Volumefoiur 17-5/2 THE s URBAN A RGE Numberwo August 1996 H A B I T A T I I - A R E T R O S P E C T I V E The Legacy of Habitat II IN THIS ISSUE I The Legacy of Habitat Hl by by Eric Carlson Eric Carlson 8 Habitat II: A Critical Assess- RANCHO SANTA FE. The Second United Nations Conference on Conference genesis ment by Michael Cohen Human Settlements (Habitat 11) held in Istanbul, Turkey, from June 3 to 9 The Right to Housing Debate 14, represents the culmination of decades of efforts by the UN and This conference, of course, has its by Michael A. Stegman other agencies to deal with the vast panorama of problems and sectors roots in Habitat 1, which was held 20 10 The Private Sector: An affecting the sustainability of planet Earth in supporting a rapidly years earlier in Vancouver in 1976. Afterthought? by Charles increasing and urbanizing human population. Habitat ] was designated by the UN Landry It was a remarkablc event and increased the pace toward democrati- General Assembly as a Conference- I IImplementing Habitat II's zation of the UN and other intemational development assistance Exposition on Human Settlements. Objectives: The Role of institutions and programs. It also set forth recommendations and The conference adopted the Declara- UAnnick Salomon concepts that can be acted upon immediately by governments, the tion of Vancouver and 64 recommen- 12 Ahmeabad's Credit Rating: private sector, and nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) in all dations for national implementation. Building the Basics for Better countries, North and South. The broad results of the conference were Following the Vancouver Confer- Urban Finance by Margaret the following: ence, a new United Nations Centre for Bergen * provided a place in the UN system for other than national govern- Human Settletnents (UNCHS) (Habi- 14 Partnership in Action by ments; tat) was organized and located in Patralekha Chatterjee ' laid a basis for substantive input from local authorities, profes- Nairobi under the supervision of the 15 Children at Habitat y by sional bodies. and public and private sector; and 58-member UN Commission on ' emphasized the important role of private individuals and market Human Settlements. It took a while 16 Violence and Its Effects on forces. _ _. for UNCHS to organize itself. How- Women's Access to Social ever, the number of technical coopera- 17 East-Central European Urban tion projects assigned to it grew and Housing Indicators System rapidly. by JozsefHegedus and Ivan Meanwhile, there were several key Tosics developTents inthe houing and 18 Best Practices in Istanbul... developments in the housing and and After by Szilard Fri csaI habitat area. One was the initiative in Sri Lanka for an International Year of ShelterfortheHomeless,to be D[PRRTMENTS celebrated in 1987. In response, the _UN General Assembly adopted a 2 Letters to the Editor Global Strategy for Shelter to the 3 WolViwTeCaenef _ / Year 2000. This is still m cficct. ~~~~~~3 World View The Challenge of a / ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~Year 2000. This is still in effect. Our Times by Bella S. A'bzug .1 buttressed by a special comnponent 7 Interview with Wally N'Dow, on housing and urban finance. Assistant Secretary-General, Next, the private sector UNCHS (Habitat) became engaged: the National 7 Conversation with Shasqat Association of Realtors sponsored Kakakhel, Pakistan's High Commissioner to the United three International Shelter Confer- Nations Centre for HRunan ences in Washington, D.C. (I 1984), Settlernents (Habitat) Vienna (1986), and Washington. 13 Featured Columnist Life After D.C. (1989). These well-organized Habitat 11 in Istanbul by Andrew r events were sponsored by private Finkel sector entities and attracted a high 20 Mayor's Column Habitat It: A Time and a Place to Share Ideas level ofparticipation. The recommen- by Nat Nuno-Amnurteifio dations were sharply drawn and 22 Books clear-the main message was that 23 The Urban Calendar governments should serve as facilita- -contilued on page 4 l w. , _ tv !lllliAllul',lul- - - - - - -- -- -- -- -- - Danida M> ~tITMI MlI Hoursing lo,O5&c,uamA ,kt, We welcome vourcommenrts, thouights, andsuggestions aboutThe Urban Age. Ran,nt, F ieassnn eanadieno,r ns nnunlinialilr U |ftlbIn Editor: salvation in its quest for "resistance from Rt 1 i eat ruin." _ Reqromme : Camilo Vergara's article "The New Ameri- Jan C. Mfabshingaidze Thisissu. ofThe Urb.nAgeisfundedbytheDanih .can Ghetto: Spirit of Survival" (Vol. 4, No. Chief Planning Officer Agenh yforinternationagDevelopent,dthe I) evoked some bittersweet memories of a Department of'Physical I'lanniing FederationofCanaldialmeutnicpcy)theFanaieMae 1 0-month period I spent in the United States Aifasvingo. Zimthbabwe OfficeofHousingReseauch,andtheWorldBank. under the Hubert H. Humphrey Fellowship Developmentalfundinghasbeenprovidedbythe Program. Vergars article graphically Editor: UNDP-TNCHS(Habitat)-WoddBankUrban ManagerrentProgrammeandtheWorldf3ank. portrays the feelings of a person from a developing countrv on seeing America's I wish to commend you on the recent issue __lliti cities for the first time. There is more to on the Human Environment of Cities (Vol. 3, them than the glitter usuallv associated with No. 2). In particular, Ismail Serageldin's ICb BLEgmToarn urban America overseas. "'The Human Face of tlhe Urban Environ- ICLEI, Toronto. Canada James H. Car What made the article particularly ment" and Michael Cohen's "The Challenge Fannie Mae Foandation, nostalgic for mc were the photographs of the of Habitat 11" raise numerous unresolved WaShington, DC., USA Bronx in New York City and Watts in Los questions regarding the city's environmental UNDP, NeMv York, USA Angcles, both of which I had visited. These agenda for the future. Forming international Charles Cotea two areas demonstrate that there is still life in partnerships to resolve these questions is not Bombay, India zsuzsa Daniel the ghetto. I have fond memories of commu- ottly essential, but a prerequisite for ftiture Research Institute, Minisoy of Finance nity redevelopment efforts by civic groups cooperation and coordination at the global Budapest, Hungary like the Mid-Bronx Desperadoes and several level to develop enviromtnentally sustainable Manmadnu Diop Dakar Metropolitan Community groups in south-central Los Angcles, as well cities and habitat for and by all men and Dakar, Senegal as by local governments like Mercer womsten. Deveaopmen PlanningUnit County's Department of Housing and Tar aSingh C/hana University College, London. England Commtinity Development around Trenton' s Intitiator Th. H. Knitter aefotPak iyc Dutch Minstryv oJ Foreign Affairs Waterfront Park. Cityner The Hague, The Netherlands Local initiative, buttressed by extemal Nairobi, Kenya AprodUcio Laquent support, seems to be the ghetto's only UBC Centrefor Hluman Settlements Vancouver, Canada Akin Maboeirje loadan, Nigeria Editor Note Mohamad Machnouk L Note Eco Beirut, Beirut Lebanon Pablo Tfivelit Wh,, insoc csmmnnmni' urban massana If,thin I-hs a qa-sac ia-ih,, 16,000 paca,paans,a -hs Saeond Uiicd N.as,s C,nt,cf-s- UMP Regional Coordinatorfor Latin America an Hanao SaislnSa1 a, (tabi-ai tIc ksn-n alce as Stc Ci> Summsil hcld in tasanhal. Tucks,y in tuns are n- aawkieg. lhen is, acsta'--ae and the Caribbean, Quito, Ecuador succeede d. JaiTne Vatenzuela T7h shs,- s 1 thc contInsn wene adeqaualeshede Ior alt and hsasain human - -s-lsonts dsut-estpm, in -n c'basiaing mnIda IULAICELCADEL, Quito, Ecuador ca iaonsn:sas tha ar shi na-hen asan irahnasida>mandates anai d" P-on-e tchmn T r hsard nahisa StI macit-s Emiel Wegelin agcca sIbh Qi cs,aocs. Institute ojHousing and Urban T--'c mesa auvc hcann'sint innananiana as she cunfincacs sash ,n Sc isals-ajn coonw and c-acia1 -ciaaa ic 5h, U.N. -t -cnc - Development Studies, TheNertherlands Thcsc ineic shc cneoisna tute NG05 (nungosemnsnscn,l cngisiiaal.asnl Fresass thasn ra, as n Mtricinst nccn its dsinasiicls lficcliecu risncceS D einclasionuoruscat gThnsNeenth ariseaaandslIotasat acsidcussinihoOiasaaaa longccialan asicliavicsasua IhC impprsnsacnoftivaeein oviantonerorci-i. and assh, s mniucoai W ion -chnclcg> sanamc Su at ,n rr th s i-nu wc 9s nS,ssnae escjn,ce cis nnecnail>ash nclialise i sha n Idas laSa-c has icess seaI A. an-enci e ailh Sl D-um asshis,c>s h..sin. ciglcds sI; ihi Icad is I-rn E,nc Ca 1st cnfg iies HchiaefhHnuhilap tgees; MInh Ah,--,adc,.icts n Anif Hasan ch,u G-uc Edi-uiatl ahI. ISc cui-n uS oeans and child,,, mus- bn h-ad en-ds, Sc, us .u sicas Sail>. paucide adeqnass nhclsos lor all. Karachi, Pauistan ciccinist ned rue hiss,, ul iLcdua, ccii- , ahs hf senuik s t shic ...Idh- ets hal- b a- c Nunu- A n.Siu inke, sescih, HildaHerzer Uha-,nn- is 19 hi, -canor se c.utn-cf-n- pnnpan,-iu- en-cens nad ,hus hn u.iused f(sm hI r,,nsndingn Centro Estudias Sociales y Ambientales Buenos Aires, Argentina Weseac- ii a Ne DelIhi, India. n d-n noems b fdid n Hn giai It b-ha idd h.,, Isi tlAN, c B.ilish chitd-i GO Peter Swan d-nscihis Sslcoscii,tlsnci-ncs -d-nh,,g ,,dacasu -nn iedgesuasad -adnadna-c -asinais id Kiga-n, J-aaidasd- ciu5 , ,. . r.,.,ew~~~~---i . r, --Gsi.g pr.bl-m aoi-Td wilh voec.Th,..,h a covra i1nwh Sh,,1`,,, K,,Ak.k1,[,l. wh minda l dsr UJNLCHSRegional Programomefor Communi Ic - prC--iO- nai nesst, ,s -hav-a-n nraciss nd m u ahacsssensi misS hu-a-- b stkha- I w- - hs - -ui, -daol-sd Deaaelopment in Asia, Thailand, Bangkok i.n.a..i.s I nd haca icon od 'he h-spvllii,g -aic-of ciOhinas 1S. olsThesnow,rc risaoy >asa.smend qnaucsao OWas 1h, q-alnnioa goaoinm onssia;l.dist clher e annnciahnlp -vidn hos.ina aein,n- i-e I I I lilt I I cc~~s ouch Wh,neman psicase uduasas as SH,hisa t. aI, un-ia a-kad bdhe ua Chc. lts,] Lasdnyd Whu,s kind cf tflun p millnhtnnb,,? Will I II I tcuesssi,ninsesllcaoineaiiln~~~iaatpecl--ng che, Ag-nda? Accra Alioune Badiane -chi-ev a ssii fe vhsin uof snas ainfhlh human nannemeena nod ,,cavminmoa c Pn-ttohand wn b sgrnnancuo ealis a(heighi i. UMP Regional Coordinatorfur Afdrca adeqnK h.ing aapoided fIr ininT-ainai Denrio) may n -- n rel, N., j- lh-uh hc Cairo Randa Fouad, UMP Arab States foit-ssncrc nf,n-n--n ohs Saae h igned iho ,o,larasiao han b h-o indisid-l enihna Sac h- ons thi ans 20 yanna plaening Sc' aabinai 11. Regional information Advisor -n p.ani s cneinainauing - iomicn no H.binas- innns -he sullBnin suacd hiahlighbia in e 11-s.ing Sclluo-au iniciasiana. An a1-yas wc Agdi Riad, Head ofEnvironment -lco- cn- th-ughi -ad con- on-h i Department, AlAhram Musganes s.igen Quito Alberto Rosero UMP Latin America and Caribbean Office The Urban Ageaims to stimulate livelydebate and interaction on various topics in developedand developing countries. The ideas expressedin articleuappearing inTheUrban Agerefleci thepersonal . i. i7rcomments of each author, and are not representative ofany one agency or organization. Individualarticles *m i M.''. & & I ^ LappearinginThe UrbanAgemay be reproducedorreprintedprovidedtheoauthor(s) andThe UrbanAgeare Managing Editor Mrgaret &rgen cited, anda courtesy copy is senrtoTheUrbanAge. Produerton Michelle Zonk Distribution Lillian Lyons THE URRRR HOE r----------------------------- The Challenge of Our Times 3ella S. Abzug is president of the Women's Environment and Developmlent Organization (WEDO) in New York City and a former United States On1gresswoman. EW YORK CITY. I'm a Just consult the latest United multilateral responsibility to family planning, credit city woman. born and bred. Nations Developnment provide the basics: sanitation, without collateral, counting Count me as one of the "I Programme's Human Develop- health services, education, unremunerated work, the Love New York" crowd. ment Report to examine the property rights, credit, affordable negative impact on women of 3ut as a citizen of our planet, I hollowness of global economic child care, clean water and air, a structural adjustment, equal right ,vorry xvhen I learn that within the growth-growth that is all too decent environmnent, and other to inheritance, recognition of the iext 10 years more than half the often 'jobless, ruthless, voiceless, survival necessities. Govern- family in its various forms, world's population will live in rootless or futureless." lt is a ments reaffirmed that everyone eradication of and legal protection ,ities, and millions will be serious challenge to the World has a right to an adequate stan- from discrimination, access to -rowding into megacities with Bank, capable of attracting some dard of living for themselves and shelter and basic services, and )opulations of over 10 million. Of of the world's most talented their families and to the continu- equal access to ownership and 14 such megacities, 11 are in the minds, to figure out how to ous improvement of living control of land and other proper- leveloping world, which means "engender human development" conditions drawing on past human ties. hat most of the inhabitants are _ Despite the efforts of a small Door-and most of the poor are We cannot otir group of governuents, a gender wornen and children. Thirteen c solve approach to shelter and human -nore megacities are expected to cities problems until those who settlements was approved. The umerge in the next 20 years, all in basic consensus was that gender is he developing world. suffer mostfrom them are powerfiul integral to the analyses of all That's why I and hundreds of to promote s issues. In addition, a separate Aher women from around the enough topo oesol ufions. commitment was agreed to that world went with an action agenda makes gender equality a goal in .o the United Nations City Summit and make growth serve the rights provisions. human settlements development. a Istanbul in June. It was a interests of the bottom half of the Governments also agreed to Women in the WEDO network ,onference about the future of the economic pyramid. make all corporations, including will keep habitat issues at the xorld's cities. Women's interests transnational corporations, follow political center by linking Habitat tnd concerns and gender issues More than a safe home the rules and act in socially II to the earlier Beijing Platform were a big part of that discussion. responsible ways, to invest and for Action implementation. We Women from hundreds of cities, When you ask women what they reinvest in the communities in are using various means to do so, :owns, and communities partici- most necd, they often answer "a which they work, in partnership including the Huairou Commis- 3ated in large numbers, in addition safe home" or a "good environ- with the people living there. sion, the Contract with the .o women in official government ment to raise my family." This is the challenge of our World's Women campaign, and a delegations. Women must have access to times. We cannot let new report by WEDO entitled credit, without collateral if they globalization-that is, the Beyond Promises: Governments 4 steep road ahead are poor, to earn income and for economic forces driven by in Mjotion One Year After the housing. Women should be able unbridled greed and transnational Beijing Women 's Conference. We Despite the impressive progress to inherit their homes and land corporations that build markets are using the Habitat process of women have made over the last upon the death of their spouse or rather than communities-and the building partnerships with all the few decades- particularly in parents. Some 40 percent of pressures from poverty, migra- key delegations in our countries. :)rganizing together through the families are headed by women, tion, and urbanization crush the We are working with parliamen- Women's Caucus to influence and the number is increasing as future of our children, especially tarians and other government 3fficial government deliberations globalization erodes communities, young women. representatives to implement at UN conferences-the road Women need to earn a living Beijing and Habitat and bring our ihead is rocky and steep. Over the wage and have their unpaid work Toward gender equality laws into full compliance with next 10 years, women's move- valued and counted. Yes, it is these agreements. rnents around the globe have lots true that women are the majority We cannot solve our cities' The World Bank and if work to do. If the World Bank of the world's homemakers. But problems until those who suffer multilaterals can keep Habitat on Is smart, it will get behind us and we are not miracle-makers. We most from them are powerful its radar screen by promoting ather movements of social change. cannot create healthy homes, enough to promotc solutions. broad support for civil socicty; It's in everybody's long-term best families, and communities What can we do to expand recognizing the need for and interests. without the basics. gender-balanced dialogue and acting to rebuild critical social Let's face it: We are living in discussion at every level of safety nets, ladders, and bridges; desperate times. I've often said Yes to basic rights decisionmaking? and promoting engendered social that I think the world is suffering The official Habitat II recom- development that invests in from a global nervous breakdown. Habitat tI was a loud, resounding, mendations cover health care, women and helps to build Ihe evidence is overwhelming, global "yes" to government and sexual reproductive health and communities-not markets. 