Event: Africa’s Urban Revolution
20 February 2014 
London, England
Jo Beall (British Council) looks at why cities so often serve as safe havens in times of conflict, only to be wracked by terrorism, violent crime and rioting after wars wind down. Sean Fox (University of Bristol) uses historical trends to demonstrate that Africa’s urbanisation is not as unique as it seems. Register here.
In honor of World AIDS Day (December 1st), this week’s URB.im conversation focuses on the diverse and innovative ways cities around the world are combating HIV/AIDS in response to their unique local contexts. Globally, the spread of HIV is reversing course: UNAIDS reports that new infections have fallen by 33 percent since 2001. Government agencies and NGOs are tackling HIV/AIDS from all different angles, including interventions targeted at orphaned youth with HIV, outreach to eliminate barriers to testing, as well as initiatives to improve treatment for current patients. Read on to learn about some of the strategies being implemented in Chittagong, Bogotá, Bangalore, Lagos, and Mexico City to raise HIV/AIDS awareness and reduce its prevalence, then join the conversation below.
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লেখিকাঃ রুভানি নাগোদা নিসান্সালা, অনুবাদকঃ নুসরাত ইয়াসমিন
এইচআইভি/এইডসের সার্বিক প্রকোপ বাংলাদেশে এখনো নিম্ন, ১% এরও কম জনসংখ্যা এই রোগে আক্রান্ত হয়। তবে, ঝুঁকিপূর্ণ আচরণের উচ্চ প্রকোপ, যেমন,যৌনকর্মী এবং তাদের ক্লায়েন্টের মধ্যে অরক্ষিত যৌন-সঙ্গম এবং মাদক ব্যবহারকারীদের মধ্যে সুচ ভাগাভাগির সঙ্গে মিলিত হয়ে প্রতিবেশী দেশে (যেমন থাইল্যান্ড হিসাবে) এই ধরনের রোগের সূচকীয় বিস্তার, বাংলাদেশকে ভবিষ্যতে এইচআইভি মহামারীর উচ্চ ঝুঁকিতে রাখে।এই ঝুঁকি উপাদান ছাড়াও, বাংলাদেশের উচ্চ জনসংখ্যার ঘনত্ব, অত্যন্ত নিম্নমানের জীবনযাপন, কম উৎপাদনশীলতা, বেকারত্ব, এবং লিঙ্গ বৈষম্যের উপস্থিতি ও এইচআইভি সংক্রমণে উল্লেখযোগ্য ভূমিকা রাখে।
বাংলাদেশে এইচআইভি/এইডস ১৯৮৯ সালে প্রথম সনাক্ত করা হয়। জাতীয় এইডস এবং এসটিআই প্রোগ্রাম (এনএএসপি) অনুমান মতে, ২০১০ সাল পর্যন্ত ৭৫০০ বাংলাদেশী এইচআইভিতে আক্রান্ত হয়ে বসবাস করছে। এই বৃদ্ধিজনক ঘটনার বিপরীতে, মুষ্টিমেয় এনজিও এইচআইভির বিস্তার থামাতে এবং ইতিমধ্যেই সংক্রমিত যারা তাদের সেবা প্রদানের জন্য এইচআইভি/এইডস শিকার এবং তাদের সম্প্রদায়ের সঙ্গে ঘনিষ্ঠভাবে কাজ করা শুরু করেছে।
১৯৮৯ সাল থেকে বাংলাদেশ ইন্টিগ্রেটেড সোশ্যাল এডভান্সমেন্ট প্রোগ্রাম (বিআইএসএপি), একটি অরাজনৈতিক, অলাভজনক, এবং বেসরকারি উন্নয়ন সংস্থা, চট্টগ্রামে এইচআইভি/এইডস সচেতনতা সৃষ্টিতে উল্লেখযোগ্যভাবে অবদান রাখছে। চট্টগ্রাম দেশের সবচেয়ে জনবহুল শহরগুলোর মধ্যে একটি, যার মোট জনসংখ্যা ৪.৮ মিলিয়ন। বিআইএসএপি প্রাথমিকভাবে চট্টগ্রামে এইচআইভি/এইডস প্রাদুর্ভাব কমাতে সচেতনতা প্রোগ্রাম যেমন, এইচআইভি প্রতিরোধের কৌশলের উপর ফোকাস করে। এখন পর্যন্ত তারা বিশেষ করে ঝুঁকিপ্রবণ নারী ও শিশুদের লক্ষ্য করে তৃণমূল পর্যায়ের সামাজিক সংহতি প্রকল্পে কাজ করেছে। বিআইএসএপি বিশ্বাস করে সমাজের ঝুঁকিপ্রবণ গোষ্ঠীকে আর্থিকভাবে সচ্ছল করার মাধ্যমে দারিদ্র্যের বোঝা এবং এই ধরনের সংক্রমিত রোগের বিস্তার হ্রাস করা সম্ভব।
২০০৮ সালে, আয়ারল্যান্ড দূতাবাসের সঙ্গে অংশীদারিত্বের মাধ্যমে, বিআইএসএপি চট্টগ্রাম শহরে এইচআইভি / এইডস ও অন্যান্য যৌনরোগ প্রতিরোধ একটি প্রধান প্রচারণা চালু করে। সমাজের সদস্য ও স্থানীয় কর্তৃপক্ষকে কিভাবে এইচআইভি ছড়ায় এবং কারা রোগ ছড়ানোর উচ্চ ঝুঁকির মধ্যে আছে ষে সম্পর্কে সচেতন করাই এই তিন বছরের প্রকল্পের মূল লক্ষ্য। এই উদ্দেশ্য বাস্তবায়নের লক্ষ্যে, বিআইএসএপি শিক্ষক, ছাত্র, স্বাস্থ্য পরিসেবা প্রদানকারী, স্থানীয় নেতা, এবং পরিবহন ইউনিয়ন নেতাদের জন্য শিক্ষণীয় ও সচেতনতামূলক প্রোগ্রামের আয়োজন করে। উদাহরণস্বরূপ, ২০০৯ সালে, বিআইএসএপি চট্টগ্রামে বিজ্ঞান ও প্রযুক্তি বিশ্ববিদ্যালয়ে ৫০ ডাক্তারদের জন্য এইচআইভি / এইডস প্রশিক্ষণ কর্মসূচী আয়োজন করে। এই প্রোগ্রামের মূল উদ্দেশ্য হচ্ছে, চিকিৎসকদের শিক্ষিত করে তোলা যেন তারা সামাজিক সচেতনতা সৃষ্টি এবং সামাজিক সংহতি উন্নয়নের মাধ্যমে এসটিআই ঝুঁকিপূর্ণ তরুণ, যারা তথ্য ও চিকিৎসাসেবা থেকে বঞ্চিত তারা যাতে বাধা অতিক্রম পারে, তা নিশ্চিত করা। বর্তমানে, বিআইএসএপি বিশেষভাবে স্থানীয় রিকশা ও সিএনজি (স্বয়ংক্রিয় রিকশা) ড্রাইভার, ছোট ব্যবসায়ী, এবং গার্মেন্টস কারখানা শ্রমিকদের জন্য শিক্ষাগত উদ্যোগ অব্যাহত রেখেছে। এটা যাদের সঙ্গে যারা উভয় ছুঁয়েছে বিআইএসএপি এর এই উদ্যোগ শক্তিশালী কারণ এটি চট্টগ্রামের ঝুঁকি এবং অভিক্ষিপ্তাবস্থা এবং কর্তৃপক্ষের নিকট পৌঁছাতে পেরেছে।
যদিও এইচআইভি / এইডস-এর বোঝা সম্প্রতি বাংলাদেশে বৃদ্ধি পেয়েছে, এর বিস্তারের ঝুঁকি উপাদান উপস্থিতি সত্ত্বেও রোগ এবং মৃত্যুহার ক্ষুদ্র রয়ে যাওয়া প্রমাণ করে যে, এই ধরনের সম্প্রদায় সংহতি উদ্যোগ রোগ সংক্রমণ রোধ করতে সাহায্য করতে পারে। বিআইএসএপি এর এইচআইভি / এইডসে এখনো আক্রান্ত হই নি ব্যক্তিদের মধ্যে সচেতনতা উত্থাপনের এই তৃণমূল কৌশল বিশ্বের অন্যান্য উৎস-দরিদ্র শহরগুলোতেও কার্যকরী হতে পারে।
Photo credit: BISAP
Ruvani Nisansala, Dhaka Community Manager
The overall prevalence of HIV/AIDS is low in Bangladesh, as less than 1 percent of the population is infected. However, the high incidence of risky behaviors, such as unprotected sex between sex workers and their clients, and needle-sharing among drug users, coupled with the exponential spread of the disease in neighboring countries (such as Thailand), puts Bangladesh at high risk for a future HIV epidemic. In addition to these risk factors, the high population density, extremely low living standards, unemployment, and gender inequality present in Bangladesh are underlying contributors to HIV infection.
The first case of HIV/AIDS in Bangladesh was detected in 1989. By 2010, the National AIDS and STI Program (NASP) estimated that 7,500 Bangladeshis were living with HIV. In response to this increase in cases, a handful of NGOs have begun to work closely with HIV/AIDS patients and their communities to halt the spread of HIV and to provide services to those already infected.
The Bangladesh Integrated Social Advancement Program (BISAP), a non-political, non-profit, and non-governmental development organization, has significantly contributed to HIV/AIDS awareness in Chittagong since 1989. Chittagong is the one of the most densely populated cities in the country, with a population of 4.8 million. BISAP primarily aims to reduce HIV/AIDS prevalence in Chittagong through awareness programs, which focus on HIV prevention strategies. To this end, they conduct grassroots-level community mobilization projects, particularly aimed at vulnerable women and children. BISAP operates on the understanding that by empowering those most at risk in the community, the burden of poverty and related disease can be reduced.
In 2008, through a partnership with the Embassy of Ireland, BISAP launched a major campaign to prevent HIV/AIDS and other STIs in Chittagong city. The key goal of this three-year project was to make community members and local authorities aware of how HIV is spread and who is at high risk for contracting it. BISAP conducted educational and awareness events targeted at teachers, students, health service providers, local leaders, and transport union leaders. For example, in 2009, BISAP organized an HIV/AIDS training program for over 50 doctors at the University of Science and Technology in Chittagong. The goal of this event was to educate doctors so that they could better raise community awareness of HIV and promote social mobilization to overcome the barriers that stop young people at risk for STIs from seeking information and treatment. BISAP continues to run such educational initiatives, which often specifically target local rickshaw and CNG (automated rickshaw) drivers, small businessmen, and garment factory workers. BISAP’s initiative is powerful because it reaches both those at risk and those with prominence and authority in Chittagong.
While the burden of HIV/AIDS has recently increased in Bangladesh, the fact that it remains a minor cause of morbidity and mortality despite the presence of risk factors for its spread indicates that such community mobilization initiatives can help prevent disease transmission. BISAP’s grassroots strategy for raising awareness of HIV/AIDS among those not yet infected may be effective in other resource-poor cities around the world.
Photo credit: BISAP
Jorge Bela, Gestor Comunitario de Bogotá
Colombia no ha escapado del castigo del HIV. Según datos del Sistema de Vigilancia Epidemiológica (SIVIGILA), al que deben ser reportados todos los casos identificados, desde el año 1983 hasta el 2011, último del que se disponen datos completos, se conocen 86.990 casos de HIV/Sida, de los cuales 10.676 han fallecido. En Bogotá se han detectado hasta septiembre del 2013 23.330 casos, un 40 por ciento del total a nivel nacional. Sin embargo, es importante destacar que esto se debe a su elevada población, como lo ilustra que en el 2011 se reportaron 8,7 casos por 100.000 habitantes, mientras 8 departamentos superaban 20 casos por 100.000 habitantes, y los dos en cabeza, Barranquilla y Quindío superaban 30.
Se estima que por cada persona diagnosticada con HIV hay al menos otra contagiada pero que desconoce su estatus, lo que probablemente nos aproxima a una dimensión mas real del problema. Pero la falta de diagnóstico es un problema con un alcance mucho mayor que el estadístico: la detección precoz puede mejorar el tratamiento y el pronóstico, y es un instrumento de gran importancia para frenar el contagio. Para la ONG Liga Colombiana de Lucha Contra el SIDA, la falta de infraestructura, laboratorios y asesores, así como la falta de confianza en el sistema de atención a la salud, y, muy especialmente, el temor a la no confidencialidad de los resultados, constituyen los dos factores decisivos a la hora de frenar el acceso a las pruebas de diagnóstico. Ha estos factores hay que sumar la falta de información sobre la enfermedad, y en especial el desconocimiento de que los síntomas pueden tardar años en manifestarse.
Para intentar reducir estos problemas, la Alcaldía de Bogotá, a través de la Secretaría de Salud, ha firmado un convenio con la Liga Colombiana de Lucha contra el Sida, para llevar a cabo el programa Ponte a Prueba con el que buscan que el mayor número posible de personas. Entre sus objetivos están la realización de 10.000 pruebas gratuitas y voluntarias antes de junio de 2014, la certificación de 215 profesionales de la salud para que puedan efectuar las pruebas, y la capacitación de otros 300 profesionales para que puedan servir de asesores. Las acciones de sensibilización rápidas, de unos 20 minutos, darán a conocer a los profesionales que las pruebas son un derecho para todo aquel que tenga interés en realizarlas. Adicionalmente, se ha llegado a acuerdos con locales de ocio asociados con las poblaciones de mayor riesgo para realizar acciones de formación preventiva.
Según Edison Aranguren, de la Liga, el programa por un lado busca identificar y eliminar las barreras que dentro de los centros de salud frenan el acceso de las personas a las pruebas, y por otro realizar campañas de formación no solo entre los grupos de alto riesgo, sino también hacia a todos aquellos que tengan interés, por las razones que sea, en hacerse la prueba. También se contará durante toda la vigencia del proyecto con una compañía de teatro que llevará a cabo actuaciones didácticas gratuitas tanto en espacios públicos como cerrados. Finalmente, se colaborará con otras ONGs para llevar a cabo acciones formativas.
El lanzamiento del programa se va a hacer coincidir con el “Día Mundial de Respuesta ante el VIH,” que se celebra el 1 de diciembre.
Foto: AIDSVaccine
Jorge Bela, Bogotá Community Manager
Colombia has not escaped the devastating consequences of the AIDS epidemic. According to the Sistema de Vigilancia Epidemiológica (Epidemiology Watch Service, SIVIGILA), there have been 86,990 cases of diagnosed HIV/AIDS from 1983 and 2011, and 10,676 fatalities (reporting HIV/AIDS diagnosis to the SIVIGILA is mandatory). Bogotá registered 23,300 cases from 1983 to September 2013, which is 40 percent of the national total. However, this is due more to the large population of the Colombian capital rather than high rates of infection, as the region recorded only 8.7 cases per 100,000 inhabitants, while eight other departments recorded over 20 cases per 100,000 inhabitants, and two of them, Barranquilla and Quindío, reported over 30 cases per 100,000 inhabitants.
It is generally estimated that for each person diagnosed with HIV, there is at least another one for whom the infection goes undetected. This estimate brings us much closer to the problem’s real dimension. But the lack of proper diagnosis goes far beyond a statistical issue: early detection and treatment can significantly improve prognosis, and can also help to significantly reduce transmission. For the NGO Liga Colombiana de Lucha Contra el SIDA, there are several reasons why people who might be infected do not get tested, including the lack of appropriate infrastructure and laboratories, not enough trained advisors to assist during testing, and the lack of trust in the health services, particularly fears that confidentiality will not be properly secured. Lack of information about the condition, and the fact that many people are not aware that symptoms may take many years to appear, are also significant contributing factors. In the last 12 months, the number of diagnosed cases in Bogotá has increased by eight percent, which has given a sense of urgency to the need to increase the number of people tested.
In order to alleviate these problems, the Mayor of Bogotá, through the Secretaría de Salud, has signed an agreement with the Liga Colombiana de Lucha Contra el Sida to create a program known as Ponte a Prueba (which can be translated as “Test Yourself”). Under this program, 10,000 HIV tests will be performed before June 2014, and 215 health professionals will be trained to do the testing. In addition, another 300 health practitioners will be trained as counselors. With short, 20-minute trainings, health practitioners will be advised that under local legislation, HIV testing is a right for anyone who wants it. Information will also be distributed in several establishments associated with vulnerable populations, which have agreed to participate in the program.
For Edison Aranguren, media coordinator at the Liga Colombiana de Lucha Contra el Sida, the program seeks first of all to eliminate barriers within the health centers that keep many potential carriers away from testing. These barriers include lack of sufficient knowledge, not only on the part of health practitioners, but also by personnel such as staff at reception desks. It also seeks to heighten awareness of the benefits of testing in groups considered high-risk, as well as in individuals who can also benefit from testing even if they do not belong to any of those groups. Innovative ways of raising awareness include performances in public spaces by a theatre company, hired for the duration of the program. The Liga will also collaborate with other NGOs in preparing training activities.
Ponte a Prueba will be officially launched on December 1, World Aids Day.
Photo: AIDSVaccine
Carlin Carr, Bangalore Community Manager
The AIDS crisis continues to loom large in India, with more than 2.5 million people infected with HIV. The country has taken steps toward addressing the issue, including launching a National AIDS Control Program. Still, the virus has taken the lives of millions of mothers and fathers, and UNICEF estimates that there could be as many as 4 million children affected in India, including those living with HIV — estimated to number nearly 100,000 — those orphaned by AIDS, and those whose parents are living with HIV.
Critics say that there has been a major lapse in the focus on children in addressing HIV/AIDS. An article in the journal Lancet says that while the National AIDS Control Program places special emphasis on “medical treatment and after care, access to schooling, and adequate nutrition, government interventions for AIDS orphans are conspicuous by their absence in any area other than pediatric ART.” Children often drop out of school to care for their sick family members, and if they are orphaned, they often face severe social stigmas against them.
In the absence of comprehensive government interventions, NGOs and civil society have stepped in to address the needs of, and care for, these children. Milana, a Bangalore-based organization, provides support for people living with HIV in the city, many of whom are children. In the Lancet article, Jyothi Kiran, founder of Milana, says, “Children are the worst affected by the problems that HIV brings with it. They suffer severe stigma and neglect and are very often abandoned. Orphaned children are denied even basic necessities like food and nutrition by their extended families. If they are themselves HIV-positive, the situation becomes worse and their very existence is threatened.”
Milana gives families and children a safe and supportive meeting place to share information, learn how to access proper care, and discuss the difficulties of living with the virus. Classes and sessions on nutrition are also given to help affected clients live healthier lives with the challenges they face. Children who have tested positive for HIV are often malnourished and underweight.
One of the biggest unmet challenges is lack of shelter for AIDS orphans. In Bangalore, another NGO, ACCEPT, runs a 35-bed facility for HIV-positive patients as well as a separate home for orphans. Eighteen children stay at the home with two full-time care staff, a teacher, and other counseling and support. All the children attend the local school — a big step, given that even the schools often discriminate against these children.
While NGOs such as Milana and ACCEPT address one of the most devastating gaps in the fight against AIDS, so much more needs to be done. These children deserve the right to appropriate care as well as to all the necessary services and support so they can live happy and healthy lives free of stigma and judgment.
Photo credit: Lydur Skulason
Olatawura Ladipo-Ajayi, Lagos Community Manager
According to the 2010 sentinel survey of Nigeria, Lagos has an HIV prevalence rate of 5.1 percent. The survey shows that the majority of the state’s HIV presence is in urban areas; the rural prevalence is only 1.3 percent. In light of the high and growing HIV prevalence in Lagos, a number of agencies, private firms and civil society organisations are working hard to spread the word about HIV prevention and to care for patients.
The state runs a program for the city under the Lagos State AIDS Control Agency, which aims to fight prevalence of HIV/AIDS within the city. Its programs include monitoring and evaluation, care and support outreach, counselling and testing services, and information and communication outreach programs regarding the prevention and treatment of HIV. The program has set up over 50 HIV counselling and testing centers (HCTs) around the city of Lagos, making the program available to both private and state-owned health facilities.
The HCT workgroup of the agency assures that HCT centers and partners are visible to the public and that they meet standards for testing and care of HIV-positive people. It works with the Information, Communication and Education (IEC) group of the agency to expand the locations and capacities of the HCT centers around the city. This workgroup also sponsors infomercials regarding tolerance, and sensitizes the public against stigmatisation of HIV-positive people. This year the IEC workgroup aimed to increase HCT intake by 10 percent, to be accomplished through various promotional information sessions about HCT and promoting health care to the public. Earlier this year, the state disclosed that 9,660 of the 102,279 patients examined in the last year tested positive for HIV.
While considerable effort is being made to galvanize the mitigation of HIV prevalence in the city of Lagos through the creation of agencies whose programs work to support civil organisations programs and advocate HIV prevention and care, there is a clear need for increasing efforts towards communication of screening centers and available care services in the city. Considering the population of the state — roughly 17.5 million people— a few hundred thousand people screened is relatively low. Also requiring more attention is the cost of these services: while the state can provide information on where to get services, protect the rights of people living with HIV, and advocate for care and prevention methods, most important is the cost of treatment. Subsidizing this cost will go a long way in providing care, as most people living with the virus cannot afford its care. It is understandable the state may not be able to afford free care for all, but incorporating favorable payment and affordable cost systems will help move the mission forward.
