Posts Tagged ‘City’s Futures’

Getting Visions from Children and Youngster – The Creative School Contest in Hódmezővásárhely, Hungary

Friday, January 7th, 2011

young_contestUnder the URBACT Creative Clusters project, the Municipality of Hódmezóvásárhely launched the “Creative School Contest” at the end of November 2009. The main topic of it was how young children imagine the city in 15 years. The leadership of the town regards the young generation’s opinion and imagination is really important and significant, because the town is built for them, so their ideas are crucial and are the base of local development.

The contest was announced in every primary and secondary schools in the town between the age of 11 and 18. Students could handle their work either individually or in groups. The contest deadline was 12 March, 2010, so children had 4 months to think about their future town. It was a positive shock for us that more than 44 pieces of arts have arrived from 9 town’s schools. The composition of the arts was very mixed: 36 pieces of paintings or drawings, 6 mock-ups, 1 statue and 2 PPT presentations.
The students expressed not only their creativity and fantasy, but also their wishes through their work. More children imagined fountains and baths with huge slides in the city centre, but shopping centre, cinema, zoo and skateboard ground also appeared. Lots of children’ ideas were impressed by the present panel programme (renovation of big block of flats), so they made drawings/paintings which represented colourful buildings with different patterns.
There were several children who besides the amusement, regarded energy-reformation as a really important fact, so they would like to see wind powerstations in Vásárhely in the future. Among the wide-choice, there was only one ceramic-work, a multi-functioning tower with more floors and rooms, named after the late museum director.

The arts were appraised by a 6 member jury, which consisted of ceramists, artists, the museum director, painter and teachers. The opinion of the jury was that young generation had lots of amazing, creative, new ideas and in their decision the most important aspect was what kind of new technologies and methods were used in order to prepare the arts.
The winners were the students of Gábor Klauzál Primary School. Their work was the most complex and it was the closest to the reality and the ideas were absolutely feasible. They have made a presentation about the present situation and at the same time it contained their plans for the future, which are mainly connected to sport activities, just like go-kart, canoe ground, skateboard ring and fountains.

The winners of the contest, three children at the age of 13, won a 4 days Study Visit in Kortrijk, Belgium, together with the URBACT Creative Clusters partnership. I have a positive note for the contest: seven months after the initiative, the municipality has already realized two ideas from the winner teams’ imagination. One of them is the skateboard ring, while the other is the fountains. I think that young generation dream the future.

Anikó Varga
Hódmezővásárhely, Partner in URBACT Creative Clusters Project

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REPORT: Bridging the Urban Divide

Friday, April 23rd, 2010

stateUnder the patronage of the EU Parliamentary Urban Intergroup (presided over by MEP Jan Olbrycht), this bi-annual UN “state of cities” report was launched today in Brussels by MR. Jean Bakole (Director of UN Human Settlements Programme) and one of the principal authors Mr. Eduardo López Moreno.

Following up on the Urban Forum of Rio de Janeiro (17,000 delegates) the report presents a view of worldwide urban trends, highlighting many of the complexities also confronting the URBACT community. While critical social, economic and environmental challenges are set out in detail, there is also recognition of the potential and opportunities which our cities represent.
This year for the first time the report is accompanied by a supplement entitled “State of Urban Youth 2010/2011: Levelling the Playing Field”, a research focused specifically on the youth in our cities.

However the key message is encapsulated in the sub-title “Bridging the Urban Divide” where Eduardo López Moreno placed emphasis on the notion that “our cities contain in fact 2 cities within one urban entity”, where the division between rich and poor is determinant and often defined by “invisible borders”. Where the opportunities which cities represent are not the property of all their inhabitants. This conclusion which will come as no real surprise, is set within the context of a new urban hierarchy, characterised by mega regions, urban corridors and city regions where it is suggested that urban growth can be more appropriately defined as regional growth at the urban level. “Cities are thus  merging together to create urban settlements on a massive scale”.