13 THE OR9RN RCE 4,,.,,,t 7QQ6 HABITAT II continuedfrom page 1 tors and not providers of housing. This was a reversal of one of the Conference, where they added to the excitement and energy of the fundamental Vancouver recommendations. environment by organizing varied events, demonstrations, and activi- In May 1992, one important initiative that early on promoted the ties. inclusion of human settlement issues was the World Urban Forum Later, Habitat I gave rise to the ITN-NGO Committee on Human 2 that was sponsored by the United Nations Development Settlements; this has since been converted in name and structure to thi Prograrnme and the Urban Management Programme in Curitiba, Habitat International Coalition (HIC), which has grown significantly i Brazil. The UN Conference on Environment and Development membership and influence. With headquarters in Mexico City, much (UNCED), held in Rio de Janeiro in June 1992, was also expected to of HIC's initiatives and responsibilities have devolved to its member feature problems of the urban environment. However, in the prepara- regional organizations. With Habitat II, HIC achieved new status-as tory meetings, human settlements had no place on the agenda. Finally, well as victory for many of its major causes. NGOs will now also hax a special chapter in the UNCED Agenda 21-the conference's impres- a key responsibility for activating and implementing the Habitat sive Global Plan of Action-was finally allocated to human settle- Agenda. ments. Another major breakthrough of Habitat II was to enlist the participi tion of mayors and representatives of local govemments. They were How the world has changed given the opportunity to speak at conference sessions. A World Assembly of Cities and Local Authorities met at Istanbul for two days For Habitat II, the new pressing issues, dominant program prin- before the conference. Mayors were speakers or panelists at various ciples, and strategies for human settlements development have moved conference forums and other events. They will be the basis of a toward democracy, human rights, participation, sustainability, decen- permanent and growing constituency for participation in future UN an tralization of government, women's empowerment, and public-private other international events. partnership. This is quite a transformation since Habitat 1. Habitat II highlights The Secretary General's report H-labitat II will takes account of the following: be remembered for its role Habitat II had two * World population has - objectives: "Adequate Shelter doubled in the last 20 years from in gearing up public understanding for All" and "Human Settlemen 3 to 6 billion. By the year 2000, and institutional capabilities to Development in an Urbanizing there will be 23 cities with over World." Despite this rather 10 million in population. finance and implement habitat broad wording, Habitat II did * Urban population has a quite well in achieving its aims. increased even more rapidly, at a building and renovation in In fact, it established important rate 2.5 times faster than rural communities large and small, parameters for future global areas. By 2015, estimates show conferences. that the world will contain around while improving the quality - Participation. Over 560 cities with more than 1 of life the can offer in 3,000 delegates from 171 million people and dozens with J J Y JJ countries attended, as well as more than 10 million. the third millennium. some 300 parliamentarians, 579 * Despite vast increases in local authorities, 89 special wealth and gross national product agency representatives, 341 in some countries, the proportion of people below poverty levels has people from intergovernmental organizations, and 2,400 NGO repre- continued to increase. Today, 1.3 billion people live in absolute sentatives. The parallel NGO Forum '96 attracted 8,000 registered poverty, and 1.5 billion do not have even the most rudimentary health NGO representatives, about 30 percent of whom were from Turkey. care. During the 16-day forum, 1,700 meetings and events were held. And, * Environmental degradation has increased and provoked worldwide for the first time in UN history, NGOs were invited to speak at a majo concern and actions to mitigate impacts. conference, participate in working groups, and help draft agenda * Transportation accounts for more than 50 percent of the world's recommendations. fossil fuel consumption; the concentration of vehicles in urban areas * Habitat Agenda. This document reflects the wide range of inputs causes greenhouse effects and traffic, health, and other environmental on key issues such as the human right to housing, housing and problems. microenterprise finance, women's empowerment, public-private * The blossoming of the information age has allowed communica- partnerships, government decentralization, democracy, and people's tions to inform the world of specific problems as well as the potential participation. For the most part, the Habitat Agenda does not need for improved living standards. international or governmental action. It will be revised and updated * Megacities have become major economic centers of trade and periodically and will serve as an educational document for all constitu commerce, negotiating directly with each other. encies concerned with the development and improvement of human settlements around the globe. The players have changed * Best Practices. Presentation of the best practices awards and database was probably the hands-down hit of the conference. Work Besides significant shifts in issues and approaches to human converting best practices concepts into a regular annual production is settlements, there have been significant changes in the voices heard as already proceeding, and the best practices database is now available o: well. NGOs have been in steady ascendency since a 1972 Stockholm continued on page 5 THE UR3RN ROE A...... 17 Ic HABITAT 11 The Yoices of HahitoI cositiisuedfrompagec 4 The meeting rooms, hotel rooms, dining rooms, and very streets of Istanbul were filled wvith intriguing, inspiring, and injisrmativ'e udeas. A sampling of overheard conversations and speeches follows Oni Democracy and Governance On Gender "Democracy in a local context is "We are comminted to increasing new. We have to break down the rolg of women in the planning mistrust and change the mindset of process." the police and integrate them into -Gorel Thtirdcn, Former Speaker society. Democracy and citizen- of the Swedish Parliamtent ship go hanid in hand." -Mayor of Johannesbuirg On Housing and Partnership "Understand that the culture of the "We need to start from the inside masses is more importanit than the with decisions about public structure of the administration. The housing." fir * u administration cannot damage -Brenda Graham, Washington, society: only we can do that by our D.C., communitv activist sf w 5. ^ \ ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~negligence." V negligence." ~ ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~Zulfit Livanelli, "We want to be what many of you Turkish writer andpoet think we ought to be. Take tinme to teach us. We must make partner- "We must try to find new ways to ships with people who are create effective relationships essentially different from us." between civil society and govern- -US. public housing resident ment. We need to construct a new vision of the city and bong a nesv On Poverty voice to these relationships." -Richard Stren, "We need a new kind of coopera- University of Toronto tion between NGOs [nongovern- the Intemet and World Wide Web. The databhse will be updated as mental organizations] and "There is a new concept of urban entrepreneurs. tmprovemsents of the new information becomes available. As of March 15, 1996, 640 governance, a new way of poor sectors depend on small-scale stibmissions had been recetved from 51 countries, organizations, and governing cities that is rational, actions." associations; over 40 national competitions/exhibitions have been efficient, and transparent." -Ruth Cardozo organized; and 85 audiovisuals comprse the foundations of a best -Daniel Biatt, UNCHS (Ilabitot) Assessoria da Presidedencia dd Conselho da practices video library. The Secretariat has proposed a three-year "The confereoce is an attempt to Comanidade Soliddria strategy for contintting this initiative. This includes establishment of rethink urban issues. It is a chance Regional and Thematic Best Practices Resottrce Centers and a leader- for the American experience to be "Poverty sets the lifestyle in ship program. shared and enhanced." Jamaica." ship program. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ ~ ~~~-Henry Cimneros, -Frances Madden, The Global Report on Human Settlemeents 1996. An Urbanizing Secretary of U.S Department of Communir Actist World. This high-quality 560-paige volume produced by UNCHS and Housing and Urban Deselopment Kingston, Jamaica published by Oxford University Press was made available for Habitat II. It presents the latest information available on urbanization and "Justice and freedom for all." On Urban Planning -From a song perform ed housing drawn from 30 specially commissioned papers. bv a Turkish kindergarten class "Urban development is the most National Reports. Repotts for 140 nations were prepared and scientific of arts, or the most received. Many countries also established Natiottal Committees for On Employment artistic of sciences." Habitat ll; some of these wvill continue in networking contexts. -Jonas Rabinovich, "Employment is not a residual but United Nations Development * Special Fora. Habitat 1I boasted numerous fora. including the is an objective of economic Programnie, New York World Business Forum. the Forum of National Academics of Science growth." and Engineering, the Parliamentarians Fontm, the Trade Unions Forum, -Samir Radwan, the Foundations Forum, the Professionals and Researchers Forum, and International Labor Organisation On What Happens Next the Forum on Human Solidarity. Some were quite substantial: the "Economic growth will not relieve "Action at all levels is necessary; Foundations Forum, for example, had 290 dclegates from 2 1 0 fiunda- poverty we need to reallocate otherwise, the goals of Habitat will tions reprcsentiiig 54 countries, Several of the fora developed ideas fir resources." remain unfulfilled." supportive actions for Habitat and/or supported establishing special -David Korten, -Vs. Makela, task forces for this purpose. Each forum presented a sutmmary report to the conferencc's Partnerships Committee. On Finance * Dialogues. Ten thematic one-day dialogues wcre orgastized by various sponsors. These featured eminent presenters atid panelists "We have been using the language of false dichotomies: top and dealing with major issues confronting human settlements at the end of bottoni, rich and poor." the century. The World Bank, for example, organized Dialogue 2, -Michael Cohen, The World Bank Finance and Cities of the 21 st Century. * Regional Conferences and Consultations. With the decision to feature housing finance prominently in the Hahitat .lgenda, several t onlll illnul ecdonpull}fAsget6 1 THE UHRNR RCE HABrrAT II1bnF1s il iue continuedfrompageS sFigures _f00-t0----0---- ----- : According tothe ;United Nation6s, some 50,000 people-mainly women organizations, such as the Regional Development Banks and the Eco- and children-die each day *io the consequences of inadequate Hab International Foundation, organized special roundtables or fora on shelter polluted water, or poor sanitation services. (Source: United suitable financing strategies for housing. Natons, World Urbanization Prospects: The 1994 Revision, New York, UNCHS is to be congratulated for having carried out the 1995, as cited in The Inter Press Service Daily Journal, Terra Viva, Vol. sophisticated organizational scheme of the conference and its 4. No. 104.) parallel events. In so doing, UNCHS may have reinvented itself as C r t p p t r ma i n t sl it moves toward the ffiture developing new organizational modes. t ;Contrary to popular perception, rural-urban migration is not the sole it cause of the enornous expansion of all cities in the developing world. Between 1960 and 1970, for 26 large cities in the developing world, it is estimated that 63 percent of population growth was due to national llil_.increaseand:37percenttomigration. (Source:UnitedNations, llMigration, Population Growth and Employment in Metropolitan Areas of Sleced DvelpingCoutris. Nw Yrk, 985 ascited in The Future o Sfi Urba Employnt, Intemnational Labor Office, Geneva, May While levels of urbanization are still highest in the industrialized world (80 percent or higher), since the 1 970s, there has been a consistent movement of population away from the large cities. This trend of counter-urbanization can be contrasted with developing countries, where "'megacities" (with populations greater than 10 million) are rapidly fonning. In 19:50, there were only two cities, London and New York, with populations of more than 10 million. By 1994, of the 14 mnegacities in the world, 10 were in developing countries. Two decades from now, of the world's 27 largest cities with populations of 10 million or more, 23 will be in developing countries, and only 4 in industrialized 7- $00 countries. (Source: World Urbization Prospects: The 1994 Revision, as cited in The Future of Urban Employment, p. 10.) In sub-Saharan Africa, the urban informal sector is estimated to employ over 60 percent of the urban labor force. In India and Pakistan, the unorganized segment ofthe manufacturing sector comprised approxi- mately 75, percent and 70 percent, respectively, of total manufacturinig in 1990. In Latin America, the share of employment in the urban informal sector increased from 13.4 percent of the labor force to 18.5 percent In conclusion... between 1980 and 1992. (Source: International Labor Office, World Employment Report, Geneva, 1995.) There was a Spirit of Stockholm, a Spirit of Vancouver, a Spirit of I t : re i u r b : Rio. Just as certainly, there was a Spirit of Istanbul. ;In the Asa-Pacific region, unemployment rates between the mid-I 980s and early 1990s have been higher for women than for mnen in China, The report of the conference and its Habitat Agenda will be consid- C n al;190 aebe ihrfrwmnta o e nCia T rIndonesia, Malaysia, Pakistan, the Philippines, Thailand, and Sri Lanka. ered by the Second Committee ofthe llN General Assembly at ts 51st :In the former East Germany, women in 1991 made up 62 percent of all session, which begins in New York in September 1996. The report will registered unermployed, and many other women were known to have also be reviewed by the UN Commission on Sustainable Development been pushed out of the labor force. In Russia, the female share of the in 1997 and the Special Session of the UN General Assembly in April; registered unemployed was 78 percent in mid-1992. (Source: World UNCHS is next scheduled to meet in April/May 1997. Actions taken Employment Report.) on the agenda will depend on the outcomes of the ongoing UN restruc- turing process. ; * 0 The urbanization of poverty is growing. In Latin America, the annual rate of growth of urban poverty has increased from 2.25 percent (1980 The Habitat Agenda will be an important addition to the Agenda 21 to 1987) to 4.44 percent (1987 to 1990). In Africa, 41.6 percent of the work program. Integration will be required, bur much of this should be urban population is living below the poverty line. In Asia, 23 percent of welcomed. For example, Agenda 21 has virtually nothing to say about the urban population-or 136 million people-are poor. (Sources: De housing finance and its modalities. This subject receives good cover- Janvry et al., Poverty and Rural Labour in South Asia, Latin America age in the Habitat Agenda. The same applies to other areas as well. and Sub-Saharan Africa, unpublished consultancy report, International Meanwhile, the many partners represented at Habitat 1I can advance Labor Office, 1995; and United Nations, State of Urbanization in Asia their own programs. Local governments have much to do without and the Pacific, New York, 1993.) awaiting further international guidance. The same can be said for In the early 1980s, around 18 million citizens within the European project~~~~~~~~~~~ ~ ~ ~~~ deelpmn and invetmen groups inun 18milonctienritiateluopa project development and investment groups in general. Union were homeless or extremely badly housed. This included 1.8 Habitat II will be remembered for its role in gearing up public million people who, in the course of a year, depend on public or understanding and institutional capabilities to finance and implement voluntary services for temporary shelter or who squat or sleep rough. habitat building and renovation in communities large and small, while (Source: Avramov and Drajana, Homelessness in the European improving the quality of life they can offer in the third millennium. Federation of National Organizations Working with the Homeless, ; SBrussels, 1995.) Eric Carlson is president of the ECO-HAB International Foundation and advisorfor the Habitat Agenda. THE UR3RN 1GE August,1996 ------------------------------------ Interview with Wally N'Dow, Assistant Secretary-General, UNCHS (Habitat) UA: What do you think the development mandate. There is a world. Also, a formalized data UA: What will the role of the V Habitat II Conference will be millenial excitement about this collection and monitoring process United Nations Centre for best rememberedfor? conference-we are creating a will enable us to measure how, Human