Photo credit: Planet Aid and Skye Bank
María Fernanda Carvallo, Gestor Comunitario de Mexico D.F.
De acuerdo a Juan José Calva, en el artículo “25 años de SIDA en México,” uno de los ejemplos mundiales en los países en desarrollo es Brasil, que ha logrado brindar acceso universal a tratamientos de terapia antirretroviral en su población afectada por el VIH/SIDA. El éxito en esta cobertura ha dependido de tres factores: el compromiso oficial a través de la legislación para asegurar que todos los ciudadanos que lo requieran reciban la terapia, la capacidad del sector público para manufacturar medicamentos, y una enérgica acción de la sociedad civil.
En comparación, en México se identifican grandes desafíos para tratar esta enfermedad. En primer lugar, es necesario lograr la cobertura universal, porque se encuentra un subregistro de personas asintomáticas que viven con VIH/SIDA y esto es un fenómeno recurrente que no permite identificar la cobertura necesaria. El segundo desafío es ofrecer mejor atención médica por profesionales altamente calificados que respondan ante las complicaciones de la enfermedad que abarcan diversas áreas de especialidad. Por último, el tercer reto es buscar medidas eficaces y éticas que garanticen la identificación temprana de las personas contagiadas y asintomáticas. De esta manera, los tratamientos tendrán mayor eficacia en mejorar la calidad de vida de las personas y en la reducción de la propagación del virus.
En este último factor, la Ciudad de México va avanzando en rumbo a la detección oportuna y a la atención universal de las personas que viven con VIH/SIDA. Un ejemplo es CAPPSIDA, una de las organizaciones en la Ciudad de México que brinda diversos servicios para la atención integral y que mantiene y mejora la calidad de vida de las personas con VIH/SIDA. Sus servicios van dirigidos a la prevención, atención y acompañamiento de la enfermedad. Algunos ejemplos son: la aplicación de pruebas rápidas para el diagnóstico de infección por transmisión sexual acompañada de consejerías pre y post-prueba; atención especializada para Infecciones de Transmisión Sexual; taller para padres sobre “La salud sexual y reproductiva”; terapias individuales, familiares y en pareja; atención domiciliaria; atención médica especializada y distribución de condones. Una de sus estrategias innovadoras son las jornadas de prevención que constan de aplicación de pruebas para el diagnóstico en las estaciones del Metro, reclusorios, ferias de salud municipales y visitas a instituciones.
Por su lado, el Colectivo Sol dio origen a la organización Condomóvil, una camioneta móvil que recorre la Ciudad de México y diversas rutas en el país y Centroamérica, para realizar campañas de prevención a través de la realización de pruebas, distribución de preservativos y talleres informativos con la asistencia de promotoras de salud sexual y reproductiva, las cuales realizan sus intervenciones caracterizadas de Dragg Queen. Esta unidad es una estrategia de alcance directo con la población, que ha permitido visitar zonas vulnerables de paso de migrantes en México en las rutas de Centroamérica a Estados Unidos a través del Latin Condom 2013, el cual parte desde la Cd. de México hasta Chile y es patrocinado por Aids Healthcare Foundation (Fundacion del Tratamiento de Salud para el SIDA), Positive Action (Acción Positiva) y Viiv Healthcare.
En este sentido, Condomovil es ejemplo de que un fuerte activismo en el tema atrae la sinergia de diversos actores para lograr un mayor alcance e impacto en las soluciones de las problemáticas sociales.
Foto: Condomovil A.C.
María Fernanda Carvallo, Mexico City Community Manager
In the article “25 Years of AIDS in Mexico,” Juan José Calva takes Brazil as a prime example of a developing country that has been able to provide universal access to antiretroviral therapeutic treatments for the population affected by HIV/AIDS. The success of this medical coverage has depended on three factors: the official legal commitment assuring that all citizens who need treatment will receive it, the capacity of the public sector to manufacture drugs, and a strong civil society.
Compared to Brazil, major challenges remain to treating the disease in Mexico. First, achieving universal coverage is necessary because there is underreporting of asymptomatic people living with HIV/AIDS. This is a common phenomenon that limits proper coverage. The second challenge is to provide better medical care by highly qualified professionals in a wide range of specialties who can respond to the complications of the disease. The third challenge is to find effective and ethical measures to ensure the early identification of infected and asymptomatic people. The treatments will therefore be more effective in improving the quality of life of patients, and in reducing the spread of the virus.
To address this third challenge, Mexico City is taking steps to provide early detection services and healthcare to those living with HIV/AIDS. CAPPSIDA is one of the organizations that provides services for comprehensive care to improve the quality of life of people living with HIV/AIDS. Its services aim at prevention, care, and support for those with the disease. Some examples of services offered include the use of rapid tests to diagnose sexually-transmitted infections accompanied by pre- and post-test counseling; parent workshops on sexual and reproductive health; individual, family, and couple therapy; specialized medical attention; and condom distribution. The innovative prevention strategies include providing diagnostic tests in metro stations, prisons, health fairs, and in local institutions.
The Colectivo Sol established the organization Condomovil, a mobile van that drives through Mexico City and through various routes in Mexico and Central America, to campaign for prevention through testing, condom distribution, and information workshops run by sexual health promoters dressed as drag queens. This unit uses a direct outreach strategy that has been able to target vulnerable areas that migrants cross on their way to the United States from Central America, on the so-called “Ruta Latinoamericana-Latin Condom 2013”. This initiative is sponsored by the AIDS Healthcare Foundation, Positive Action, and Viiv Healthcare.
The example of Condomovil demonstrates that strong activism attracts the synergy of several actors to achieve a meaningful outcome and impact in the solution of social issues.
Photo: Condomovil A.C.
Carlin Carr, Mumbai Community Manager
Mumbai’s bursting-at-the-seam population growth is often all too easily explained: rural migrants come to the big city because “no one goes hungry here.” The land-starved peninsula presents many other challenges, but food is everywhere: markets overflowing with vegetables are interspersed with street food vendors, who often sell their snacks for pennies. While access to food is less of an issue than in rural areas, affordable, nutritious food for the city’s most vulnerable communities remains elusive.
A forthcoming study by Rachel D’Silva, a researcher at the Observer Research Foundation in Mumbai, looks at food access and nutrition for children both in an unstructured and a structured slum. The results are startling, but the issue is solvable. D’Silva presents key target areas for intervention by government and civil society.
What does your study tell us about the prevalence of malnutrition in Mumbai?
The study found a higher and more severe prevalence of under-nutrition among children from the unstructured slum sample. This population represents slums that are unregistered and may not have access to water supply, sanitation, and permanent shelter structures. While these barriers may be responsible for their exclusion and deprivation at various levels, they are also potential entry points for effective interventions.
What has been most surprising about your findings?
I was surprised to find children having distended abdomens — about 32 percent among unstructured slum samples — an occurrence that I had never expected to find in the city. A number of clinical findings surprised me, including the high rate of morbid conditions such as poor appetite, pain in limbs, and skin infections seen among children of the study population. Families and children also reported having to face food shortages on certain days that I found hard to believe.
What is unique about urban malnutrition vs. rural?
I have very limited understanding of rural under-nutrition in children as my understanding is only based on secondary reading. But one thing that is clear is that in urban areas, people have to depend purely on food available at market price in the absence of strong social safety nets like public distribution system (PDS) or food from agricultural produce.
It’s a complex issue, but can you identify three to four root causes?
Chronic poverty is the overarching cause. Along with this, women and growing children have inadequate diets lacking in nutrition. Personal hygiene and environmental conditions contribute as well.
What are some immediate steps that can be taken to improve food access for families in need? What are some longer-term strategies?
One immediate step to improve food access is to ensure quality midday meals for all school-going children. Another focus area is to strengthen food charity networks, both religious and others in the city. Pulses (legumes) can be given through PDS, since grain alone does not ensure adequate nutrition.
Long-term strategies can focus on improving not just access to food but also access to water supply, sanitation, coverage of health services that will lead to nutrition security.
Photo credit: Rachel D’Silva
Transportation infrastructure is a key factor in enhancing economic growth and quality of life. Still, many recent transportation initiatives, by focusing on cars and highways, have favored the rich and the middle class. The following articles explore ways to provide safe, affordable, eco-friendly, and reliable transportation to the poor in the Global South. Read on to learn more, then join the discussion below.
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Tariq Toffa, Johannesburg Community Manager
Apartheid policies in South Africa made for ineffective cities. Fragmented and segmented, Johannesburg has an ambivalent relationship with public transport. Historically, more affluent, mostly northern white suburbs were provided with extensive transport infrastructure, such as electric trams (1906-48) and later highways (see Fig. 1). By contrast, the denser and poorer black townships, mostly in the south, were provided with limited and marginalised rail and bus public transport. Yet out of desperate need by being located far away from major industrial and commercial centres, in the 1970s a mini-bus taxi industry emerged, which has grown to serve approximately 72 percent of all public transport users.
Despite a number of post-1994 initiatives, urban transport system problems persist. Recently (2006-2012), in the largest Public Private Partnership yet launched in South Africa, between the Gauteng Provincial Government and Bombela International Consortium, a rapid rail project worth R20 billion (US$ 2 billion) was implemented. The “Gautrain” rapid rail network consists of two spines: one (south-north) linking Johannesburg and Pretoria, and the other (west-east) linking the Sandton business district and OR Tambo International airport. Coupled with this, in 2007 the City began constructing an ambitious Bus Rapid Transit System (BRT) known as the “Rea Vaya” (see Fig. 2).
The new systems address speed, efficiency, and traffic decongestion, as well as problems of safety, facilities, and crime that have affected the taxi industry. Crucially, the BRT in particular improves access of marginalised communities to industrial and commercial centers: firstly linking the townships in the south to Johannesburg’s CBD (phase 1A and 1B), and subsequently linking Alexandra township in the north with Sandton and Johannesburg’s CBD (phase 1C). Together with the Gautrain, it is envisioned as a key catalyst for the city’s Transit Orientated Development (TOD) plan for urban regeneration and economic development at transit hubs. Hence two BRT routes (phase 1B and 1C) will become “corridors” of mixed-use development.
In contrast to the BRT, the Gautrain, in catering purely for the affluent car owner/user, from a social perspective clearly suffers from the criticism of class/mobility-related exclusion; although this could be offset by a BRT system that, unlike the Gautrain where there is no clarity in providing mixed-income residential development around its stations, clearly allows for mixed-income along BRT corridors.
Nonetheless, on the whole, both projects direct growth toward former white group areas which are developed, and not toward new corridor and nodal development in previously underdeveloped areas; and so they also do not remove the burden of excessive and reverse commuting. The terminal infrastructure developments of both projects, too, are located away from the marginal communities’ location.
Other issues include the sustained opposition by some organisations within the taxi industry, which the BRT wishes to absorb, and the high cost of the BRT (R35 million / US$ 3.5 million per km, and at least R7 million / US$ 700,000 per BRT station). It is unclear how much investment was essential for the long-term operational sustainability of the project, and how much could also have been creatively employed for the project to balance other more social priority purposes.
At first glance the Gautrain/BRT initiative appears a master-stroke of integrative urban transport; yet while it is still incomplete and without a full-scale evaluation of its impact, particularly for poor neighbourhoods and travel patterns, from a social perspective, the jury is still out.
Fig. 1: Early twentieth century electric trams (Beavon 2001)
Fig. 2: Historic racial segregation, with new BRT and Gautrain routes (map by author)
Olatawura Ladipo-Ajayi, Lagos Community Manager
Lagos is a small city with a large population. Lagos state is the smallest in Nigeria, with an area of 356,861 hectares of which 75,755 hectares are wetlands, yet it has over 5 percent of the national population, making it the most populous state in the nation. The city is overpopulated and still growing, with a growth rate of 8 percent. This issue causes congestion problems in various facets of city life, but most especially in transportation. Lagos is notorious for its heavy traffic, where a 30-minute journey can take two hours on a weekday. Congestion saps the population of energy, contributes to an unhealthy lifestyle, and generally makes for a less productive workforce.
In 2008, Governor Fashola’s state government introduced the Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) scheme through the Lagos Metropolitan Transport Authority (LAMATA) to improve road transport system and ultimately reduce congestion. The new fleet of buses were designed to be more comfortable, and introduced an organised system of public transportation. The pilot BRT transport scheme runs through 22 km of exclusive lanes, providing faster transport at affordable prices for commuters. Since its inception, a lot of positive impact has been recorded. Highlights recorded by the World Bank include:
Significant progress is being made to solve the problem of public transportation for Lagos residents. Recently, the state Governor Fashola introduced an e-ticketing system to the BRT scheme to create a more efficient and people-friendly transport ticketing system in the city. The system allows for certain groups to pay as low as 20 Naira (approximately 12 cents) for short distance commutes, and allows for purchase of weekly tickets, making public road infrastructure more attractive.
However effective the fleets of buses are, they need to be augmented by more transport alternatives. The city is blessed with waterways and rail tracks — it would be interesting to see how much less congestion on city roads could be achieved if other modes of transportation infrastructure are put in place (the rail system is in the process of being revived). More ferries on the waterways and intra-city rail transport would go a long way in road decongestion. Creating a system with wider reach would produce a system more efficient at reducing road congestion.
The state is aware of the need for alternatives and is partnering with organisations to propose alternative transport infrastructures. The World Bank, joined by the Agence Française de Développement, is working with LAMATA to prepare the Lagos Urban Transport Project 2 to meet some of this demand and to extend the BRT routes. The BRT project extension is expected to be completed by December, 2014. Ultimately, LAMATA plans to expand the BRT system strategically along eight different corridors within the city. Hopefully recorded success does not lead to agencies relaxing their resolve, and that the improvement of the BRT system is a continuous goal of the state government.
Photo credit: Tolu Talabi
Carlin Carr, Mumbai Community Manager
Mumbai’s commuter woes are as oft discussed as scores to the latest cricket match. They are griped about daily and exchanged with fervor. Gridlock, overcrowded trains, non-existent east-west routes dominate the discussion and so do the controversial solutions on the table: sealinks, flyovers, monorails. Transportation activists such as Rishi Aggarwal, a research fellow at the Observer Research Foundation (ORF) and member of the Mumbai Transport Forum (MTF), says that one of the major issues is that there is no integrated approach to planning, leaving commuters with ad hoc, disconnected systems.
Yet a solution from Chennai offers a comprehensive example for Mumbai on how to move toward sustainable, comprehensive mobility. In August, Shreya Gadepalli, of the Institute for Transportation Development Policy (ITDP), presented her work with a new initiative, the Chennai Unified Metropolitan Transport Authority (CUMTA), at the ORF to share the progress Chennai has made and how it might apply to Mumbai.
Importantly, CUMTA members include a cross-section of all different government authorities responsible for transportation, centralizing collaborative decision-making to move the organization’s goal forward. And the goal is ambitious: to achieve a modal shift away from car-centric transport to public transport, focusing on walking and cycling as dominant modes.
CUMTA held a workshop in January 2013 to move forward its efforts. The members divided into four working groups, focusing on:
Since then, the group has already taken important steps to reclaim road space for pedestrians where there was little or none in the past. In fact, a large-scale cycle network strategy is part of the plan. The main cycle path will take advantage of Chennai’s seaside location, stretching for miles up the coast with connecting points to many neighborhoods and the stations along the way. There will be an extensive cycle-sharing program with less than a 300-meter walk to a cycle sharing station in the network.
“We are always keen to learn from New York and London, so for a change, we will learn from Chennai,” says Aggarwal, who has also founded the Walking Project in Mumbai to promote better walking conditions and sidewalks in the city.
One of the biggest achievements from Chennai, says Gadepalli, who emphasizes that there is “nothing on the ground to show right now,” is that there is a consensus from the highest levels in the city on implementing more sustainable approaches: “If you speak to people, there is a sea change in how they perceive things. If you go and ask anyone, the only thing they are talking about these days is how to create better facilities for pedestrians and improving public transport.”
To watch Shreya Gadepalli’s full presentation, click here.
Photo credit: Satish Krishnamurthy
লেখকঃ নিশা কারকি
অনুবাদকঃ নুসরাত ইয়াসমিন এবং ফারজানা নওশিন
বিশ্ব ব্যাংক এক জরিপে বলেছে যে, বাংলাদেশে দরিদ্র (মাথাপিছু আয়২ ডলার) মানুষের সংখ্যা ২৬ শতাংশ কমে গিয়েছে অর্থাৎ যা ২০০০ সালে ছিল ৬,৩০,০০০০০ সেটি ২০১০ সালে কমে ৪,৭০,০০০০০ হয়েছে। যদিও বাংলাদেশের অর্থনৈতিক উন্নতি প্রতি বছর ১% করে বাড়ছে তারপরও গরীব ও মধ্যবিত্তের মধ্যে অর্থনৈতিক বৈষম্য এখনো আছে। এই অর্থনৈতিক বৈষম্যতা মধ্যবিত্ত ও গরীবদের মধ্যে সরকার প্রদানকৃত যানবাহন ব্যবস্থার উপর প্রভাব বিস্তার করে। জনাব মান্নান এর মতে, ঢাকার যানবাহন পরিস্থিতি উচ্চ আয়ের পরিবারের জন্য বেশী প্রযোজ্য এবং সুবিধাজনক। ঢাকায় যেসব পরিবারের নিজস্ব মোটরযান আছে তাদের ৬৬% মানুষেরই আয় ৩০,০০০ টাকার বেশী। অন্যদিকে, নিম্ন আয়ের জনগোষ্ঠীর মোটরবিহীন গণপরিবহন ব্যবহার করার প্রবনতা বেশী। এ কারণে এ সমস্ত যানবাহনে অতিরিক্ত ভীড় থাকে; বিশেষ করে মহিলা এবং শিশুদের জন্য এসব যানবাহন ব্যবহার করা অস্বস্তিকর করে পড়ে। সি.এন.জি, নিজস্ব গাড়ী এবং বাস অতিরিক্ত ব্যবহারের কারণে শহুরে জনগোষ্ঠী গণপরিবহনের মান কমিয়ে দিয়েছে; উপরন্তু, রিকশা এবং বাইসাইকেলেরও মান কমে গিয়েছে।
১৯৬১ অধ্যাদেশে সপ্তম নম্বরের অধীনে বাংলাদেশ রোড ট্রান্সপোর্ট কর্পোরেশন (বি.আর.টি.সি) প্রতিষ্ঠিত হয়েছিল। এটি বাংলাদেশ সরকারের স্বীকৃত পরিবহন কর্পোরেশন যা সকল শ্রেণীর মানুষের জন্য সস্তা এবং আরামদায়ক ভ্রমন ব্যবস্থা প্রদানের জন্য প্রতিষ্ঠিত হয়। বর্তমানে বাংলাদেশে বি.আর.টি.সি এর ১,১১৬ টি বাস পুরো বাংলাদেশে চলাচল করছে কিন্তু এগুলো ৪৭ মিলিয়ন (প্রায় ২৬ শতাংশ) দরিদ্র মানুষের পরিবহন চাহিদা মিটাতে যথেষ্ট নয়।
অনুরূপভাবে, কার্যকরী, সাশ্রয়ী মূল্যে পরিবহন ব্যবস্থা প্রদানের লক্ষ্যে বাংলাদেশ সরকার বিশ্ব ব্যাংকের সহায়তায় ঢাকা নগর পরিবহন প্রকল্প (DUTP) প্রতিষ্ঠিত করেছে। খন্দকার ও রাউসের মতে, ডি.ইউ.টি.পি. ফ্লাইওভার নির্মাণের মাধ্যমে প্রধান সড়কে যানবাহন চলাচলের উন্নতিসাধন করেছে; যদিও বাস্তবে এর দ্বারা পুরুষ যাত্রীগণ, উচ্চবিত্ত মানুষ এবং মোটরগাড়ী-মালিকবৃন্দ প্রধানত উপকৃত হচ্ছে। বস্তুত, নিম্ন আয়ের মানুষ, যাদের যানবাহন ছিল পরিবহন সাশ্রয়ী রিকশা, তাদের ফ্লাইওভার নির্মাণকালীন সময়ে কষ্টভোগ করতে হয়েছিল। ক্ষুদ্র পুঁজিবাদীদের উপর এই প্রকল্পের পর্যাপ্ত বিচার-বিশ্লেষণের অভাবের ফলে দরিদ্র জীবনে ব্যাপক ক্ষতিসাধন হয়েছে।
দরিদ্র এবং মধ্যবিত্ত শ্রেণীর মধ্যে পরিবহন পরিকাঠামোগত ফাঁক কমানোর জন্য বাংলাদেশ সরকারকে গণপরিবহন, যেমন-রেলওয়ে বা স্বল্প দামী পাবলিক বাসের সংখ্যা বৃদ্ধি করতে হবে। সকল প্রকার পরিবহনের সেবা চার্জ যেন সব শ্রেণীর জন্য সহজলভ্য হয় সেদিকে নজর রাখতে হবে। এক বিবৃতিতে ওয়ার্ল্ড ব্যাংক বলে, “পরিবহন বিধি যা মোটরবিহীন-চালিত যানবাহন ব্যবহারের প্রচার চালায় তা সাধারণত সেই জনগোষ্ঠীর সরাসরি কল্যাণ সাধন করে যারা মোটরচালিত যানবাহন ব্যবহারে সামর্থ্য নয়।” তাই সরকারের মোটরবিহীন-চালিত যানবাহন ব্যবহারের প্রতি বিশেষ দৃষ্টি রাখতে হবে। উদাহরণস্বরূপ, রিকশা এবং বাইসাইকেলের উপর থেকে কর সরিয়ে ফেলা বা হ্রাস করা এবং পারকিং এর জন্য খালি স্থান তৈরী করতে হবে। ভবিষ্যতে পরিবহন প্রকল্প গঠনের সময় যেমনঃ ডি.ইউ.টি.পি.(DUTP), দরিদ্রদের উপর নেতিবাচক এবং ইতিবাচক প্রভাব কীরূপ পড়ছে তা পরিকল্পনাকারীকে ও সরকারকে অবশ্যই খেয়াল রাখতে হবে। উন্নয়ন প্রকল্পগুলোর ধনীদের উপকার করার পাশাপাশি সরাসরি দরিদ্রদের জীবনযাত্রার মান উন্নয়ন করা উচিত।
Photo credit: Robert Monestel
Nisha Karki, Dhaka Community Manager
The World Bank has stated that the number of Bangladeshis living in poverty, with a per capita income of less than $2 a day, has declined from 63 million in 2000 to 47 million (26 percent of the overall Bangladeshi population) in 2010. Though Bangladesh has successfully upgraded its economic growth rate every decade by one percent, there is still a huge economic gap between the poor and the middle class. This economic gap causes inequality regarding the transportation facilities provided to the rich and to the poor. According to Md. Shafiqul Mannan, the Dhaka transportation system favors high-income households. Sixty-six percent of the households with private motor vehicles belong to the income group higher than 30,000 BDT. In contrast, low-income groups have a higher tendency to choose non-motorized vehicles (rickshaws and bicycles). Public transportation is usually uncomfortable, crowded, overloaded, and difficult to access for poor women and children. The middle-class use of compressed natural gas-powered auto-rickshaws, private cars and buses has led to a decrease in service and quality of public transportation and non-motorized vehicles, such as rickshaws and bicycles.