The key findings of the report afford us with some instructive and intriguing statistics and statements, notably: “that cities are making countries rich and not the other way round” backed by figures which demonstrate that the more countries are urbanised the more wealth they generate. However this has to be set against findings which inform us that cities are growing spatially twice as fast as their population growth. The link to urban sprawl and informal settlement (bidonvilles, favelas, slums…) is quickly and adroitly made. Figures suggest that global measures to improve conditions of slum dwellers are having significant positive effect, in that the proportion of slum dwellers has been substantially reduced over the last ten years. However the absolute numbers of this type of urban inhabitant continue to increase dramatically. From estimates of 827 million slum dwellers in 2010, projections indicate that we can expect the total to have passed 1 billion by 2020. Recent extreme events seriously dislocating the urban dimension (Haiti, flooding and landslides…) remind us that not only are slum dwellers deprived in relation to indicators of “quality of life” but importantly are also the most vulnerable in terms of unpredictable and major impacts, such as natural catastrophes, pandemics, crop failure and famine.

The advocacy role of the report stresses the need to actively address urban inequalities and bridge the divide where economically poor evidently equates with being poor politically, socially and culturally. The objective of reconstructing inclusive cities is supported in the setting out of 5 essential stages to advance the process:

  • Assessing the past and measuring progress
  • More effective stronger institutions
  • Building new linkages and alliances among the various tiers of governance
  • Demonstrating a sustained vision to promote inclusiveness
  • Ensuring the redistribution of opportunities

In common with URBACT this advocacy is based on building common understanding of the predominant position of cities in determining economic and social futures and shaping development policy in general. The European dimension and concern for this issue was further confirmed by the presence of Wladek Piskorz  representing DG Regio, while Pascaline Gaborit (URBACT Lead Expert, EGENIUS) made a more concrete connection with European experience in terms of urban inequalities, reminding the audience that data emerging from World Health Organisation sources is confirming worrying disparities in health conditions in population groups across EU cities.

To end I refer you to another quote which I discovered in the report:
“In general terms income equalities in developed countries are low. However, altogether, income equalities in developed countries increased between the mid-1980’s and 2005. Little is known about inequalities in European urban areas specifically, as available data is generally not disaggregated to individual cities. Still, nationwide aggregates do not always reflect disparities in general urban or city-specific incomes” – do I hear the voice of Claude Jacquier – and city aggregates do not necessarily reflect disparities at neighbourhood level?

Philip Stein
URBACT Thematic Pole Manager

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World Bank: “Safer Homes, Stronger Communities”.

Monday, March 22nd, 2010

safer_homesCatalysed by events in Haiti and coinciding with new earthquake and tsunami incidence in Chile and the Pacific, the World Bank has just launched a new publication “Safer Homes, Stronger Communities – a Handbook for Reconstructing after Natural Disasters“. This is an interesting composite of structured guidelines, tapping into experience of agencies and stakeholders stretching across most recent global catastrophes from Pakistan through Indonesia to, the laboratory almost that is, Haiti.

Many of the messages included in the document have a strong relevance for sustainable urban regeneration in the general sense. However here, and particularly in the context of areas at risk in developing countries, the concept of sustainability has an extra dimension. Sustainable reconstruction means rebuilding communities and the urban fabric in a way that is resistant to similar future natural impacts. The comprehensive document sets out ten principles (Reconstruction begins the day of the disaster , Institutions matter and coordination among them improves outcomes, Reconstruction is an opportunity to plan for the future and to conserve the past, etc.)

Interesting to note the fact that certain of these recommendations do not correspond to our experience of a European approach, albeit at another scale level and in a different context, in L’Aquila.
During the launch event the Haitian Ambassador to the EU and Belgium, Mr. Raymond Magloire, did not shy away from the reasons for why Haiti has been disproportionately more severely affected by a lesser magnitude earthquake than the situation in Chile. He identified large-scale poverty as a major contributory factor compounded by lack of building control and unregulated land tenure. This is another slant on the discussion of land tenure raised in the URBACT Citylab on Metropolitan Governance where the city of Malmö explained how public ownership of land was a major advantage in achieving desired development patterns and realising comprehensive environmental management in the city.

Further discussions ranged around the desirability of establishing an autonomous “reconstruction agency” to cut through dedicated departmental/institutional competences in disaster situations. Here again another topic concerning URBACT cities the question of leadership was raised as a critical essential feature of any coordination structure. Praveen Pardeshi (Head of Regional Coordination UN Strategy for Disaster Reduction) “the only thing that makes a real difference is governance” and in this he stressed to target results at the local level with involvement of the affected population.

