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

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Innovating to Support the Transition to the City of the 21st CenturyWorking on the five ‘spokes’: Interdependencies andinteractions among the five ‘spokes’ in the ‘wheel of urbanprosperity’ (productivity, infrastructure, quality of life,equity and environmental sustainability) can be deliberatelyenhanced (as opposed to being allowed to occur all bythemselves) through the strategies and interventions thatare part and parcel of urban planning. More specifically, itis in the power of a well-planned decision or well-calibratedchoice in one dimension of prosperity − for example, thedesign of a street supporting multimodal transport as partof the infrastructure development of the city − not just tomake that particular part of the urban space more accessibleor pedestrian-friendly, but in the process also to improveproductivity (shops, street-trading, etc.), quality of life andsocial inclusion (see Box 3.2.1.).Financial support: For urban planning to work moreefficiently as an urban power function, it must be reinforcedfrom a financial and legal point of view. Cities need morepermanent funding mechanisms to support the provisionof public goods and the design and implementation ofsustainable technical solutions if their performance andfunctionality are to be improved.Few cities or countries are in a proper legal position todo that, and where they are, they find themselves faced withsystematic interference by special interest groups or politicalexpediency. 40 Here again, the public interest must prevail,and governments must look to improve and enforce themechanisms that enable local authorities to capture urbanland and site values, in the process generating the revenuesneeded to extend prosperity to the poorest areas. 41Expanding Prosperity:Changing City LandscapesIn many cities, urban planning has been instrumentalised bythe real estate business. Cities that respond to the interestsof the better-off or only focus on strategic economicinterventions in specific spaces tend to create enclaves ofprosperity for a select few.Urban planning can beso unrealistic or overambitiousas to overlookpolicy UN-Habitatcalls fora fresh, different type the need to steer andof urban planning and control spatial expansion,design – one that haswith large parts of the citythe power to transformignoring existing plans orcity landscapes andexpand existingregulations. “The city fallsenclaves of prosperity out of the map, makingto the entire city.it irrelevant”, deplorespolicyRestoring urban planning at the central point of the‘wheel’, where a solid and efficient institutional ‘hub’holds together, controls and activates the five ‘spokes’ , can onlyenhance the conditions for sustained, shared prosperity.policyan expert in PanamaLand legislationCity. 42 Either by action orand planningomission, this type of urban must combine to putplanning contributes tomunicipal authoritiesin a better position tothe production of spatialextract land values andinequities, rather thanrelated capital gains, withbetter shared prosperity.the additional revenueThis reinvigoratedavailable for the funding ofnotion of urban planninginfrastructure extensionscomes with a new valueand other projects.system that relies oneffective institutions, welladaptedlaws and regulations, sustainable urban solutions andactive civic involvement in public affairs. This type of planningsignals a paradigm shift towards a new urban pattern − thecity of the 21st century: a city that can better respond to thechallenges of our age, optimizing resources to harness thepotentialities of the future; a people-centred city, one that iscapable of transcending the inefficient, unsustainable GS20Cmodel, in the process integrating and nurturing the fivedimensions of urban prosperity as defined in this Report.However, if urban planning is to be reinvigorated, itmust shift away from the ‘spoke’ of productivity, where it hasbeen predominantly operating these past several decades,to the centre of the ‘wheel’, right in the ‘hub’: indeed thisis where, as an urban power function, planning will be in abetter position to make its beneficial influence felt across allthe ‘spokes’, increasing thescope of shared prosperityacross the whole of theThe 21stcity. This will, of course,policy century is in ainvolve political choicesposition to ensure equitableand commitments, whichdevelopment, preservemust be turned into tools, the natural environment,regulations and sustainable promote inexpensive energysources, provide necessarytechnical solutions, whichinfrastructures and ensurewill be all the betterinclusive economic growth.accepted by society at large The city of the 21st centuryas they are seen to embed builds the conditions ofshared prosperity across the prosperity for all.whole urban space.111
