implementing the habitat agenda - the 1996 - 2001 experience

Report on the

Istanbul+5 Thematic Committee

25th Special Session of the United Nations General Assembly

New York, 6-8 June 2001

Implementing the Habitat AgendaThe 1996-2001 Experience

This publication has been produced without formal editing.

The designations employed and the presentation of the material in this publicationdo not imply the expression of any opinion whatsoever on the part of the Secretariatof the United Nations concerning the legal status of any country, territory, city or areaor of its authorities, or concerning the delimitation of its frontiers or boundaries.

Excerpts from this publication may be reproduced without authorization,on condition that the source is indicated.

© United Nations Centre for Human Settlements, 2001ISBN 92-1-131619-7 HS/631/01E

United Nations Centre for Human Settlements (Habitat) publications can be obtainedfrom UNCHS (Habitat) Regional and Information Offices or directly from:

United Nations Centre for Human Settlements (Habitat)P.O. Box 30030Nairobi, Kenya Fax: (254-2) 624060E-mail: [email protected]: http://www.unchs.org

1

Foreword..............................................................................................................................................................................2

1 Introduction ..............................................................................................................................................................3

2 Conclusions and Recommendations ........................................................................................................................4

2.1 Shelter and Services ..................................................................................................................................................5

2.2 Environmental Management........................................................................................................................................6

2.3 Urban Governance ....................................................................................................................................................7

2.4 Economic and Social Development and Eradication of Poverty ....................................................................................8

3 Case Illustrations ......................................................................................................................................................9

3.1 Shelter and Services ................................................................................................................................................10

■ Operationalising the Right to Adequate Housing (South Africa) ..............................................................................12

■ Shelter Programmes and City Development Strategies (Egypt) ..............................................................................14

■ Holistic Upgrading Programme (Colombia)..............................................................................................................16

■ Improvement and Restructuring of Spontaneous Settlements (Senegal) ................................................................18

■ Community Driven Provision of Universal Sanitation (India) ....................................................................................20

3.2 Environmental Management......................................................................................................................................22

■ Environmental Planning and Management (Tanzania) ............................................................................................24

■ Developing a Sustainable Compact City (Sweden) ..................................................................................................26

■ Comprehensive Urban Environmental Renovation (China) ......................................................................................28

■ Environmental Management and City Development Strategy (Poland) ....................................................................30

3.3 Urban Governance ....................................................................................................................................................32

■ Urban Transformations (Brazil) ..............................................................................................................................34

■ City Development Strategy in Response to Globalisation (France) ..........................................................................36

■ Sustainable Urban Development and Good Governance (Nigeria)............................................................................38

■ Sustainable Economic Transformation and Decentralisation (Spain)........................................................................40

3.4 Eradication of Poverty ..............................................................................................................................................42

■ Urban Community Development Fund (Thailand) ....................................................................................................44

■ Participatory Planning and Budgeting (Peru) ..........................................................................................................46

■ Reduction of Urban Poverty (Morocco)....................................................................................................................48

AnnexA. Agenda of the Thematic Committee ..........................................................................................................................50B. Thematic Committee Officers....................................................................................................................................51C. Thematic Committee Facilitators ..............................................................................................................................51D. Acknowledgements ..................................................................................................................................................51

I s t a n b u l + 5 T h e m a t i c C o m m i t t e e

Contents

2


The Habitat II Conference held in Istanbul, Turkey, in June 1996 was the first global con-ference in which representatives of local authorities and civil society participated ac-tively in the formulation of the major outcome, the Habitat Agenda. Habitat II also

included a specific Partner Committee through which the voice and concerns of Habitat part-ners were brought to the attention of Heads of State, Ministers and other representatives ofcentral governments.

In the same vein, the Special Session of the General Assembly for an Overall Review and Ap-praisal of the implementation of the Habitat Agenda, known as Istanbul +5, held on 6-8 June2001 in New York introduced in the General Assembly a new forum for debate. The ThematicCommittee broadened participation beyond national government delegates and focused onconcrete experience gained since 1996. The innovative character of the Thematic Committeewas emphasised at the opening of the Special Session by the President of the General As-sembly, Mr. Harri Holkeri, who indicated that the Committee will allow members “to share ex-periences from different corners of the world and to learn from each other … on manyimportant issues pertaining to shelter, social development and eradication of poverty, envi-ronmental management, governance, effective city development strategies and financing forurban development”.