Settlements be after the new era not dominated by where, and when the Habitat conference? W N'D: There are three very provision of resources but of Agenda has been implemented. important answers to that ques- ideas. W N'D: The role of UNCHS will tion. First, the conference has This has been a unique UA: What are some of the more be to help put into place, at the seriously attempted to address conference in the history of interesting new ideas that have national and local levels in each how our planet can be made more international relations because it come out of the Habitat confer- country. our Global Plan of livable for all people in the 21 st has not been dominated by any enceplanningprocess? Action. We will continue to century. Our footfall has been single point of view. This advocate and promote the aims of heavy on the ecosystem. We have conference has been about what W N'D: That actions and the conference, and we will assist been stressing the planet. That is keeps societies together-and resources must come increasingly in the monitoring of government why the debate on human settle- ultimately about what makes them from the local level. Local voices programs, by providing measures ments is so important. A greater tolerant. must be heard if our agenda is to and indicators with which to consciousness of human settle- be successfully implemented. evaluate their progress. Il ments is priceless, and will UA: Why did you decide to set up You can feel the positive reaction undoubtedly make humanity a best practices database? to our new partners. At the stronger. mayors' mini-conference, Second, Habitat has furnished W N'D: As you know, best municipalities were engaging in many practical solutions to the practices are community actions, discussions about their new role problem of how governments can initiatives, or projects that in a global context. We need to provide people with access to land demonstrate a commitment to continue this process with the and housing. implementing lasting solutions to local players and also encourage Third, Habitat has provided a urban problems. The best governments to go out and look much-needed forum for the practices database will allow for local or national partners. This sharing of ideas and a spiritual these success stories to be is an aspect that we need to commitment for rewriting the celebrated and shared around the emphasize more. W Conversation wlith Shafqat Hahahhel Shafqat Kakakhel is Pakislan 's high commissioner to the United Nations Centre for Human Settlements. He served as chairman of Committee 1. Following are some of his views on the conference and the committee process. Issues tackled quo. For example, at the Rio, Copenhagen, and Cairo conferences-where there were no mandated structures-NGOs played a spontaneous role ... "The crisis in human settlements is a simmering crisis. Human settle- 'The problem for the delegates [to Habitat II] is a problem of their place ments is not a provocative issue like women, population, or the environment. in history. In this post Cold War era, the system has change,d and the shape It does not ignite the imagination of the policymakers. In fact, it is a crisis of things has altered." with no explosion to remind us of the gravity of the situation .. . "Pairing the platforms of 'adequate shelter for all' with 'sustainable In the final analysis human settlements' was problematic. Shelter is a problem of the majority of the world's population, but in the South it is a problem of survival-a "The conference was held in an unfavorable global context of 'confer- different, but crucial, emphasis ... ence fatigue. 'There is a feeling that developing countries ask for confer- "The conference was asked to define the problem. How big is it? What ences as a means of getting international support for things they cannot are the principles that inform the process? What are the prospects of provide in their own countries, There is a constant tug of war between the resolving the problems? What are the actions required to implement seekers and the reluctant givers ... solutions? This is too broad a mandate." 'This conference should have been an opportunity for the participants to analyze what has gone wrong and what needs to be done. The South is not Conference organizers and participants seeking charity, we are seeking partnership. Developing countries need help in promoting shelter provision. We are calling for cooperation not limited to "Conferences sponsored by governments are not terribly interesting. money... Diplomats and bureaucrats go to conferences not with causes but with briefs. "My assessment is cautious. Conferences are important events because Delegates are naturally hesitant, equivocal, and reluctant; the govemment thev increase awareness of the issues. We need to recognize the right to people hold fast to their briefs and are rooted in the status quo . . . housing as an evolutionary process within the context of intemational law "The govemments' job is to de-escalate, whereas NGOs [nongovemmen- and consensus.We need to give more attention-and more money-to how tal organizations] are boisterous and are always trying to change the status people live." IAl URgRs 9GE August 1996 Habitat II: A Critical Assessment by Michael Cohen Michael Cohen is senior advisor to the office of the Vice President, Environmentally Sustainable Development, The World Bank. I Habitat II capped a three- urban decisionmaking. broader issues of how national ate balance between, for examplc year process of preparation which * International assistance flows reform processes-such as urban planning and economics oi involved all of the world's will not provide developing welfare reform in the United environmental science, or governments and hundreds of its countries with most of the needed States or Europe-would affect architecture and social analysis. nongovernmental institutions, financing for housing, infrastruc- the economies, social fabric, and Major work needs to be done on organizations, and individuals. ture, social services, and other physical landscape of cities. The curriculum reform in urban- Both the preparation and the urban requirements. Instead, most interactions between national related disciplines to produce conference itself weTe global financial resources will have to policy processes and local effective urban practitioners for dialogues about experiences in come from the countries, cities, management of their conse- the future. managing urban problems from and conimunities themselves. quences are major results of the Little attention to research. housing and infrastructure to * Local and national capacities decentralization process, yet these There were very few references I decentralization of government must be strengthened to address consequences were not frequently research during the conference. responsibility and environmental urban issues. This includes addressed. This is even more Fewer than 5 percent of the protection. The growing impor- training of official and unofficial surprising because the urban conference's sessions mentioned tance of urban phenomena in the actors, as well as financial and impacts of these processes are research studies. Further, the world's future was strongly technical strengthening of conditioning the very social and empirical basis for discussions affirmed during and through these institutions. One agreed-upon economic character of cities. was largely experiential, and thei dialogues. approach was identification of Lack of creative tension. The were very few references througl best practice cases that might conference's success in bringing out to methodology in general. Agreements achieved serve as examples for govern- nongovernmental organizations to This is a dangerous omission: ments and communities to the table, and in breaking with Methods of empirical inquiry in. While a few debates- consider as they develop their traditional UN practice of keeping theoretical framework are involving, for example, language own local solutions to problems. official and unofficial activities essential for testing hypotheses about occupation of the West separate, may have diminished the about changing urban patterns ar Bank and Gaza, and reproductive Substantive problems creative tension between the two the evaluation of actions to rights-delayed conclusion of the perspectives. There was no address urban problems. In conference by half a day, these Despite these achievements, equivalent to Greenpeace which Istanbul, the research communit5 did not significantly undermine the conference was disappointing had provoked the official confer- was neither very visible nor very the broad consensus of partici- in several important respects. ence at Rio to come up with more effective in conveying that the pants (and governments) on Sector-based discussion. Most political postures to address pace and scale of change require several key points: of the discussions remained environmental problems. While more, not less, research if the * The future of the Earth will largely sectoral. Housing experts some regarded the order and lack world, nations, localities, and be heavily determrined by the talked about housing without of open conflict at Habitat 11 as communities are to understand tl quality of life in cities. focusing sufficiently on social or positive, the lack of political and full significance of the processes * The economic, social, environmental dimensions; substantive pressure from the of urban transformation. political, and environmental environmentalists did not refer to periphery may have diminished Sustainable development futures of countries will depend the financial or economic costs of the urgency of the discussions and largely ainaddressed. The bigges on how urban issues are ad- environmental management; the subsequent political energy gap in Habitat II was the lack of dressed. social activists did not place the and imperatives to take action progress in operationalizing the * The scope and scale of these dilemmas of communities against after the conference. notion of environmentally issues has changed since Habitat the broader problems of mobiliz- Little attention to capacity- sustainable development. At I. Participants at Habitat II ing financial resources for social building. Another disappointing Vancouver, "habitat" had been focused their attention on welfare policies or social safety feature of the conference was the discussed with reference to government decentralization: the nets. This lack of cross-sectoral, weakness of the discussion on human settlements but without a] roles of nonpublic actors such as interdisciplinary thinking did not building capacity to solve environmental context; at Rio, coimmnity groups, the private offer many new solutions to old solutions to urban problems. In "habitaf 'had been used to mean sector, and nongovernmental problems. Few delegates reached recognizing the need for decen- ecosystem. The Istanbul confer- organizations; the roles and across sectors to find new tralized, multiple solutions to ence did not succeed in bringing particular vulnerabilities of combinations that would suggest urban problems, one would have the two definitions together; it women, youth, and children in the new approaches. thought that participants would neither demonstrated the interde- urbanization process; and the National reforn issues not engage with the problem of pendency of the two nor the risk: importance of social factors in explored. Few delegates raised the strengthening the training of to settlements associated with This article has been excerpted from the Environmental tinpact Assessment urban professionals and citizens deterioration of natural resources Review, which is affiliated with the Department of Urban Studies and in the process. There was no Further, while "sustainable Planning at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, published by Elsevier. reference to seeking an appropri- continued on page 21 THE URRRN R6E AuRust 1996 - ~----------------------------------- The Right to Housing Debate by Michael A. Stegman Michael A. Stegman is assistant secretary for policy development and research with the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development. 7 He served as alternate head of the U.S. delegation to Habitat 11. WASHINGTON, D.C. What of living; this right should be indivisible, interdependent, and * mobilizing financial and does the "right to housing" mean? realized progressively based on interrelated. other resources for housing and What is the relative distribution of the availability of resources. * It defines the meaning of the community development; rights, responsibilities, and Failure to reach consensus right to housing in the framework * designing and implementing obligations among governments, regarding the right to housing of enablement-the empower- standards that provide accessibility nongovernmental organizations. could have severely undermined ment of individuals to become to people with disabilities; and private citizens when popular the value of the Habitat confer- principal actors in improving their * supporting community-based, access to decent housing is at ence. For one thing, it might have own lives and in building sustain- cooperative, nonprofit and owner- issue within a particular country? prevented consensus on the entire able communities. occupied housing programs; These and a host of related HabitatAgenda, meaning that the * It defines specific actions that * promoting supportive services questions became a key issue and conference would not have been govemments can take to realize to the homeless and other vulner- the subject of heated debate as able to produce a general policy the goal of housing for all. able groups; and countries prepared for the Habitat statement. For another, it could * putting in place effective II Conference in Istanbul in June have turned a conference suppos- From philosophy to practicality assessment and evaluation 1996. edly organized to provide programs to identify the extent of practical solutions to pressing The Habitat Agenda clearly homelessness and inadequate Elusive consensus urban problems into a fruitless states that the provision of housing, and planning processes exercise in moral and political adequate housing for everyone that engage affected populations in In discussing drafts of the philosophy. The inhabitants of requires actions not only by the development of effective Habitat Agenda-the official urban regions and their govern- national governments and strategies. policy document that emerged ments expected-and did, in fact, international organizations, but by from the Istanbul conference-the receive-a much more pragmatic all levels of government and all Consensus lends moral "right to adequate housing" approach to housing problems. sectors of civil society-including authority proved to be a contentious issue. the private sector, nongovemmen- Disagreements arose regarding A negotiated agreement tal organizations, communities, While the Habitat Agenda does the words themselves, their and local authorities. as well as by not have the force of international meanings, and their implications In one of the most challenging partner organizations and entities law, it should have great moral for other international conferences tasks I have ever undertaken, I led of the international community. authority because it represents the and national government policies. the U.S. team in negotiating these This language reinforces the consensus of 170 governments on When the conference opened issues with the representatives of concept of empowerment, a major the question of housing rights. on June 3, the various delegations many other governments. On the conference theme. responsibilities, and obligations. were still trying to reach a fourth day of the conference, the The text moves the discussion As a major reference document, it workable consensus on the group drafting housing rights of housing rights to a new level of will be used to frame discussions wording of this right. The language reached agreement on practical significance. In the at all levels, thus influencing European Union insisted that the all related issues in the text of the "Commitments" section, the text thought and engendering change in Habitat Agenda contain an Habitat Agenda. The U.S. belief identifies 14 separate actions that a broad range of communities and explicit and unqualified recogni- that the right to housing is an governments, in partnership with organizations. tion of a separate, distinct, and important component of the right others, should take "to promote, Habitat II has not answered all existing "human right to adequate to an adequate standard of living protect, and ensure the full and the questions about access to housing." In contrast, the United is reflected; so is the European progressive realization of the right decent housing in a sustainable States, Japan, Argentina, Brazil, Union's concern that an obliga- to adequate housing." These living environment. However, it and oLher Latin American tion of governments must be actions include: has certainly advanced the countries regarded housing as an recognized in protecting, promot- * providing effective protection dialogue on this critical issue. In important component of the ing, and ensuring the progressive against discrimination of any fact, one of the conference's most existing "right to an adequate realization of