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CONSTRUCTION WORLD
MARCH
2017
24
PROJECTS & CONTRACTS
People must live and work somewhere.
Given ructions in the world economy,
evidence shows that more people believe
their best bet for a better life is in cities. This
is especially true in developing countries.
And they’re right. According to the UN
Habitat, urban areas generate 70%
of global GDP.
With people sold on the idea of cities,
where are they going to go? Existing cities
have developed for good reason, but always
piecemeal, forever behind the rising curve
of practical need. Demand outstrips supply
many times over.
Cities can expand upwards or
downwards, but this is a finite solution.
More often, cities sprawl sideways,
the centres de-densifying in favour of
suburbanisation.
Inhabitants often discover that, at the
periphery, there is no public transport,
forcing them into cars which worsens
congestion, pollutes the air and ups the
per capita carbon footprint. Life becomes
stressful, with residents more prone to
ill-health. New arrivals intent on bettering
their lot face problems. Native inhabitants
intent on protecting their advantages face
problems. And no one is consulted about
the change.
Is better urban governance part of the
solution? City leaders do organise, driven by
a worthy ambition to provide shelter for all
citizens. However, they suffer the same fate
as the city’s infrastructure. They are unable
to keep up with the real issues.
The American academic Benjamin
Barber, author of
If Mayors Ruled the World
, is
optimistic. He sees city governance as the
model for a post-national, interdependent
political landscape. In his words, “The
road to global democracy runs through
cities”. It’s already happening. Mayors are
meeting the challenges pragmatically and,
by virtue of their semi-autonomous power
base, are able to share these lessons with
other mayors below-the-radar of national
governments. By splicing out their city’s
good genes, they can be recombined
elsewhere to beneficial effect.
South African urbanist Edgar Pieterse,
though, is not so sanguine. City leaders
are not adequately representative or
responsive. He argues for the reinvigoration
of civil society to include the everyday
concerns of marginalised people, especially
of cities in the developing world.
Alessandra Orofino, based in Rio de
Janeiro, has the tools to enable that
engagement. She’s the compelling force
behind Meu Rio, a digital platform for grass
roots civic participation. Her tools are being
used to air local grievances, rally support
and change policy in Rio. Her battle cry is,
“It’s our city: let’s fix it”.
These efforts tackle symptoms. They
do not reconcile clashes between old
infrastructure and new technologies, or
between native and newly arrived citizens.
Is there a more radical solution? Is there
a circuit-breaker to halt the downward
development spiral?
Paul Romer, an American economist,
thinks there is. In his view, attempting to
expand existing cities is doomed, especially
in developing countries. Instead, he thinks
we should build new charter cities. Charter
cities – cities that operate to their own set
of special rules – have the unique quality of
allowing experimentation by recombining
good urban genes imported from more
economically mature corners of the globe.
Modelled in part on Shenzhen in
Southern China, his idea is that these
experiments must be brand new, with the
rules drawn up beforehand by the host
country. That way, investors, companies,
workers, and families actively opt-in to
migrating there in preference to other cities.
The infrastructure and public services
are planned for 21
st
century conditions.
Opportunity for citizens is equal. And if the
experiment works, the rules can be adopted
across the country.
Of course, success is in the detail.
Setting rules that reform poor governance
is a tall order. But by matching the common
experience to expert knowledge, and
integrating our findings with tech and good
governance, perhaps we can walk the extra
mile in citizens’ shoes – so that they
don’t have to.
*This is from Aurecon’s futuristic blog,
Just Imagine.
Traffic against Shanghai cityscape. Shanghai
is the largest Chinese city by population and
the largest city proper by population in the
world with over two million vehicles.
OUR CITIES ARE FULL
– we need new ones
By Matt Coetzee
By 2050, the UN predicts that cities will somehow accommodate a
massive 2,5 billion more people than the 4 billion that already live
there. The big question is, where are they all going to go? How do
we make sure these places are fit for the continued influx of people?
By walking a mile in their citizens’ shoes, could we simply replace
imperfect cities with improved ones?