At the end of the Special Session, the media reported very favourably on the contribution andspirit of the Thematic Committee, remarking that this forum generated a true dialogue in-volving frank discussions related to sensitive issues such as corruption, political will, housingrights and democratic urban governance. Participants suggested that such a Committeeshould be replicated in the future, for instance, at the upcoming World Summit on SustainableDevelopment. The Chairman of the Committee, Minister Slaheddine Belaïd from Tunisia, notedin his closing summary that the United Nations had proven to be the best forum for this ex-change of experiences and good practices. He also expressed the hope that the outcome ofthe Committee would be synthesised and published to help countries in the formulation andimplementation of their national policies.

As focal point for human settlements in the United Nations system and organiser of the The-matic Committee, it was the responsibility of UNCHS (Habitat) to respond to that request andprepare the present report which comes in addition to the abundant information already avail-able on our website. I hope that this publication will not only contribute to tell the story ofhuman settlements development since 1996, but also guide our partners in further imple-menting the Habitat Agenda.

Anna Kajumulo Tibaijuka Executive Director, UNCHS (Habitat)

Foreword

3

In its Resolution 55/195 of 20 December 2000, the United NationsGeneral Assembly decided that the Special Session of the GeneralAssembly for an Overall Review and Appraisal of the implementa-

tion of the Habitat Agenda should have a Thematic Committee, thedetails of which were to be worked out at the second session of thePreparatory Committee for the Special Session. In its Resolution55/246 of 21 March 2001, the General Assembly adopted the or-ganisational arrangements for the Thematic Committee and en-trusted UNCHS (Habitat) with the selection of thematic experiencesfrom the full range of Governments and accredited Habitat Agendapartners.

The Preparatory Committee of the Special Session drafted thissecond resolution in February 2001. The Preparatory Committeealso adopted a decision on the preparatory process for the ThematicCommittee (decision 2/4) which guided UNCHS (Habitat) in the se-lection and preparation of the presentations to the Thematic Com-mittee. Among the selection criteria were thematic and regionalbalance to reflect a broad variety of experiences in the implementa-tion of the Habitat Agenda, as well as partnership involving severalactors, innovation, sustainability and cross-cutting elements such asgender equality, inclusion of disadvantaged groups and scaling uplocal practices. The Preparatory Committee decided that the Chair-person of the Thematic Committee would be assisted by facilitatorswho will be members of official delegations. Nine high-level facili-tators were therefore selected by UNCHS (Habitat), based on gov-ernmental proposals. They reflected a balance of viewpoints fromArgentina, France, Iran, Jamaica, Japan, Kenya, Mexico, Turkey andthe United Kingdom.

Both case studies and facilitators were selected by the secretariat inconsultation with the Committee of Permanent Representatives toUNCHS (Habitat), between March and May 2001. Presentations inelectronic format together with the provisional agenda of the The-matic Committee were available on the Istanbul +5 and Habitat web-sites on 23 May 2001 to allow participants to prepare for thedialogues.

As a result of this well-structured preparatory process, 16 presenta-tions were selected emanating from all parts of the world. Fourcases reflected the experience of Sub-Saharan Africa (Nigeria,Senegal, South Africa, Tanzania), two cases of the Arab States (Egypt,Morocco), three cases of Asia (China, India, Thailand), three cases ofLatin America (Brazil, Colombia, Peru), three cases of Western Eu-rope (France, Spain, Sweden) and one case of Central and EasternEurope (Poland).

While the selected experiences were based on partnership betweenvarious levels of government and participation of the civil society,

1 Introduction

leading partners varied according to national and local situations. Inseven cases, the presenters were Ministers or central governmentrepresentatives (Nigeria, Senegal, South Africa, Tanzania, Egypt, Mo-rocco, and Colombia). In seven cases they were Mayors or local au-thority representatives (China, Brazil, Peru, France, Spain, Sweden,Poland). In two cases they were NGO leaders (India, Thailand).

In thematic terms, the Committee was sub-divided into four sessionsdealing with the main issues addressed in the Habitat Agenda:• shelter and services;• environmental management;• urban governance;• eradication of poverty.