Under the ordinance No. VII of 1961, the Bangladesh Road Transport Corporation (BRTC) was established as a government corporate transport body to provide cheap and comfortable travel for all groups of people. Currently, there are 1,116 BRTC buses running all over Bangladesh, but this number is not sufficient to provide the desired services for the 47 million poor people who live in Bangladesh.
In order to create efficient, affordable, and sustainable transport, the Bangladesh government, in collaboration with the World Bank, established the Dhaka Urban Transport Project (DUTP). According to Khandoker and Rouse, the DUTP has brought improvements in the flow of traffic along main roads by constructing flyovers. However, the benefits were felt mainly by private bus users and car owners, not the poor. Indeed, lower-income people were excluded since non-motorized vehicles such as rickshaws were banned during the construction period. Lack of careful examination and analysis of the impact of this project on poor stakeholders caused negative impacts on the lives of the poor.
To minimize gaps between the transportation infrastructure for the poor and the middle class, the Bangladesh government needs to increase the number of public transportation options that are less expensive, such as railways or public buses. Ticket prices for all kinds of transportation should be monitored to ensure that they are affordable for all. As the World Bank stated, “Transport interventions that promote the use of non-motorized transport usually contribute directly to the welfare of those people who cannot afford motorized transport.” Therefore, the government needs to provide special attention to the uses and benefits of non-motorized vehicles. For example, taxes on rickshaws and bicycles should be removed or reduced, and free lanes should be created for parking non-motorized vehicles. When designing transportation projects such as DUTP, planners and the government must take into account the effects that these projects will have on the poor.
Photo credit: Robert Monestel
Widya Anggraini, Jakarta Contributor
Many of Jakarta’s residents use Kopaja buses to get around, a 25-seat minibus that is cheap and serves the whole city. Kopaja is owned by a private cooperation established in the 1970s but currently faces a number issues regarding safety, comfort, pollution, and poor maintenance. The government is therefore intervening to integrate Kopaja with the Transjakarta busway system and to rejuvenate the bus conditions. The government is planning to add 1000 Kopaja buses, provide better service, switch to more eco-friendly gas, and subsidize the corporation so that prices remain affordable.
KOPAJA! Siapa orang Jakarta yang tidak tahu tentang Kopaja. Bis ukuran sedang dengan kapasitas 25 orang yang sering digunakan sebagai angkutan umum oleh masyarakat awam. Ia disukai karena murah dengan tarif Rp 3.000, untuk jarak dekat maupun jauh. Kopaja dimiliki oleh perusahaan penyedia jasa angkutan umum bernama Koperasi Angkutan Jakarta yang telah berdiri sejak 1970an. Masyarakat kecil yang tidak mampu membeli kendaraan pribadi cukup terbantu dengan keberadaan Kopaja dan Metromini yang memiliki rute lengkap dan tersebar di Jakarta Pusat, Barat, Utara, Timur dan Selatan meski dengan kompromi kurangnya rasa nyaman. Karenanya saat ini Pemerintah Jakarta melakukan intervensi terhadap keberadaan Kopaja dengan membantu proses peremajaan bis hingga penyediaan subsidi; menyediakan armada bis baru dan integrasi dengan jalur busway Transjakarta.
Sebagai angkutan umum, Kopaja sering mendapat sorotan negatif dikarenakan alasan: Pertama, penumpang Kopaja sering berlebih hingga dua kali lipat sehingga rawan kejahatan seperti pencurian dan pelecehan. Kedua, Kopaja juga dianggap jauh dari aman sebab sering kali alat kemudi dan pengukur kecepatan yang seadanya. Banyak pengemudi mobil pribadi yang merasa terancam sebab cara menyetir sopir Kopaja yang ugal-ugalan dan sering melanggar rambu-rambu lalu lintas dan membahayakan pengguna jalan lain. Ketiga, Kopaja merupakan penyumbang besar polusi perkotaan disebabkan buruknya sistem pembuangan karbon yang cukup membahayakan bagi manusia dan lingkungan.
Mengingat peran strategi Kopaja dalam menyediakan angkutan umum yang murah maka pemerintah DKI Jakarta akan mulai membenahi infrastruktur dan kondisi Kopaja. Untuk saat ini pemerintah DKI Jakarta sedang berupaya mengintegrasikan antara keberadaan Kopaja dan Busway misalnya dengan penggunaan jalur Transjakarta yang cenderung “istimewa” untuk jalur Kopaja. Transjakarta sendiri adalah moda transportasi baru yang mulai berjalan sejak tahun 2004. Keberadaan Transjakarta disambut positif oleh masyarakat sebab ia bebas macet, memiliki kursi yang nyaman, berpendingin, dan relative aman dibanding menggunakan Kopaja meski harga hampir dua kali lebih mahal. Meski demikian Transjakarta belum memiliki jalur sebanyak Kopaja sehingga integrasi Kopaja ke jalur Transjakarta akan sangat membantu dalam memperluas jaringan pelayanan Transjakarta.
Untuk itu, Kopaja yang menggunakan jalur busway haruslah bis-bis yang secara fisik telah sesuai standar yang ditetapkan oleh pihak Transjakarta misalnya dilengkapi dengan AC dan kursi yang lebih nyaman dan mesin yang layak. Untuk saat ini bis yang sudah diintegrasikan di jalur busway adalah Kopaja AC bernomor rute S.13, P20, S13 dan S602. Harga tiket Kopaja AC dibuat sama dengan Transjakarta sehingga penumpang dapat menggunakan tiket yang sama untuk kedua moda transportasi tersebut.
Selanjutnya untuk memperbaiki kualitas Kopaja yang beroperasi di Jakarta, Kopaja berencana secara mandiri akan meremajakan unit-unit bisnya. Sejak Januari hingga Mei 2013 kurang lebih ada 77 unit Kopaja yang sudah tertangani dan masih ada sekitar 1.479 unit Kopaja regular yang belum mengalami perbaikan. Untuk itu Kopaja berencana bekerjasama dengan pemerintah dan berupaya memperoleh subsidi untuk peremajaan bis. Terkait hal tersebut Guberbur DKI Jakarta, Joko Widodo, juga telah menyampaikan inisiatifnya untuk peremajaan Kopaja dengan melakukan uji kelayakan dan mengganti bis-bis yang sudah tidak layak pakai. Jokowi sendiri berjanji akan menambah 1000 unit Kopaja baru di akhir tahun ini untuk meningkatkan pelayanan kepada masyarakat serta mengkonversi Kopaja dengan Bahan Bakar Gas untuk menekan biaya bahan bakar dan mengurangi pencemaran udara.
Foto: XXVIII
Catalina Gomez, Coordenadora da Rede em Rio de Janeiro
Segundo Rio Como Vamos, a insatisfação dos cariocas com a mobilidade e o transporte público da cidade vem crescendo nos últimos anos. A mais recente pesquisa da Rio Como Vamos foi feita em 2013 previamente aos protestos de Junho. Para compreender aquela insatisfação coletiva é importante conhecer melhor as condições do sistema de transporte público da cidade para identificar suas fraquezas e potenciais soluções.
Iniciemos com o metrô. Embora ele tenha sido inaugurado faz quase 35 anos atrás e apresente um atendimento médio de 650 mil pessoas durante um dia útil, ele está subutilizado. Por exemplo, ele tem só 35 estações em quanto o de São Paulo, tem 62 e aquele de Buenos Aires tem 86. Também existem queixas constantes sobre a superlotação, contribuindo a percursos incômodos e inseguros.
A Prefeitura reporta que perto de seis por cento dos passageiros da cidade é transportada pelo metro, enquanto os ônibus transportam 70 por cento da população com uma frota de 9 mil veículos. As vans transportam perto de 17 por cento da população. Mais o principal problema com os ônibus e vans é que eles têm que compartilhar as limitadas ruas com automóveis particulares. Só nos últimos três anos o número de carros na cidade aumentou em 225 mil. Preocupações adicionais incluem a insegurança dos percursos noturnos e os tempos de espera. Especificamente com o novo BRT, embora ele tenha sido bem recebido pelos cidadãos, ainda apresenta desafios de melhora incluindo a redução da superlotação, a falta de ar acondicionado e ventilação e acessibilidade adequada da frota.
Num evento recente do Rio Como Vamos, o Secretario de Transporte, Carlos Osório falou que “2013 será o pior ano para o transito, face às 92 intervenções sendo realizadas”. Aquelas obras temporárias esperam se converter em melhoras de longo prazo para a cidade, incluindo a expansão do metro para a zona sul do Rio, melhoras nos elevadores e outras reformas que favorecem a acessibilidade nas estações do metrô, além da incorporação de novos trens para reduzir os intervalos de serviço. A cidade também vai a implantar um conjunto de câmaras para monitorar em tempo real o sistema de ônibus e garantir mais seguridade durante os percursos noturnos e conseguir identificar problemas recorrentes e soluções pertinentes.
Embora Rio seja considerado uma cidade com um sistema de transporte bem estabelecido e completo, sua infraestrutura e respetiva operação é inadequada. Algumas soluções no curto prazo incluem o desenvolvimento de medidas de manutenção mais eficientes nas estações, trens e ônibus da frota municipal. Outras soluções mais complexas e de logo prazo incluem a redução do uso do carro particular, por meio da incorporação de taxas especiais de uso. Outras ações de longo prazo que precisam ser debatidas mais amplamente incluem o dimensionamento do transporte e a mobilidade do Rio como um tema metropolitano, não municipal. Este debate é chave para assegurar os recursos e o gerenciamento adequado do sistema.
Foto: Severino Silva
Catalina Gomez, Rio de Janeiro Community Manager
According to Rio Como Vamos, the unhappiness of residents about mobility and transportation infrastructure in Rio is on the rise. The most recent research was carried out in 2013, before the June protests started. To explain this collective disapproval, it is worth taking a closer look at the city’s public transportation system to better understand its failures and some of its potential solutions.
Let’s start with the metro. Although it was inaugurated almost 35 years ago and currently serves an average of 650,000 people on a weekday, it is considered to be below its full potential. For example, the system has only 35 stations, while the similar metro system in São Paulo has 62 stations, and the one in Buenos Aires has 86. In addition, there are constant complaints about the long intervals between trains, contributing to crowding, discomfort, and safety concerns both in stations and on the train.
The local government reports that six percent of the city’s total passengers use the metro, while buses, with a fleet of more than 9,000 vehicles, are responsible for carrying 70 percent of them. Vans are another transportation modality that account for almost 17 percent of citizen transportation. The main problem with buses and vans is that they share the limited city roads with an increasing number of passenger cars. In the last three years alone, there were an additional 225,000 new cars on Rio’s roads. Additional concerns regarding buses and vans include safety at night, and overall waiting time. Although the new BRT has been positively received by residents, challenges remain related to overcrowding, lack of proper ventilation, and accessibility.
In a recent event organized by Rio Como Vamos, Carlos Osório, the city’s secretary of transportation, mentioned that “2013 will be the worst year for transit purposes, as there are more than 92 transportation works around the city.” These temporary works are aimed at improving the city’s transportation in the long term, including an ambitious expansion of the metro line towards the city’s southern area, the installation of elevators and other accessibility features in most stations, and the incorporation of new metro trains in order to reduce the intervals of train service. In addition, the city will implement a network of cameras to monitor the provision of bus service in real time, to ensure security during night shifts, and to find and correct recurring service problems.
Even though Rio could be considered to have a well-established and complete transportation system, its current infrastructure and the way it is operated are not enough to ensure that it functions adequately. Some short-term solutions would be to put in place better and more regular maintenance efforts of all stations, trains, and buses from the municipal fleet. Other more complex long-term measures include reducing the use of cars by incorporating fees and other taxes on their users, especially in the city center. Another long-term task that needs to be further explored is moving away from a municipal scope to a metropolitan understanding of mobility and transportation in the Rio area, thereby ensuring proper resource management that takes into account the dimensions and demands of such a complex system.
Photo credit: Severino Silva
Jorge Bela, Gestor Comunitario de Bogotá
Bogotá ha ganado el premio a liderazgo urbano en su categoría de transporte. Los premios, de los cuales este año se celebra su primera edición, son otorgados por el grupo C40 y por Siemens, a través de su fundación Crystal. El premio de liderazgo en transporte busca identificar proyectos o iniciativas que mejoren la situación medioambiental, medidos en términos de fomento de cambio en los modos de transporte y de la reducción de la emisión de gases causantes del efecto invernadero.
Para los conocedores de la situación actual en Bogotá la recepción del premio supone inicialmente una sorpresa. La ausencia de metro y la presencia de busetas sin ningún control de emisiones son dos realidades que saltan inmediatamente a la vista. El sistema Transmilenio, que ha servido de modelo de transporte rápido mediante autobuses a varias ciudades del mundo, se encuentra a tope de su capacidad y los proyectos de ampliación se han visto ralentizados por problemas de corrupción, retrasos y sobrecostes.
Aunque la situación actual dista mucho de ser buena, el premio se ha otorgado a un proyecto actualmente en marcha y que puede redundar en una mejora significativa de la situación medioambiental. En primer lugar, está previsto que 200 autobuses híbridos comiencen a circular por Bogotá a partir del 15 de diciembre. Los buses, marca Volvo, son fabricados en Brasil y ensamblados en Colombia. Podrán circular tanto por los carriles de alta velocidad del Transmilenio como por rutas convencionales, pues tienen puertas a ambos lados. Está previsto que circulen por la Carrera 7º, una de las principales de la ciudad y por la que en la actualidad solo circulan busetas y coches particulares. Una vez que los autobuses híbridos comiencen a circular por esta carrera, sus elevados niveles de contaminación descenderán de forma significativa. Estos buses no necesitan conectarse a la red eléctrica para recargarse.
La segunda iniciativa tomada en consideración para otorgar el premio es el lanzamiento de un programa piloto de taxis completamente eléctricos, es decir, de emisión cero. Este programa piloto contempla hasta un máximo de 50 taxis, de los cuales 12 ya han sido presentados y comenzarán a circular en los próximos días. Para su recarga se están construyendo estaciones de recarga específicas. En Bogotá hay más de 50.000 taxis, un número elevadísimo, sobre todo si consideramos que este modo de transporte es el que genera más gases de efecto invernadero por pasajero de todos los existentes. La hipotética sustitución de un número significativo de los taxis impulsados por gas gasolina a otros eléctricos tendría un impacto considerable.
Aunque no se consideró a la hora de otorgar los premios, Bogotá está finalizando los estudios previos para la construcción del metro y está planificando una ampliación significativa del Transmilenio, sustituyendo de esta forma a las contaminantes busetas. Si todos estos proyectos llegan a buen puerto, en pocos años la situación ambiental de Bogotá mejorará dramáticamente. Esperemos que así sea.
Fotos: Miguel Matus
Jorge Bela, Bogotá Community Manager
Bogotá just won the City Climate Leadership Award for transportation. The award, still on its first edition, is sponsored by the C40 group and Siemens, through its Crystal Initiative. The leadership award in transportation seeks to identify projects or initiatives aimed at improving the environmental quality of the cities for which they are intended. The methodology used to measure such improvement is based on modal shift or the reduction of greenhouse gases (GHG).
For anyone familiar with the current situation of transportation in Bogotá the award might come as a surprise. It is striking considering the lack of a metro system and the still widespread presence of small buses (busetas, as locals call them), which seem to be free of any emissions controls, as they spew thick clouds of black smoke. Even if the rapid bus transportation system, Transmileno, has been very successful and even taken as a model by large cities elsewhere in Latin America and Asia, it is now operating at full capacity. Expansion projects have been plagued by corruption, delays, and cost overruns.
Even if the current situation is far from ideal, the award was granted to a project, currently being implemented, with a considerable potential to improve the environmental conditions in Bogotá. The project seeks to introduce hybrid buses and zero emissions taxis by the end of 2013. To this end, 200 hybrid buses have been purchased and are expected to start running in late December. These Volvo buses are built in Brazil and assembled in Colombia, and they do not need to recharge in the grid. They can be used in Transmilenio express lanes as well as in regular streets, as they have doors on both sides. They will first be deployed on a new line that crosses the city from south to north, including a long stretch on 7th Avenue, one of Bogota’s most emblematic. Once the hybrid buses replace the highly polluting minibuses which now serve 7th Avenue, the air quality in the area will improve significantly.
The zero emissions taxi pilot project plans to introduce 50 electric taxis. The first 12 taxis have already been officially presented by authorities and are expected to start operating in the next few weeks. Charging stations are being built in strategic locations, and the first one is already operating. Taxis generate the highest volume of GHG per passenger of all transportation modes, and Bogotá has more than 50,000 of them. The replacement of a significant number of gasoline or natural gas taxis by electric units would have a considerable impact on overall city pollution.
Although it was not taken into consideration for the awards, Bogotá is in the final planning stages for its first metro system. It is also planning to substantially expand the Transmilenio system. These two mega-projects will all but eliminate the highly polluting busetas from most of the city. If all of these projects are successfully implemented, the environmental situation in Bogotá will have improved dramatically. Let’s hope that it does.
Photo credit: Miguel Matus
By Jorge Bela
Colombia has undergone a remarkable transformation in the past fifteen years. The armed conflict that arose in the mid-twentieth century, aggravated by organized crime and drug trafficking, generated a massive wave of displaced people seeking refuge in the cities. This flow was in addition to the regular flow of immigrants from rural to urban areas that took place in Latin America as a whole during the same period. Colombian cities were unable to assimilate such rapid growth, and suffered a significant deterioration in living conditions. This was particularly so in medium-sized cities, such as Cali, which had relatively high living standards before the conflict erupted. Bogotá, as the capital and most populated city in Colombia, attracted the largest number of displaced people, giving rise to large slums in the south. Both cities became the target of attacks from armed groups, and became isolated under the fear of constant threat.
During the last fifteen years, the situation has changed substantially. Armed conflicts have been relegated to remote areas, and the cartels that controlled most of the drug trafficking have been dismantled. Lower levels of violence and sustained economic growth have made of Colombia an appealing destination for foreign investment. Following many decades of isolation and pessimism, Colombia now lives in an atmosphere of optimism and has become much more open to the world. Challenges in the urban area are still significant, including high levels of violence, a social inequality among the highest in the hemisphere, and considerable lack of infrastructure.
Still, both Cali and Bogotá have managed to put into place innovative urban solutions, either created locally or adapted from other cities in the region and elsewhere. Perhaps the best known example is Transmilenio, the bus-based mass transit system in Bogota. Originally created in Curitiba, Transmilenio was adapted locally to a much larger scale, and has been so successful that other large cities in Latin America and Asia have used it as a model. The success of urban initiatives in Cali and Bogotá, such as the reclaiming of public spaces and the comprehensive upgrading of informal settlements, were not only the consequence of a general improvement in Colombia’s situation. Instead, they were an integral part of that process: improvements in the urban setting allowed for improvements to take place and be consolidated elsewhere in Colombian society.
