Interviews with architects and city planners

In discussing issues of urban planning in the Global South, there are of course parallels that can be drawn between each of our respective cities. What struck me as interesting was the way in which all of these city planners specifically focused on the creation of an urban vision for the next 30-40 years. These visions are designed to outline the goals that the city is to work to achieve in terms of both the physical allocation of urban spaces, as well as the social atmosphere that the city provides to its residents.

However there have been gaps in urban planning for those living in the informal areas and they have been excluded from these urban visions. I think it is especially important to point out that all of the city planners interviewed focused on the process and procedure in which these plans are being created and implemented for the residents of the city.

The approach of PK Das in Mumbai is particularly relevant in the case of Cairo, in which he argues planning can be used as an instrument for democratic change. The struggle for democracy in Egypt cannot only be about the current political transition and the inclusion of a ballot box, but must also be about utilizing any and all mechanisms available that allow citizens to voice their opinions and take responsibility for their space/place in society.

Howaida Kamel
Community Manager, Cairo | URB.im

Maria Fernanda, I thought your conversation with Enrique Betancourt captures very interesting issues that aren’t only relevant to Mexico City, but to many other cities, both from developing and developed countries. I liked that he emphasized that cities need to come up with more effective inclusive mechanisms so they can create more opportunities and bring greater quality of life for all its dwellers. In my opinion, the challenge is that such efforts cannot take place in isolation and they need to reach scale and sustainability; more importantly, these efforts will require greater joint work between different levels of government and citizens.

In another part of the interview, Betancourt also mentions that the poor and vulnerable populations sometimes don’t have a sense of belonging given thier exclusion from the formal city. I agree with such statement and in my opinion, more effective efforts need to take place to transform such lack of sense of belonging. This can be achieved by investing more in vulnerable populations, not only on infrastructure but on social services, such as health, education, nutrition, culture, recreation, training, etc. Many of our articles and discussions within URB.IM already focus on interventions that are generating long lasting transformations. So as Betancourt suggests, lets keep such exchange of experiences and help identify potential good practises and lessons that could be of use in our platform's debate.

Catalina, estoy de acuerdo contigo en que para que las ciudades sean más incluyentes es necesario que los ciudadanos y gobiernos sumen esfuerzos. Por ejemplo, en el caso de las áreas más vulnerables Betancourt me comentó un ejemplo de alternativas para que la sociedad civil pudiera tener un mayor alcance en donde muchas veces el gobierno no tiene presencia; en este sentido, una organización subcontratada por el gobierno fue la responsable de implementar una campaña contra las adicciones. Modelos como las alianzas públicas y privadas pueden ser alternativas para dar solución a las problemáticas sociales.

En definitiva espacios como Urb.im permiten identificar soluciones viables que pudieran ser escalables y replicables en las otras ciudades.

Considero que se debe realizar una reingeniería en todo el tema referente al urbanismo en el DF. Desde analizar las bases de datos de las propiedades (cosa que beneficiaría a aumentar la tributación de predial) hasta el establecimiento de metodologías serias respecto a los análisis de costo-beneficio al momento de autorizar una construcción o no.

De igual forma, la ciudadanía debe salir de su aletargamiento y participar. Por participar no me refiero a la toma de calles y disturbios; no, me refiero a que "cada derecho conlleva una obligación" y que si se desea una mayor planeación, todo empieza por un cambio en el paradigma respecto a la relación "ciudadano-gobierno"

While I wrote mostly on PK Das' thoughts on open spaces in Mumbai, he also talked extensively on slums and slum redevelopment. He is part of an organization called Navara Hak, which is one of the biggest slum dwellers' organizations for housing rights. With this organization, his firm took up a comprehensive mapping of slums in Mumbai, which he says had never been done before. Shocking! What they found was that Dharavi was no longer the biggest slum in the city, despite all the attention that it grabs. Here are their findings:

"We showed how slums are no longer individual fragmented pockets of land but they are actually a contiguous land across the city. And so we made a central argument that what we need is not slum redevelopment policy of the present kind, where each slum is looked at as an individual pocket of redevelopment, but what is first most important is to prepare a comprehensive master plan on this contiguous land and reserve the slums land as land for affordable housing." This idea is in contrast to the present policy of a 50-50 formula--removing slum dwellers from their current structures and giving them small residences in SRA buildings built on 50% of the land; the other 50% of the land is for commercial development.

"Our proposal demands very serious determination and will power on the part of the government to say that we stop trading: allowing private developers to trade on slum land. This has to happen. That this is our land for social housing. And we've showed through master planning how that is possible to also produce substantial amounts of affordable housing."

Do you know the Mexico City Charter for the Right to the City? It was developed by social movements, human rights networks and signed by the local authorities in 2010. It contains many things in common with the vision and proposals you are sharing. We prefer to avoid the "slum" and "informal" categories and use other more positive and powerful instead, recognizing the right to build and create the cities (social production and management), accessing the opportunities and participating at decision making processes. Full text and related materials available at website.

Many thanks for your good suggestions and valuable comments. Enrique Betancourt mentioned the urgent need to develop processes that allow people to own their city under the respect for the rights and meeting their needs from a participatory perspective. Moreover the Charter for the Right to the City is an antecedent of a possible constitution of the Distrito Federal through a participatory approach.