While most presentations addressed several inter-related topics, forexample, urban services and the environment, urban governanceand eradication of urban poverty, they were distributed among thesessions according to their main focus. The structure adopted aimedessentially at facilitating a meaningful debate through the reductionof overlaps and repetitions. It allowed the Thematic Committee toundertake a multi-faceted review of a variety of national and city ex-periences and to draw general lessons from the concrete implemen-tation of the Habitat Agenda in very different contexts. The casestudies described not only best practices but also good policies ap-plied at country or city levels. Taken collectively, they testified thatthe improvement of shelter and urban conditions is possible, even ona large-scale, in any country of the world, provided some basic policyprinciples are adopted. These principles are presented in the formof “conclusions and recommendations” in the next chapter.

The Thematic Committee of Istanbul +5 has once again demon-strated that “good policies can make a difference”. This was alsothe conclusion of the report of the Executive Director of UNCHS to theSpecial Session (A/S-25/3) and the message of the flagship reportsprepared by the Centre in 2001, the State of the World’s Cities Re-port and the Global Report on Human Settlements. It is hoped thatthe present publication will be used, together with these formerHabitat reports, to further improve cities and other human settle-ments all over the world.

Daniel BiauSecretary of the Thematic CommitteeAg. Deputy Executive Director, UNCHS (Habitat)


Conclusions & recommendations

As stated by the Chairman of the Committee, Mr. Slaheddine Belaïd, Minister of Equipmentand Housing of the Republic of Tunisia, in his summary to the Plenary on 8 June 2001,the Thematic Committee fully reached its goal which was to tell the important story of

the development of human settlements since 1996 and to guide the quest for solutions andprogress that will benefit the world’s citizens.

The lessons drawn by the Thematic Committee from the 16 case studies under considerationare quite consistent with the “Declaration on Cities and other Human Settlements in the NewMillennium” negotiated in parallel by the Committee of the Whole of the Special Session.Among these lessons, the following deserve the full attention of decision-makers and expertsinvolved in reviewing, designing and implementing shelter and urban development policies:

• Cities and towns are engines of growth and are significant contributors to the develop-ment of both the local and national economy. Policies aimed at forging public-privatepartnerships and strengthening small and micro-enterprises should be encouraged tomake cities more productive.

• Multi-stakeholder consultations and participatory planning and decision-making are ef-fective instruments for urban planning and management and should be further devel-oped and expanded.

• Decentralisation and the strengthening of local authorities are effective means to mo-bilise local actors and stakeholders in improving human settlements conditions andshould therefore be generalised.

• Specific policies and support for reducing urban poverty and empowering the poor arenecessary to bring about social development and inclusiveness;

• The management of urbanisation processes requires strong and accountable public in-stitutions, and institution-building for improved governance remains a fundamental goal.

• Legislative and administrative reforms need to be pursued to give women full and equalaccess to economic resources, to ensure their right to security of tenure and their effec-tive participation in urban governance.

• The upgrading of slums and the regularisation of squatter settlements are effectivemeans to reducing poverty and improving urban sustainability and should be incorpo-rated into national policies.

• Forced evictions that are contrary to the law should be prevented and secure tenureshould be promoted as a major component of any shelter strategy.

• Efforts for ensuring transparent, responsible, accountable, just, effective and efficientgovernance of cities are essential to addressing the challenges of urban poverty and en-vironmental degradation and therefore need to be intensified.

• More determined action against urban crime and violence and to address the challengesof human-made disasters is required.

• Access to housing finance and to micro-credit by the poor is a key contributing factor totheir self-development and to removing one of the key structural causes of poverty.

• Monitoring and evaluation, through shelter and urban indicators and the documentationof best practices and action plans, should be part of human settlements policies at alllevels.

• International cooperation in human settlements, based on local and national initiatives,has demonstrated its potential but is still very insufficient and should be enhanced.

4


2

5

The enormous concentration of extreme poverty in thecities, particularly the cities of developing countries,raises difficult policy issues that will need to be ad-

dressed within a rights-based approach to development.This approach integrates human rights into the overall de-velopment framework. For the marginalised urban poor, ac-cess to land and services cannot be improved merely withinmarket mechanisms. Appropriately targeted policy meas-ures will have to be put in place. Although several countrieshave included provisions for the realisation of housing rightsin their constitutions and have relevant legislative frame-works (for example, South Africa), lack of progress in pro-motion of security of tenure still continues to be one of themost pressing problems for the urban poor.

