state of the world's cities 2012/2013 - United Nations Sustainable ...

State of the World’s Cities 2012/2013Re-positioning Urban Planning at theHub of the Wheel of Prosperity“The city has many scars to treat and many wounds to cure;urban planning is powerless to do that” 38 , claims an expert inSanto Domingo (Dominican Republic). Still, in the 50 citiessurveyed by UN-Habitat in 2011, efficient urban planningand urban management are perceived as the most importantconditions for sharedprosperity. 39For any revival orIf urban planningpolicyreinvigoration of urbanis to be in abetter position to address planning to take placethe shortcomings of the in the pursuit of sharedGS20C model, both theory prosperity, four conditionsand practice must come must be met: (i) restorationunder serious review toof public confidence; (ii)‘rescue’ the discipline fromrepositioning of urbanits role as a mere technicaltool, restoring it to itsplanning in decision-rightful position in the publicsphere.making; (iii) deployment of the fullness of its functionsacross the five dimensions of shared prosperity; and (iv)support for these functions with adequate financing.Restoration of confidence: Public confidence mustbe restored in the capacity of urban planning (alongsideother urban power functions) to represent the interests ofall the population – including the poor, women, children,youth, elderly or disabled people, immigrants and ethnicminorities – so that the public, collective interest prevails atall times and across the whole jurisdiction over any other,and more particularly the vested or special interests of therich and powerful.Repositioning: If it is to play this stronger role to thefull, urban planning must be re-positioned. No longer amere technical functionality, urban planning must sit at thecore of urban power. Urban planning can only be as goodas the values it represents and the governance mechanismsthat frame it.policyAs a decisionmakingtoolurban planning must betterdefend the ‘public’ againstthe menace of everexpanding‘private’ interestsand its consequences:shrinking public spacesand reduced provision ofpublic goods, which affectmore collective, intangibledimensions like qualityof life, social interaction,cultural identity and socialvalues.factVery oftenplanning hasfailed to represent correctlycollective values andagreements, insteadof contributing to theperpetuation of the urbandivide with daunting,outdated, irrelevantrequirements.Box 3.2.2Streetwise versus Petrol-Powered ProsperityIn Peru’s capital Lima, it has taken ‘only’ an open-air public staircase all the way downhill to the citycentre to change the name of an informal settlement from fearful ‘Quick Sands’ to ‘The Belt of Hope’.This goes to show the regenerating power of planning for urban public spaces and their decisive rolein shared prosperity – well away from the constraints of the outdated automobile-based model ofurban development.Indeed, public spaces, as symbolized by ‘the street’, can make significant contributions tosocioeconomic prosperity, if only they are adequately configured. The street acts as the interfacebetween public and private spaces, with retail businesses and jobs dependent on the quality of thepedestrian environment. In British towns, customers were found to spend nearly twice as muchwhen walking instead of driving. In Mexico, research has shown that ‘walkability’ improves homeand land values.Public spaces provide the physical support for urban infrastructure. However, particularly inthe developing world, streets are designed mainly for motorized traffic, overlooking the humandimension and only adding to congestion with more or wider streets. The resulting huge imbalancein transport options damages other aspects of urban functionality. A number of cities havesought to counter this trend in a variety of ways. As early as 1962 motor vehicles were bannedfrom Copenhagen’s main street and bicycle commuting was facilitated. In Melbourne, improvedsidewalks, new pedestrian streets, squares and urban design have together increased pedestriantraffic by 39 per cent in daytime and 100 per cent at night. Combined with other modes of populartransport like biking and walking, Bus Rapid Transport (BRT) has spread from Curitiba (Colombia)to Jakarta, Bogotá, Guatemala City, Guangzhou, Istanbul, Mexico City, Brisbane and Los Angeles,among others.Upgraded and better designed public spaces have the potential to improve overall quality of life.In Cape Town under the Dignified Places Programme, more than 40 projects have brought dignity,beauty and better functionality to various areas, in the process demonstrating that after decades ofrepression it was once again possible to meet and talk in a shared space.110