This document is well worth consulting for both policy makers and practitioners and the authors describe it as a starting point to be further developed as it is put online in an interactive forum.
Consult www.housingreconstruction.org

Philip Stein
URBACT Thematic Pole Manager

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Haiti, could the earthquake resuscitate a failed nation state.

Tuesday, January 26th, 2010

At the beginning of June 2009, I reported for URBACT on the effects of the earthquake on the Italian city of L’Aquila “such a catastrophe represents the extreme challenge for urban regeneration in the broadest sense”. Today events in Haiti (earthquake 12th January) take the idea of “extreme challenge” to a totally different, almost unprecedented, level – in terms of the localised impact of a natural disaster.

The Haitian Communications Minister reports that the direct death toll in the capital Port au Prince alone, has already reached more than 150,000. This suggests that we can expect a total figure in excess of 200,000 with some estimates suggesting that 1,500,000 have been made homeless. In the midst of this Guido Bertolaso, head of the Italian Civil Protection Service, responsible for coordinating and implementing the response to the L’Aquila earthquake, has voiced concern about the organisation and leadership of the International aid effort and coordination of recovery support measures.

It would certainly be instructive to examine what L’Aquila has taught us, to evaluate progress in re-housing displaced populations and restarting community life, to retrospectively assess why often recent constructions were worst affected by the acute tremors. However it is also important to remind ourselves that Haiti has suffered this additional misery on the back of a legacy of breakdown in all forms of governance.
Human rights activist Jean-Claude Bejaux prior to the earthquake “Government does not exist, the State does not exist, an administration does not exist. The government cannot even ensure provision of minimum basic human needs”. When we couple such a context to almost complete destruction of the urban fabric (unlike L’Aquila), where no internal support mechanisms are in place, the challenge for incoming aid organisations, whoever they may be, is “hors catégorie”.

As URBACT prepares to experience the luxury of discussing the problems and potentials of Metropolitan Governance in a City Lab in Lille next month, it is precisely the complete lack of any such structure which compounds the immediate and long term effects of the Haitian catastrophe.

The Montreal Conference uniting UN and principal supporting nations suggested that it would take 10 years for Haiti to recover …..hmmmm?, perhaps we should ask L’Aquila.

Final question: Does the Haiti experience justify the creation of a pan-European “crisis rapid intervention force” to capture the highly professional and effective national initiatives under one EU coordinating framework?

Philip Stein, Thematic Pole Manager

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“Earth, Wind, Water, Fire” Proceedings of OWHC Regional Conference in Regensburg now published

Wednesday, December 16th, 2009

earth_hero
The international conference “Earth, Wind, Water, Fire – Environmental Challenges to Urban World Heritage” that took place in the German World Heritage town Regensburg from 16th-18th September 2008 was a great success. Experts form more than fifteen European countries came to the medieval city in Southern Germany to attend the Northwest-European Regional Conference of the “Organization of World Heritage Cities” (OWHC). After three days of inspiring presentations and discussions, the conference participants jointly adopted the “Regensburg Recommendation”. The paper formulates basic strategies on the protection of historic towns from environmental risks and natural hazards.
The Conference Proceedings as well as the “Regensburg Recommendation” are now available for download on Regensburg website.

Barbara Buehler
HerO Project Manager and Communication Officer

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Shrinking cities: A Dream or A Nightmare for Urban Planners?

Thursday, October 8th, 2009

FlintA lot has been said about the city of Flint, Michigan (USA), whose population dropped by half in 40 years, going from 200,000 to 100,000 inhabitants, with the decline of the automobile industry. There are hundreds of empty houses, with peripheral neighbourhoods transformed into near ghost towns.
Elected officials want to bulldoze these neighbourhoods, return them to nature, and group together the population in the town centre. This would reduce public spending, improve living conditions and reduce CO2 emissions.
More or less similar situations exist in Central Europe, and they are leading decision-makers to recognize the inevitable: returning to nature those areas human activity no longer needs and regrouping to better rebound when opportunities arrive. These realisations often come late, too late, after many years of misery and drifting. Prophets of misfortune say, “I told you so.” But who is it that can guarantee a lucid, objective and perspicacious analysis of a city’s future?

Jean-Loup Drubigny

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