Much of Cali and Bogota’s success can be credited to effective leadership. Political leaders have been able to forge alliances between the public and private sectors, and have been able to involve into the process an emerging generation of architects and urban planners. In addition, the citizens of both cities have largely accepted the new leadership, as it started to become clear that the worst years were being left behind. In Bogota this process has been somewhat hindered by corruption and other leadership problems, while Cali continues to plow ahead.
In this blog we will try to identify the most significant initiatives in the urban development processes being undertaken in Bogota and Cali. I hope it will become an open dialogue amidst those interested (in the progress and evolution) of these two cities, as well as those in the URB.IM community at large.
And now a few words about myself. Since 2010 I have been working as a freelance writer and journalist in Bogotá. Prior to that I worked at El Pais, Spain’s leading newspaper, and Analistas Financieros Internacionales. I also worked as a researcher at the European Latin American Research Institute and as project manager at the University at Albany, State University of New York. I have a M.A. in Latin American Studies from the University of Florida and completed the coursework for a PhD in comparative politics at the University at Albany.
Africa’s slums are growing at twice the rate of its cities. By some accounts, sub-Saharan Africa will have upwards of 332 million slum dwellers by 2015. While millions of dollars have been spent improving the conditions in Africa’s urban informal settlements and the lives of the people who live therein, overall these efforts have amounted to little more than a drop in the ocean. Join our six panelists to explore the options for stemming the growth of these sprawling settlements and improving conditions in those slums that already exist: Irene Karanja of Muungano Support Trust (SDI) (Kenya); Claudio Torres of the UN-HABITAT Participatory Slum Upgrading Unit (PSUP) (Kenya); architect, urban planner, and World Bank Municipal Development Program consultant Sara Candiracci (Mozambique); Aditya Kumar of the Community Organization Resource Centre (CORC) (SDI) (South Africa); Jhono Bennett of the University of Johannesburg (South Africa); and Marie Huchzermeyer of the University of the Witwatersrand (South Africa).
Click on the pictures of the panelists to see each panelist’s perspective below.
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Executive Director of Muungano Support Trust, a secretariat of the Shack/Slum Dwellers International Federation (SDI) (Kenya)
Over the last 25 years, slum dwellers from cities in Africa have successfully mobilized into collections of Federations of the Urban Poor.
These federations have collected their own financial resources in the form of savings and data pools, creating citywide profiles and extensive slum censuses. Unknown to the world, slum federations have managed to produce a large volume of documented knowledge about themselves that has transformed how the government delivers important services to its poor citizens and how financial instruments can be innovated by financial institutions to serve the needs of the poor.
Using data collected from the profiles and censuses, Muungano Support Trust, a local NGO working with the federation of Kenya, has provided advisory services to the Government of Kenya and the World Bank, in order to help them intervene and provide housing solutions to over 10,000 families in the Kibera and Mukuru areas of Nairobi.
The trust has also worked with university planning schools from the local and international academia community to influence how transforming planning discourse can untrap informal human settlements from the snares of historically rigid city planning standards.
The private sector has grand opportunities to turn urban poor communities into important players within the city. Financial resources from the poor are beginning to challenge and put pressure on the private sector to innovate solutions. Federations have interventions that are facilitating this to happen.
Data collected by communities with the support and technical capacity of organizations such as Muungano Support Trust, shows that there is a missing link that government interventions are not able to fill and development assistance is failing to cover.
Insecurity of tenure remains one of the biggest challenges to improving the lives of slum dwellers in Nairobi. The government needs to release land for human settlement, whether it be public, private, or contested. If this does not happen, development aid will continue to subsidize the costs required for technical services to innovate various kinds of solutions for what are essentially locked scenarios!
Irene Karanja is the founding Executive Director of Muungano Support Trust (MuST), a secretariat of the Slum/Shack Dwellers Federation in Kenya. She is a specialist in participatory research, community organizing and capacity building for the urban poor. For over six years, she has transformed the use of participatory techniques for data collection into a major instrument for planning the upgrading of slums. She has organized a strong constituency of slum dwellers to assume leadership of these settlements through savings groups, housing cooperatives and women’s associations.
Architect, UN-HABITAT Participatory Slum Upgrading Programme (PSUP) (Kenya)
African countries represent the majority of the least developed countries (LCD). Taking into account the fact that in most of these countries, the urban population growth is expanding at a faster pace than the national one, it is important to make three considerations in answering the question: “What will it take to make slum upgrading work in African urban centres?”
Governments should be prepared to ‘give away’. National and local governments should weigh out the costs and risks of perpetuating the status quo and should fulfill the right of adequate housing for all at a pace that copes with the increase in poor urban households. They should prioritise, for example, the free provision of land for the urban poor, in the understanding that there will be no real estate profit and that no particular individual will benefit — a challenging task in a context where African post-independence elites have generally improved their own lives with little regard to equity and social justice.
Strategies for the provision of adequate housing for the urban poor should go beyond market logic. In trying to come up with housing strategies that appeal to investors, the focus has shifted from the upgrading of the slum dwellers’ living conditions to the beautification of particularly degraded areas. This unchaining of a series of transaction costs results in a gentrification process that relocates the problem without giving it a solution. Slum upgrading strategies should strictly be conceived through a human rights approach.
Adequate housing strategies should trigger self-relief dynamics in overcoming poverty. The problem of urban poverty is too big to miss the opportunity to engage concerned communities in devising its solution. The Latin-American slum upgrading experience has demonstrated that giving the right initial impulse to poor urban communities actually encourages a progressive and proactive self-upgrading attitude in slum residents, reducing the need for government funds to improve the living conditions of the urban poor. A strong involvement of the community can also help to reduce the risk of benefiting the wrong people, a common shortfall in superficially planned slum upgrading interventions.
Claudio Torres is an architect with 10 years experience in the field of slum upgrading and housing in an African context. His work has taken him from the slums of Nairobi to settlements in Somaliland and South Sudan where he has worked as an architect, monitoring and evaluation expert, project manager, and construction expert. Torres has worked extensively in Nairobi’s Mathare valley slum with the Italian NGO COOPI, helping to set up an office in the field from which he coordinated a series of different programs. He is currently a consultant for the Participatory Slum Upgrading Program (PSUP), a division of UN-Habitat.
Architect, Urban Planner and Consultant, World Bank Municipal Development Program (Mozambique)
Urbanization in Africa is growing and national governments and local authorities are faced with the challenge of guiding cities’ growth while dealing with other constraints, including limited financial resources; weak institutional, management, and technical capacities; lack of proper urban policies and financial mechanisms to mobilize and regulate investments.
To strengthen the ability of African cities to generate wealth, prosperity, and economic and human development, national governments and local authorities need to define a clear vision for the future of their cities and their informal settlements.
Cities must be seen and treated as complex organisms whose elements are interconnected. Informal settlements should be seen as an integral part of this organism, and not as a “sick body” to be fought. They constitute a precious resource for the city and its population and must be included in the urban grid.
Each and every stakeholder, whether it be the national government, local authorities, civil society, the community, the private sector, or the donor community, have a role to play and must be partners in the development and implementation of this vision for the city. In particular, the active participation of the local community is essential in finding lasting solutions, and to guarantee ownership and sustainability, social cohesion, and integration.
The implementation of comprehensive and integrated improvement plans in informal areas would be ideal; however, it takes a long time and requires considerable financial resources. Considering the constraints in local financial and institutional capabilities, it is preferable to adopt an incremental approach, whereby small-scale interventions are first envisioned and planned in an extensive development plan, and then are carried out gradually through community participation.
Priority must be given to the improvement and provision of infrastructure, basic services, accessibility, safety, and the creation of economic opportunities. Concurrently, special attention should be given to outdoor public spaces, where a vital part of the community’s social, cultural, and economic activities is conducted. Improving these spaces would improve the framework of daily life and bring dignity, beauty, and utility to informal and poor areas with minimal resources.
Sara Candiracci is an architect and urban planner with 10 years experience in the design, management, and implementation of several urban planning and slum upgrading projects in Latin America and Africa with different organizations including UN-Habitat, the Inter-American Development Bank, and various NGOs. She is now working at the Municipality of Maputo, Mozambique, as Urban Planning Advisor for the World Bank Municipal Development Program. She is also conducting her PhD research on the potential use of urban cultural heritage in urban regeneration and planning, considering Maputo as case of study.
Deputy Director, Community Organisation Resource Centre (CORC), an affiliate of Shack/Slum Dwellers International (South Africa)
Over the last 20 years, the South African government has been hailed as having the most progressive housing and poverty policy environments in the continent. Besides making welfare grants available to previously marginalized communities, it has made provisions to provide housing to any citizen earning under R3,500 ($350)/month.
Although more than 2.3 million subsidized homes have been built across the country, the impacts of the housing policy have fallen short. Informal settlements have gone up by 900 percent (from 300 to 2,700) while there are an estimated 2.1 million people on the waiting list for state-subsidized housing.
Realizing the constraints of the housing program, the State has rapidly shifted its emphasis to informal settlement upgrading. New regulatory frameworks like Outcome 8 have been developed to allow for provision of basic services and tenure rights.
While the aims of Outcome 8 and its aligned policies have been well defined, in my view there are still gaps in addressing the bigger issues. Firstly, how incremental informal settlement upgrading is implemented must be defined: are we trying to address tenure rights or basic services, land or housing, dependency on the state or self-reliance through livelihoods? Secondly, there is the manner in which informal settlement upgrading is being rolled out. Currently it doesn’t account for strong community, civil society, and NGO participation, nor does it address the broader issue of project finance, outsourcing, and party politics.
The process of upgrading is about learning and letting go, about making space for communities to innovate with the state, about creating a city-wide network/movement that can change the spatial patterns of the city and strengthen citizenship.
Aditya Kumar is the technical coordinator and deputy director for the Community Organization Resource Centre (CORC), affiliated to Shack/Slum Dwellers International, currently working with informal settlement and backyarder dwellers of South Africa. His previous experience has included post-war reconstruction of Palestinian refugee camps (Lebanon), post-earthquake disaster housing reconstruction (India), affordable and social housing and large urban development projects (Los Angeles and Boston). His work has fostered multi-stakeholder partnerships between local communities, CBOs, government bodies, academic institutions, and International NGOs, with a key focus on strengthening community-driven design, planning, and implementation. The reconstruction of Palestinian refugee camps has also been shortlisted for the Aga Khan Award for Architecture.
Architect and Lecturer and Researcher, University of Johannesburg
The National Development Plan’s Outcome 8 agreement is behind the South African government’s current shift towards in situ housing upgrading as a means of redevelopment. This goal of upgrading 400,000 informal settlements has been developed under the mandate of the National Upgrade Support Program.
Large-scale construction consortiums are working alongside the government, in collaboration with various planning, architectural, and non-governmental entities on the current Reconstruction & Development Program.
While these initiatives are creating an institutional framework to begin addressing the needs of informal settlement residents in South Africa, there is little focus across the board on training effective practitioners who can play crucial intermediary roles not only in informal settlement upgrading but also in the nation’s spatial redevelopment.
From my experience in this field, it seems that there are a disproportionately small number of practitioners who have the understanding, experience, or empathy required to engage with the dynamics of informal settlement communities and the complexity of working within the social, economic, and political intricacy that exists between grassroots entities and government structures.
A major factor for this condition is related to the lack of opportunities for spatial design practitioners (engineers, architects, planners, etc), to be exposed to these complex environments. As a result, many ‘professionals’, as well as many government officials, often display dangerously simplistic views on how to ‘fix’ the problems at hand.
From my work and experience in academia and the NGO sector, I believe that empathetic spatial design practitioners hold the key position to engage effectively at the ‘community’ level while addressing the larger spatial inequalities of post-apartheid South Africa.
My aim lies in understanding and sharing contextually appropriate training, practice, and precedents through critical engagement with South Africa’s residents of poor and unsafe living conditions in order to further develop this ‘additional role’ for socio-technical spatial design practice.
Jhono Bennett is an architect who works at the University of Johannesburg as a part-time lecturer and Independent researcher, while managing the operations of 1:1 — Agency of Engagement, a non-profit entity which he co-founded to provide a design-based collaborative service between grassroots organizations, professionals, academia, and government.
Masters Program in Housing at the School of Architecture and Planning at the University of the Witwatersrand (South Africa)
Internationally, there has been unprecedented focus on ‘slums’ in the new millennium. In southern African cities, informal settlements are certainly a concern, although in Anglophone countries the legacy of British colonial planning has to some extent kept these settlements out of middle-class sight. Where informal settlements have intruded into visible locations, as for instance in Lusophone Luanda, recent efforts have been made to remove these to the city periphery. In South Africa, a somewhat reverse government discourse targeted ‘visible’ informal settlements for ‘in situ upgrading’. This approach was adopted by the high profile N2 Gateway Project in Cape Town, which originally targeted all informal settlements that lined the motorway from the airport to the historical city centre for upgrading. In the years that followed, this project morphed into the Luandan approach — the removal of visible informal settlements. In the Cape Town case, removal was to a controlled decanting camp on the far side of the airport. Yet the public was told that the commitment remained to ‘in situ upgrading’. The term was simply given a new meaning, namely for the state to demolish and then build new housing to modern standard for a different clientele.
With this juxtaposition of informal settlement treatment in Angola and South Africa, I’d like to provoke debate on the core meaning of ‘informal settlement upgrading’ as well as the political uses associated to the meaning. For me, the essence of in situ upgrading is the recognition of two important points. One is that the unevenly developing economies in southern Africa, in the absence of radical change, will not facilitate the replacement of all informal settlements with planned and fully serviced residential developments for the households currently in these settlements. This recognition prevents ‘wishing away’ the reality of urban informality. The other is that informal settlements result out of determination, initiative (often collective), creativity, and complex decisions by poor households. These must be respected and supported where possible.
Marie Huchzermeyer convenes and teaches in the masters programme in Housing at the School of Architecture and Planning at the University of the Witwatersrand. This base has allowed her to provide support to rights-based struggles from within informal settlement for ‘real’ in situ upgrading. Her recent work includes a 2011 book “Cities With ‘Slums’: From Informal Settlement Eradication to a Right to the City in Africa,” and a comparison with Brazil in a 2004 book, “Unlawful Occupation: Informal Settlements and Urban Policy in South Africa and Brazil.”
Latin America is the most urbanized region in the world, with an average urbanization rate of 80 percent. Many of the region’s cities are developing quickly and becoming important economic, cultural and touristic hubs. In spite of this growth and development, and the fact that poverty rates have been declining, 25 percent of Latin America’s urban residents still live in poverty. URB.im would like to encourage the debate around solutions to tackle poverty, foster inclusion and promote broader channels of participation, to bring about more just and inclusive cities in Latin America.
Join the conversation with our four panelists: Enrique Betancourt, Co-founder of Contextual and Former Deputy Director of Social Policies, Office of the President (Mexico); Paula Moreno, Former Minister of Culture and President, Corporación Manos Visibles (Colombia); Angela Franco, Vice-President of Research at the Universidad del Valle (Colombia); and Jorge Barbosa, Director, Favela Observatory (Brazil).
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Con una tasa de urbanización del 80 por ciento, América Latina es la región más urbanizada del planeta. Varias ciudades de la región se están desarrollando rápidamente y se están consolidando como importantes centros económicos, culturales y turísticos. A pesar de dicho crecimiento y desarrollo, y aunque la pobreza ha venido disminuyendo, se estima que el 25 por ciento de los habitantes de las ciudades Latinoamericanas viven en condiciones de pobreza. URB.im quiere generar un espacio de intercambio de experiencias y reflexiones sobre esfuerzos de reducción de pobreza y la promoción de la inclusión y la participación social, los cuales están contribuyendo a que las ciudades Latinoamericanas sean más justas e incluyentes.
Únanse a la conversación con nuestros cuatro participantes invitados: Enrique Betancourt, Cofundador de Contextual y Ex Director Adjunto de Política Social de la Presidencia (México); Paula Moreno, Exministra de Cultura y Presidenta, la Corporación Manos Visibles (Colombia); Angela Franco, Vicerrectora de Investigaciones de la Universidad del Valle (Colombia); y Jorge Barbosa, Director, Observatorio de las Favelas (Brasil).
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América Latina é a região mais urbanizada do planeta com uma taxa de urbanização de 80 por cento. Varias cidades da região estão se desenvolvendo rapidamente e estão se tornando importantes centros econômicos, culturais e turísticos. Embora aquele crescimento e desenvolvimento, é o fato que a pobreza vem diminuindo, ainda o 25 por cento da população das cidades Latino-americanas experimentam condições de pobreza. URB.im gostaria de incentivar o debate em torno às soluções no combate da pobreza e da exclusão e dos mecanismos para ampliar os cais de participação das cidades Latino-americanas para que sejam mais justas e inclusivas.
Participe na conversação com nossos quarto debatedores: Enrique Betancourt, Cofundador de Contextual e Ex-assessor Presidencial de Politicas Sociais (México); Paula Moreno, Ex-ministra de Cultura e Presidente, Corporación Manos Visibles (Colombia); Angela Franco, Vice-presidente de Pesquisa da Universidad del Valle (Colombia); e Jorge Barbosa, Diretor, Observatório de Favelas (Brasil).
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Enrique Betancourt, Co-founder of Contextual and Former Deputy Director of Social Policies, Office of the President (Mexico)
Latin America is the most urbanized of all developing regions. On its own, this fact could mean good news, as historically, cities have been able to reduce poverty rates and gender inequality, and have achieved substantial improvements in access to education, justice, and health services, among other benefits.
However, the quantitative data is insufficient to explain the challenges that Latin American cities are facing. The quality and speed with which the urbanization process has taken place complements this picture, explaining why urbanization was characterized by inequality, socioeconomic segregation, and precarious provision of social services and basic infrastructure. The scenario is even less encouraging when considering the institutional weaknesses in most of our region’s local governments, which are further and further away from meeting demand for social services and policies. When reviewing the region’s history of urban development and demographic trends, the violence that characterizes most cities in the region should not surprise us (42 of the 50 most violent cities in the world are in Latin America).
The future of Latin America’s development is closely linked to the quality with which its social and physical spaces are planned and managed.
In this debate I intend to advocate for the need for a much broader urban paradigm than the one proposed by the urban development practice at the end of the twentieth century, which focuses on planning the uses, densities, housing, and basic infrastructure.
The central proposal of my argument rests on the fact that urban issues should not be considered only a vertical of public policy like education, health, culture, sports, or economic development, but as cross-cutting policy, which would allow the “territorializing” (focusing on the territory) of other public policies.
This focus on the territory is based on three fundamental premises:
Enrique Betancourt is the cofounder of Contextual, an agency that develops creative solutions to urban problems through collaborative processes. His work focuses on the intersection between research, public policy design, and implementation. Previously, Enrique was the Head of the National Center for Crime Prevention and Citizen Participation, as well as the Deputy Director of Social Policy at the Office of the Presidency of Mexico. He studied architecture at the Universidad de las Américas Puebla, holds a Masters in Urbanism from Harvard University, and is a Yale World Fellow.
Enrique Betancourt, Cofundador de Contextual y Ex Director Adjunto de Política Social de la Presidencia (México)
América Latina es la región en vías de desarrollo más urbanizada del mundo. El hecho en sí mismo podría anunciar buenas noticias, pues las ciudades han llegado, a lo largo de la historia, acompañadas de reducciones importantes en índices de pobreza, desigualdad de género y mejoras sustanciales respecto al acceso a educación, justica y servicios de salud entre otros beneficios.
Sin embargo el dato cuantitativo resulta insuficiente para explicar el reto que representa la vida en las ciudades de nuestra región. La calidad y la velocidad con la que ha sucedido el proceso de urbanización complementan el panorama y terminan por explicar como éste último se ha caracterizado por la desigualdad, la segregación socioeconómica y la precariedad en la provisión de servicios sociales e infraestructura básica. El escenario resulta menos alentador ante la clara debilidad institucional de la mayoría de los gobiernos locales de la región, quienes se encuentran cada vez más lejos de poder satisfacer la demanda de servicios y políticas sociales. Ante la revisión de la historia de desarrollo urbano y tendencias demográficas no debería sorprender mucho la violencia que caracteriza a la mayoría de las ciudades de la región. (42 de las 50 ciudades mas violentas del mundo son Latinoamericanas).
El futuro del desarrollo de América Latina esta íntimamente ligado a la calidad con la que se planifiquen y gestionen los espacios sociales y físicos de sus ciudades.
En este debate me propongo abogar por la necesidad de un paradigma urbano mucho más amplio que el propuesto por la noción de desarrollo urbana de finales del siglo XX centrada prioritariamente en la planeación de los usos, las densidades, la vivienda y la infraestructura básica.
La propuesta central de mi argumento radica en la necesidad de que los asuntos urbanos no sean considerados únicamente como un área de política pública vertical más como lo son la educación, salud, cultura, deporte, desarrollo económico, sino un política transversal que permita la territorialización de las otras políticas públicas.
