“The right to the city”, programming urbanisation and the role of planning

 

João Cabral (CIAUD/FAUTL)

Measuring urbanity: Densities, networks and urban fabricsPanel III – Governance & Regulation

11th May 2012 Faculty of Architecture, Technical University of Lisbon

The relation between expanding urbanisation processes and the role of planning in a scenario  of  administrative  reforms with  a  focus  on  place  policies  and  place-based approaches.

Suburbanisation is linked with urban planning practices not because they were more efficient and desirable but because it was the best available method of extracting capital from land and its improvements. 

“Emphasizing the role of capital in the making of suburban life allows it to be acknowledged how a range of practices , including industrial relocation and financialization, have defined the suburbanization process and suburbanism itself”(Ekers,M., Hamel,P. and Keil,R. , 2012: 418)

In  the  debate  over  urban  structure,  what  seems  to  be  lost  is  the  question  of  kind  of community and network relations to belong to, before deciding its form.

The  distinction  between  positivist  and  interpretive  traditions  in  spatial  planning  as  a conceptual  framework  for  identifying  the  different  functions  and  stages  of  the  planning process  in  the  production  of  the  built  environment.  The  two  traditions  are  associated with different  ways  of  gathering  and  using  evidence,  influencing  collaborative  and  participatory processes. 

This distinction is useful for evaluating the role of planning under reforms promoting localism in  parallel  with  concerns  for  territorial  cohesion  and  a  more  efficient  use  of  public  funds emphasizing the need for place policies and place-based approaches.

“the question of what kind of city we want cannot be divorced from the question of what kind of people we want to be, what kinds of social relations we seek, what relations to nature we cherish, what style of daily life we desire, what kinds of technologies we deem appropriate, what aesthetic values we hold.The right to the city is, therefore, far more than a right of individual access to the resources that the city embodies: it is a right to change ourselves by changing the city more after our heart’s desire. It is, moreover, a collective rather than an individual right since changing the city inevitably depends upon the exercise of a collective power over the processes of urbanization.”

David Harvey “The Right to the City” New Left Review 53, Sept-Oct 2008

Portugal - number of dwellings 1991-2010 (INE)

In the last twenty years population in Portugal grew by 7 percent and housing stock by 40 percent, an equivalent to 80 thousand dwellings per year.

Value of housing mortgages grew from 5 thousand million Euros in 1990 to 104 thousand million in 2008.

Total bank credit given to Construction + Real Estate + Housing accounted in 2008 for 168.701 million Euros, while total bank credit in Agriculture + Fisheries + Manufacturing accounted for 16.455 million Euros.

Portuguese GDP in 2008 was around 180.000 million Euros.

Source: Pedro Bingre “Análise das relações da política de solos com o sistema económico” (Estudo de enquadramento para a preparação da Nova Lei do Solo) DGOTDU 2011

Measuring Urbanity

Planning Process Key aspect Timing of evidence as part of a cyclical process

Positivist tradition(land use planning)

Interpretive tradition(spatial planning)

Assess dynamics

Mapping of constraints

Understanding of critical spatial trends & drivers

Stakeholders Determining what change is wanted

Identify scenarios & alternatives

Bargaining & negotiation

Analysis of options 

Strategy Mechanisms to bring about the change

Programming Checking of proposals

Generation of alternatives

Governance Monitoring of change

DCLG (Dec. 2006) The Role and Scope of Spatial PlanningDavoudi, Simin “The Legacy of Positivism and the Emergence of Interpretive Tradition in Spatial Planning” Regional Studies Vol.46.4 2012

DCLG (Dec. 2007) Using evidence in spatial planning

The Localism Bill was introduced to Parliament on 13 December 2010, and was given Royal Assent on 15 November 2011, becoming an Act.This Bill will shift power from central government back into the hands of individuals, communities and councils.We are committed to this because over time central government has become too big, too interfering, too controlling and too bureaucratic. This has undermined local democracy and individual responsibility, and stifled innovation and enterprise within public services.We want to see a radical shift in the balance of power and to decentralise power as far as possible. Localism isn't simply about giving power back to local government. This Government trusts people to take charge of their lives and we will push power downwards and outwards to the lowest possible level, including individuals, neighbourhoods, professionals and communities as well as local councils and other local institutions.The Localism Bill includes five key measures that underpin the Government's approach to decentralisation.

• Community rights• Neighbourhood planning• Housing• General power of competence• Empowering cities and other local areas

The Localism Act

Cameron's 'big society' undermined by cuts and distrust, says studyPrime minister's flagship project losing initial goodwill as community groups suffer funding 'body blow', finds report The Guardian, Monday 7 May 2012

The Governance of SuburbanizationState formsCapital accumulationPrivate authoritarianismNon-governmental organisations, public-private partnerships, development corporations and various stakeholder-based associations are often autocratic and are producing questionable forms of political citizenship. Arguably authoritarian forms of governance are proliferating most quickly in suburban spaces.

Ekers,M., Hamel,P. and Keil,R. (2012) Governing Suburbia: Modalities and Mechanismsof Suburban Governance. Regional Studies, 46:3, 405-422

CITIES OR URBANIZATION?Harvey, David in City 1-2, Oxford, London, 1995

Myth • Community solidarity can provide the stability and

power to control and manage urban problems and that “community” can substitute for public politics.

• Opposed – community is an unstable configuration relative to the conflictual processes that generate, sustain and eventually undermine them – as so far as it does acquire permanence it is frequently an exclusionary and oppressive social form.

THE EUROPEAN AGENDA

A place-based development policy can be defined as:• a long-term development strategy whose objective is to reduce persistent inefficiency and inequality in specific places,• through the production of bundles of integrated, place-tailored public goods and services, and• promoted from outside the place by a system of multilevel governance.

AN AGENDA FOR A REFORMED COHESION POLICYA place-based approach to meeting European Union challenges and expectations - Independent Report prepared at the request of Danuta Hübner, Commissioner for Regional Policy by Fabrizio Barca April 2009

From place based planning to planning as place making

ZONNING VS PLACE-BASED APPROACHThe responsiveness of the planning system implies a more supportive planning framework based on the benefits of a plan-led system – a place-shaping approach enabling community engagement, co-ordinated decisions on the development of infrastructure and upfront discussions on location decisions

Barker, Kate (2006) Barker Review of Land Use Planning, HMSO

In order to deliver these ambitious and far reaching reforms, there is an expectation that there will be a renaissance in planning in terms of redefining its scope, performance and widespread acceptance that it delivers.These aspirations for the planning system can only be realized if all those involved in the planning process change the way they think and work. There is therefore a need for a cultural shift in attitudes and working practices, perhaps also including organizational reform. (Shaw, D. 2006, pp3)

The  role  of  spatial  planning  in  a  scenario  of  economic uncertainty  and  neoliberal  policies  emerges  from  how evidence  and  place  based  interpretive  approaches  are present  all  along  the  planning  process,  and  how  different planning cultures mediate and produce governance practices for  effectively  programming  urbanisation  processes, reclaiming “the right to the city”.

Measuring Urbanity

Planning Process Key aspect Timing of evidence as part of a cyclical process

Assess dynamics

Understanding of critical spatial trends & drivers

Stakeholders Determining what change is wanted

Identify scenarios & alternatives

Analysis of options  Strategy Mechanisms to bring about the change

Programming Generation of alternatives

Governance Monitoring of change

St Paul’s/London/2011

Thank you