this right. kind; important legacies will be to spark standard of living," which is set The U.S. delegation was * providing legal security of conversations in many countries- out in the Universal Declaration pleased both with the spirit of tenure and equal access to land including the United States-that of Human Rights and was cooperation that prevailed in the for all, including women and the could ultimately transform abstract provided for in several subsequent drafting group sessions and with poor; consideration of housing rights international conventions. The the agreed-upon text, which is * adopting policies to increase into actual housing policies and U.S. position is that housing is a consistent with three U.S. the supply of habitable, acces- specific programs designed to derivative right-along with food, objectives: sible. and affordable housing to improve the living conditions of clothing, and other basic ele- * It maintains the principle that those who are unable to provide it countless millions around the ments-of an adequate standard all human rights are universal, for themselves; world. S THE URBRR HGE A--. f zaav ---------------------------------- The Private Sector: An Afterthought? by Charles Landry L Charles Landry is director of Comedia, a research and planning consultancy. He is the coauthor of The Creative City (London: Demos Books, 1995) and The Art of Regeneration (Stroud: Comedia, 1996). STROUD. How can the the fact that bringing in the ity of business; and the company head. The second massive task of providing business sector was an after- * The Business Coalition for phase entails companies adopting dwellings worldwide for several thought and not integral to the Sustainable Cities, which attempts a more sophisticated approach. billion people be accomplished core planning of Habitat. Conse- to mobilize and channel business setting aside an annual budget an, over the next decade? How can quently, there was no effective resources toward common goals establishing an in-house depart- the ravages of urban stress, exchange of views among the to achieve highest value at lowest ment for community affairs. By unemployment, poverty, and various parties: The private cost. now, many leading companies social fragmentation be amelio- corporations had not contributed Also included were "real" have advanced to the third phase, rated? to the thinking and agenda- business people from Volvo, Dow which involves the complete The answer lies in harnessing setting that formed part of Europe, Pfizer, Mitsubishi, and integration of community affairs the resources, talents, and skills of Habitat's genesis. They had not CNN all presenting their best with business objectives. the public, private, and voluntary been able to show where and how practices. But because the group This new corporate philan- sectors. Each has a distinct they might add value. And, at the had not met before, it was thropy has been pioneered by contribution to make. Public event itself, they disappeared by difficult for it to focus its delib- firms like Levi Strauss, Reebok, authorities-whether local, the time the real business of erations on a common agenda or IBM, and Fel Pros. Their aim is national, or international-need to politics began. precise action plan-let alone to use giving not only to help provide the framework for define a common platform of recipients but also to develop and planning infrastructure, urban The World Business Forum operations in collaboration with widen employees' interests, skill, design, and the rules by which the the public and voluntary sectors. motivation, and commitment; market is allowed to operate. The forum's 350 delegates Nevertheless, a mass of best improve internal corporate Nongovernmental organizations represented an interesting array practices was put forward-over communication and morale; (NGOs) can assist in unleashing of socially concerned business 100 in all (which could have increase a company's name warranted a wider audience). The recognition among consumers; H7arnessing the resources, talents, practices described included influence government programs; Monsanto's educational and and reduce research and develop- andl skills of the public, private, and mentoring programs; ment costs-all the while remain voluntary sectors will amerliorate the Volkswagen's community trust, ing profitable. which helps women and the The more progressive of ravages of urban stress. unemployed get into business; today's companies define their Group Schneider's new appren- community as a large and the inventive and entrepreneurial people, their organizations, and ticeship scheme; Sun heterogeneous group, no longer capacity of communities to help various social entrepreneurs Microsystems Community Action restricted to a relatively small themselves and become self- concemed with urban renewal. Volunteer Program and Employee number of stakeholders (directors reliant. And the private sector can These included such organiza- Matching Gifts Scheme; and Van investors, and senior manage- direct its profit-oriented drive, tions as the following: City Savings and Loan initiative, ment) who are primarily inter- entrepreneurship, and ability to * Common Purpose, which which creatively uses interest ested in short-term performance deliver and make things happen. seeks to establish practical rates to support affordable and profit. The corporate visions for cities by creating new housing. community now extends to An afterthought urban leaderships of concemed include the company's employee: citizens and bringing together- Corporate involvement and and their dependents, the neigh- The public sector presence at among others-retailers, devel- philanthropy borhoods and towns that surroun( Habitat was overvhelming, and opers, banks, the teaching a firn's locations, suppliers and the NGO contribution clearly professions, hospitals, and even Of course, corporations aim to business partners, and an increas- visible. But where was the artists; help their own bottom line, but ingly well-informed customer private sector? Squeezed in, it * Social Venture Network the world over has witnessed a who is often as interested in a seems, at the front end-that is, at Europe, a group of business long history of corporate generos- firm's contribution to the quality the World Business Forum people concemed with venture ity. And, moreover, corporate of life and global well-being as ir organized by Marcello Pallazzi of capital investment in companies community involvement is the quality of its products. the Progressio Foundation on working toward sustainable evolving. Three distinct evolu- The World Business Forum behalf of Habitat. Strangely development; tionary phases are discemable. was a start in addressing these though, that forum ended the * The Prince of Wales Busi- The first typically involves small concerns-but who among the moment the real conference ness Leaders Forum, which amounts of cash given on an ad Habitat delegates knew it was began. This was a pity. It reflects advocates the social responsibil- hoc basis, largely at the whim of actually happening? E THE URBRN RGE Implementing Habitat II's Objectives: The Role of USAID by Sarah Wines and Annick Salomon Sarah Wines is thze assistant directorfor strategy andpolicvfor the Office of Environment and Urban Programs at the U.S. Agencyfor International Development. Annick Salomon is a nongovernmental organization liaisonfor the Office of Environment and Urban Programs. WASHINGTON, D.C. ideas is expanding far beyond city focused on three goals: increase Environment 'Habitat II was a once-in-a- exchanges of purely technical access to shelter and urban ifetime event, bringing together information. Habitat II highlighted services, improve urban man- The official negotiations of the :he best and brightest in their the need to identify and share agement, and reduce urban Habitat Agenda gave the interna- 'ields to discuss a major 21st information on model programs pollution. USAID is continuing tional community an opportunity zentury issue," states Peter Kimm, and best practices. This informa- to explore and identify new to reaffirm the commitment made issociate assistant administrator tion should be widely available and governance structures and to sustainable development at the 'or the Center for Environment of shared across borders; between financial tools for leveraging a Earth Summit in Rio four years he U.S. Agency for International different levels of government; and broad range of financial re- ago. Habitat II participants Development (USAID). "It was a among the private, public, and sources to support urban agreed that the best framework for inique opportunity to benefit nongovernmental sectors. "What is investments, including those development is centered around From their combined experience." important is the lessons learned from the private sector. USAID the principles formulated in Rio, It also was an opportunity for from best practices and how these believes it can best help coun- which recognize environmental he agency to reaffirm its commit- experiences can be made accessible tries by working with local protection, economic develop- nent to bilateral aid programs and useful to urban practitioners," governmcnts, businesses, and ment, and social growth as addressing the challenges of rapid says Viviann Gary, director of communities to develop efficient mutually reinforcing components arbanization worldwide. USAID's Office of Environment pricing policies, foster financial of sustainable development. and Urban Programs. market development, and During Habitat Il, the U.S. Partnerships USAID is involved not only in promote microfinance lending. delegation introduced language on the sharing of information on best USAID aims to provide finan- phasing out lead in gasoline and Habitat IT emphasized the practices but in the actual develop- cial and technical assistance that reducing its use in paint and other :reative role of partnerships in ment of these innovative practices. supports new practices, and also materials. The final Habitat leveloping effective approaches Of the 12 best practices selected by to analyze and disseminate Agenda includes these goals. The :o urbanization issues and focused an intemational jury as Awards for information about these prac- specific focus on lead will ensure n the empowerment of local Excellence winners at Habitat II, tices and thereby foster innova- that countries eliminate what the iuthorities, community groups, two are USAID projects. In tive approaches and increase World Health Organization has mnd individuals. USAID's long- Agadir, Morocco, USAID and the understanding of their effective- identified as the single most standing commitment to empower Moroccan govermment helped ness at the host country level. dangerous pollutant threatening .eal governments and support the slum-dwellers improve their living the lives and health of children. Jevelopment of partnerships conditions (see "Best Practices," Indicators USAID's Office of Environment imong all levels of government, page 18). USAID also assisted and Urban Programs is currently musinesses, and community with the rehabilitation of lower Habitat II affirmed that the looking at ways to develop groups has been embedded in a income neighborhoods in Lublin, use of performance measure- effective lead-reduction programs. variety of programs, the most Poland. ments and indicators is key to -ecent of which is the Resource This was the first project in that leveraging change in organiza- Conclusion Sities program. country to focus on participatory tional and institutional behavior Resource Cities' primary development; its success confirms to promote sustainable develop- Habitat II produced an bjective is to provide a quick, the benefits of community partici- ment. For instance, gender- and ambitious agenda; the interna- zost-effective means for deliver- pation. Habitat II reaffirmed the age-differentiated data can tional community must now rise Lng technical assistance and crucial role donors can play in illustrate the differential impacts to the challenge and implement -xchanging information between promoting innovative urban that urban policy decisions have the agreed-upon policy recom- U.S. cities and cities in the programs and sharing information on women and children. mendations. By working together ieveloping world. This year, the on successful projects with the USAID assisted many countries as partners at the local, national, )rogram will be expanded to widest possible range of partners. in preparing and collecting and international levels to achieve include businesses and nongov- indicators for Habitat II, and the objectives formulated at -rnmental organizations in the Urban finance will continue to help counlries Habitat II. USAID and its global zommunity. The goal is to foster further refine and implement partners can have a positive and Lnvolvement by private citizens in USAID has been working sectoral indicators. Agency lasting impact on sustainable arban community development. closely with the World Bank and efforts will focus on refining the human settlements development other donors to develop ways of analysis of indicator data around the world. Best practices addressing the enormous invest- currently available and including ment requirements of urban areas. consideration of indicators in the The sharing of information and These urban financing efforts are policymaking process. THE URORN R6E A--,a ,Q,f Ahmedabad's Credit Rating: Building the Basis for Better Urban Finance J by Margaret Bergen Much of the debate at the United Nations Habitat 11 City Summit was about how to make cities sustainable. One aspect of this debate is to increase theirfinancing options. Cities need new sources offinancing since they can no longer rely on national governments to subsidize their needs. The summit's Urban Finance Dialogue explored the opportunities this presents and the new ways of doing business it occasions. The stor of Ahmedabad, India, was told-an Asian citv that turned its financial situation around, moving from failure and dysfunclion to an internationall recognized credit rating. Ahmedabad shows that, if ihey are to become effective players in the global economy, cities must set their owvnfinancin priorities and explore the many new financing techniques and options available to them to fund these. ISTANBUL. One of the financial malaise was com- of a well-orchestrated press million, a sizable financing gap ironies Keshav Varma noticed on pounded by a healthy dose of gathering, the corporation existed. becoming commissioner of well-organized crime, particularly demolished the first three floors To meet the need for addition, Ahmedabad in 1994 was that this at the customs checkpoints of the hotel. To promote better resources, the idea of a credit city, one of the six municipal surrounding the city. Vehicles tax collection, Varma set up a rating was posed-although corporations in the state of bringing commercial goods are computerized system that allowed initially it met with some skepti- Gujarat, was among the richest in supposed to pay duty-this octroi for identification of tax dodgers. cism. Varna was so closely India-seat of professionals, tax is one of the main sources of With a combined strategy of identified with Ahmedabad' s merchants, and traders with a the city's revenue. cutting off utilities for nonpay- success that people wondered if population of 3.7 million and a The local Mafia had been ment and using jeeps and trucks the city's achievements would historic exposure to the interna- playing a major role in helping as enforcement backup, the dissipate when he left the job at tional business conumunity. Yet, vehicles escape detection. And, as corporation began to collect an the end of his three-year appoint- the municipal corporation had Varma notes, "There was no outstanding balance estimated ment. been in debt since 1983, no moral courage to stop them." between US$200 to $300 million. This fear notwithstanding, capital works had been initiated Varma drew on the authority Ahmedabad already possessed since then, and 85 to 90 percent of vested in him by his Indian civil Going after the credit rating many of the attributes requisite ti revenues covered salaries. service training. "We do not have attain a credit rating: professiona In the autumn of 1994, these a populist system: India is a As the corporation's reputation and transparent city management financial problems were eclipsed controlled democracy. Actions was restored, the city's tax base modernized accounting systems, by the arrival of a horrific plague. must be clear cut. Corruption is increased. By February 1995, the and accurate and trustworthy Varma, then Ahmedabad's basic and must be stamped out." city's debts were erased. And in financial reporting. The city was housing commissioner, was called in as the city's plague coordina- Taking severe, but effective, tor. His reputation as a tough, no- public action nonsense officer served him well. He cleared the city, oversaw the Varma's first strategy was to >tyv r removal of 75,000 tons of confront the Mafia in the field. garbage, and refocused attention The corporation went after all on the need to get the city illegalities. It increased the f 7 A working again. In the process, he number of its surveillance A won back credibility for the vehicles and searched all vehicles j municipal corporation. at the checkpoints. Income went up in the