Originally posted to polis] Recent developments in Kibera and Dharavi, two of the most high-profile slums in the world, underscore the importance of including informal workers in planning decisions. In Kibera, a UN-backed slum clearance is underway amidst protest from residents whose livelihoods are at risk (and landlords who control informal real estate). The redevelopment plan for Dharavi has been stalled due to upcoming elections, as politicians appear reluctant to alienate the millions of voters involved in the economy it would displace. Slum redevelopment often exacerbates poverty when informal workers are not involved in decision-making processes.

Living conditions in slums can be improved without uprooting local economies. An international research network called WIEGO has been addressing occupational health and safety (OHS) in the informal sector. Through this initiative, researchers find out which government agencies are in charge of OHS and help informal workers open channels for dialog in policy development. WIEGO makes sure they have the resources for effective advocacy. OHS researchers also compile best-practices among government programs that have established successful workplace standards in informal settlements.

WIEGO is part of the Inclusive Cities Project, which promotes the representation of informal workers in planning decisions. They work with membership-based organizations in slums to influence municipal policy. Informal businesses are considered essential to poverty reduction, especially when accompanied with adequate infrastructure, regulation, and stimulus. If these businesses were included under effective legal structures, worker exploitation could be monitored and tax revenues used to finance improved living conditions.

Elinor Ostrom, Basudeb Guha-Khasnobis, and Ravi Kanbur have recently published a book titled Linking the Formal and Informal Economy: Concepts and Policies. It includes theoretical and empirical studies that identify close relationships between the two sectors. Understanding informal business as an integral part of a city’s economy could encourage legal representation, protection, and accountability. In addition, Ostrom’s research on commons, institutions, social capital, and human-environment interaction is very relevant to planning and development from within informal settlements.

Communities like Kibera and Dharavi have complex and active economies that can be included in legal governance. It’s essential for informal workers to have a way of protecting their rights and livelihoods.

Credits: Photo of a boy in Dharavi by Jonas Bendiksen. Photo of Kibera residents from The Gardian.

[Originally posted to Where] Camillo Sitte thoughtfully explained the interior qualities of his favorite public spaces. Though generally open to the sky, they were surrounded by varied building types and furnished with stairways, arches, and sculptures. They were intimate and often irregular, with engaging views on all sides. He lamented the abandonment of plazas as daily life moved increasingly indoors.

Today life moves increasingly online, but the places we inhabit — whether physical or virtual — are no less important. Even looking out the window affects our state of mind. This is hard to measure, but it’s fairly clear when we feel comfortable, depressed, inspired, fearful, or healthy in response to our surroundings.

Sitte envisioned outdoor space that didn’t feel desolate. When we think of The Great Outdoors, we usually mean forests, mountains, rivers — not cities. But in many ways forests have more in common with cities than with prairies or deserts. They are full of proximate activity, and contain many unique places. I wonder how cities might eventually be considered part of The Great Outdoors.

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[Originally posted to Where] There is an interesting perspective on cities in a short essay by Matthew Gandy, titled “Urban Nature and the Ecological Imaginary.” In referring to urban nature, Gandy includes both concrete elements and abstract ideas. The ecological imaginary is an example of the latter, as in the use of scientific metaphors (such as organism and metabolism) to represent cities. This way of thinking seems to have gained momentum in response to industrialization, as urban areas were increasingly viewed as separate from and harmful to nature. Thus planners sought to reconnect cities with a natural ideal.

According to Gandy, urban space is produced through a nature-culture synthesis. In other words, cities take shape through our actions in combination with biophysical processes. Kevin Lynch found that “the quality of a place is due to the joint effect of the place and the society which occupies it” (Good City Form, p. 111). Gandy proposes a political approach that recognizes this co-evolutionary dynamic and moves away from the idea of cities as unnatural.

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In Civic Realism, Peter Rowe discusses the character of “civic places,” which he distinguishes from other public spaces by pointing out the ways in which they “represent, constitute, and enhance the daily lives of citizens” (6). He also explores how civic places come into existence, emphasizing the interplay between the state and civil society.

Interesting examples from Sienna, Barcelona, Paris, Rome, New York, and Ljubljana appear throughout the book. I found the section on the transformation of “space” into “place” especially interesting, as well as the case study of Jože Plečnik’s work in Ljubljana as an example of ways in which the public domain comes to constitute and represent civic life.

This book was written by Keith Pezzoli, and has a forward by John Friedmann. I’ve heard really good things about it and am hoping to check it out soon.

The review mentions that residents of the Ajusco area, on the outskirts of Mexico City, fought relocation by proposing to create “productive ecology settlements.” I wonder what these are exactly? It’s interesting to consider the many different ways that the concept of environmental sustainability is used to influence policy.

Quoted from the book description at the MIT Press website: In many areas of the world, environmental degradation in and around human settlements is undermining prospects for both socioeconomic justice and ecological sustainability. To explore the issues involved in this worldwide problem, Keith Pezzoli focuses on a dramatic instance of conflict that grew out of the unauthorized penetration of human settlements into the Ajusco greenbelt zone, a vital part of Mexico City’s ecological reserve.

City of Walls calls to mind the importance of openness and safety in developing successful urban settings. While it’s difficult to determine why some cities are more violent than others, extreme income disparity tends to be a contributing factor. As people with means move to gated communities and people without become increasingly vulnerable, creating environments where everyone can walk freely and feel secure should be a top priority.

Quoted from the University of California Press website: Teresa Caldeira’s pioneering study of fear, crime, and segregation in São Paulo poses essential questions about citizenship and urban change in contemporary democratic societies. Focusing on São Paulo, and using comparative data on Los Angeles, she identifies new patterns of segregation developing in these cities and suggests that these patterns are appearing in many metropolises.

Era 21 is an architecture and planning magazine published in the Czech Republic. While it offers English translation, the full articles are not published on the web. I hope this changes, because the topics and pictures look really interesting. For example, a recent issue…

ERA 21 – NO. 3, VOL. 2007
Urban Revitalization and the New Urban Planning

Environment & Urbanization is a journal that focuses on urban environmental issues in Africa, Asia, and Latin America. It offers free English translation to French-, Spanish-, and Portuguese-speaking researchers from these regions in order to bring their work to a wider audience. It is sponsored by the International Institute for Environment and Development (iied) and edited by David Satterthwaite.

E&U sample papers and popular downloads (including an article by Gabriel García Márquez)

Interview with David Satterthwaite on “The Humanitarian Impact of Urbanisation” in IRIN

In their article, In Microfinance, Clients Must Come First, Srikant Datar, Marc Epstein, and Kristi Yuthas assess the current debate on microfinance, and explain their theory for change. They recommend that microfinance institutions (MFIs) focus on helping clients build sustainable businesses rather than simply increasing the size and quantity of loans administered.

Quoted from the Stanford Social Innovation Review: To make microfinance work for more people, more often, in more places, MFIs need to think clearly about how their practices will bring about the changes they seek. This may mean making fewer microfinance loans and incurring more costs to support the loans they’ve already made. The benefit, of course, is the building of sustainable businesses. The challenge is finding ways to provide these additional services efficiently. In our current research, we are designing and testing these client-centered practices. We hope that our results will ultimately lead to the broader application of effective and cost-efficient client-centered microfinance programs.