Esta territorialización supondría tres premisas fundamentales:
Enrique Betancourt es cofundador de Contextual, una agencia que desarrolla soluciones creativas a problemas urbanos a través de procesos colaborativos. Su trabajo se centra en la intersección que existe entre la investigación, el diseño de políticas públicas y su implementación. Anteriormente fue Titular del Centro Nacional de Prevención del Delito y Participación Ciudadana y Director Adjunto de Política Social en la Oficina de la Presidencia del Gobierno de México. Es Arquitecto por la Universidad de las Américas en Puebla, Maestro en Urbanismo por la Universidad de Harvard y Yale World Fellow.
Paula Moreno, Former Minister of Culture and President, Corporación Manos Visibles (Colombia)
One of the most critical challenges in increasingly urbanized Latin American cities is how to enforce social integration as a strategy to reduce urban violence and promote greater social cohesion and resilience among its citizens. The dynamics of public space not only as a symbol of physical welfare but also as a determinant of equal social relations is a major challenge to be addressed. I would like to mention the case of Medellin, a Colombian city with both a complex history in terms of violence, illegal networks, and segregation, and at the same time the most dynamic cultural and economic nodes, with opportunities for structural social change in the medium term.
Medellin is the clearest example of urban transformation in recent years in Colombia. First, the city’s government has showed continuous political support for and prioritization of social integration. Second, the city has developed comprehensive urban interventions that prioritize social integration as a tool to tackle violence and social degradation. These interventions take the form of urban upgrading programs, which invest not only in improving the physical conditions of low-income neighborhoods, but also in their social capital. Today, after almost a decade of sustained public interventions, one of the most critical components of Medellin’s scheme is not only the architectural icons or the modern transportation systems that the city has built, but the incubation of strengthened social networks that nurture and sustain the physical intervention, and also generate the social fabric to prevent violence and to shape a common project for the city.
Throughout the years, the quality of physical transformation has been complemented by social policies to map and effectively empower social networks. The building capacity strategy, mainly supported by the public administration but also by national and international organizations (e.g. Paisa Joven of GTZ, Picacho Corporation (Ford Foundation) or the projects of Fundación Social or Fundación Suraméricana) strengthened the capacities and roles of commune leaders and organizations. Visible grassroots leaders with administration leadership positions have access to top public and private universities (e.g. EPM Fund), and create a knowledge base that integrates their own territorial views into the academy and the public decision-making process through schemes like participatory security and budgeting. This social architecture, built upon bridging organizations with political advocacy, economic alternatives, and social mobility with a major territorial attachment, has become a major force in tackling criminal networks in the city. (Two examples of bridging organizations of this type are Son Batá and la Elite Hip Hop.)
Paula Moreno is an industrial engineer with experience in social project management, design and implementation of public policies. She was the youngest minister in the history of Colombia and the first Afro-Colombian women to hold a ministerial office. In 2010 she was selected by the Council of the Americas as one of the most influential young leaders in the region for her work on effectively understanding diversity, and by the Black Mayors Association as one of the most influential Black leaders in the world. She founded and is currently serving as president of the Visible Hands Corporation, an NGO focused on practices of effective inclusion for youth at risk and ethnic communities in Colombia. Ms. Moreno holds a Master’s Degree in Management Studies from the University of Cambridge and was a United States Fulbright scholar for the program of urban and regional planning at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT).
Paula Moreno, Exministra de Cultura y Presidenta, la Corporación Manos Visibles (Colombia)
Uno de los desafíos más importantes en el crecimiento de las ciudades latinoamericanas, es cómo promover la integración social como una estrategia para reducir la violencia urbana, además de cómo generar una mayor cohesión social y resiliencia entre sus ciudadanos. La dinámica del espacio público no es sólo un símbolo del bienestar físico, sino también es un factor determinante de las relaciones sociales de igualdad—y se convierte en un desafío importante de abordar. Me gustaría mencionar el caso de Medellín, una ciudad colombiana con una complejidad histórica importante en términos de violencia, redes ilegales y segregación; al mismo tiempo, tiene los nodos culturales y económicos más dinámicos del país y ofrece oportunidades para el cambio social estructural a medio plazo.
Medellín es el ejemplo más claro de la transformación urbana de los últimos años en Colombia. En primer lugar, el gobierno de la ciudad ha mostrado un apoyo político continuo y también ha mostrado prioridad a la integración social. en segundo lugar, la ciudad ha desarrollado intervenciones urbanas integrales que dan prioridad a la integración social como una herramienta para hacer frente a la violencia y a la degradación social. Estas intervenciones se enfocan en programas de mejoramiento urbano, que no sólo invierten en la mejora de las condiciones físicas de los barrios de bajos ingresos, sino también en su capital social. Hoy en día, después de casi una década de intervenciones públicas sostenidas, los componentes más relevantes de Medellín no son sólo los iconos arquitectónicos o los sistemas de transporte modernos que la ciudad ha construido, sino también la incubación de las redes y organizaciones sociales fortalecidas que promueven y mantienen la intervención física, y que también generan el tejido social para prevenir la violencia, y contribuyen a dar forma a un proyecto común para la ciudad.
A través de los años, la calidad de la transformación física se ha complementado con las políticas sociales para formar y capacitar más efectivamente las redes y organizaciones sociales. El desarrollo de la estrategia de capacidad no es únicamente apoyada por la administración pública, sino también por organizaciones internacionales como por ejemplo Paisa Joven de la GTZ y Corporación Picacho de la Fundación Ford, (o los proyectos de la Fundación Social y de la Fundación Suramericana), los cuales fortalecen las capacidades y las funciones de los líderes de las comunas y de las organizaciones sociales locales. Los líderes que son visibles con base social y con posición de liderazgo en la administración, tienen acceso a las mejores universidades públicas y privadas (v.gr., el Fondo EPM). Ellos crean una base de conocimientos integrados a través de sus propios puntos de vista territoriales y crean el proceso de decisiones públicas a través de esquemas como: la seguridad y la creación de presupuestos en forma participativa. Esta es una arquitectura social para crear alianzas entre organizaciones con incidencia política y alternativas económicas. Además, funciona para crear otro tipo de movilidad social con una mayor vinculación territorial que se ha convertido en una fuerza importante para hacer frente a los ciclos de redes criminales en la ciudad.
Paula Moreno es ingeniera industrial con experiencia en gestión de proyectos sociales, diseño e implementación de políticas públicas. Ella fue la primera mujer afrocolombiana en ocupar un cargo ministerial y la más joven en la historia de Colombia. En 2010 fue seleccionada por el Consejo de las Américas como una de las líderes jóvenes y más influyentes de la región por su trabajo en la comprensión de la diversidad. La Black Mayors Association también la destaca como una de las líderes negras más influyentes en el mundo. Ella fundó y es la presidenta de la la Corporación Manos Visibles. La organización es una ONG centrada en las prácticas de inclusión efectiva para los jóvenes en situación de riesgo y de las comunidades étnicas en Colombia. Paula tiene una Maestría en Estudios de Gestión por la Universidad de Cambridge y fue una becaria Fulbright en los Estados Unidos para el programa de planificación urbana y regional en el Instituto de Tecnología de Massachusetts (MIT).
Angela Franco, Vice-President of Research at the Universidad del Valle (Colombia)
One of the biggest challenges we face in Latin America and the Caribbean is the reduction of poverty. We must seek equity levels to counterbalance the disturbing situation of social inequality that characterizes our countries. In this context, urban planning plays a central role. This is because improving the quality of life of families in poverty is directly related to the urban policies of inclusion and neighborhood upgrading, and has a direct relationship with competitive strategies and natural resource management.
Nevertheless, while it seems clear that public policies aimed at these purposes should occupy the front lines of government agendas, the reality is that there is much talk and little is done. But why?
First, I consider that the processes of social inclusion, being long-term processes, are not attractive to those in power who, in the case of Colombia, have four years to show results for their management. Unfortunately, we have seen that there have been few leaders who initiate a program and leave the results to another. Second, the high investment and complexity involved in implementing a program of poverty reduction and neighborhood upgrading is a challenge that only a few people want to take on.
Perhaps this is the result of the indifference of the citizens and their willingness to go along with the projects undertaken by those in power. For example, complaints are not common when the tax money is invested in road infrastructure conducive to private vehicles. It’s a quick way to show immediate results to taxpayers. Neither are there frequent questions from civil society on major social housing schemes, which contribute little to the quality of life of the poorest and least of urban quality.
However, some recent governments in Colombia have shown great commitment and have faced the problem of poverty and social inequality seriously. We should keep in mind the lessons learned from the governments of Antanas Mockus and Enrique Peñalosa in Bogotá, during which civic culture, public space, and school infrastructure left a positive balance in reducing the “social distance” and increasing tolerance and security.
In Medellin, Sergio Fajardo and the subsequent politicians set the goal to change the HDI in the marginal sectors, focusing investments on accessibility, school infrastructure, and the development of programs to create jobs and opportunities.
In Cali, the current mayor Rodrigo Guerrero is designing strategies to direct investment towards informal settlements and the most segregated areas of the city. As a result of the current local government work, the Ford Foundation included Cali in the Just Cities initiative. Now the city is challenged to take this opportunity to reduce inequality and poverty rates. But more important than defining projects and investments, all local actors should seek the empowerment of civil society, unions, academia, and all other stakeholders related to urban development. This empowerment would ensure that proposed projects transcend the current administration and become a navigation chart to achieve a profound change in the city and for its citizens.
Angela Franco is Vice-President of Research at the University Del Valle in Cali, Colombia. She is an architect and an urban planner and holds a MSc in Sociology. Her research projects are focused on informal settlements, urban segregation, and urban renewal processes in downtown areas. In 2012 she did a fellowship in the Special Program for Urban and Regional Studies at MIT, where she was working on international development good practices to explore new topics of analysis and applied research in the Latin America and the Caribbean region.
Angela Franco, Vicerrectora de Investigaciones de la Universidad del Valle (Colombia)
Uno de los mayores desafíos que enfrentamos en América Latina y el Caribe es la reducción de la pobreza. Nuestros esfuerzos se deberían concentrar en procurar mejores niveles de equidad para contrarrestar la alarmante situación de desigualdad social que caracteriza a nuestros países. En este contexto, la planificación urbana tiene un rol central, dado que la acción de mejorar la calidad de vida de las familias que viven en situación de pobreza está directamente relacionada con las legislaciones urbanas de inclusión y el mejoramiento de barrios; además, tiene una relación directa con las estrategias de competitividad y la administración de recursos naturales.
Sin embargo, aunque parece evidente que las políticas públicas dirigidas a estos fines deben estar al frente de las agendas de los gobiernos, la realidad es que se habla mucho y se hace poco, pero ¿por qué?
En primer lugar, considero que los procesos de inclusión social, al ser procesos a largo plazo, no son atractivos para los gobernantes que, en el caso de Colombia, tienen cuatro años para mostrar resultados de su administración. Desafortunadamente, hemos visto como pocos líderes inician un programa para dejarle los resultados a otro. En segundo lugar, la alta inversión y la alta complejidad involucrada en un programa de reducción de pobreza y de mejoramiento de barrios es un reto que sólo pocos quieren asumir.
Tal vez este es el resultado de la indiferencia de los ciudadanos y de su conformidad a los proyectos llevados a cabo por aquellos en posiciones de poder. Por ejemplo, hay muy pocas quejas cuando el dinero de los impuestos se invierte en la infraestructura vial, que beneficia a los vehículos privados. Estas inversiones son una forma rápida de mostrar resultados inmediatos para los contribuyentes. Tampoco, hay cuestionamientos por parte de la sociedad civil sobre los programas de vivienda, los cuales contribuyen poco a la calidad de vida de los más pobres y de los que viven una vida de poca calidad urbana.
Sin embargo, algunos gobiernos locales recientes en Colombia han mostrado un gran compromiso y se han enfrentado seriamente al problema de la pobreza y de la desigualdad social. Se debe tener en cuenta las lecciones aprendidas de los alcaldes Antanas Mockus y de Enrique Peñalosa en Bogotá, durante los cuales la cultura cívica, el espacio público y la infraestructura escolar dejaron un equilibrio positivo en la reducción de la “distancia social” y en el aumento de la tolerancia y de la seguridad.
En Medellín, el alcalde Sergio Fajardo, y los gobernantes siguientes, fijaron la meta de cambiar el Indice de Desarrollo Humano (IDH) en los sectores marginales, centrándose en mayor parte en las inversiones de materia de accesibilidad, la infraestructura escolar y el desarrollo de programas para crear empleos y oportunidades laborales.
En Cali, el alcalde actual, Rodrigo Guerrero, está diseñando estrategias para la inversión directa hacia los asentamientos informales y las áreas más segregadas de la ciudad. En consecuencia de la labor actual de los gobiernos locales, la Fundación Ford incluyó a Cali en la iniciativa, Ciudades Justas. Ahora la ciudad tiene el reto de tomar esta oportunidad para reducir los índices de la desigualdad y de pobreza. Y más que definir inversiones, es más importante que todos los actores locales busquen el empoderamiento de la sociedad civil, los sindicatos, las universidades y demás actores relacionados con el desarrollo urbano. Dicho empoderamiento aseguraría que los proyectos propuestos trasciendan la administración actual y se conviertan en una carta de navegación para lograr un cambio profundo en la ciudad y en los ciudadanos.
Angela Franco es Vicerrectora de Investigaciones de la Universidad del Valle en Cali, Colombia. Es arquitecta, urbanista y tiene Maestría en Sociología. Sus proyectos de investigación se centran en asentamientos informales, la segregación urbana y los procesos de renovación urbana en las áreas del centro de la ciudad. Durante el año 2012 obtuvo una beca de investigación en el Programa Especial de Estudios Urbanos y Regionales en MIT donde trabajó en el desarrollo de buenas prácticas y nuevos temas de análisis y de investigación aplicada en la región de Latinoamérica y el Caribe.
Jorge Luiz Barbosa, Director, Favela Observatory (Brazil)
The territories of our social life are becoming increasingly complex and diverse, especially when we live in cities that keep growing due to concentrated urbanization. The relationship between city, neighborhood, and the day-to-day seems to be a nostalgic experience rather than a reality. In this new urban condition, pluralized identities and new practices emerge to symbolically appropriate space and time. Therefore, the utopia of a more generous city invites us to promote an alternative political space for democracy and citizenship.
To realize the multiple possibilities of a city, the social and political qualities of public space are pivotal. In addition to the State and the Market, there are other dimensions to consider for life in society. In this sense, the role of civil society as a political instrument is necessary to renew the public sphere.
Aristotle considered the human being to be endowed by words. According to him, the use of words contributed to the shift of human beings from “animalistic” to civilization. The doxa (opinion) was the expression of building the community ethos (koinonía) of autonomous and collective beings. This expression led to the construction of an ethical subject in action, with its own space: the Polis.
For us, a serious public sphere is a space of visibility for an individual and for others. But this is only possible if words and actions are used in the exercise of rights. In this vein, the concept of citizenship gains relevant emancipatory elements in the practice of rights, especially regarding the return to the territory of the public political sphere.
The return to the territory is pivotal to political practice once the day-to-day of all beings, all actions, and all human intentions are integrated in established times and spaces. Within a territory, it is possible to recognize collective interests and mobilize joint forces of change.
When trying to determine an agenda to overcome social inequalities, we need to identify the stakeholders that create change. This leads us to recognize that new collective subjects must assume a key role in building effective citizenship policy, especially with regard to overcoming inequalities due to ethnicity, race, gender, and sexual orientation.
Various civil society organizations have a key role in the political process described, especially those working in areas marked by deep social inequalities and reduced participation in the public sphere. The Favela Observatory has been working through its various modes of intervention (urban policy, human rights, education, culture, arts, and communication) to place unprivileged and excluded territories at the center of the political construction of the right to the city, ensuring new actors in these new spaces of political participation.
Jorge Luiz Barbosa is a Professor at the Federal Fluminense University, Director of the Favela Observatory, and co-author of the following books: Favela: Joy and Pain in the City, What is a Favela, Anyway?, The New Carioca, and Cultural Grounds.
Jorge Luiz Barbosa, Diretor do Observatório das Favelas (Brasil)
Os territórios de nossa vida social são cada vez mais complexos e diversos, sobretudo quando vivemos em metrópoles agigantadas pela urbanização concentrada. A relação cidade / bairro / cotidiano do passado parece ser mais uma experiência nostálgica do que uma realidade ainda próxima. Nesta nova condição urbana revelam-se identidades pluralizadas e práticas inteiramente novas de apropriação material e simbólica do espaço e do tempo. Portanto, a utopia de uma cidade mais generosa ainda pulsa e nos convida a promover outro campo político para a democracia e a para a cidadania.
Para a realização das múltiplas possibilidades do viver a cidade se faz indispensável a qualidade social e política do espaço público. Para além do Estado e do Mercado há outras dimensões para pensar a construção de referências para a vida em sociedade. Nesse sentido, a retomada do papel da sociedade civil como instância política é necessária e inadiável para instituir uma renovada esfera pública.
Aristóteles considerava o homem como um ser dotado da palavra. Segundo ele, a partilha das palavras contribuía para o ser humano aceder da animalidade à civilidade, pois a doxa (opinião) era a expressão própria da construção do ethos comunitário (koinonía) de sujeitos autônomos e coletivos. Essa partilha, que conduzia a constituição do sujeito ético em ação, possuía um lugar próprio: a Pólis.
A esfera pública seria, para nós, um espaço da visibilidade de si e do outro. Ou seja, do domínio da alteridade como campo da política. Todavia, só possível de existência tangível com a corporificação da palavra e da ação no exercício de direitos à liberdade. Nesta senda, a concepção cidadania ganha elementos emancipatórios fundamentais como prática de direitos, dentre eles, o retorno ao território com esfera pública da política.
O retorno ao território é o fundamento da prática política, uma vez que o cotidiano de todos os sujeitos, de todas as ações e todas as intenções humanas possui a sua integralidade em espaços/tempos demarcados. No território é possível reconhecer os interesses coletivos, promover pertencimentos e de mobilizar forças plurais de mudança.
E, quando tratamos da elaboração de uma agenda de superação das desigualdades sociais precisamos identificar os atores de sua criação e efetivação. Essa posição nos conduz a reconhecer que novos sujeitos coletivos devem assumir um papel principal na construção política de efetivação de cidadania, sobretudo no que diz respeito à superação de desigualdades que se reproduzem com recortes étnicos, raciais, etários, de gênero e de orientação sexual.
As diferentes organizações da sociedade civil terão um papel fundamental no processo político em destaque, principalmente as que atuam em territórios marcados por profundas desigualdades sociais e de reduzida participação na esfera pública. O Observatório de Favelas vem se empenhando, por meio de seus diferentes campos de atuação (política urbana, direitos humanos, educação, cultura, artes e comunicação), em colocar os territórios populares na centralidade construção política do Direito à Cidade, afirmando novos atores em novos cenários de participação política.
Jorge Luiz Barbosa é Professor da Universidade Federal Fluminense, Diretor do Observatório de Favelas e Co-autor dos Livros: “Favela: Alegria e dor na Cidade”; “O que é favela, afinal?”; “O novo carioca”; e “Solos Culturais”.
Submitted by Editor — Sun, 11/17/2013 – 23:00
Africa’s slums are growing at twice the rate of its cities. By some accounts, sub-Saharan Africa will have upwards of 332 million slum dwellers by 2015. While millions of dollars have been spent improving the conditions in Africa’s urban informal settlements and the lives of the people who live therein, overall these efforts have amounted to little more than a drop in the ocean. Join our six panelists to explore the options for stemming the growth of these sprawling settlements and improving conditions in those slums that already exist: Irene Karanja of Muungano Support Trust (SDI) (Kenya); Claudio Torres of the UN-HABITAT Participatory Slum Upgrading Unit (PSUP) (Kenya); architect, urban planner, and World Bank Municipal Development Program consultant Sara Candiracci (Mozambique); Aditya Kumar of the Community Organization Resource Centre (CORC) (SDI) (South Africa); Jhono Bennett of the University of Johannesburg (South Africa); and Marie Huchzermeyer of the University of the Witwatersrand (South Africa).
Click on the pictures of the panelists to see each panelist’s perspective below.
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Executive Director of Muungano Support Trust, a secretariat of the Shack/Slum Dwellers International Federation (SDI) (Kenya)
Over the last 25 years, slum dwellers from cities in Africa have successfully mobilized into collections of Federations of the Urban Poor.
These federations have collected their own financial resources in the form of savings and data pools, creating citywide profiles and extensive slum censuses. Unknown to the world, slum federations have managed to produce a large volume of documented knowledge about themselves that has transformed how the government delivers important services to its poor citizens and how financial instruments can be innovated by financial institutions to serve the needs of the poor.
Using data collected from the profiles and censuses, Muungano Support Trust, a local NGO working with the federation of Kenya, has provided advisory services to the Government of Kenya and the World Bank, in order to help them intervene and provide housing solutions to over 10,000 families in the Kibera and Mukuru areas of Nairobi.