State of the World’s Cities 2012/2013Facilitating Access to ‘Commons’,Providing Public Goods, ImplementingSustainable SolutionsFacilitating Access to ‘Commons’: A prosperous cityfacilitates equitable access to the ‘commons’. These includewater, air, biodiversity, knowledge and other sharedresources, including public infrastructure, together withmore intangible forms like a better environment, sense ofidentity and cultural and symbolic spaces that in principlebelong to everyone.Cities with islands of prosperity tend to enclose the‘commons’, restrict their use to a selected few, or depletethem through unsustainable use.Prosperous cities require ‘commons resource pools’,which can take the form of institutional arrangements whereconflicts are solved through negotiation, and consensus isbuilt for decision-making. ‘Commons’ also include any legalor statutory provisions facilitating community participationin planning decisions, available quality information,transparency as well as cultural norms and social compacts.Some public goods, such as community civic centres,will often be found to function as ‘space commons’,facilitating the integration of marginal and voiceless groups,in the process promoting pluralism and diversity, which areinseparable from shared prosperity.Providing public goods 43 : A prosperous city makes aprofusion of public goods available to all: efficient publictransport, educationalopportunities, healthcare,quality public spaces suchpolicy UN-Habitat’sreinvigoratedas libraries, recreationnotion of urban planning areas, parks and openinvolves sustainable use spaces, etc. A substantialand equitable access to part of urban well-beingthe ‘commons’ throughis derived from access toappropriate policies andand consumption of theseschemes.public goods, which inprinciple must be ‘nonexcludable’(everyone canIn general, theenjoy their benefits) andfact production AND ‘non-rivalry’ (individualenjoyment of public goods consumption of the goodrely on a set of ‘commons’does not decrease thesuch as better connectivity,amount available forpublic security and safety,predictability, property rights consumption by others). 44under their various forms,Enclaves of prosperitystreet nomenclature, etc. ‘fence in’ or restrict theavailability of public goods,concentrating public investment in selected areas only,limiting access and privatizing control over a number ofsuch goods.The provision of public goods contributes toeconomic advancement with environmental preservationand quality of life, which, incidentally, are fundamental‘smart growth’ concerns, too. 45 Bogotá has transformedits own landscape with a variety of public goods such asmulti-modal transport, social infrastructure and qualitypublic spaces that have contributed to sharing more ofthe benefits of prosperity with poor and middle-incomeneighbourhoods. Still in Colombia, Medellín has resortedto bold civic architecture, public spaces and other publicgoods in a bid to enhance collective prosperity. Involvementof urban planning with education, culture, infrastructure,safety and community development has enabled themunicipality to connect poor barrios (which, according tothe head of municipal planning, “always had lots of energy,but were disconnected from the city”) with more affluentneighbourhoods, in the process planting the seeds of mutualtrust and expanding shared prosperity. 46Acting from the ‘hub’ of the ‘wheel for prosperity’,urban planning can identify strategies and plan for optimalproduction of public goods, in the process contributingto social capital, enhancing sense of place, safety andsecurity, integrating social groups (e.g., youth), andincreasing the economic value of the areas where thesegoods are provided. This strategy can generate widespreadbenefits to all urban residents, expanding prosperity acrossdifferent areas. Such prosperity in turn can be leveraged formaintenance and further enhancement of public goods.Implementing Sustainable Solutions: Prosperous citiesmust plan and implement a variety of technical solutionsto improve the functionality of the city and achieve asustainable urban form.Although solutions canvary according to localconditions, UN-Habitatpolicy Areinvigoratedhas identified a numbernotion of urban planningof key interventions inwould give any cityvarious areas to assist the tighter public controltransition away from the over the use of land,current “Global Standard change the form andfunction of citiesUrbanization Model of thebased on sustainable20th Century” (GS20C),development principles,which is unsustainableas well as expand theon many accounts, to the provision of, and accesscity of the 21st century.to, public goods.112
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Chapter 1.1Conceptualizing UrbanPro
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Part Two
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