first three months by god- Analyzing the problem $100,000 per day. This dramatic showdown with the Mafia, says When Varma became conmmis- Varna, "was a sign to the people sioner in December 1994, the city that they were not alone, that workers allowed him a free hand everybody was now taking a risk M r to clean house. For the first three together. The notion that the months, his team tried to discover municipal corporation was going March, for the first time in also beginning to recognize, as why the corporation was not to be the dominant force now Ahmedabad's history, there was a Varma explains, that "local bodit making money. Varma learned prevailed." surplus. must create their own priorities that, in the past, finance and Varma took the same head-on The corporation prepared an backed up by their own money." accounts had not been a focus. approach to other city problems. infrastructure improvement plan. Credit Information Rating There was no efficient system to The Midland Hotel, one of the Even given the city's vastly Services (CRIS), a company track revenues and to streamline most important buildings in the improved financial health and the associated with Standard & Poor revenue-earning departments. city, was in noncompliance with fact that it could now finance the U.S. credit rating organiza- This administrative and the local building code. In front investments of up to US$500 continued on page 24 1 THE ORGRN RGE A- __ 1-/] 4111,101103W --------------------------------- Life After Habitat II in Istanbul by Andrew Finkel For several years, Andrew Finkel lhas been a correspondent based in Istanbul for various publications including The Times anld The Econo- mist. He also has a regutlar column in the Turkish daily newspaper, Sabah. ISTANBUL. The proposition have complained that the danger works nor a test of Istanbul's Although the fight to devolve has a ring of common sensc: If of their streets was not due to hospitality industry. For those centrally collected revenues and Habitat IT, the recent UN city muggers but to unexpected gaps involved in the preparation of the greater legal powers continues, summit, is to make any impact at in the road). There were sugges- substance and for those co-opted local government in Turkey is all, it will be on the future of tions that the civic authorities into the partnership committees much more aware of the possibil- Istanbul, the very city where it were trying to turn a city of well and a nongovernmental forum ity of bypassing central govern- occurred. Stand the proposition over 10 million persons into a larger than the official conference ment altogether and making use on its head, and it makes better white-washed Potemkin village. itself, Habitat II was the confir- of the organizational capacity of sense still. Habitat II was an But not all was for show-the mation of a slow-moving but its own community. More event as diverse and confusing as importantly, that community no Istanbul itself. It was not so The shadow of Habitat II has longer sees itself as the bottom of much a conference as a mini-city . a hierarchy but as a source of in its own right-a reflection of not depoliticized urban issues but power itself. Historically, all the problems and virtues of its helped redefine them outside the neighborhoods in Istanbul-most formidable host. If Habitat II of them built illegally-did does have a special meaning for debates of current party politics. negotiate with political authority Istanbul, it is in part because the first to exist and then for basic city could not help but create a municipality was still paving inexorable process. It legitimated services. But now the negotia- conference in its own image. remote neighborhoods two administrative decentralization in tions are more complex. They Certainly the organizers were months after the guests had gone Turkey and a transfer of responsi- arouse pragmatic and ethical convinced of the appropriateness home. bility to the institutions of civil issues within a society that is not of Istanbul as a setting in which If a UN conference can have a society. one homogeneous entity, but-to to discuss human settlement. subtext, then it was to show that This, rather than the laborious use the language of Habitat-an Istanbul is everything the tourist Istanbul has realized its goal to be drafting of the Habitat 1I declara- assembly of partners. Not all posters claim-a modern me- a regional node in a global nexus. tion, was the message that hit partners are equal. Habitat II ma) tropolis with an uninterrupted Little wonder that the extravagant home. In the final analysis, it was not force Turkish industrialists to urban tradition stretching back closing ceremony was sponsored not simply that Istanbul could not be socially responsible. But after over millennia. Less publicized is by the committee cherishing the ignore its responsibilities as host. Habitat, consumers are bound to the fact that it continues to grow city's next ambition-the right to Rather, it realized that the Habitat tell them if they are not. at a rate of anywhere up to hold the Olympic Games in the process, sanctioned by a vast 400,000 people every year. The year 2004. With Habitat II, international apparatus, reinforced Redefining urban issues city proudly points to the symbol- Istanbul has shown itself to be an its own struggle with a jealous ism of its suspension bridge amiable host. central government. It is curious to see, two month connecting Europe to Asia- Will it also be better able to Once upon a time, this was after Habitat II, the central although sometimes Istanbul cope with urban sprawl. traffic, seen as wrestling a "zero-sum" government resorting to an old appears to be less a bridge and pollution, as well as social quantity of power from the politician's trick of filling its between cultures or a link problems still on the horizon? capital, Ankara. In Istanbul and coffers and increasing its popular between North and South than a Staring out from a vantage point in Turkey in general-this is a ity by selling pardons for illegal place that falls between two on the Bosporus across the well- struggle that has continued construction. Maybe not this tim' stools. kempt conference valley to an regardless of the political com- but perhaps the next, the ruse just Istanbul is, therefore, a city ever-expanding periphery and ill- plexion of the mayor's office. won't work. The equally prag- with something to prove, defined future, it would be a brave Indeed, the most radical recent matic mayors of Turkey's act to see Habitat It as a water- charter for the decentralization of metropolitan municipalities all Istanbul: An emerging player shed in the administrative power to local authorities in object, even those of the fortunes of not just Istanbul but Turkey, a 1983 municipal law, government's own complexion, To stage Habitat II, Istanbul other Turkish cities. And yet this occurred almost by accident when precisely because it is a move tha recreated out of the center of the just may turn out to be the case. the Turkish military transferred diminishes their ability to city what it called "a conference power to a civilian government. administer the sustainable city. valley"-a complex of grand Conference legitimated decen- The outgoing generals simply The shadow of Habitat II has not hotels and newly built or refur- tralization adopted wholesale reforms that depoliticized urban issues but bished convention halls. It re-laid were proposed during the 1970s helped redefine them outside the every bit of paving with pink- The staging of the conference was but which were considered much debates of current party politics. colored brick (for years, residents not simply an exercise in public too politically charged at the time. continued on page 24 P THE UR3RN RB August 199, - ------------------------------- -- Partnership in Action by Patralekha Chatterjee r Patralekha Chatterjee is a former student of the Refugee Studies Programme, University of Oxford, and a development journalist. She is _ currently based in New Delhi. NEW DELHI. In the barn- Genesis of the society rehabilitation. And it uses the can provide no collateral. like room, under an asbestos roof, skills of the displaced women But despite scant resources, many the temperature is nearing 120°F. Maria used to be a foreign themselves for this purpose. are determined to show that they It is quiet-just the click of exchange dealer in Bangkok. She will not be dependent on hand- looms, the clack of a manual gave it up in 1993 and moved to Charity and employment outs all their lives and that the typewriter, and the click of the New Delhi. Her apartment in displaced need not be damned. striker on the carom-board. The West Delhi was located in a For the past three years, Maria wants her charges to light-skinned, sloe-eyed women neighborhood frequented by society members have been "learn as well as earn." She adds, in bright sarongs, who are students and migrants from the meeting their expenses out of the "I want them to go back to their learning to weave hand-knotted northeast. Soon she found herself money they earn selling hand- home state after the training carpets, do not look up from their providing shelter to young women made shawls at exhibitions. An period and teach others." looms when a visitor enters. The from her home province- impressive display at one such men, squatting on the floor and Manipur in northeastern India, on exhibition convinced a senior playing carom, are equally the Myanmar border. official at the Central Wool absorbed. "I was feeding them, clothing Development Board of the Indian This is the office of the Tribal them, and lodging them. Then Ministry of Textiles that it was Welfare Society and the home of one day, I said, 'This has to stop. worth his while to do the society a its members-women (and a few Everyone has to work for their good turn. Consequently, he men) displaced by conflicfts in livelihood.' The women had one provided the group with a grant India's northeast region. For its skill-they knew how to weave- worth US$5,714; these funds 25 residents, the society is the last it is part of their tradition. We set were spent to set up a carpet- refuge. up a makeshift workshop and weaving training center com- The silence is broken shortly started weaving shawls with prised of six looms and a weaving before noon, with the arrival of a traditional Manipuri designs. On instructor, Karma Sherpa. white van from the food bank weekends, we would hawk them Before the Central Wool Board next door. Set up by an expatriate door to door." gave them the money to buy Indian in memory of his mother, During one such sortie, Maria carpet-looms, the women had the food bank has an arrangement ran into a man who suggested she worked on small strap-looms, with select five-star hotels in New get in touch with the All India weaving shawls and mufflers. Delhi. Their surplus is tested by a Tribal Development Organization, Weaving carpets is a new skill: Partnership leads to solutions nutritionist, and then distributed a quasi-official national body. "I "They are learning fast," says twice daily, to nongovernmental followed up on his suggestion. I Sherpa. Partnership was the buzzword organizations (NGOs) working started attending their weekly The looms are a new acquisi- of much of the discourse at with the poor and needy. meetings, and even helped tion, Maria proudly declares. But Habitat II. But it is not just This is just one of many organize a cultural evening of she firmly believes that charity another lofty idea; rather, it is a partnerships forged by Maria tribal dances from the northeast," alone does not solve the problem. practical way of finding solutions Mangta, the Tribal Welfare recalls Maria. "I want to tie in with carpet- to the increasingly complex Society's founder and general Her participation paid off. She buyers, as the women learn how problems facing human settle- secretary, in order to transform succeeded in not only becoming a to weave intricate designs. Some ments in today's world. The displaced and marginalized member of the organization's buyers have already started exchanges at the partners' fora, a people from liabilities into assets. executive conmittee, but also in showing interest," she says. special feature of the City In the last three years, the society solving her housing problem. Summit, hopefully will lead to has helped nearly 50 poor and She, along with 15 other dis- Toward empowerment networking among different displaced men and women. placed women, had registered agencies and a cross-fertilization Maria did not attend the City themselves as the Tribal Welfare Many of the conflict-scarred of ideas in the future. This will Summit in Istanbul this June, nor Society. As a nonprofit body women and men who make up the not only reduce the cost burden were her successes at building dealing with women in distress, Tribal Welfare Society have lost for each player, but may well lead partnerships for problem solving they got top priority for accom- their most precious possessions- to innovative approaches to showcased. But hearing her tale, modation. Soon, the society had their home, their belongings. seemingly intractable problems- one wishes she had been at its own address. And Maria quit Some have lost their loved ones. problems as severe as those faced Habitat II, sharing her experiences her day job. Picking up the pieces of their and conquered by Maria Mangta of negotiating with bureaucrats, That was the genesis of the lives and moving on is not easy. and the empowered residents tough-talking businessmen, and Tribal Welfare Society. Today, it Banks will not lend them money, of the Tribal Welfare Society. NGO representatives. has moved beyond shelter to because they have no assets and l THE UDBRK RGE August 1996 ~~~-------------------------------- Children at Habitat II by Dr. Hans J. Hoyer Dr. Hans J Hoyer is PLAN's interntationtal regionzal director in South Asia and was the leader of tre hIabitat IIpolicy team. J J 1, ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ lQl1~ To promote and illustrate . the and vulnerabiities; habitat needs of children, PLAN "I would like my -consistent emphasis on Intemnational-the world's largest community -based organizations private child sponsorship organi- neighborhood to look like this: a and processes that fully include zation-exhibited 21 works of art safe women and children in defining on the theme of habitat at the very p ..EsI i " jor me as a problems, setting priorities, and conference. These artworks were child, awayfrom things dangerous to implementing solutions; produced by children from around a a broad view of habitat that the world, aged 6 to 17. Entitled MY health and with a wide place for extends from the home through "We Live Here Too!-The me to play. Trees whiere I can take a the community to the human and Habitat of the Child," this natural environments around exhibition helped show that rest when I am tired and clean water them; children have a critical role to rgani- when I am thi s: a a call to measure urbanization play in identifying habitat needs t d w and habitat prograims by teir and in implementing solutions. where I can swim." specific impact on children. More specifically, Additionally, in a separate - Children's habitats have a -Jason C. Neric, age 15 Declaration of Mayors and Local powerful influence on their Authorities, municipal officials development. h Children not only can but heard at Habitat n1. The final called for , easuring "the well- - Children have special and must participate in the selection, Global Plan ofActionfor Habitat being of children as an indicator specific needs from their habitat design, and implementation of includes: of effective implementation of that might not necessarily be met habitat improvement projects. * repeated references to human settlement policies." by general improvements. This message was clearly children and their special needs THE URRRN RCE S~~~~ - - Violence and Its Effects on Women's Access to Social Services vby Frances Madden Frances Madden, a community activist living and working in Jamaica, was one of the guest speakers at a special event held at Habitat 11 called Gender, Social Policy and the City. The event was co-sponsored by the World Bank; UANCHS (Habitat); the Huairou Commission; the Women, Homes and Community Super-Coalition; and Urban Poor Associates, the Philippines. KINGSTON. Jamaica is the Violence disrupts access to such tion. This in turn leads to domestic violence. There is a largest of the English-speaking services by creating fear, hostility, jealousies, rivalries, and jockey- range of offenses existing on the Caribbean Islands, with an area of and isolation. Three types of ing for position among the books that could potentially approximately 11,000 square violence prevail in Jamaica: gang, women and their illegitimate involve domestic disputes and kilometers. Its current population interpersonal, and domestic. Each children; it can spark instances of murders. is about 2.5 million, more than takes a toll on women's access to interpersonal violence as well. A typical sequence of events one-quarter of whom reside in the services. Gang violence also affects the seems to lead to domestic capital, Kingston. Much of the provision of all local services violence, or at least to its poten- nation's industrial activity is Gang violence simply because both service tial. This begins with a family focused in the