Richard Stren

The social sustainability of cities : diversity and the management of change

Cities are a locus of human diversity, where people with varying degrees of wealth and status share an association within a particular urban boundary. Despite the common geography, sharp social divisions characterize many cities. High levels of urban violence bear witness to the difficult challenge of creating socially cohesive and inclusive cities. The devastated inner cities of many large American urban centres exemplify the failure of urban development. With an enlightened democratic approach to policy reform, however, cities can achieve social sustainability. Some cities have been more successful than others in creating environments conducive to the cohabitation of a diverse population. In this collection of original essays, case studies of ten cities (Montreal and Toronto in Canada, Miami and Baltimore in the United States, Geneva and Rotterdam in Europe, Sao Paulo and San Salvador in South America, and Nairobi and Cape Town in South Africa) are presented and analysed in terms of social sustainability. The volume as a whole looks at the policies, institutions, and planning and social processes that can have the effect of integrating diverse groups and cultural practices in a just and equitable fashion. The authors conclude that policies conducive to social sustainability should, among other things, seek to promote fiscal equalization, weave communities within the metropolis into a cohesive whole, and ideally, provide transport systems that ensure equal access to public services and workplaces, all within the framework of an open and democratic local governance structure.

‘Urban management’ in development assistance: An elusive concept

Abstract As the relationship between development and urbanization emerges more sharply, the concept of ‘urban management’ has attracted considerable institutional support at the international level. However, the concept itself is inadequately defined. As a result, the institutional expression of urban management at the international level lacks coherence, and the implications of its use are vague and contradictory. One important reason for the absence of intellectual clarity is the failure of the research community — as illustrated by the African case — to come to terms with the concept. To avoid the pitfalls of the continued use of such an ‘unanalysed abstraction’, and for the concept to gain in both interpretive power and practical value, more attention needs to be given by both researchers and international agencies to the substantive content and meaning of urban management in different settings.

New perspectives on African urban management

New perspectives on African urban management recommends that more attention be paid to how society and the indigenous economy organizes itself within each African city so that attempts to improve urban management are more firmly rooted in local circumstances. It describes certain dimensions which conventional urban management tends to ignore the importance of rural-urban relationships, the scale of the informal economy, the scale and importance of community based organizations, self-help groups and NGOs in service provision, and the extent to which municipal policies, provision of services and regulation ill-serve the needs of women.

International assistance for cities in low- and middle-income countries: do we still need it?

Based on evidence of a secular decline in urban development assistance on the part of many overseas agencies such as the World Bank and USAID, this article suggests reasons for the decline and considers what can be done to reverse it. Urban assistance (from North to South) is still needed in many countries because it strengthens economic development at all levels of recipient nations and because it engenders networks of decentralized cooperation that promote local development. To be more effective, urban assistance programmes must support local research; they must support South—South networks; they must continue to focus on pro-poor policies; and the agencies that undertake these must act responsibly as the local stakeholders they have in fact become.

Toronto and São Paulo: Cities and International Diplomacy:

With globalization, the largest cities in the world have been growing in economic importance. And their local powers have often been enhanced as a result of decentralization reforms over the past two decades. In this context, cities—and particularly their mayors—have been reaching out to other cities and jurisdictions to pursue a variety of goals. One term for this process is “paradiplomacy,” but most of the literature on the subject gives little attention to the local political dynamics behind these initiatives. In this article, we explore these local dynamics through a comparison of two major cities, Toronto, Canada, and São Paulo, Brazil. The cases show that external initiatives, both in scope and direction, vary according to the political strategies of the elected mayors. These strategies are strongly affected by the local context and by the political logic of mayoral leadership.