The trust has also worked with university planning schools from the local and international academia community to influence how transforming planning discourse can untrap informal human settlements from the snares of historically rigid city planning standards.
The private sector has grand opportunities to turn urban poor communities into important players within the city. Financial resources from the poor are beginning to challenge and put pressure on the private sector to innovate solutions. Federations have interventions that are facilitating this to happen.
Data collected by communities with the support and technical capacity of organizations such as Muungano Support Trust, shows that there is a missing link that government interventions are not able to fill and development assistance is failing to cover.
Insecurity of tenure remains one of the biggest challenges to improving the lives of slum dwellers in Nairobi. The government needs to release land for human settlement, whether it be public, private, or contested. If this does not happen, development aid will continue to subsidize the costs required for technical services to innovate various kinds of solutions for what are essentially locked scenarios!
Irene Karanja is the founding Executive Director of Muungano Support Trust (MuST), a secretariat of the Slum/Shack Dwellers Federation in Kenya. She is a specialist in participatory research, community organizing and capacity building for the urban poor. For over six years, she has transformed the use of participatory techniques for data collection into a major instrument for planning the upgrading of slums. She has organized a strong constituency of slum dwellers to assume leadership of these settlements through savings groups, housing cooperatives and women’s associations.
Architect, UN-HABITAT Participatory Slum Upgrading Programme (PSUP) (Kenya)
African countries represent the majority of the least developed countries (LCD). Taking into account the fact that in most of these countries, the urban population growth is expanding at a faster pace than the national one, it is important to make three considerations in answering the question: “What will it take to make slum upgrading work in African urban centres?”
Governments should be prepared to ‘give away’. National and local governments should weigh out the costs and risks of perpetuating the status quo and should fulfill the right of adequate housing for all at a pace that copes with the increase in poor urban households. They should prioritise, for example, the free provision of land for the urban poor, in the understanding that there will be no real estate profit and that no particular individual will benefit — a challenging task in a context where African post-independence elites have generally improved their own lives with little regard to equity and social justice.
Strategies for the provision of adequate housing for the urban poor should go beyond market logic. In trying to come up with housing strategies that appeal to investors, the focus has shifted from the upgrading of the slum dwellers’ living conditions to the beautification of particularly degraded areas. This unchaining of a series of transaction costs results in a gentrification process that relocates the problem without giving it a solution. Slum upgrading strategies should strictly be conceived through a human rights approach.
Adequate housing strategies should trigger self-relief dynamics in overcoming poverty. The problem of urban poverty is too big to miss the opportunity to engage concerned communities in devising its solution. The Latin-American slum upgrading experience has demonstrated that giving the right initial impulse to poor urban communities actually encourages a progressive and proactive self-upgrading attitude in slum residents, reducing the need for government funds to improve the living conditions of the urban poor. A strong involvement of the community can also help to reduce the risk of benefiting the wrong people, a common shortfall in superficially planned slum upgrading interventions.
Claudio Torres is an architect with 10 years experience in the field of slum upgrading and housing in an African context. His work has taken him from the slums of Nairobi to settlements in Somaliland and South Sudan where he has worked as an architect, monitoring and evaluation expert, project manager, and construction expert. Torres has worked extensively in Nairobi’s Mathare valley slum with the Italian NGO COOPI, helping to set up an office in the field from which he coordinated a series of different programs. He is currently a consultant for the Participatory Slum Upgrading Program (PSUP), a division of UN-Habitat.
Architect, Urban Planner and Consultant, World Bank Municipal Development Program (Mozambique)
Urbanization in Africa is growing and national governments and local authorities are faced with the challenge of guiding cities’ growth while dealing with other constraints, including limited financial resources; weak institutional, management, and technical capacities; lack of proper urban policies and financial mechanisms to mobilize and regulate investments.
To strengthen the ability of African cities to generate wealth, prosperity, and economic and human development, national governments and local authorities need to define a clear vision for the future of their cities and their informal settlements.
Cities must be seen and treated as complex organisms whose elements are interconnected. Informal settlements should be seen as an integral part of this organism, and not as a “sick body” to be fought. They constitute a precious resource for the city and its population and must be included in the urban grid.
Each and every stakeholder, whether it be the national government, local authorities, civil society, the community, the private sector, or the donor community, have a role to play and must be partners in the development and implementation of this vision for the city. In particular, the active participation of the local community is essential in finding lasting solutions, and to guarantee ownership and sustainability, social cohesion, and integration.
The implementation of comprehensive and integrated improvement plans in informal areas would be ideal; however, it takes a long time and requires considerable financial resources. Considering the constraints in local financial and institutional capabilities, it is preferable to adopt an incremental approach, whereby small-scale interventions are first envisioned and planned in an extensive development plan, and then are carried out gradually through community participation.
Priority must be given to the improvement and provision of infrastructure, basic services, accessibility, safety, and the creation of economic opportunities. Concurrently, special attention should be given to outdoor public spaces, where a vital part of the community’s social, cultural, and economic activities is conducted. Improving these spaces would improve the framework of daily life and bring dignity, beauty, and utility to informal and poor areas with minimal resources.
Sara Candiracci is an architect and urban planner with 10 years experience in the design, management, and implementation of several urban planning and slum upgrading projects in Latin America and Africa with different organizations including UN-Habitat, the Inter-American Development Bank, and various NGOs. She is now working at the Municipality of Maputo, Mozambique, as Urban Planning Advisor for the World Bank Municipal Development Program. She is also conducting her PhD research on the potential use of urban cultural heritage in urban regeneration and planning, considering Maputo as case of study.
Deputy Director, Community Organisation Resource Centre (CORC), an affiliate of Shack/Slum Dwellers International (South Africa)
Over the last 20 years, the South African government has been hailed as having the most progressive housing and poverty policy environments in the continent. Besides making welfare grants available to previously marginalized communities, it has made provisions to provide housing to any citizen earning under R3,500 ($350)/month.
Although more than 2.3 million subsidized homes have been built across the country, the impacts of the housing policy have fallen short. Informal settlements have gone up by 900 percent (from 300 to 2,700) while there are an estimated 2.1 million people on the waiting list for state-subsidized housing.
Realizing the constraints of the housing program, the State has rapidly shifted its emphasis to informal settlement upgrading. New regulatory frameworks like Outcome 8 have been developed to allow for provision of basic services and tenure rights.
While the aims of Outcome 8 and its aligned policies have been well defined, in my view there are still gaps in addressing the bigger issues. Firstly, how incremental informal settlement upgrading is implemented must be defined: are we trying to address tenure rights or basic services, land or housing, dependency on the state or self-reliance through livelihoods? Secondly, there is the manner in which informal settlement upgrading is being rolled out. Currently it doesn’t account for strong community, civil society, and NGO participation, nor does it address the broader issue of project finance, outsourcing, and party politics.
The process of upgrading is about learning and letting go, about making space for communities to innovate with the state, about creating a city-wide network/movement that can change the spatial patterns of the city and strengthen citizenship.
Aditya Kumar is the technical coordinator and deputy director for the Community Organization Resource Centre (CORC), affiliated to Shack/Slum Dwellers International, currently working with informal settlement and backyarder dwellers of South Africa. His previous experience has included post-war reconstruction of Palestinian refugee camps (Lebanon), post-earthquake disaster housing reconstruction (India), affordable and social housing and large urban development projects (Los Angeles and Boston). His work has fostered multi-stakeholder partnerships between local communities, CBOs, government bodies, academic institutions, and International NGOs, with a key focus on strengthening community-driven design, planning, and implementation. The reconstruction of Palestinian refugee camps has also been shortlisted for the Aga Khan Award for Architecture.
Architect and Lecturer and Researcher, University of Johannesburg
The National Development Plan’s Outcome 8 agreement is behind the South African government’s current shift towards in situ housing upgrading as a means of redevelopment. This goal of upgrading 400,000 informal settlements has been developed under the mandate of the National Upgrade Support Program.
Large-scale construction consortiums are working alongside the government, in collaboration with various planning, architectural, and non-governmental entities on the current Reconstruction & Development Program.
While these initiatives are creating an institutional framework to begin addressing the needs of informal settlement residents in South Africa, there is little focus across the board on training effective practitioners who can play crucial intermediary roles not only in informal settlement upgrading but also in the nation’s spatial redevelopment.
From my experience in this field, it seems that there are a disproportionately small number of practitioners who have the understanding, experience, or empathy required to engage with the dynamics of informal settlement communities and the complexity of working within the social, economic, and political intricacy that exists between grassroots entities and government structures.
A major factor for this condition is related to the lack of opportunities for spatial design practitioners (engineers, architects, planners, etc), to be exposed to these complex environments. As a result, many ‘professionals’, as well as many government officials, often display dangerously simplistic views on how to ‘fix’ the problems at hand.
From my work and experience in academia and the NGO sector, I believe that empathetic spatial design practitioners hold the key position to engage effectively at the ‘community’ level while addressing the larger spatial inequalities of post-apartheid South Africa.
My aim lies in understanding and sharing contextually appropriate training, practice, and precedents through critical engagement with South Africa’s residents of poor and unsafe living conditions in order to further develop this ‘additional role’ for socio-technical spatial design practice.
Jhono Bennett is an architect who works at the University of Johannesburg as a part-time lecturer and Independent researcher, while managing the operations of 1:1 — Agency of Engagement, a non-profit entity which he co-founded to provide a design-based collaborative service between grassroots organizations, professionals, academia, and government.
Masters Program in Housing at the School of Architecture and Planning at the University of the Witwatersrand (South Africa)
Internationally, there has been unprecedented focus on ‘slums’ in the new millennium. In southern African cities, informal settlements are certainly a concern, although in Anglophone countries the legacy of British colonial planning has to some extent kept these settlements out of middle-class sight. Where informal settlements have intruded into visible locations, as for instance in Lusophone Luanda, recent efforts have been made to remove these to the city periphery. In South Africa, a somewhat reverse government discourse targeted ‘visible’ informal settlements for ‘in situ upgrading’. This approach was adopted by the high profile N2 Gateway Project in Cape Town, which originally targeted all informal settlements that lined the motorway from the airport to the historical city centre for upgrading. In the years that followed, this project morphed into the Luandan approach — the removal of visible informal settlements. In the Cape Town case, removal was to a controlled decanting camp on the far side of the airport. Yet the public was told that the commitment remained to ‘in situ upgrading’. The term was simply given a new meaning, namely for the state to demolish and then build new housing to modern standard for a different clientele.
With this juxtaposition of informal settlement treatment in Angola and South Africa, I’d like to provoke debate on the core meaning of ‘informal settlement upgrading’ as well as the political uses associated to the meaning. For me, the essence of in situ upgrading is the recognition of two important points. One is that the unevenly developing economies in southern Africa, in the absence of radical change, will not facilitate the replacement of all informal settlements with planned and fully serviced residential developments for the households currently in these settlements. This recognition prevents ‘wishing away’ the reality of urban informality. The other is that informal settlements result out of determination, initiative (often collective), creativity, and complex decisions by poor households. These must be respected and supported where possible.
Marie Huchzermeyer convenes and teaches in the masters programme in Housing at the School of Architecture and Planning at the University of the Witwatersrand. This base has allowed her to provide support to rights-based struggles from within informal settlement for ‘real’ in situ upgrading. Her recent work includes a 2011 book “Cities With ‘Slums’: From Informal Settlement Eradication to a Right to the City in Africa,” and a comparison with Brazil in a 2004 book, “Unlawful Occupation: Informal Settlements and Urban Policy in South Africa and Brazil.”
Latin America is the most urbanized region in the world, with an average urbanization rate of 80 percent. Many of the region’s cities are developing quickly and becoming important economic, cultural and touristic hubs. In spite of this growth and development, and the fact that poverty rates have been declining, 25 percent of Latin America’s urban residents still live in poverty. URB.im would like to encourage the debate around solutions to tackle poverty, foster inclusion and promote broader channels of participation, to bring about more just and inclusive cities in Latin America.
Join the conversation with our four panelists: Enrique Betancourt, Co-founder of Contextual and Former Deputy Director of Social Policies, Office of the President (Mexico); Paula Moreno, Former Minister of Culture and President, Corporación Manos Visibles (Colombia); Angela Franco, Vice-President of Research at the Universidad del Valle (Colombia); and Jorge Barbosa, Director, Favela Observatory (Brazil).
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Con una tasa de urbanización del 80 por ciento, América Latina es la región más urbanizada del planeta. Varias ciudades de la región se están desarrollando rápidamente y se están consolidando como importantes centros económicos, culturales y turísticos. A pesar de dicho crecimiento y desarrollo, y aunque la pobreza ha venido disminuyendo, se estima que el 25 por ciento de los habitantes de las ciudades Latinoamericanas viven en condiciones de pobreza. URB.im quiere generar un espacio de intercambio de experiencias y reflexiones sobre esfuerzos de reducción de pobreza y la promoción de la inclusión y la participación social, los cuales están contribuyendo a que las ciudades Latinoamericanas sean más justas e incluyentes.
Únanse a la conversación con nuestros cuatro participantes invitados: Enrique Betancourt, Cofundador de Contextual y Ex Director Adjunto de Política Social de la Presidencia (México); Paula Moreno, Exministra de Cultura y Presidenta, la Corporación Manos Visibles (Colombia); Angela Franco, Vicerrectora de Investigaciones de la Universidad del Valle (Colombia); y Jorge Barbosa, Director, Observatorio de las Favelas (Brasil).
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América Latina é a região mais urbanizada do planeta com uma taxa de urbanização de 80 por cento. Varias cidades da região estão se desenvolvendo rapidamente e estão se tornando importantes centros econômicos, culturais e turísticos. Embora aquele crescimento e desenvolvimento, é o fato que a pobreza vem diminuindo, ainda o 25 por cento da população das cidades Latino-americanas experimentam condições de pobreza. URB.im gostaria de incentivar o debate em torno às soluções no combate da pobreza e da exclusão e dos mecanismos para ampliar os cais de participação das cidades Latino-americanas para que sejam mais justas e inclusivas.
Participe na conversação com nossos quarto debatedores: Enrique Betancourt, Cofundador de Contextual e Ex-assessor Presidencial de Politicas Sociais (México); Paula Moreno, Ex-ministra de Cultura e Presidente, Corporación Manos Visibles (Colombia); Angela Franco, Vice-presidente de Pesquisa da Universidad del Valle (Colombia); e Jorge Barbosa, Diretor, Observatório de Favelas (Brasil).
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Enrique Betancourt, Co-founder of Contextual and Former Deputy Director of Social Policies, Office of the President (Mexico)
Latin America is the most urbanized of all developing regions. On its own, this fact could mean good news, as historically, cities have been able to reduce poverty rates and gender inequality, and have achieved substantial improvements in access to education, justice, and health services, among other benefits.
However, the quantitative data is insufficient to explain the challenges that Latin American cities are facing. The quality and speed with which the urbanization process has taken place complements this picture, explaining why urbanization was characterized by inequality, socioeconomic segregation, and precarious provision of social services and basic infrastructure. The scenario is even less encouraging when considering the institutional weaknesses in most of our region’s local governments, which are further and further away from meeting demand for social services and policies. When reviewing the region’s history of urban development and demographic trends, the violence that characterizes most cities in the region should not surprise us (42 of the 50 most violent cities in the world are in Latin America).
The future of Latin America’s development is closely linked to the quality with which its social and physical spaces are planned and managed.
In this debate I intend to advocate for the need for a much broader urban paradigm than the one proposed by the urban development practice at the end of the twentieth century, which focuses on planning the uses, densities, housing, and basic infrastructure.
The central proposal of my argument rests on the fact that urban issues should not be considered only a vertical of public policy like education, health, culture, sports, or economic development, but as cross-cutting policy, which would allow the “territorializing” (focusing on the territory) of other public policies.
This focus on the territory is based on three fundamental premises:
Enrique Betancourt is the cofounder of Contextual, an agency that develops creative solutions to urban problems through collaborative processes. His work focuses on the intersection between research, public policy design, and implementation. Previously, Enrique was the Head of the National Center for Crime Prevention and Citizen Participation, as well as the Deputy Director of Social Policy at the Office of the Presidency of Mexico. He studied architecture at the Universidad de las Américas Puebla, holds a Masters in Urbanism from Harvard University, and is a Yale World Fellow.
Enrique Betancourt, Cofundador de Contextual y Ex Director Adjunto de Política Social de la Presidencia (México)
América Latina es la región en vías de desarrollo más urbanizada del mundo. El hecho en sí mismo podría anunciar buenas noticias, pues las ciudades han llegado, a lo largo de la historia, acompañadas de reducciones importantes en índices de pobreza, desigualdad de género y mejoras sustanciales respecto al acceso a educación, justica y servicios de salud entre otros beneficios.
Sin embargo el dato cuantitativo resulta insuficiente para explicar el reto que representa la vida en las ciudades de nuestra región. La calidad y la velocidad con la que ha sucedido el proceso de urbanización complementan el panorama y terminan por explicar como éste último se ha caracterizado por la desigualdad, la segregación socioeconómica y la precariedad en la provisión de servicios sociales e infraestructura básica. El escenario resulta menos alentador ante la clara debilidad institucional de la mayoría de los gobiernos locales de la región, quienes se encuentran cada vez más lejos de poder satisfacer la demanda de servicios y políticas sociales. Ante la revisión de la historia de desarrollo urbano y tendencias demográficas no debería sorprender mucho la violencia que caracteriza a la mayoría de las ciudades de la región. (42 de las 50 ciudades mas violentas del mundo son Latinoamericanas).
El futuro del desarrollo de América Latina esta íntimamente ligado a la calidad con la que se planifiquen y gestionen los espacios sociales y físicos de sus ciudades.
En este debate me propongo abogar por la necesidad de un paradigma urbano mucho más amplio que el propuesto por la noción de desarrollo urbana de finales del siglo XX centrada prioritariamente en la planeación de los usos, las densidades, la vivienda y la infraestructura básica.
La propuesta central de mi argumento radica en la necesidad de que los asuntos urbanos no sean considerados únicamente como un área de política pública vertical más como lo son la educación, salud, cultura, deporte, desarrollo económico, sino un política transversal que permita la territorialización de las otras políticas públicas.
Esta territorialización supondría tres premisas fundamentales:
Enrique Betancourt es cofundador de Contextual, una agencia que desarrolla soluciones creativas a problemas urbanos a través de procesos colaborativos. Su trabajo se centra en la intersección que existe entre la investigación, el diseño de políticas públicas y su implementación. Anteriormente fue Titular del Centro Nacional de Prevención del Delito y Participación Ciudadana y Director Adjunto de Política Social en la Oficina de la Presidencia del Gobierno de México. Es Arquitecto por la Universidad de las Américas en Puebla, Maestro en Urbanismo por la Universidad de Harvard y Yale World Fellow.
Paula Moreno, Former Minister of Culture and President, Corporación Manos Visibles (Colombia)
One of the most critical challenges in increasingly urbanized Latin American cities is how to enforce social integration as a strategy to reduce urban violence and promote greater social cohesion and resilience among its citizens. The dynamics of public space not only as a symbol of physical welfare but also as a determinant of equal social relations is a major challenge to be addressed. I would like to mention the case of Medellin, a Colombian city with both a complex history in terms of violence, illegal networks, and segregation, and at the same time the most dynamic cultural and economic nodes, with opportunities for structural social change in the medium term.
Medellin is the clearest example of urban transformation in recent years in Colombia. First, the city’s government has showed continuous political support for and prioritization of social integration. Second, the city has developed comprehensive urban interventions that prioritize social integration as a tool to tackle violence and social degradation. These interventions take the form of urban upgrading programs, which invest not only in improving the physical conditions of low-income neighborhoods, but also in their social capital. Today, after almost a decade of sustained public interventions, one of the most critical components of Medellin’s scheme is not only the architectural icons or the modern transportation systems that the city has built, but the incubation of strengthened social networks that nurture and sustain the physical intervention, and also generate the social fabric to prevent violence and to shape a common project for the city.
Throughout the years, the quality of physical transformation has been complemented by social policies to map and effectively empower social networks. The building capacity strategy, mainly supported by the public administration but also by national and international organizations (e.g. Paisa Joven of GTZ, Picacho Corporation (Ford Foundation) or the projects of Fundación Social or Fundación Suraméricana) strengthened the capacities and roles of commune leaders and organizations. Visible grassroots leaders with administration leadership positions have access to top public and private universities (e.g. EPM Fund), and create a knowledge base that integrates their own territorial views into the academy and the public decision-making process through schemes like participatory security and budgeting. This social architecture, built upon bridging organizations with political advocacy, economic alternatives, and social mobility with a major territorial attachment, has become a major force in tackling criminal networks in the city. (Two examples of bridging organizations of this type are Son Batá and la Elite Hip Hop.)
Paula Moreno is an industrial engineer with experience in social project management, design and implementation of public policies. She was the youngest minister in the history of Colombia and the first Afro-Colombian women to hold a ministerial office. In 2010 she was selected by the Council of the Americas as one of the most influential young leaders in the region for her work on effectively understanding diversity, and by the Black Mayors Association as one of the most influential Black leaders in the world. She founded and is currently serving as president of the Visible Hands Corporation, an NGO focused on practices of effective inclusion for youth at risk and ethnic communities in Colombia. Ms. Moreno holds a Master’s Degree in Management Studies from the University of Cambridge and was a United States Fulbright scholar for the program of urban and regional planning at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT).