cities; agriculture is providers and service recipients history of physical abuse, the mainstay of rural areas. Gang violence is usually are afraid to leave their homes. combined with a situation of politically or drug-related. It extreme poverty. In this setting, a Growth, poverty, unrest takes the form of retaliatory Interpersonal violence young girl becomes involved in a killings, beatings, stonings, or sexual relationship with an older In recent years, there have rapes involving guns and knives. Interpersonal violence can be boy or man for emotional and/or been high levels of migration to This type of violence creates carried out by woman against financial support. Her ignorance the city, as people seek work and/ severe hardships for families, woman, man against man, man and naivety often lead to preg- or training opportunities. This destroying the fabric of home and against woman or woman against nancy. The girl is then generally trend of rapid, unchecked urban community life. man, parent against child, child forced out of school, possibly growth has placed great demands When a gang member dies, the against parent, or child against made to leave home, and often on housing and physical and gang retaliates against the child. abandoned by the baby's father. social amenities-many of which families and community of its One of the main factors in The impact of domestic were already lacking. A variety rivals. The community, in adult situations of interpersonal violence on women often results of factors has led to: response, disbands. The younger violence is jealousy of other in; - relatively high national males usually leave for rural sexual partners. Other factors * reduced opportunities for unemployment levels-15.3 areas. Children are sent to other derive from the forced sharing of personal development; percent in general and 21 8 relations. Entire families move spaces and amenities typical of * reduced opportunities for use percent among women; away, returning only when the inner-city comnmunities. Violence of community services, such as * excessive political tribalism, war is over. It then takes great erupts in the most pedestrian of informal child care; which limits access to housing in resources and time to re-establish settings; for example: * isolation from friends and those communities with strong the family. * At communal water facilities, community, since the man might political affiliations; and Gang members are suspicious violence can arise if one person fear that these outside influences * a concentration of houses in of people going outside the uses the pipe for too long. might convince the woman to urban settlements, giving rise to community, especially women * In playing spaces, children leave the household; and the establishment of squatter who do domestic work. They may fight among themselves due * reduced access to services communities and ghetto areas. believe these women will inform to limited space; the mothers may from nongovernmental organiza- These factors often create the police of gang-related get involved-sometimes leading tions and government institutions. highly volatile communities, prey activities. Thus, these women to stabbings. e.g., health, family planning, and to issues of political control and lose their only means of economic Interpersonal violence results counseling. criminal activities. The situation support. Men who reside outside in hostility, suspicion, and malice. is exacerbated by violence. the community cannot visit their Sharing, cooperation, and Solutions and A key impact of violence is families; their women can receive neighborliness are nonexistent. recommendations disruption of access to critical no support for the children. Thus, for example, mothers must services. Poverty is a fact of life There are other consequences pay for child care, rather than There are a number of recom- in inner-city communities. Social as well: trust a neighbor. Additionally, mendations for addressing the services-including health care, * Parents withdraw their access to community credit-e.g., three problems outlined above. self-employment opportunities, children from school, as most of at local shops-is lost. and child care facilities-have the educational institutions are General become extremely valuable to closed. Domestic violence * Create incentive programs for women as they struggle to * Women make sure they are youth to stay in school, e.g., by maintain their households and friendly with the community In Jamaica, there are no clear providing increased exposure build a life for their families. leader in order to receive protec- definitions for classifying continued on page 17 R TRE URUAR RGE 4. .--- ion.< VIOLENCENCE continued from page 16 through youth camps and summer East-Central European Urban and Housing programs.T1 .Conduct parent education, to Indicators System include parent-child relationships and communication, child by Jozsef Hegedus and Ivan Tosics development issues, and the r influence of the environment on JozsefHegeduis and vivin Tosics are co-directors of the Metropolitan Research Institute in Budapest, behaviors. Hungary. *Perform sustained and ongoing research, including the BUDAPEST. The new International Development was following areas: use of participatory methods and govern1ments of the transition the project's main sponsor; * Further develop those the need for longitudinal assess- countries of Eastern Europe that additional support was provided modules of the housing indicators ments. were elected in the early 1 990s by the United Nations Centre for system that belong to the most Gang violence started to restructure their Human Settlements (Habitat) and important policy areas and that * Interface with gang and centralized housing policies in the Economic Commission for need more work in order to community leaders to reduce the response to both political and Europe. establish reliable indicators (e.g., levels of violence, macroeconomic pressures. targeting of subsidies, measuring * Sensitize youths to available Within a very short period of Indicators and Habitat II arrears and social safety net, choices other than guns. time, massive wealth transfer monitoring rehabilitation/deferred * Invite political leaders to programs were undertaken Indicators on human settle- maintenance of the multifamily small group discussions to through privatization of the state ments were a high priority for housing stock). identify alternatives to violence, rental housing stock and restitu- Habitat II. Around the world, - Address key areas of local Interpersonal violence tion of property. As a result, the urban and housing data were government functioning (such as - Work with young girls to states' central role in determining collected for inclusion in the socioeconomic development increase their levels of self, self- housing polices diminished as Global Indicators Database, a finance) in the system of urban worth, and self-respect. these policies became more collaborative program developed indicators; regionalize the urban * Work with leaders in market oriented. through the World Bank and indicators (i.e., develop new community organizations to These major reforms have not UNCHS (Habitat) which presents indicators that measure the specia prevent the development of been without conflict and failure. a unique description of human problems of the East-Central further interpersonal animosities For example, privatization and settlements in over 90 countries European region); and bring the withein communities, rent and price reforms were, in and 190 cities. system of indicators closer to the * Work with young children many cases in the region, not The East-Central European process of local government especially those in the school accompanied by much-needed regional housing and urban budgeting (i.e., establish basic environmnent, in the development institutional changes-such as indicators program received information for program budget- and clarification of realistic value functioning condominium laws or substantial interest at Habitat II. ing). systems and moral codes, housing allowances for the Two presentations-one at the * Enlarge the geographical Domestic violence poor-creating both inefficiencies Economic Commission for coverage of the indicators from - Clearly define categoes of in management of the housing Europe's special event and a the capital city to a national domestic violence to assist the stock and inequities among second at the Indicators Semi- sample of settlements (to be able police in taking decisive action different population groups. nar-about the program were to get national values of indicator policeind toaking decveno u stond made during the conference. as weighted averages of local their rights. Measuring the success of data); decide on the frequency of * Extend the activities of restructuring Future work data collection; improve data community women's groups to collection methods; and determin include discussion on issues of To investigate the restructuring Both the international institu- the relationship between the trust and management of domestic of housing policy in East-Central tions and participating countries indicators and the existing system disputes, and provide opportuni- Europe, a project to develop involved in the indicator project of housing statistics. ties for obtaining interim reloca- qualitative and quantitative shelter plan to continue their regional * Suggest uses for the quantita- tion funding. and urban indicators was begun in cooperation. Their aim is to start tive and qualitative data; establisl * Create opportunities for November 1994. Indicators are institutionalizing the indicators in organizational and institutional women to gain economic inde- statistics, the interpretation of the East-Central European processes to ensure that indicaton pendence. 3 which directly inform policy countries. A further aim is to are taken into consideration in pdcdecisions. These indicator data coordinate this regional activity policy formation. can be used to evaluate ongoing with the Western European Urban and housing indicators sectoral developments and indicator efforts, especially with provide us with a powerful tool ir provide insights into both ongoing Eurostar and the Organisation for analysis and policymaking: we and proposed housing reforms. Economic Co-operation and cannot make our cities better and This project has resulted in the Development working groups. solve our habitat and housing first systematic and comparative To meet these objectives, problems effectively until we data collection effort since the future work on the indicators know exactly what's out there transition. The U.S. Agency for system should concentrate on the I THE URBRN RG August 199 I II Best Practices in Istanbul ... .and After by Szilard Fricska [1 Szilard Frieska works in the Best Practices and Local Leadership Programme at UNCHS (Habitat), Nairobi, Kenya. NAIROBI. "This is, in my terms of follow-up was how do we view, one of the most important actually address these problems? events at Habitat II." United The whole idea was that we would Nations Secretary General address the how from the onset, by Boutros Boutros Ghali was looking for success stories, referring to the Best Practices successful solutions that have been Award Ceremony, the culmina- implemented." tion of a two-year search for These solutions-best prac- solutions to the problems of our tices-involve partnerships urbanizing world. Habitat II, the between such key actors as national Second UN Conference on and local governments, nongovern- _ l lrti Human Settlements, injected new mental and civil society organiza- the award ceremony, "All 12 initiatives, or projects that clearly life into the genre of international tions, the private sector and share one common feature, demonstrate the commitment of conferences by focusing on professional organizations which whether they be from developed people, their communities, and a solutions-not simply on the have made tangible and sustainable or developing countries. They wide range of stakeholders to problems. improvements in the living represent change: change in the implement lasting solutions to environments of people around the way we define problems and their urban problems. As such, A wealth of inspiration world. At Habitat II, 12 such search for solutions, change in they provide valuable lessons and partnerships received the Awards attitudes and behavior, change in serve as examples for further "The basic idea," explains for Excellence in Improving the governance and management application whether in a similar o Nicholas You, the coordinator of Living Environment. Ranging systems. They demonstrate that adapted form. Many best the Best Practices and Local from a small, community-based positive change and sustainable practices address critical areas Leadership Programme, "was that initiative in Cote d'Ivoire to the human development are indeed such as job creation; access to most previous UN conferences citywide revival of Chattanooga, possible and 'do-able."' housing, land, and basic services; have been remarkably successful Tennessee, these programs repre- environmental rehabilitation; and in forging the consensus on what sent a wealth of inspiration and Standardizing best practices the social integration of women needs to be done ... but one of experience to be shared with the criteria and youth. the key areas that the international rest of the world. While best practices informa- community has had to work on in As Boutros Ghali observed at Best practices are actions, tion and case studies have existed in a variety of forms and been Procrices Excellence ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~available from many different iSS ulf9 9 6:?8estaprFanOSi £ es Nw&ds forifExrttesllenite L 00000 ;000 0 0000000ufX: :: 0 :00 :: ;;; - sources, there has never been a consistently applied set of criteria The following 12 initiatives have been awarded the: Toyo and DubaiAwards for Excellence in rinproving the to define success, nor a consisteni Living Environment at Habitat II: ~~~~~~~~~format for documenting these * Project on Sites and Services for Fmiy Groups with Low Incomes Living inte North of Gran, Buenos Aires, initiatives. The UN General Argentina Assembly, however, accepted * Integration Council ion theFCavelasRehabilitation Process, Fortaleza, Brazil three criteria for a best practice: * Post-Calamitv Reconstruction ofiAnhuliProvince'scRuralAreas,Chinat, * Successful Institutionalization of Commumty-Based Development in the Commune of Adjame, Abidjan, Cote * partnership, and d'Ivoire : sustaina:i iii* n * A Womnen's Self-Help Organzation f orPoveAlleviation in India The Case of SEWA Bank, India From these criteria an unified ::* Shelter;Upgrading, Agadir, Mdorocco :S :;t e 0- :ia:i7 t 2 ; >i *0: C00 -(Sity Management in Tilburg, The NetherlanldstV $ 0000000000^ ;200 0 0 0 00f ;00) :0 t 00 :004 ; ;: reporting format was devised that * Local Initiative Program: Community Planing -Process NanCity/ Nghborhood Partnership in Lublin, Poland greatly facilitates comparison * Community Infornation Resource i Center (CIRC),Alexandra, SouthAfrica : among cases. : Chattanooga, Tennessee USA: A Living Laboratory forSustle Development * " ;.;;Don'st Move,Improve," South Bronx, New York City, USA: 0 00f00:00 0; ;;0; ;:;000: ; X;: ;; Best practices database For more information about best practices, best practices award winners, or the best practices database, contact Nicholas You, Coordinator, Best Practices and Local Leader p Pro , UNCHS (Habitat), P.O. Box 30030, The award recipients, along Nairobi, Kenya. Tel: 254-2-624328; fax: 254-2-6230)80; e-mail:best.ps-actices@unchs.org;Inteiset: hit1:! C: with several hundred other good www~.bestpractices.org Or contact Bill Sims, Executive Director,0TheTogether Foundation, 5East 7th Street, iewYo, N 10021 , and best practices, are now VUSA. Tel;:212-628-1939; fax: 212-628-4265; e-mail : bilUsims@togeter.org available on a best practices continued on page 19 THE URBRN 19E Aus2ust 1996 BEST PRACTICES continuedfrom page 18 database. This database was problem, can not only find other tive as an ongoing program of goals involving the monitoring developed by UNCHS in partner- tested solutions, but can easily the United Nations Centre for and evaluating of transfers of best ship with the Together Founda- contact those responsible to explore Human Settlements (Habitat). practices knowledge, experience, tion and features a search engine further means of cooperation. The The Best Practices and Local and expertise. = I that allows the user to browse database is available on CD- ROM Leadership Programme will And what of the award through the cases by such criteria and computer diskette, and via the continue to identify, document, winners themselves'? As Ms. = as sector, region, ecosystem. Intemet. and disseminate successful Ewa Kipta, coordinator of the scale, and keywords. initiatives through a network of Local Initiative Programme in The database is a powerful tool Benefits for users; validation for regional and thematic resource Lublin, Poland, recently re- for national and local authorities, projects centers. With the database as its marked, "Due to the awvard, our policy analysts, capacity-builders, backbone, the program will experiences have finally been and researchers. A city manager, The enthusiasm evident in provide such value-added treated seriously, and the