Changing attitudes: new pathways for civil society in urban development

Should the state be entirely responsible for guiding urban development? Can governments engage with the market and civil society to build sustainable cities? What can be done to ensure that the wealth and development often associated with cities can be more equitably distributed?

A book from Heriot-Watt University’s Centre for Environment and Human Settlements (CEHS) examines the role of communities and how civil society can work with local government and the private sector to promote sustainable urban development. Addressed to urban planners, teachers and students or urban policy and civil society practitioners, it sets out a theoretical framework for understanding institutional development which is tested against findings from eight urban case studies in a range of developing, transitional and developed countries.

The study notes that much commitment to community participation is minimal and superficial. The paternalistic attitudes of institutional stakeholders contribute to the widespread cynicism about wider public participation which already exists in many communities. Business leaders and bureaucrats still seem to be unaware of the limitations of putting the interests of individual consumers before the long-term interests of society. Detailed case studies describe innovations and the obstacles that need to be overcome to establish the role of community self-development in systems of urban governance. These report from:

• Lahore on the innovative roles for civil society and business in the management of industrial pollution and curbing of institutional corruption
• Faisalabad: the way in which a local non governmental organisation (NGO) is working to provide a more consumer oriented form of public transport highlights the need for flexible local innovation to allow civil society actors to assume responsibilities hitherto reserved by the state
• Maputo, where low income housing initiatives remain dogged by incoherent policies on land allocation, registry, subsidies, cost recovery and allocation of institutional responsibilities
• Manila’s attempts to introduce local accountability alongside wider strategic planning mechanisms
• Costa Rica, where experience of community-based organisations negotiating with the state on housing provision reveals the dangers of co-option by political regimes
• South Africa and the post-apartheid demise of social movements around housing issues
• Beijing, where municipal authorities are beginning to be more understanding of the housing needs of migrants they have previously attempted to expel
• the UK, where penetration of the market into local authority housing provision and management, has been accompanied by social and spatial fragmentation.

The book argues that action networking between communities engaged in self-development, in alliance with such civil society actors as development NGOs, churches and trade unions, is needed to nudge governments and the business sector to support more direct forms of participatory democracy.

Further recommendations from the book include:

• recognising that people need to analyse their own problems and fashion their own solutions for development to be effective
• modifying horizontal forms of civil society to build vertical spaces for negotiation with the state
• learning through sharing mutual experiences between cities and countries
• promoting industrial self-regulation combined with more effective regulatory powers of the state over industry.

Source(s):
‘Urban development and civil society: the role of communities in sustainable cities’ by M. Carley, P. Jenkins and H. Smith, Earthscan, 2001 Full document.

id21 Research Highlight: 21 October 2002

Further Information:
Paul Jenkins
Centre for Environment and Human Settlements
School of the Built Environment
Heriot-Watt University
Edinburgh EH14 4AS
Scotland
UK

Tel: +44 (0) 131 451 4186
Fax: +44 (0) 131 451 4617
Contact the contributor: P.Jenkins@sbe.hw.ac.uk

Centre for Environment and Human Settlements, Edinburgh College of Art/Heriot-Watt University, UK

Other related links:
'Providing together: tri-sector partnerships in water and sanitation supply'

'Rethinking poverty assessment: the pros and cons of participatory methods'

'Listen to kids! Involving young people in improving urban environments'

'Capacity for change?: achieving council-citizen co-operation by enhancing the capacity of municipalities'

'Listening to the poor'

'Getting communities involved in infrastructure provision: community partnered procurement'

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