The experiences presented in the Thematic Committee areconsistent with the policies promoted and advocated by theUnited Nations Centre for Human Settlements (Habitat), es-pecially through the global Campaign for Secure Tenure.They demonstrate that secure tenure will improve the ac-cess of the urban poor to credit, adequate shelter, infra-structure and services. The following specificrecommendations should guide shelter policies:a. Security of tenure can be promoted through a variety ofmeans that have proven effective:• City and national governments will have to recognise

unambiguously the rights of the poor, and to extend tothem full urban citizenship.

• City governments and local communities have an es-sential role to play in promoting security of tenure andreducing housing rights abuses, such as forced evic-tions. To fulfil this role they must be supported by ap-propriate legislation and capacity building.

• Networking and the exchange of information, expertiseand experience on successful informal settlements up-grading initiatives can be an effective means of as-sisting city governments and their partners create anenabling framework for promoting security of tenure,formulating/revising legislation, and to institutionaliseeffective administrative arrangements.

• Land policies need to be developed and agreed so as toprotect people from forced evictions.

• National land legislation should clarify the rights andobligations of landowners and other stakeholders andprovide protection for vulnerable groups, especially theurban poor and women.

• Promoting the systematic extension of tenure securitywith special considerations for the role of women is animportant component of any meaningful shelterstrategy for the urban poor.

• Complementary to regulatory mechanisms, informationcampaigns should aim at changing social and culturalattitudes.

• Shelter policies and strategies for the poor are most ef-

fective when they involve innovative partnershiparrangements among different stakeholders, and theactive involvement of the urban poor in the urban man-agement and housing development processes.

b. Access to housing credit is often denied to large seg-ments of the population, especially low-income households.Access to credit can be facilitated through a variety of ap-proaches, including:• Special support programmes that leverage the re-

sources of government with those of civil society or-ganisations and the private sector can be effectivemeans to make mortgage credit available to low-in-come households.

• Targeted subsidies, especially those provided to com-munity-based savings and loans schemes, are often in-strumental in helping the urban poor in gaining accessto housing credit.

• Private rental housing should be promoted both as ameans of providing more housing options for the poorand as an element to reduce pressure on the lower endof the housing markets.

c. Ensuring the availability of basic services is an importantpart of any shelter development policy and should includethe provision of safe water, sanitation and waste manage-ment.• The absence of legal tenure in settlements is a major

obstacle to the improvement and maintenance of basicservices such as water supply and sanitation.

• Public-private partnerships can be an effective meansof introducing greater cost effectiveness in the waterand sanitation sector. The challenge for countries suf-fering from lack of adequate urban infrastructure andservices is to put in place effective regulatory bodiesand measures to oversee the provision of services in anefficient and equitable manner. A new tool for local au-thorities to better manage infrastructure and services isto develop strategies for conservation and demandmanagement. Strong political commitment, trans-parency in management and coherent strategies re-duce investor’s risk and are essential to attractingprivate sector investment in water and sanitation serv-ices.

• Urban poor are reliable and accountable partners inproviding and maintaining basic urban services throughcommunity self-determination and community co-management. Community participation in the provisionand management of water and sanitation services cansignificantly improve cost recovery, maintenance and,consequently, long-term sustainability.

• There is an urgent necessity to enhance both institu-tional and human resource capacity of local authoritiesto effectively manage basic services.

2.1 Shelter & Services

Secure tenure willimprove the accessof the urban poor tocredit, adequateshelter, infrastruc-ture and services


6


The management ofenvironmental re-sources and haz-

ards improveseconomic effi-

ciency, social equityand long term sus-tainability in urban

development

2.2 Environmental Management

Some fundamental principles arise from the opera-tional experience reported in the sessions on envi-ronmental management. These principles are

consistent with lessons learned in the broader context ofnational reports on the implementation of the HabitatAgenda, as well as with the general experience gained byinternational programmes supporting cities in their effortsto improve environmental management. In summary, theseprinciples can be grouped into three sets of recommenda-tions as follows:

a. The management of environmental resources and hazardsimproves economic efficiency, social equity, and long-termsustainability in urban development.• Environmental improvements enhance the develop-

ment potential of cities. Aside from the obvious bene-fits to human health and well being, environmentalimprovements promote investments from within andoutside the city.