main- for example. looking for alterna- Istanbul has helped secure the information products as a roster stream of urban thinking is tives to a solid waste management future of the best practices initia- of expertise. It has longer term slowly changing." Rward-Winning Best Practices We highlight below 5 of the 12 award-winning best practices recognized at Habitat Ii. Successful Institutionalization of Community-Based Development in the Post-Calamity Reconstruction of Anhui Province's Rural Areas, China Commune of Adjame, Abidjan, Cote d'Ivoire The 1991 flood in Anhui Province left a half-million households Adjame, Abidjan, with a population of 220,000, is an old conmnercial homeless. This project carried out a comprehensive reconstruction plan district where high residential densities and inadequate water supply, sanita- and unified planning strategy that drew on the combined efforts of the tion, and solid waste collection services are major problems in the poorer victims, civic society, local authorities, and central government. It used neighborhoods. In 1988, Adjame's municipal government establshed civic this opportunity of reconstruction to replace the old, ineffective techniques committees (Comites de Developpement de Quartiers-CDQs) to promote used in the area's individual housing with modern methods based on sociocultural, economic, and environmental development at the community scientific principles of organized construction; better, less costly, building level. Today, Adjame's 19 neighborhoods all have operational CDQs materials; respect for environmental concerns: new leveraging of funds; involved in many activities, including street cleaning and garbage collection, involvement of the victims in decisionmaking anld policy processes; and security services, sanitation, revenue-generating operations, small infrastruc- less disaster-prone codes and standards. The initiative has improved the ture improvement, and social services. CDQs receive seed capital from the layout and organization of villages and has integrated housing construction municipality but do not receive any operating subsidies. The municipality also with the development of a "courtyard economy." transfers to the CDQs public facilities such as public latrines and water -vim fountains which can be operated for profit, and commercial premises that can u- 1X. be leased to diversify their revenue sources. The success of the CDQ concept ; a 1s has enabled the launching of more ambitious initiatives such as health centers 1ll and micro-incubators to encourage young Ivorians to start commercial businesses. Shelter Upgrading in Agadir, Morocco More than 20 percent of the families in the Agadir region (which comprises six municipalities with a total population of 500,000) were living in marginal T squatter settlements when the ANHI program was initiated. ANHI assists residents of these settlements in improving self-built housing; provides rehousing for squatters; provides integrated, communitv-oriented social services; and creates jobs and fosters income-generating activities. The e program's success was based on a collaborative approach involving govern- ment agencies and community members: institutionalizing a sustained outreach effort; adopting a flexible approach to self-build development so that Local Initiative Program: Commuity Planning Process and Cit,vi individual households defined processes that best suited their situation; and Neighborhood Partnership in Lublin, Poland cross-subsidization to ensure continued financial viability. In 1990, the city of Lublin initiated a new participatory planning Integration Council in the Favelas Rehabilitation Process, Fortaleza, process to engage residents in the development of their neighborhood and Brazil rehabilitate older districts. The program, launched in two low-income districts of multifamily housing, involved residents in discussing and Fortaleza has 2.5 million inhabitants and a very high level of poverty. This planning the future of their neighborhoods. New development plans were program addressed the challenge of rehabilitating the city's 400 poor neigh- approved by the city council, and the city adopted an act to stimulate borhoods while avoiding demolition and relocation. It did so by reinforcing initiatives in infrastructurc development by sharing investment costs. In the status of the residents-respectiug their priorities and interests, building on 1995, the local initiative program was institutionalized to guarantee its existing dynamics. and strengthening local authority. The program focused continuity as a key environmental improvement strategy. As a result of the first oni education and capacity-building to enable people to assunme responsi- neighborhood partnership initiative, houses have been built, rundown bility for improving their living conditions. An educational program was houses renovated, shops and businesses established, and infrastructure established covering both general education and technical training in construc- improved. Young people who had left the area have returned, and tion and urban planning. Innovative technology was adopted in the rehabiita- multigeneration families have been re-established. The program represents tion effort. Among its other attributes, the programn was singled out for its a completely new approach to commnunity planning which ensures an creation and institutionalization of a democratic space. ongoing dialogue between the municipality and the residents. THE URERN PRG Au.eust 199e Habitat TI: A Time and a Place to Share Ideas by Nat Nuno-Amarteiflo dI iVat Nuno-Amarteifio is the mayor of Accra, Ghana. ACCRA. In retrospect, it is these cities. I also wished to national governments. Few local government system. By the impossible to imagine a confer- meet the policymakers whose national governments can afford standards of an emerging ence about urban life in the 21 st decisions in the governments of the cost of infrastructural economy, we have achieved a century in any city other than so-called developed countries, or development in emerging cities. remarkable decentralization of Istanbul. Beijing, New York, as heads of various multinational New financial interests would our government structure. Our Paris, London, Rio de Janeiro- groups or international organiza- have to come into play. The government has been serious in these cities all have huge popula- tions, affect the economy and relationship between city creating capacity in municipal tions, vast strategic economies, social growth in my city. I government and the business government to handle the new important financial infrastructure, wanted to meet the thinkers community would have to change responsibility now vested in that and tremendous continental whose theories are providing the dramatically. level of government. These were histories. But few cities-and intellectual basis for these Finance for development major themes of local govern- certainly none of the above-have policies. I wanted to meet the would now stretch beyond ment debated and discussed at the unique, Janus-like qualities of businessmen whose investments national boundaries, and city Istanbul. I sat on many panels Istanbul. affect the growth of cities governments wold have to look where I was able to discuss these thousand of miles from their into international markets for this new forms of governance. The participants institutional headquarters. resource. This in turn would necessitate new structures for city The future One could not help but be The preceding conferences government. Emerging cities overwhelmed by the sheer variety would have to build their But what is the future of of people who attended this For me, the road to Istanbul administrations to meet this new Habitat? I believe that the ideas conference. There were presi- had started two years ago, when I challenge, while at the same time of Habitat can be best sustained if dents, prime ministers, and attended my first preparatory coping with their changing the United Nations or the ministers; big businessmen and conference in Manchester, demographic structures. organizers of this conference can small businessmen; mayors and England. That road has led City governments cannot help cities stay in touch with one senior government officials; through New York, Dakar, afford to sit back and watch this another and maintain the new representatives of nongovernmen- Abidjan, Johannesburg, and new world emerge without working relationships that were creating international networks to established at the conference. City governments cannot help integrate their cities into this City management in most Third new world order. Whilst World countries is-at best- afford to sit back and watch this participating in these conferences crisis management. One has very leading to Istanbul, I realized that little time to think deeply or new world emerge without creating my city can no longer afford to clearly about solutions to prob- international networks to help compare its pace and range of lems. them integrate their cities development to its sister cities in Every country has its own inem to integrate their cities Ghana. I now have to measure political culture, and it is impos- into this new world order our growth and appeal against sible to carry a solution from one other continental capital cities context to another without such as Dakar, Johannesburg. tailoring it to fit. Many Third tal organizations, of enviromnen- finally Marmaris in Turkey. Nairobi, and even Cairo. World governments feel threat- tal groups, and of every conceiv- Each conference examined some ened by the demands of new able interest group. aspect of urban life. The conference voices wanting to be heard in T was part of a 30-person In the process, I had learned government. By bringing delegation that represented that with the new economic and The Habitat conference was an together the different participants Ghana. As the mayor of a fairly political forces at work, city endless round of meetings, at Habitat, we saw that we could large African city (population management in the 21 st century committees, panel discussions, accommodate different points of about 3.5 million), I am intensely is going to be quite different from working cocktails, working view. E interested in solutions to the city management in the 20th lunches, and occasional boat myriad problems facing my city. century. In the first quarter of the trips. I wanted to meet as many I know that these problems are 21 st century, about 70 percent of mayors of African cities as I not unique to Accra. All over the the world's populace is expected could. It was fascinating to world, the capitals of developing to live in cities. This would observe the extent to which our countries are undergoing the same require a different political problems were similar. transformation. relationship between metropoli- Ghana has, in the last six I wanted to meet the mayors of tan governments and host years, achieved a well-balanced IHE HU fHRE A,, rol 7QQ(i CRMTICALASSESSMENT Urban Management Programme Phase III Launched at continuedfrom page 8 Habitat II development" was mentioned N'Dow declared many times - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - repeatedly, little progress was along the road to Istanbul-the by Randa Fouad made in suggesting how it could real test of the conference's value be operationally applied in urban will be in the actions taken in its Randa n airod is head of the Information and Press Relations Department of Environmental Qualityj International in Cairo, Egypt, and regional areas. There were, for example, aftermath. In this respect, the information adviser for the Urban Management Programme, Arab few references either to resource success in mobilizing interests States. efficiency or conservation. No and groups beyond governments ISTANBUL. "As we are entering a new era in our thinking on urban links were made to the potential may prove to be the important issues, the Urban Management Programme also renews itself to provide of new patterns of employment ingredient in longer term impact. support to the implementation of the Habitat Agenda over the next five associated with more sustainable This does not solve the substan- years." So saying, Dr. Wally N'Dow, secretary general of the Habitat II useso.tive problems noted, but it may at Conference, formally launched the third phase of the Urban Management uses of natural resources. tlve problems noted, but It may at Programme (UMP) on June 12, 1996, during the Habitat II Conference. Taken together, these substan- least provide some political The UMP is a long-term technical assistance program that aims to tive problems suggest that Habitat rationale as to why they continue strengthen the contribution that cities and towns in developing countries I. did not effectively attain its to need attention. r make toward sustainable human development. Now in its 10th year, it is the II na lalargest worldwide program of technical cooperation on urban management. ambitious objective of integrating It represents a successful partnership of UNCHS (Habitat), the executing the concerns expressed in the agency; the World Bank; and UNDP, which provides core funding and previous global summnits. This overall monitoring. Bilateral donors, multilateral agencies, and nongovern- mental organizations also provide various forms of support. ambition may have been too great The UMP works through four regional offices in Africa, the Arab States, in the first place, but-as Wally Asia and the Pacific, and Latin America and the Caribbean. It seeks to strengthen urban management by harnessing the skills and strategies of regional networks of experts. communities, and organizations in the private sector. In so doing, it addresses the areas of land management, infrastruc- Latin America and the Caribbean's Contribution ture management, municipal finance and administration, environmental management, and poverty alleviation. to Habitatl U Dr. N'Dow explained that a major thrust of the program's third phase will be to ensure the continuity and sustainability of its regional, national, - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - and city-level support activities. Also, in this phase, the program will Motivated by the solid support of with conviction and the definition redirect its emphasis-and use a significant chunk of program resources- the most important regional of a common idea of the city that is to support the preparation and implementation of citywide action plans. networks in Latin America and the wanted. It usually means rediscov- Special effort will be made to enhance synergy within country operational programs and projects supported by UTMP partners. UMP Phase III is also Caribbean, the Regional office of ering the values of democracy, expected to contribute to implementation of the Habitat hagenda. the Urban Management Programnme leadership, accountability, James Gustave Speth, Administrator of the United Nations Development disseminated a broad call for transparency, participation, and of Programme (UNDP) noted that Phase III represents a unique opportunity reporting of positive experiences on a common effort. for the international community to test the potential for concrete actions urban management, in order to The list of 306 cases reported in leading to irnproved urban living conditions. It also represents an opportu- make a concrete positive contribu- Latin America and the Caribbean nity to demonstrate the new collaborative and results-oriented initiative of tion to the City Summit at Istanbul. was published the the spanish the United Nations system. He stated that "UlvlP has established through- Out of the 306 cases that were edition of the Urban Age and is out the years a comprehensive network of contacts with the most important received, 22 were provided with air going to be in the internet for open urban institutions worldwide." tickets and well-deserved space to consultation. A book ius being Shabbir Cheema, Director, MDGD, UNDP, praised UMP as a "shining present their cases at the Sali Pazary purblished with the 22 cases that urban policy design ed through a patpations orgayrzateonsw He strpised "Best Practices Exhibition Centre" selected to participate at Habitat II because it created ownership by all of those whom it affected. during the City Summit. and a broad program of horizontal "The UMP is a major program focusing on the human development side The cases received make evident cooperation is being prepared. The of urban development rather than on physical investment," Dr. N'Dow said. the creativity and the dynamics of supporting institutions will surely "This is particularly important as we start realizing how the complexity of urban actors at all levels of be ready for a permanent mecha- urban problems is rapidly increasing." government, the civil society and nism of reporting of positive the private sector. Stimulated by the experiences of urban management Reach Global participation of stakeholders and the as it will benefit them: Regional a Audience search of effective solutions to Organization of Ministers of improve city life and overcome Housing and Urban Development concrete problems, many cases (MINURVI); Regional Network of emphasize on the importance of National Associations of solid and lasting partnerships; the Municipalites; Ibero-American reconstruction of democracy starts Union of Capital Cities (UCCI); at the city level in