative, Habitat is drawing attention to cities around the world that have achieved noteworthy successes on the path to becoming more inclusive. The initiative is based on the belief that more inclusive urban governance is the key for cities to not only make human rights more effective, but also to make growth more equitable. Some success stories are highlighted below:

Dakar, Senegal: Basic Services for the Poor

More than 70 percent of the urban population in West Africa do not have access to such basic services as safe drinking water, proper drainage and garbage collection. Poor women bear the brunt of these shortcomings, having to spend significant portions of their day collecting water and disposing of waste. As a result, women are more vulnerable to disease and illness. Since 1990, a local non-governmental organisation, ENDA Tiers Monde, has worked with local residents to provide 450 households in the Municipality of Rufisque with private sanitation, of which nearly 200 are linked to waste and water treatment plants through a narrow drainage system. In addition, 20 horse-drawn carriages collect refuse from households and take it to the treatment plants to be sorted. Waste waters and organic refuse are recycled using a process of lagooning with aquatic plants, which produces compost for urban agriculture. The population co-finances approximately 70% of the equipment; in the long run, the costs will be entirely covered by the beneficiaries. The costs recovered by the programme are invested into a community revolving fund for other projects. One of the major impacts of the initiative, however, has been the sense of civic engagement and citizenship created through participation in local development processes.

Porto Alegre, Brazil: Popular Participation in the City Budget

For over a decade, the city of Porto Alegre has been involved in an innovative experiment in the budgetary process. Its “Participative Budget” has institutionalized the participation of civil society through a series of annual meetings that reach down to the very grassroots of the city. Through these meetings, the citizens scrutinize the past year’s expenditures, agree upon current priorities and allocate funds for new projects. Between 15 and 25 percent of Porto Alegre’s annual budget is allocated according to this process. The real success of Porto Alegre’s Participative Budget, however, can be found in the change in the city’s political culture: people feel included in the decisions that affect their lives. Says Jussara Bechstein-Silva, resident of Vila Planetario neighbourhood of Porto Alegre, “I always suffered a lot with discrimination because I was poor. But taking part in the budget made me feel like a human being. I discovered that I have the same rights as a rich person.”[13]

Revolutionizing Local Governance in Naga City, The Philippines

Building on the 1991 Local Government Code which mandated the need for greater participation in local governance, Naga City passed its “Empowerment Ordinance” in late 1995. The Ordinance organized and institutionalized the Naga City People’s Council (NCPC) and set the stage for what has been a revolutionary experiment in local governance. In effect, what some call a “shadow government” has been formed, a civil society counterpart to the City Council. Civil society has been empowered to work closely with the local government to design, implement and evaluate the City’s development agenda. Three priority areas were identified for action under the aegis of the Naga City Participatory Planning Initiatives: the clean up of the Naga River, the management of solid waste and the revitalization of the Naga City Hospital. Reaching down to the village level through civil society-organised task forces and committees, citizen input is contributing enormously to the effectiveness and sustainability of these initiatives.

Vienna, Austria: FAWOS – An NGO working to preventing evictions

Debts, low income and other financial problems are the most common causes of evictions in Vienna. Families with children were more frequently in danger of eviction than childless households. Under current legal provisions, the district courts notify FAWOS, a local non-governmental organisation, of court-issued eviction dates. In response, FAWOS offers counseling on legal issues, financial support and entitlement information, household planning, short-term, intensive social work and financial support. Once they received adequate information, most of the tenants were able to solve the problem by themselves, without any need for further support. Financial support was required only in 8 percent of the cases. As a result, the number of evictions carried out has been reduced by one-third. Since 1998 Fawos has extended it's activities from two Viennese districts to the whole city. In 2000, the Ministry of Justice set out to reform the tenancy laws. One suggestion was to eliminate the hearing session whereby tenants were given a chance to present their views, thus shortening the period of court eviction procedures. This would effectively have shut out the tenants in eviction processes even when landlords were acting out of spite or malice. FAWOS lobbied across the country garnering support from all social institutions to stop the intended modifications. It’s efforts were successful.

-----------------------

[1] Sheela Patel, Director, Society for the Promotion of Area Resource Centres (SPARC), quoted in the TV-E video series, Life II, “City Life,” Programme 1, 2001.

[2] United Nations Development Programme, “Human Development Report,” Oxford University Press, New York, 1999, p.2 (fifth of the world’s population in the richest countries versus the fifth in the poorest countries).

[3] Saskia Sassen, Professor of Sociology, University of Chicago, quoted in the TV-E video series, Life II, “City Life,” Programme 1, 2001.

[4] Ester, quoted in the TV-E video series, Life II, “City Life,” Programme 1, 2001.

[5] Akin L. Mabogunje, “Nigeria and the Good Urban Governance Campaign,” paper presented at the launch of the Global Campaign on Urban Governance in Abuja, Nigeria, 10 April 2001, p. 12-13.

[6] Enrique Ortiz Flores, Habitat International Coalition, in “Towards the City of Solidarity and Citizenship,” UNESCO, 1996, p. 12.

[7] UNDP, Human Development Report 2000, Oxford University Press, New York, 2000, pp. 31-41.

[8] UNCHS, State of the World’s Cities 2001, Nairobi, 2001, p. 109.

[9] UNCHS, Global Report on Human Settlements 2001, Earthscan Press, London, 2001, p. xxviii and pp. 15-23.

[10] Richard Stren, “Thinking About Urban Inclusiveness,” paper prepared for the 18th Session of the Commission on Human Settlements, entitled, “Bridging the Divided City: A Dialogue on Social Inclusion in Cities,” 14 February 2001. See

[11] CEOs for Cities, “Competitive Cities: A New Urban Agenda” Presentation to George W. Bush, 2001, p. 3.

[12] Environment and Urbanization, Volume 11(4), April 2000, pp. 3-11.

[13] Jussara Bechstein-Silva, quoted in “Governing Our Cities: Will People Power Work?” Panos Institute, London, 2001, p. 36.

................
................

In order to avoid copyright disputes, this page is only a partial summary.

Google Online Preview   Download