Paula Moreno, Exministra de Cultura y Presidenta, la Corporación Manos Visibles (Colombia)
Uno de los desafíos más importantes en el crecimiento de las ciudades latinoamericanas, es cómo promover la integración social como una estrategia para reducir la violencia urbana, además de cómo generar una mayor cohesión social y resiliencia entre sus ciudadanos. La dinámica del espacio público no es sólo un símbolo del bienestar físico, sino también es un factor determinante de las relaciones sociales de igualdad—y se convierte en un desafío importante de abordar. Me gustaría mencionar el caso de Medellín, una ciudad colombiana con una complejidad histórica importante en términos de violencia, redes ilegales y segregación; al mismo tiempo, tiene los nodos culturales y económicos más dinámicos del país y ofrece oportunidades para el cambio social estructural a medio plazo.
Medellín es el ejemplo más claro de la transformación urbana de los últimos años en Colombia. En primer lugar, el gobierno de la ciudad ha mostrado un apoyo político continuo y también ha mostrado prioridad a la integración social. en segundo lugar, la ciudad ha desarrollado intervenciones urbanas integrales que dan prioridad a la integración social como una herramienta para hacer frente a la violencia y a la degradación social. Estas intervenciones se enfocan en programas de mejoramiento urbano, que no sólo invierten en la mejora de las condiciones físicas de los barrios de bajos ingresos, sino también en su capital social. Hoy en día, después de casi una década de intervenciones públicas sostenidas, los componentes más relevantes de Medellín no son sólo los iconos arquitectónicos o los sistemas de transporte modernos que la ciudad ha construido, sino también la incubación de las redes y organizaciones sociales fortalecidas que promueven y mantienen la intervención física, y que también generan el tejido social para prevenir la violencia, y contribuyen a dar forma a un proyecto común para la ciudad.
A través de los años, la calidad de la transformación física se ha complementado con las políticas sociales para formar y capacitar más efectivamente las redes y organizaciones sociales. El desarrollo de la estrategia de capacidad no es únicamente apoyada por la administración pública, sino también por organizaciones internacionales como por ejemplo Paisa Joven de la GTZ y Corporación Picacho de la Fundación Ford, (o los proyectos de la Fundación Social y de la Fundación Suramericana), los cuales fortalecen las capacidades y las funciones de los líderes de las comunas y de las organizaciones sociales locales. Los líderes que son visibles con base social y con posición de liderazgo en la administración, tienen acceso a las mejores universidades públicas y privadas (v.gr., el Fondo EPM). Ellos crean una base de conocimientos integrados a través de sus propios puntos de vista territoriales y crean el proceso de decisiones públicas a través de esquemas como: la seguridad y la creación de presupuestos en forma participativa. Esta es una arquitectura social para crear alianzas entre organizaciones con incidencia política y alternativas económicas. Además, funciona para crear otro tipo de movilidad social con una mayor vinculación territorial que se ha convertido en una fuerza importante para hacer frente a los ciclos de redes criminales en la ciudad.
Paula Moreno es ingeniera industrial con experiencia en gestión de proyectos sociales, diseño e implementación de políticas públicas. Ella fue la primera mujer afrocolombiana en ocupar un cargo ministerial y la más joven en la historia de Colombia. En 2010 fue seleccionada por el Consejo de las Américas como una de las líderes jóvenes y más influyentes de la región por su trabajo en la comprensión de la diversidad. La Black Mayors Association también la destaca como una de las líderes negras más influyentes en el mundo. Ella fundó y es la presidenta de la la Corporación Manos Visibles. La organización es una ONG centrada en las prácticas de inclusión efectiva para los jóvenes en situación de riesgo y de las comunidades étnicas en Colombia. Paula tiene una Maestría en Estudios de Gestión por la Universidad de Cambridge y fue una becaria Fulbright en los Estados Unidos para el programa de planificación urbana y regional en el Instituto de Tecnología de Massachusetts (MIT).
Angela Franco, Vice-President of Research at the Universidad del Valle (Colombia)
One of the biggest challenges we face in Latin America and the Caribbean is the reduction of poverty. We must seek equity levels to counterbalance the disturbing situation of social inequality that characterizes our countries. In this context, urban planning plays a central role. This is because improving the quality of life of families in poverty is directly related to the urban policies of inclusion and neighborhood upgrading, and has a direct relationship with competitive strategies and natural resource management.
Nevertheless, while it seems clear that public policies aimed at these purposes should occupy the front lines of government agendas, the reality is that there is much talk and little is done. But why?
First, I consider that the processes of social inclusion, being long-term processes, are not attractive to those in power who, in the case of Colombia, have four years to show results for their management. Unfortunately, we have seen that there have been few leaders who initiate a program and leave the results to another. Second, the high investment and complexity involved in implementing a program of poverty reduction and neighborhood upgrading is a challenge that only a few people want to take on.
Perhaps this is the result of the indifference of the citizens and their willingness to go along with the projects undertaken by those in power. For example, complaints are not common when the tax money is invested in road infrastructure conducive to private vehicles. It’s a quick way to show immediate results to taxpayers. Neither are there frequent questions from civil society on major social housing schemes, which contribute little to the quality of life of the poorest and least of urban quality.
However, some recent governments in Colombia have shown great commitment and have faced the problem of poverty and social inequality seriously. We should keep in mind the lessons learned from the governments of Antanas Mockus and Enrique Peñalosa in Bogotá, during which civic culture, public space, and school infrastructure left a positive balance in reducing the “social distance” and increasing tolerance and security.
In Medellin, Sergio Fajardo and the subsequent politicians set the goal to change the HDI in the marginal sectors, focusing investments on accessibility, school infrastructure, and the development of programs to create jobs and opportunities.
In Cali, the current mayor Rodrigo Guerrero is designing strategies to direct investment towards informal settlements and the most segregated areas of the city. As a result of the current local government work, the Ford Foundation included Cali in the Just Cities initiative. Now the city is challenged to take this opportunity to reduce inequality and poverty rates. But more important than defining projects and investments, all local actors should seek the empowerment of civil society, unions, academia, and all other stakeholders related to urban development. This empowerment would ensure that proposed projects transcend the current administration and become a navigation chart to achieve a profound change in the city and for its citizens.
Angela Franco is Vice-President of Research at the University Del Valle in Cali, Colombia. She is an architect and an urban planner and holds a MSc in Sociology. Her research projects are focused on informal settlements, urban segregation, and urban renewal processes in downtown areas. In 2012 she did a fellowship in the Special Program for Urban and Regional Studies at MIT, where she was working on international development good practices to explore new topics of analysis and applied research in the Latin America and the Caribbean region.
Angela Franco, Vicerrectora de Investigaciones de la Universidad del Valle (Colombia)
Uno de los mayores desafíos que enfrentamos en América Latina y el Caribe es la reducción de la pobreza. Nuestros esfuerzos se deberían concentrar en procurar mejores niveles de equidad para contrarrestar la alarmante situación de desigualdad social que caracteriza a nuestros países. En este contexto, la planificación urbana tiene un rol central, dado que la acción de mejorar la calidad de vida de las familias que viven en situación de pobreza está directamente relacionada con las legislaciones urbanas de inclusión y el mejoramiento de barrios; además, tiene una relación directa con las estrategias de competitividad y la administración de recursos naturales.
Sin embargo, aunque parece evidente que las políticas públicas dirigidas a estos fines deben estar al frente de las agendas de los gobiernos, la realidad es que se habla mucho y se hace poco, pero ¿por qué?
En primer lugar, considero que los procesos de inclusión social, al ser procesos a largo plazo, no son atractivos para los gobernantes que, en el caso de Colombia, tienen cuatro años para mostrar resultados de su administración. Desafortunadamente, hemos visto como pocos líderes inician un programa para dejarle los resultados a otro. En segundo lugar, la alta inversión y la alta complejidad involucrada en un programa de reducción de pobreza y de mejoramiento de barrios es un reto que sólo pocos quieren asumir.
Tal vez este es el resultado de la indiferencia de los ciudadanos y de su conformidad a los proyectos llevados a cabo por aquellos en posiciones de poder. Por ejemplo, hay muy pocas quejas cuando el dinero de los impuestos se invierte en la infraestructura vial, que beneficia a los vehículos privados. Estas inversiones son una forma rápida de mostrar resultados inmediatos para los contribuyentes. Tampoco, hay cuestionamientos por parte de la sociedad civil sobre los programas de vivienda, los cuales contribuyen poco a la calidad de vida de los más pobres y de los que viven una vida de poca calidad urbana.
Sin embargo, algunos gobiernos locales recientes en Colombia han mostrado un gran compromiso y se han enfrentado seriamente al problema de la pobreza y de la desigualdad social. Se debe tener en cuenta las lecciones aprendidas de los alcaldes Antanas Mockus y de Enrique Peñalosa en Bogotá, durante los cuales la cultura cívica, el espacio público y la infraestructura escolar dejaron un equilibrio positivo en la reducción de la “distancia social” y en el aumento de la tolerancia y de la seguridad.
En Medellín, el alcalde Sergio Fajardo, y los gobernantes siguientes, fijaron la meta de cambiar el Indice de Desarrollo Humano (IDH) en los sectores marginales, centrándose en mayor parte en las inversiones de materia de accesibilidad, la infraestructura escolar y el desarrollo de programas para crear empleos y oportunidades laborales.
En Cali, el alcalde actual, Rodrigo Guerrero, está diseñando estrategias para la inversión directa hacia los asentamientos informales y las áreas más segregadas de la ciudad. En consecuencia de la labor actual de los gobiernos locales, la Fundación Ford incluyó a Cali en la iniciativa, Ciudades Justas. Ahora la ciudad tiene el reto de tomar esta oportunidad para reducir los índices de la desigualdad y de pobreza. Y más que definir inversiones, es más importante que todos los actores locales busquen el empoderamiento de la sociedad civil, los sindicatos, las universidades y demás actores relacionados con el desarrollo urbano. Dicho empoderamiento aseguraría que los proyectos propuestos trasciendan la administración actual y se conviertan en una carta de navegación para lograr un cambio profundo en la ciudad y en los ciudadanos.
Angela Franco es Vicerrectora de Investigaciones de la Universidad del Valle en Cali, Colombia. Es arquitecta, urbanista y tiene Maestría en Sociología. Sus proyectos de investigación se centran en asentamientos informales, la segregación urbana y los procesos de renovación urbana en las áreas del centro de la ciudad. Durante el año 2012 obtuvo una beca de investigación en el Programa Especial de Estudios Urbanos y Regionales en MIT donde trabajó en el desarrollo de buenas prácticas y nuevos temas de análisis y de investigación aplicada en la región de Latinoamérica y el Caribe.
Jorge Luiz Barbosa, Director, Favela Observatory (Brazil)
The territories of our social life are becoming increasingly complex and diverse, especially when we live in cities that keep growing due to concentrated urbanization. The relationship between city, neighborhood, and the day-to-day seems to be a nostalgic experience rather than a reality. In this new urban condition, pluralized identities and new practices emerge to symbolically appropriate space and time. Therefore, the utopia of a more generous city invites us to promote an alternative political space for democracy and citizenship.
To realize the multiple possibilities of a city, the social and political qualities of public space are pivotal. In addition to the State and the Market, there are other dimensions to consider for life in society. In this sense, the role of civil society as a political instrument is necessary to renew the public sphere.
Aristotle considered the human being to be endowed by words. According to him, the use of words contributed to the shift of human beings from “animalistic” to civilization. The doxa (opinion) was the expression of building the community ethos (koinonía) of autonomous and collective beings. This expression led to the construction of an ethical subject in action, with its own space: the Polis.
For us, a serious public sphere is a space of visibility for an individual and for others. But this is only possible if words and actions are used in the exercise of rights. In this vein, the concept of citizenship gains relevant emancipatory elements in the practice of rights, especially regarding the return to the territory of the public political sphere.
The return to the territory is pivotal to political practice once the day-to-day of all beings, all actions, and all human intentions are integrated in established times and spaces. Within a territory, it is possible to recognize collective interests and mobilize joint forces of change.
When trying to determine an agenda to overcome social inequalities, we need to identify the stakeholders that create change. This leads us to recognize that new collective subjects must assume a key role in building effective citizenship policy, especially with regard to overcoming inequalities due to ethnicity, race, gender, and sexual orientation.
Various civil society organizations have a key role in the political process described, especially those working in areas marked by deep social inequalities and reduced participation in the public sphere. The Favela Observatory has been working through its various modes of intervention (urban policy, human rights, education, culture, arts, and communication) to place unprivileged and excluded territories at the center of the political construction of the right to the city, ensuring new actors in these new spaces of political participation.
Jorge Luiz Barbosa is a Professor at the Federal Fluminense University, Director of the Favela Observatory, and co-author of the following books: Favela: Joy and Pain in the City, What is a Favela, Anyway?, The New Carioca, and Cultural Grounds.
Jorge Luiz Barbosa, Diretor do Observatório das Favelas (Brasil)
Os territórios de nossa vida social são cada vez mais complexos e diversos, sobretudo quando vivemos em metrópoles agigantadas pela urbanização concentrada. A relação cidade / bairro / cotidiano do passado parece ser mais uma experiência nostálgica do que uma realidade ainda próxima. Nesta nova condição urbana revelam-se identidades pluralizadas e práticas inteiramente novas de apropriação material e simbólica do espaço e do tempo. Portanto, a utopia de uma cidade mais generosa ainda pulsa e nos convida a promover outro campo político para a democracia e a para a cidadania.
Para a realização das múltiplas possibilidades do viver a cidade se faz indispensável a qualidade social e política do espaço público. Para além do Estado e do Mercado há outras dimensões para pensar a construção de referências para a vida em sociedade. Nesse sentido, a retomada do papel da sociedade civil como instância política é necessária e inadiável para instituir uma renovada esfera pública.
Aristóteles considerava o homem como um ser dotado da palavra. Segundo ele, a partilha das palavras contribuía para o ser humano aceder da animalidade à civilidade, pois a doxa (opinião) era a expressão própria da construção do ethos comunitário (koinonía) de sujeitos autônomos e coletivos. Essa partilha, que conduzia a constituição do sujeito ético em ação, possuía um lugar próprio: a Pólis.
A esfera pública seria, para nós, um espaço da visibilidade de si e do outro. Ou seja, do domínio da alteridade como campo da política. Todavia, só possível de existência tangível com a corporificação da palavra e da ação no exercício de direitos à liberdade. Nesta senda, a concepção cidadania ganha elementos emancipatórios fundamentais como prática de direitos, dentre eles, o retorno ao território com esfera pública da política.
O retorno ao território é o fundamento da prática política, uma vez que o cotidiano de todos os sujeitos, de todas as ações e todas as intenções humanas possui a sua integralidade em espaços/tempos demarcados. No território é possível reconhecer os interesses coletivos, promover pertencimentos e de mobilizar forças plurais de mudança.
E, quando tratamos da elaboração de uma agenda de superação das desigualdades sociais precisamos identificar os atores de sua criação e efetivação. Essa posição nos conduz a reconhecer que novos sujeitos coletivos devem assumir um papel principal na construção política de efetivação de cidadania, sobretudo no que diz respeito à superação de desigualdades que se reproduzem com recortes étnicos, raciais, etários, de gênero e de orientação sexual.
As diferentes organizações da sociedade civil terão um papel fundamental no processo político em destaque, principalmente as que atuam em territórios marcados por profundas desigualdades sociais e de reduzida participação na esfera pública. O Observatório de Favelas vem se empenhando, por meio de seus diferentes campos de atuação (política urbana, direitos humanos, educação, cultura, artes e comunicação), em colocar os territórios populares na centralidade construção política do Direito à Cidade, afirmando novos atores em novos cenários de participação política.
Jorge Luiz Barbosa é Professor da Universidade Federal Fluminense, Diretor do Observatório de Favelas e Co-autor dos Livros: “Favela: Alegria e dor na Cidade”; “O que é favela, afinal?”; “O novo carioca”; e “Solos Culturais”.
Submitted by Editor — Sun, 11/17/2013 – 23:00
Latin America is the most urbanized region in the world, with an average urbanization rate of 80 percent. Many of the region’s cities are developing quickly and becoming important economic, cultural and touristic hubs. In spite of this growth and development, and the fact that poverty rates have been declining, 25 percent of Latin America’s urban residents still live in poverty. URB.im would like to encourage the debate around solutions to tackle poverty, foster inclusion and promote broader channels of participation, to bring about more just and inclusive cities in Latin America.
Join the conversation with our four panelists: Enrique Betancourt, Co-founder of Contextual and Former Deputy Director of Social Policies, Office of the President (Mexico); Paula Moreno, Former Minister of Culture and President, Corporación Manos Visibles (Colombia); Angela Franco, Vice-President of Research at the Universidad del Valle (Colombia); and Jorge Barbosa, Director, Favela Observatory (Brazil).
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Con una tasa de urbanización del 80 por ciento, América Latina es la región más urbanizada del planeta. Varias ciudades de la región se están desarrollando rápidamente y se están consolidando como importantes centros económicos, culturales y turísticos. A pesar de dicho crecimiento y desarrollo, y aunque la pobreza ha venido disminuyendo, se estima que el 25 por ciento de los habitantes de las ciudades Latinoamericanas viven en condiciones de pobreza. URB.im quiere generar un espacio de intercambio de experiencias y reflexiones sobre esfuerzos de reducción de pobreza y la promoción de la inclusión y la participación social, los cuales están contribuyendo a que las ciudades Latinoamericanas sean más justas e incluyentes.
Únanse a la conversación con nuestros cuatro participantes invitados: Enrique Betancourt, Cofundador de Contextual y Ex Director Adjunto de Política Social de la Presidencia (México); Paula Moreno, Exministra de Cultura y Presidenta, la Corporación Manos Visibles (Colombia); Angela Franco, Vicerrectora de Investigaciones de la Universidad del Valle (Colombia); y Jorge Barbosa, Director, Observatorio de las Favelas (Brasil).
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América Latina é a região mais urbanizada do planeta com uma taxa de urbanização de 80 por cento. Varias cidades da região estão se desenvolvendo rapidamente e estão se tornando importantes centros econômicos, culturais e turísticos. Embora aquele crescimento e desenvolvimento, é o fato que a pobreza vem diminuindo, ainda o 25 por cento da população das cidades Latino-americanas experimentam condições de pobreza. URB.im gostaria de incentivar o debate em torno às soluções no combate da pobreza e da exclusão e dos mecanismos para ampliar os cais de participação das cidades Latino-americanas para que sejam mais justas e inclusivas.
Participe na conversação com nossos quarto debatedores: Enrique Betancourt, Cofundador de Contextual e Ex-assessor Presidencial de Politicas Sociais (México); Paula Moreno, Ex-ministra de Cultura e Presidente, Corporación Manos Visibles (Colombia); Angela Franco, Vice-presidente de Pesquisa da Universidad del Valle (Colombia); e Jorge Barbosa, Diretor, Observatório de Favelas (Brasil).
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Enrique Betancourt, Co-founder of Contextual and Former Deputy Director of Social Policies, Office of the President (Mexico)
Latin America is the most urbanized of all developing regions. On its own, this fact could mean good news, as historically, cities have been able to reduce poverty rates and gender inequality, and have achieved substantial improvements in access to education, justice, and health services, among other benefits.
However, the quantitative data is insufficient to explain the challenges that Latin American cities are facing. The quality and speed with which the urbanization process has taken place complements this picture, explaining why urbanization was characterized by inequality, socioeconomic segregation, and precarious provision of social services and basic infrastructure. The scenario is even less encouraging when considering the institutional weaknesses in most of our region’s local governments, which are further and further away from meeting demand for social services and policies. When reviewing the region’s history of urban development and demographic trends, the violence that characterizes most cities in the region should not surprise us (42 of the 50 most violent cities in the world are in Latin America).
The future of Latin America’s development is closely linked to the quality with which its social and physical spaces are planned and managed.
In this debate I intend to advocate for the need for a much broader urban paradigm than the one proposed by the urban development practice at the end of the twentieth century, which focuses on planning the uses, densities, housing, and basic infrastructure.
The central proposal of my argument rests on the fact that urban issues should not be considered only a vertical of public policy like education, health, culture, sports, or economic development, but as cross-cutting policy, which would allow the “territorializing” (focusing on the territory) of other public policies.
This focus on the territory is based on three fundamental premises:
Enrique Betancourt is the cofounder of Contextual, an agency that develops creative solutions to urban problems through collaborative processes. His work focuses on the intersection between research, public policy design, and implementation. Previously, Enrique was the Head of the National Center for Crime Prevention and Citizen Participation, as well as the Deputy Director of Social Policy at the Office of the Presidency of Mexico. He studied architecture at the Universidad de las Américas Puebla, holds a Masters in Urbanism from Harvard University, and is a Yale World Fellow.