many countries. Latin American Chapter of rULA; - Advertise in The Urban Age There are no instant solutions. Cities Unies et Development The achievement of improvements (CUD); Interamerican Federation General rates: Inside back cover 3,500 in the quality of life at neighbor- of the Construction Industry Half-page (horizontal) USS1,200 Inside half back cover 2,000 hood. municipal or city level, (FIIC); Interamerican Union for Quarter-page 700 Book & periodical: according to many of the experi- Housing (UNIAPRAVI); and Outside back cover 3,500 Hal-page 750 ences received, is the consequence networks of NGOs like REDES, Outside halfback cover 2,000 Quarter-page 500 of a lasting effort, of a process that FICONG, and others. For information, call or write to Margaret Bergen, The World Bank Group begins not always with success but 1818 H St.. NW, Room S6-147, Washington, DC 20043 Tel: 202-458-5071; Fax: 202-522-3232 TIE MRIAN RGE A,,-,,-t /006 An Urbanizing World: organizations to find solutions. A increase their income, giving populations and lifestyles expand Global Report on Human project in Manila, for example, them the opportunity to be A third peril is the rate of urban- Settlements, 1996 involves women living in slums independent. ization in this region, which is who relate their life histories and without precedent in the world. explore critical events to avoid a Living in Asian Cities: Indeed, virtually all of Asia's 1l by the United Nations Centre repetition of such events. A Report of the Second expected population increase of for Human Settlements (Habitat). Pakistani project draws on the Asia-Pacific Urban 1.1 hilbion by 2020 will require Oxford University Press, Walton local community's expertise to doubling the number of cities in Street, Oxford OX2 6DP, 1996. prepare rapid and low-cost Forum, March 11-15, 25 years. ISBN 0-19-823346-9. surveys of areas that are to be 1996 provided with secondary drains. The Urban Opportunity: Culled from specially commirs- United Nations, New York 1996 The Work of NGOs in sioned papers by urban experts Women and Urban The fiorum was sponsored by the Cites of the Sou and the latest population censuses, Settlement Economic and Social Commission this book is for Asia and the Pacific in edited by Nicolas Hall, Rob Hart, the most Gender and Development Vol. 4, cooperation with the United and Diana Mitlin. Intermediate An U,aniz ing WOrld comprehen- No. 1 (February), edited by Nations Centre for Human Technology Publications Ltd., sive review Caroline Sweetmen, Oxfam, 274 Settlements (Habitat) and the 1031105 Southampton Row, available on Banbury Road, Oxford OX2 7D2, United Nations Development London WCIB 4HA,1996. ISBN urban 1996. ISBN 0-85598-348-5. Programme under theframework 1-85339-3479. )conditions of the Urban Management worldwide. This volume of the Oxfam Focus Programme for Asia. The work of the industrialized It immedi- on Gender series emphasizes that, world's nongovernmental ately strikes a warning note: since the first Habitat conference The main issues raised in this organizations (NGOs) in the Unless urban problem solving is in Vancouver in 1976, the idea of book-which were developed at a developing countries of the South revolutionized, the current cities as focal points for industrial regional meeting held before the basically involves tackling urban statistic of more than 600 million activity that would help solve Habitat II Istanbul conference- poverty. But each NGO has its people living in towns who are urban are the need for a new approach in own ideas about what poverty homeless or in life- or health- unemploy- urban policy, the dilemma that means and how to overcome it, threatening situations will be l ment has exists between macroeconomic this book affirms. An NGO like trebled by 2025. The book notes . - collapsed. goals and microeconomic needs, Water Aid, for example, focuses that a first step in trying to solve Instead, the and the need to empower poor on problems related to water and urban problems is good gover- aim of Asian people. The book empha- sanitation in slums; while Help nance and good policies. Cities, Habitat II in sizes that various perils could Age, another NGO, concentrates the book says, have the potential Istanbul in undermine the predictions on one segment of the poor to be both healthy and safe, and June 1996 made-for instance, by the World population-older people. NGOs they have immense cultural was "generating worldwide action Bank-about Asia's economic from northern cities also tackle resources and environmental to reverse the deterioration in dominance in the 21st century, the problen advantages-the point is using living environments." A principal when 7 of the 10 largest econo- of the scale such resources positively. symptom of this deterioration is mies of the world are expected to of urban For example, one advantage of the increase in the numbers of be China, Japan, Korea, India, poverty the high population density that is urban poor. Moreover, there is Indonesia, differently. a characteristic of cities is that growing evidence that women are Taiwan, In general, costs per household and per disproportionately represented and however, industry are lower for piped among those whose long-term Thailand. they all try treated water, waste collection poverty is deepening and those for By 2020, and add and disposal, advanced telecom- whom poverty is a relatively the book value to the finance they pass on munications, and most forms of recent state. The reality of much says, the air by developing local skills, health care and education. of women's work-whether it is over large knowledge, and experience. For Emergency services for fire in export-processing zones, the areas of example, International Coopera- control and accidents are also factories of transnational corpora- China could be literally tion for Development helped a much cheaper. The book mentions tions, or the informal sector-is unbreathable, and twice as bad as Peruvian NGO clean up the River that new directions in urban low earnings, insecurity, and poor the notorious Black Triangle in Rimac Basin and also passed on planning and management are working conditions. Migration is Eastern Europe, if China contin- skills to district and provincial also followed in the way homeless also particularly affecting women, ues to use its abundant supplies of municipalities in the Lima area or people are being settled and land but this is not necessarily a bad high-sulfur coal to fuel its the design and implementation of developed. Public authorities thing. Urban life can offer women development. Similarly, water environmental engineering now encourage the participation emancipation from the constraints shortages, which are already projects aimed at cleaning rivers. of the private sector and of of rural traditions, and the city can common in many parts of Asia, grassroots and nongovernmuental be a place where women can can only become worse as both THE URORN RGE 4.A-- 100K ~~~EE - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - Below is a selection of urban events and training courses culledfrom The Urban Age's currentfiles. We are not always able to list events more than once, given space limitations. Please refer to past issues of The Urban Agefor additional events scheduled in 1996. Send your announce- ments to: The Editor, The Urban Age, Room S6-147. The World Bank Group, 1818 H Street, NW, Washington, DC 20433, USA. Fax: 202-522- 3232; e-mail: mbergen@worldbank.org Conferences Cairo,Egypt-Octoberl3-17,1996. NewUrbanCommunities: Past Experience and Future Responses. Contact: INTA Secretariat, Nassau Dillenburgstraat 44, 2596 AE The Hague, The San Jose, Costa Rica-September 9-13, 1996. Geological Risks in Netherlands. Tel: 31-70-324-4526: fax: 31-70-328-0727. Urban Areas (Urban Geohazards). Contact: M.Sc. Sergio Paniagua Jerusalem, Israel-October 13-16, 1996. Migration and the Global P., Presidente del Comite Organizador y Director, Escuela Centroamerica de Geologia Central, No. 35 (2060) UCR, Universitaria Economy: Planning Responses to Disintegrating Patterns d Frontiers. Contact: ISoCaRP, Mauritskade 23, 2514 HD The Hague, Rodrigo Facio, Costa Rica. Central America. Tel: 506-225-7941: fax: Frnies Cotat eSCaP Martkd 351 DTeHge RodrigoFacioC stanRicaguCentrariAmrica. Tel:506225The Netherlands. Tel: 31-70-346-2654; fax: 31-70-361-7909; e-mail: 506-234-2347; e-mail: spaagucaa.ucr.ac.crisocarp art.n. New Delhi, India-September 9-13, 1996. Reaching the Unreached: Challenges for the 21st Century. Contact: Professor John Pickford or San Jose, Costa Rica-October 21-26, 1996. World Congre o Airo Rowena Steele, WEDC, Loughborough University, Leicestershire Pollution in Developing Countries. Contact: J Gruetter, ProEco, LE11 3TU, UK. Tel: 44-1509-222390; fax: 44-1509-211079. Apdo. 2105 San Salvador, El Salvador. Tel: 503-224-0514; fax: 503- 223-7826. Washington, DC-September 25-27, 1996. Rural Well-being: Educat ion Programs and Courses From Vision to Action. Contact: The World Bank, 1818 H Street, NW, Room S8-019, Washington, DC, 20433, USA. Tel- 20)2-458-4398; fax: 202-522-3265; e-mail: University of WalesThe University ofWales. Cardiff offers 12- ESDC58wo98baxk:og ' month MSc courses in urban planning; urban and regional transport; technical change and regional development; and sustainability, plan- ning and environmental policy, and a 24-month course in city regional Cleveland, Ohio-September 29-October 2, 1996. Creating Jobs in a planning. Contact: Admissions Secretary, Department of City and Competitive Environment. Contact: Chris Mead, National Council for Regional Planning, University of Wales, P.O. Box 906, Cardiff CFI Urban Economic Development, 1730 K Street, NW, Suite 915, 3YN, UK. Tel: 44-1222-874000; fax: 44-1222-874845. Washington, DC 20006. Tel: 202-223-4735: fax: 202-223-4745. University of Stuttgart-The Center for Infrastructure Planning offers Strasbourg, France-October 6-9, 1996. The First European a two-year post graduate course leading to the degree of Master of Conference of the IATR. Contact: Palais de la Musique et des infrastructure planning. Contact: University of Stuttgart, Centre for Congres, Place de Bordeaux, 67082 Strasbourg Cedex, France. Tel: 88- Infrastucture Planning, Nina Mapili, Manager, 70550 Stuttgart, 37-67-67; fax: 88-25-61-96. Germany. Tel: 49-711-685-6560: fax: 49-711-685-6582. Environment and Urbanization The twice yearly journal about environmental and urban issues Subscribers include over 1,100 African, Asian, and Latin in Africa, Asia and Latin America, published by the Interna- American NGOs and over 1, 300 libraries and resource tional Institute for Environment and Development (IIED). centers. Each issue is based on a special theme; recent issues have PRICES: focused on Urban Poverty, Sustainable Cities, Funding One year: institutions US$56; individuals $37. Cormmunity Initiatives, Evictions, Health and Wellbeing in Two years: institutions USS95; individuals $63. Cities, and Future Cities. Half price for students or for individuals or institutions in Africa, Asia (except Japan), and Latin America. Each issue includes: * 8-12 papers For more details or a sample copy, * a guide to the literature write to E and U, 3 Endsleigh Street, * in-depth profiles of innovative NGOs London WCH ODD, UK, * summaries of new books and reports fax (44) 171 388 2826; * (since 1995) case studies of the use of participatory tools e-mail: humansiied@gn.apc.org and methods THE URRRN RGE August 1996 AHMEDABAD LIFEAFIERHABITAT II continuedfrom page 12 continuedfrom page 13 tion, was engaged to assess the The corporation asked for U.S. The committee responsible for councilwoman and leading strength of the corporation and its Agency for Intemational Develop- preparing the Turkish national environmental activist, describes financial position. "It was a ment's support and International Habitat report adopted the core Habitat II as "an extravagant bit learning exercise for both Lease Financial Services to help concept of "livability." Wielded of PR." In the same breath, Li s CRIS and the corporation," administer the first bond issue of properly in local Habitat she explains that she is off to Varma remarks. No one, $30 million done through private agendas, this is a hard-edged the city's water authority to including CRIS management, placement. [This placement had not way of insisting that policies be discuss how nongovernmental knew how to set the parameters to yet been made as of press time.] assessed for an overall impact organizations (NGOs) can be assess a credit rating for an Indian The rating has now become a on the quality of life. Along effective in the fight to preserve city, the corporation also had a sensitive issue in the city. The with a right to housing is the water cachement areas from "dubious track record." But politicians want to preserve the right not to breath dangerous illegal settlement. No event in Varma's argument that he was city's financial status-which levels of carbon monoxide or recent Turkish history has done increasing revenues, professional- Varna hopes will translate into not to see a cultural heritage more than Habitat II to mobilize izing the administration, and greater accountability, increasing destroyed by unregulated nongovernmental and commu- streamlining systems was levels of professionalism, and more construction. nity-based organizations and persuasive. focus on financial strengthening. Fifteen years ago, urban prove their worth. At one stage Varma knew the importance of master plans were imposed on during the conference, a police attaining an investment-grade The lessons of Ahmedabad individual cities by a central panzer car was positioned directl: rating. Issuing a bond for the ministry. Ten years ago, they in front of the door of the head- corporation on the basis of a The people of Ahmedabad are were amended by municipal quarters of the NGO host comnnit credit rating would be a pioneer- now undertaking their own offices behind closed doors. As tee. In what may turn out to be a ing move for the city-and the projects: slum upgrading networks part of the local Habitat agenda gesture of some resonance, the country. This would be a key step that are demand driven and where for Bursa, Istanbul's neighbor, panzer was moved along. to access both national and the beneficiaries pay, the develop- the mayor debates the plan in Today inside that building, international credit to create a ment of private sector partnerships public meetings. To be sure, he Emel Korma, a member of that sound basis for sustained to build roads, corporate sponsor- would have done something committee, reflects on the fundraising by the corporation. ship of public parks. similar without the prompting of mistakes of Habitat II. As a first Keshav Varma summarizes the an expensive UN conference. experience with an international Receiving the rating example set by his city. "We are conference, she says, "it was people who can reflect the reality Was Habitat II worth the natural for us to put all our effort The credit rating was fmally and problems occurring in cities to fuss? into the actual conference itself." set at A+ in early 1996 with a help evolve effective strategies Now she and her colleagues see reassessment due after six bound in reality. The question of As usual, it is the critics who more clearly that the challenge al months. The impact in the country funding urban infrastructure is end up being the best advocates. the time was to prepare for what was tremendous. "But is it crucial to the sustainability of cities Nur Atabay, an Istanbul city will come next. E sustainable?," everyone asked. in the next century. Municipal To which concern, Varma replies, bodies should position themselves Nextfissue "Whether I go, it will continue. to raise resources from the capital ----… - Because of the transparency and market. The overall trend in the The next issue of The Urban Age will focus on mayors and partnerships. growing professionalization of the economy underscores this move. We look forward to receiving your comments and thoughts on this cadres, the system is not as But to achieve this, municipalities upcommng issue. vulnerable now to change in must increase their efficiency, Photo credits.- page 5 (Habitat II): Margaret Bergen; page 6 (Habitat 11): commissioners." transparency, and accountability." .Vargaret Bergen; page 7 (Wally N'Dow): Courtesy of Wally N'Dow; page 14 (India): Patralekha Chatterjee; page 18 (Istanbul): courtesy of UNCHS (Habitat) Nairobi; page 19 (Best Practices): courtesy of UNCHS (Habitat) N Mairobi; page 20 (Mayor's Column): courtesy of Aat Nuno-Amarteifio …r The Urban Age is published four To receive The Urban Age, pleasefill out the information below and return to: I times a year and is available to The Editor, The Urban Age, Rm S6-147, The World Bank Group, 1818 H St, NW, Washington, DC 20433 1 developing country subscribers NAME _ free of charge. Developed country I subscribers are charged US$20.00 OCCUPATIONIF E I annually. Editorial offices are j OCCUPATION ___ ______ _ English located at Room S6-147, The h World Bank Group, 1818 H I ORGANIZATION 71 French Street, NW, Washington, DC I 20433, USA. Fax: 202-522-3232; I ADDRESS nI Spanish e-mail: mbergen@worldbank.org l_l The UrbanAgeis printed by AutomatedGraphicSystems, I - A fee of US$20.00 per year will be charged to developed country subscribers. Inc., on recycled paperusing soy L _ _ basedinks. THE URBnH RCE A --..o TOOK