Get it Right! / CHANGE THE WORLD

Nicholas You on what works  - and why.

I started working in developing countries as an architect and planner early in the 1970s. The urban projects that I came across were massive. So was the wasted opportunity. Many of these projects copied a Western model of urban environment and development that did not respond to the needs and wishes of the people and the communities for whom they were designed. Fuelled by financial institutions afloat with oil money or with development assistance, most of these projects were conceived mainly by foreign experts, with their objectives and their processes. Development planning became a process directed largely by those who supply it, rather than those who receive it: driven by politics more than people.

Work by some anthropologists helped illustrate the dilemmas many of my colleagues and I were facing. Their studies identified three levels at which people and the space that had been planned for them did not work. At the first level are people who don't understand the space - that a living room is a living room or that a public park is for collective leisure. The result is that the space gets trashed and the people are blamed. At the second level are people who understand the space, but whose living conditions make it hard or even impossible for them to comply with it: for instance, extended families of rural migrants who have moved into two-bedroom high-rise city apartments in order to live and work. In this case, the space gets trashed and the people suffer. Finally, people who both understand the space and can comply with its design intent, but for whom the space does not work because it inhibits social interaction and enjoyment. As a model for urban development, this last level is just as alienating and unsustainable as the first. Yet it is the model for cities (planned more for cars than for people) that is being adopted all over the world.

Creating a more sustainable model of development is first and foremost about governance. The fundamental issue is 'who decides for whom?' The stories in this magazine demonstrate how effective participation - participation that truly results in empowerment - can overcome the shortcomings of traditional representative politics that have rarely responded to the needs of the poor and the disenfranchised, not to mention the sustainability of our planet's eco-system.

These stories remind us that the administrative and bureaucratic boundaries of our government institutions and public authorities make little or no sense to the average citizen. People are seldom interested in which part of a government or department is responsible for doing what - let alone the territorial battles that they engage in. They are, however, more than willing to organize themselves and contribute to actions that result in tangible outcomes for their quality of life. The initial reaction by Porto Alegre's planners and technocrats to people-participation in the city's budget was that havoc would result. Experience has proved them wrong. The process is both effective and highly efficient. People have not made unrealistic demands. If governments and technocrats trust ordinary people, they will respond - provided that the structures are in place for them to do so.

Last but not least, the stories in this issue highlight that the more sustainable forms of development are, in effect, win-win solutions. The 'Butterfly Project' described on the previous page shows us that the inexorable processes of urbanization and globalization do not necessarily have to take place at the expense of the environment. A workers' takeover of a textile concern in Argentina, abandoned by management in the face of global competition and national economic crisis, shows how jobs and dignity can be preserved while responding to the local market demand.

While these examples provide unique pointers for the future, they have to date made relatively little impact on mainstream decision-making and remain largely local in their scope and application. The question that begs is: 'What does it take to turn best practices into common practice and policy?'

I don't have the answers. But I think that parts of the solutions are beginning to appear. In my view, we need to re-examine how we are governed or how we govern ourselves. The institutional and governmental frameworks in most countries are conceived on models dating back centuries and are woefully inadequate in responding to the challenges of globalization and sustainable development. Government at a local level - whatever form that takes - should be strengthened. As Porto Alegre shows, the process of involving people in local government is as important as the outcomes that it achieves. Local government should be empowered to act as the custodian of the environment, the broker of effective economic development, the marshal of social equity and justice and a leader in forging a shared vision of what constitutes quality of life.

We need to demand of the media not only sensational news but also positive news. A starting point would be to accompany each and every story of natural or human-induced disaster with a report on a good or best practice. We need a renewed commitment to international co-operation and solidarity to mitigate and reverse the negative impacts of globalization. We need fairer trade. We need a responsible international financing system that lends to countries that need finance without abandoning them if things go awry. We need an international community that is willing to apply what works, irrespective of where the initiative comes from.

Finally, we need a good dose of common sense. We have lost touch with fundamental values: what is right, what is wrong and what is decent. Today's dominant models of how we should live that are provided by big business or stockmarket trading have proven to be fools' gold, based on absolute greed and a total lack of moral grounding. Like any adult who has had to answer the seemingly naïve yet ultimately rational questions posed by children, we need to rediscover independent thought and analysis and redefine what we mean by 'sustainable livelihoods and development'. This challenge requires an investigation of the norms that both shape our daily habits and lifestyles and underpin our life-term pursuits. It requires an interrogation of the trust we place in public institutions and corporate enterprises. It requires reflection based on the spiritual values and ethical dimensions of our humanity. And it requires the courage to act - and to change.

Nicholas You is the Chief of Best Practices and Policies at UN-Habitat, based in Kenya.