Enrique Betancourt, Cofundador de Contextual y Ex Director Adjunto de Política Social de la Presidencia (México)
América Latina es la región en vías de desarrollo más urbanizada del mundo. El hecho en sí mismo podría anunciar buenas noticias, pues las ciudades han llegado, a lo largo de la historia, acompañadas de reducciones importantes en índices de pobreza, desigualdad de género y mejoras sustanciales respecto al acceso a educación, justica y servicios de salud entre otros beneficios.
Sin embargo el dato cuantitativo resulta insuficiente para explicar el reto que representa la vida en las ciudades de nuestra región. La calidad y la velocidad con la que ha sucedido el proceso de urbanización complementan el panorama y terminan por explicar como éste último se ha caracterizado por la desigualdad, la segregación socioeconómica y la precariedad en la provisión de servicios sociales e infraestructura básica. El escenario resulta menos alentador ante la clara debilidad institucional de la mayoría de los gobiernos locales de la región, quienes se encuentran cada vez más lejos de poder satisfacer la demanda de servicios y políticas sociales. Ante la revisión de la historia de desarrollo urbano y tendencias demográficas no debería sorprender mucho la violencia que caracteriza a la mayoría de las ciudades de la región. (42 de las 50 ciudades mas violentas del mundo son Latinoamericanas).
El futuro del desarrollo de América Latina esta íntimamente ligado a la calidad con la que se planifiquen y gestionen los espacios sociales y físicos de sus ciudades.
En este debate me propongo abogar por la necesidad de un paradigma urbano mucho más amplio que el propuesto por la noción de desarrollo urbana de finales del siglo XX centrada prioritariamente en la planeación de los usos, las densidades, la vivienda y la infraestructura básica.
La propuesta central de mi argumento radica en la necesidad de que los asuntos urbanos no sean considerados únicamente como un área de política pública vertical más como lo son la educación, salud, cultura, deporte, desarrollo económico, sino un política transversal que permita la territorialización de las otras políticas públicas.
Esta territorialización supondría tres premisas fundamentales:
Enrique Betancourt es cofundador de Contextual, una agencia que desarrolla soluciones creativas a problemas urbanos a través de procesos colaborativos. Su trabajo se centra en la intersección que existe entre la investigación, el diseño de políticas públicas y su implementación. Anteriormente fue Titular del Centro Nacional de Prevención del Delito y Participación Ciudadana y Director Adjunto de Política Social en la Oficina de la Presidencia del Gobierno de México. Es Arquitecto por la Universidad de las Américas en Puebla, Maestro en Urbanismo por la Universidad de Harvard y Yale World Fellow.
Paula Moreno, Former Minister of Culture and President, Corporación Manos Visibles (Colombia)
One of the most critical challenges in increasingly urbanized Latin American cities is how to enforce social integration as a strategy to reduce urban violence and promote greater social cohesion and resilience among its citizens. The dynamics of public space not only as a symbol of physical welfare but also as a determinant of equal social relations is a major challenge to be addressed. I would like to mention the case of Medellin, a Colombian city with both a complex history in terms of violence, illegal networks, and segregation, and at the same time the most dynamic cultural and economic nodes, with opportunities for structural social change in the medium term.
Medellin is the clearest example of urban transformation in recent years in Colombia. First, the city’s government has showed continuous political support for and prioritization of social integration. Second, the city has developed comprehensive urban interventions that prioritize social integration as a tool to tackle violence and social degradation. These interventions take the form of urban upgrading programs, which invest not only in improving the physical conditions of low-income neighborhoods, but also in their social capital. Today, after almost a decade of sustained public interventions, one of the most critical components of Medellin’s scheme is not only the architectural icons or the modern transportation systems that the city has built, but the incubation of strengthened social networks that nurture and sustain the physical intervention, and also generate the social fabric to prevent violence and to shape a common project for the city.
Throughout the years, the quality of physical transformation has been complemented by social policies to map and effectively empower social networks. The building capacity strategy, mainly supported by the public administration but also by national and international organizations (e.g. Paisa Joven of GTZ, Picacho Corporation (Ford Foundation) or the projects of Fundación Social or Fundación Suraméricana) strengthened the capacities and roles of commune leaders and organizations. Visible grassroots leaders with administration leadership positions have access to top public and private universities (e.g. EPM Fund), and create a knowledge base that integrates their own territorial views into the academy and the public decision-making process through schemes like participatory security and budgeting. This social architecture, built upon bridging organizations with political advocacy, economic alternatives, and social mobility with a major territorial attachment, has become a major force in tackling criminal networks in the city. (Two examples of bridging organizations of this type are Son Batá and la Elite Hip Hop.)
Paula Moreno is an industrial engineer with experience in social project management, design and implementation of public policies. She was the youngest minister in the history of Colombia and the first Afro-Colombian women to hold a ministerial office. In 2010 she was selected by the Council of the Americas as one of the most influential young leaders in the region for her work on effectively understanding diversity, and by the Black Mayors Association as one of the most influential Black leaders in the world. She founded and is currently serving as president of the Visible Hands Corporation, an NGO focused on practices of effective inclusion for youth at risk and ethnic communities in Colombia. Ms. Moreno holds a Master’s Degree in Management Studies from the University of Cambridge and was a United States Fulbright scholar for the program of urban and regional planning at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT).
Paula Moreno, Exministra de Cultura y Presidenta, la Corporación Manos Visibles (Colombia)
Uno de los desafíos más importantes en el crecimiento de las ciudades latinoamericanas, es cómo promover la integración social como una estrategia para reducir la violencia urbana, además de cómo generar una mayor cohesión social y resiliencia entre sus ciudadanos. La dinámica del espacio público no es sólo un símbolo del bienestar físico, sino también es un factor determinante de las relaciones sociales de igualdad—y se convierte en un desafío importante de abordar. Me gustaría mencionar el caso de Medellín, una ciudad colombiana con una complejidad histórica importante en términos de violencia, redes ilegales y segregación; al mismo tiempo, tiene los nodos culturales y económicos más dinámicos del país y ofrece oportunidades para el cambio social estructural a medio plazo.
Medellín es el ejemplo más claro de la transformación urbana de los últimos años en Colombia. En primer lugar, el gobierno de la ciudad ha mostrado un apoyo político continuo y también ha mostrado prioridad a la integración social. en segundo lugar, la ciudad ha desarrollado intervenciones urbanas integrales que dan prioridad a la integración social como una herramienta para hacer frente a la violencia y a la degradación social. Estas intervenciones se enfocan en programas de mejoramiento urbano, que no sólo invierten en la mejora de las condiciones físicas de los barrios de bajos ingresos, sino también en su capital social. Hoy en día, después de casi una década de intervenciones públicas sostenidas, los componentes más relevantes de Medellín no son sólo los iconos arquitectónicos o los sistemas de transporte modernos que la ciudad ha construido, sino también la incubación de las redes y organizaciones sociales fortalecidas que promueven y mantienen la intervención física, y que también generan el tejido social para prevenir la violencia, y contribuyen a dar forma a un proyecto común para la ciudad.
A través de los años, la calidad de la transformación física se ha complementado con las políticas sociales para formar y capacitar más efectivamente las redes y organizaciones sociales. El desarrollo de la estrategia de capacidad no es únicamente apoyada por la administración pública, sino también por organizaciones internacionales como por ejemplo Paisa Joven de la GTZ y Corporación Picacho de la Fundación Ford, (o los proyectos de la Fundación Social y de la Fundación Suramericana), los cuales fortalecen las capacidades y las funciones de los líderes de las comunas y de las organizaciones sociales locales. Los líderes que son visibles con base social y con posición de liderazgo en la administración, tienen acceso a las mejores universidades públicas y privadas (v.gr., el Fondo EPM). Ellos crean una base de conocimientos integrados a través de sus propios puntos de vista territoriales y crean el proceso de decisiones públicas a través de esquemas como: la seguridad y la creación de presupuestos en forma participativa. Esta es una arquitectura social para crear alianzas entre organizaciones con incidencia política y alternativas económicas. Además, funciona para crear otro tipo de movilidad social con una mayor vinculación territorial que se ha convertido en una fuerza importante para hacer frente a los ciclos de redes criminales en la ciudad.
Paula Moreno es ingeniera industrial con experiencia en gestión de proyectos sociales, diseño e implementación de políticas públicas. Ella fue la primera mujer afrocolombiana en ocupar un cargo ministerial y la más joven en la historia de Colombia. En 2010 fue seleccionada por el Consejo de las Américas como una de las líderes jóvenes y más influyentes de la región por su trabajo en la comprensión de la diversidad. La Black Mayors Association también la destaca como una de las líderes negras más influyentes en el mundo. Ella fundó y es la presidenta de la la Corporación Manos Visibles. La organización es una ONG centrada en las prácticas de inclusión efectiva para los jóvenes en situación de riesgo y de las comunidades étnicas en Colombia. Paula tiene una Maestría en Estudios de Gestión por la Universidad de Cambridge y fue una becaria Fulbright en los Estados Unidos para el programa de planificación urbana y regional en el Instituto de Tecnología de Massachusetts (MIT).
Angela Franco, Vice-President of Research at the Universidad del Valle (Colombia)
One of the biggest challenges we face in Latin America and the Caribbean is the reduction of poverty. We must seek equity levels to counterbalance the disturbing situation of social inequality that characterizes our countries. In this context, urban planning plays a central role. This is because improving the quality of life of families in poverty is directly related to the urban policies of inclusion and neighborhood upgrading, and has a direct relationship with competitive strategies and natural resource management.
Nevertheless, while it seems clear that public policies aimed at these purposes should occupy the front lines of government agendas, the reality is that there is much talk and little is done. But why?
First, I consider that the processes of social inclusion, being long-term processes, are not attractive to those in power who, in the case of Colombia, have four years to show results for their management. Unfortunately, we have seen that there have been few leaders who initiate a program and leave the results to another. Second, the high investment and complexity involved in implementing a program of poverty reduction and neighborhood upgrading is a challenge that only a few people want to take on.
Perhaps this is the result of the indifference of the citizens and their willingness to go along with the projects undertaken by those in power. For example, complaints are not common when the tax money is invested in road infrastructure conducive to private vehicles. It’s a quick way to show immediate results to taxpayers. Neither are there frequent questions from civil society on major social housing schemes, which contribute little to the quality of life of the poorest and least of urban quality.
However, some recent governments in Colombia have shown great commitment and have faced the problem of poverty and social inequality seriously. We should keep in mind the lessons learned from the governments of Antanas Mockus and Enrique Peñalosa in Bogotá, during which civic culture, public space, and school infrastructure left a positive balance in reducing the “social distance” and increasing tolerance and security.
In Medellin, Sergio Fajardo and the subsequent politicians set the goal to change the HDI in the marginal sectors, focusing investments on accessibility, school infrastructure, and the development of programs to create jobs and opportunities.
In Cali, the current mayor Rodrigo Guerrero is designing strategies to direct investment towards informal settlements and the most segregated areas of the city. As a result of the current local government work, the Ford Foundation included Cali in the Just Cities initiative. Now the city is challenged to take this opportunity to reduce inequality and poverty rates. But more important than defining projects and investments, all local actors should seek the empowerment of civil society, unions, academia, and all other stakeholders related to urban development. This empowerment would ensure that proposed projects transcend the current administration and become a navigation chart to achieve a profound change in the city and for its citizens.
Angela Franco is Vice-President of Research at the University Del Valle in Cali, Colombia. She is an architect and an urban planner and holds a MSc in Sociology. Her research projects are focused on informal settlements, urban segregation, and urban renewal processes in downtown areas. In 2012 she did a fellowship in the Special Program for Urban and Regional Studies at MIT, where she was working on international development good practices to explore new topics of analysis and applied research in the Latin America and the Caribbean region.
Angela Franco, Vicerrectora de Investigaciones de la Universidad del Valle (Colombia)
Uno de los mayores desafíos que enfrentamos en América Latina y el Caribe es la reducción de la pobreza. Nuestros esfuerzos se deberían concentrar en procurar mejores niveles de equidad para contrarrestar la alarmante situación de desigualdad social que caracteriza a nuestros países. En este contexto, la planificación urbana tiene un rol central, dado que la acción de mejorar la calidad de vida de las familias que viven en situación de pobreza está directamente relacionada con las legislaciones urbanas de inclusión y el mejoramiento de barrios; además, tiene una relación directa con las estrategias de competitividad y la administración de recursos naturales.
Sin embargo, aunque parece evidente que las políticas públicas dirigidas a estos fines deben estar al frente de las agendas de los gobiernos, la realidad es que se habla mucho y se hace poco, pero ¿por qué?
En primer lugar, considero que los procesos de inclusión social, al ser procesos a largo plazo, no son atractivos para los gobernantes que, en el caso de Colombia, tienen cuatro años para mostrar resultados de su administración. Desafortunadamente, hemos visto como pocos líderes inician un programa para dejarle los resultados a otro. En segundo lugar, la alta inversión y la alta complejidad involucrada en un programa de reducción de pobreza y de mejoramiento de barrios es un reto que sólo pocos quieren asumir.
Tal vez este es el resultado de la indiferencia de los ciudadanos y de su conformidad a los proyectos llevados a cabo por aquellos en posiciones de poder. Por ejemplo, hay muy pocas quejas cuando el dinero de los impuestos se invierte en la infraestructura vial, que beneficia a los vehículos privados. Estas inversiones son una forma rápida de mostrar resultados inmediatos para los contribuyentes. Tampoco, hay cuestionamientos por parte de la sociedad civil sobre los programas de vivienda, los cuales contribuyen poco a la calidad de vida de los más pobres y de los que viven una vida de poca calidad urbana.
Sin embargo, algunos gobiernos locales recientes en Colombia han mostrado un gran compromiso y se han enfrentado seriamente al problema de la pobreza y de la desigualdad social. Se debe tener en cuenta las lecciones aprendidas de los alcaldes Antanas Mockus y de Enrique Peñalosa en Bogotá, durante los cuales la cultura cívica, el espacio público y la infraestructura escolar dejaron un equilibrio positivo en la reducción de la “distancia social” y en el aumento de la tolerancia y de la seguridad.
En Medellín, el alcalde Sergio Fajardo, y los gobernantes siguientes, fijaron la meta de cambiar el Indice de Desarrollo Humano (IDH) en los sectores marginales, centrándose en mayor parte en las inversiones de materia de accesibilidad, la infraestructura escolar y el desarrollo de programas para crear empleos y oportunidades laborales.
En Cali, el alcalde actual, Rodrigo Guerrero, está diseñando estrategias para la inversión directa hacia los asentamientos informales y las áreas más segregadas de la ciudad. En consecuencia de la labor actual de los gobiernos locales, la Fundación Ford incluyó a Cali en la iniciativa, Ciudades Justas. Ahora la ciudad tiene el reto de tomar esta oportunidad para reducir los índices de la desigualdad y de pobreza. Y más que definir inversiones, es más importante que todos los actores locales busquen el empoderamiento de la sociedad civil, los sindicatos, las universidades y demás actores relacionados con el desarrollo urbano. Dicho empoderamiento aseguraría que los proyectos propuestos trasciendan la administración actual y se conviertan en una carta de navegación para lograr un cambio profundo en la ciudad y en los ciudadanos.
Angela Franco es Vicerrectora de Investigaciones de la Universidad del Valle en Cali, Colombia. Es arquitecta, urbanista y tiene Maestría en Sociología. Sus proyectos de investigación se centran en asentamientos informales, la segregación urbana y los procesos de renovación urbana en las áreas del centro de la ciudad. Durante el año 2012 obtuvo una beca de investigación en el Programa Especial de Estudios Urbanos y Regionales en MIT donde trabajó en el desarrollo de buenas prácticas y nuevos temas de análisis y de investigación aplicada en la región de Latinoamérica y el Caribe.
Jorge Luiz Barbosa, Director, Favela Observatory (Brazil)
The territories of our social life are becoming increasingly complex and diverse, especially when we live in cities that keep growing due to concentrated urbanization. The relationship between city, neighborhood, and the day-to-day seems to be a nostalgic experience rather than a reality. In this new urban condition, pluralized identities and new practices emerge to symbolically appropriate space and time. Therefore, the utopia of a more generous city invites us to promote an alternative political space for democracy and citizenship.
To realize the multiple possibilities of a city, the social and political qualities of public space are pivotal. In addition to the State and the Market, there are other dimensions to consider for life in society. In this sense, the role of civil society as a political instrument is necessary to renew the public sphere.
Aristotle considered the human being to be endowed by words. According to him, the use of words contributed to the shift of human beings from “animalistic” to civilization. The doxa (opinion) was the expression of building the community ethos (koinonía) of autonomous and collective beings. This expression led to the construction of an ethical subject in action, with its own space: the Polis.
For us, a serious public sphere is a space of visibility for an individual and for others. But this is only possible if words and actions are used in the exercise of rights. In this vein, the concept of citizenship gains relevant emancipatory elements in the practice of rights, especially regarding the return to the territory of the public political sphere.
The return to the territory is pivotal to political practice once the day-to-day of all beings, all actions, and all human intentions are integrated in established times and spaces. Within a territory, it is possible to recognize collective interests and mobilize joint forces of change.
When trying to determine an agenda to overcome social inequalities, we need to identify the stakeholders that create change. This leads us to recognize that new collective subjects must assume a key role in building effective citizenship policy, especially with regard to overcoming inequalities due to ethnicity, race, gender, and sexual orientation.
Various civil society organizations have a key role in the political process described, especially those working in areas marked by deep social inequalities and reduced participation in the public sphere. The Favela Observatory has been working through its various modes of intervention (urban policy, human rights, education, culture, arts, and communication) to place unprivileged and excluded territories at the center of the political construction of the right to the city, ensuring new actors in these new spaces of political participation.
Jorge Luiz Barbosa is a Professor at the Federal Fluminense University, Director of the Favela Observatory, and co-author of the following books: Favela: Joy and Pain in the City, What is a Favela, Anyway?, The New Carioca, and Cultural Grounds.
Jorge Luiz Barbosa, Diretor do Observatório das Favelas (Brasil)
Os territórios de nossa vida social são cada vez mais complexos e diversos, sobretudo quando vivemos em metrópoles agigantadas pela urbanização concentrada. A relação cidade / bairro / cotidiano do passado parece ser mais uma experiência nostálgica do que uma realidade ainda próxima. Nesta nova condição urbana revelam-se identidades pluralizadas e práticas inteiramente novas de apropriação material e simbólica do espaço e do tempo. Portanto, a utopia de uma cidade mais generosa ainda pulsa e nos convida a promover outro campo político para a democracia e a para a cidadania.
Para a realização das múltiplas possibilidades do viver a cidade se faz indispensável a qualidade social e política do espaço público. Para além do Estado e do Mercado há outras dimensões para pensar a construção de referências para a vida em sociedade. Nesse sentido, a retomada do papel da sociedade civil como instância política é necessária e inadiável para instituir uma renovada esfera pública.
Aristóteles considerava o homem como um ser dotado da palavra. Segundo ele, a partilha das palavras contribuía para o ser humano aceder da animalidade à civilidade, pois a doxa (opinião) era a expressão própria da construção do ethos comunitário (koinonía) de sujeitos autônomos e coletivos. Essa partilha, que conduzia a constituição do sujeito ético em ação, possuía um lugar próprio: a Pólis.
A esfera pública seria, para nós, um espaço da visibilidade de si e do outro. Ou seja, do domínio da alteridade como campo da política. Todavia, só possível de existência tangível com a corporificação da palavra e da ação no exercício de direitos à liberdade. Nesta senda, a concepção cidadania ganha elementos emancipatórios fundamentais como prática de direitos, dentre eles, o retorno ao território com esfera pública da política.
O retorno ao território é o fundamento da prática política, uma vez que o cotidiano de todos os sujeitos, de todas as ações e todas as intenções humanas possui a sua integralidade em espaços/tempos demarcados. No território é possível reconhecer os interesses coletivos, promover pertencimentos e de mobilizar forças plurais de mudança.
E, quando tratamos da elaboração de uma agenda de superação das desigualdades sociais precisamos identificar os atores de sua criação e efetivação. Essa posição nos conduz a reconhecer que novos sujeitos coletivos devem assumir um papel principal na construção política de efetivação de cidadania, sobretudo no que diz respeito à superação de desigualdades que se reproduzem com recortes étnicos, raciais, etários, de gênero e de orientação sexual.
As diferentes organizações da sociedade civil terão um papel fundamental no processo político em destaque, principalmente as que atuam em territórios marcados por profundas desigualdades sociais e de reduzida participação na esfera pública. O Observatório de Favelas vem se empenhando, por meio de seus diferentes campos de atuação (política urbana, direitos humanos, educação, cultura, artes e comunicação), em colocar os territórios populares na centralidade construção política do Direito à Cidade, afirmando novos atores em novos cenários de participação política.
Jorge Luiz Barbosa é Professor da Universidade Federal Fluminense, Diretor do Observatório de Favelas e Co-autor dos Livros: “Favela: Alegria e dor na Cidade”; “O que é favela, afinal?”; “O novo carioca”; e “Solos Culturais”.
Submitted by Editor — Sun, 11/17/2013 – 23:00