• Controlling environmental hazards, such as flooding,has the same positive effect on socio-economic devel-opment in cities.

• Because the lives and health of the urban poor suffermost directly and disproportionately from environ-mental degradation, environmental improvements pro-vide excellent opportunity for supporting the urbanpoor.

• Although many cities seem to be struggling with the re-quirements of sustainability and are suffering severeenvironmental degradation and economic loss, thereare many encouraging signs that environmental deteri-oration is not a necessary or inevitable consequence ofurbanisation and economic change. To the contrary,proper urban environmental planning and managementare major contributing factors to urban productivity andefficiency.

• Improving urban governance is a fundamental require-ment for effective urban environmental managementand sustainability: learning how to better understand,mobilise and manage local resources in close collabo-ration among all those whose interests and quality oflife are affected.

b. Broad-based participatory approaches are indispensablefor managing environmental resources and controlling haz-ards. Environmental issues, by their very nature, cut acrossall levels of government and economic sectors, are area-

wide in their impact, and have long-term implications foreconomic growth and social development.• Successful urban environmental planning and manage-

ment requires a mutual understanding of issues, broadagreement on strategies, and co-ordinated actions bythe full range of public, private and community groupsand organisations - now widely referred to as thestakeholders.

• The process of identifying and involving stakeholdersoften reveals major groups, which have been excludedby traditional planning and management systems.These groups typically include women, private sectorgroups and interests, marginalised and disadvantagedcitizens, especially the urban poor, at both city andneighbourhood levels.

• Relevant stakeholders for specific issues can be deter-mined as follows: (a) those whose interests are af-fected by the environment-development issue at hand;(b) those who possess information and expertiseneeded for effective strategy formulation; and (c) thosewho control means to influence environment-develop-mental interactions and have the capacity to implementenvironmental management strategies.

• It is important to be selective and to set priorities on en-vironmental management, so that action can be fo-cused on a limited array of problems and tasks in astrategic sequence. Priority setting should result froma participatory process and be based on both the de-velopment implications of environmental concerns andthe local capacities to respond.

c. International cooperation and mutual learning are effec-tive tools for improving urban management and to make itmore responsive to the specific challenges of local environ-mental concerns.• As more and more cities engage in environmental plan-

ning and management the need for sharing informa-tion, expertise and experience has led to emergingnetworks joining cities, communities and internationalprogrammes designed to promote peer-to-peerlearning.

• Decentralised cooperation and peer learning has be-come a primary means through which collective know-how in environmental planning and management isshared and developed and through which successesare replicated in an ever widening network of cities andcommunities within a country and worldwide.

© T

opha

m/U

NEP

7


2.3 Urban Governance

The lessons learnt from the four cases on Urban Gover-nance confirm three key principles as follows:

a. Decentralisation and Strengthening of Local Authoritiesare important ingredients to improved urban governance.Decision-making should be taken at the level that is closestto the community and the issues being addressed. The ap-plication of this principle of subsidiarity, as well as improvedaccountability and transparency through civic engagementand participation, often requires the revision of legislationaffecting the roles and responsibilities between variouslevels of government.• Local authorities have an important leadership role in

mobilising and working with citizens and the privatesector; this leadership role is key to successful and re-sponsive urban governance.

• Inter-departmental collaboration and effective channelsof communication between various actors and stake-holders are critical to ensuring a concerted approach toslum improvement, the reduction of poverty and pro-moting social inclusion.

• City-to-city cooperation can be a powerful mechanismfor the exchange of lessons learned from experience, todeepen the understanding of issues involved and toprovide a greater choice of strategic options.

b. Participation and civic engagement are a key principle ofgood urban governance and should be encouraged and sup-ported through practical measures:• The participatory formulation of City Development

Strategies is an important vehicle for long-term vi-sioning, conflict resolution, inclusion of marginalisedgroups, and bridging the divided city.

• Effective reduction of urban poverty and social exclu-sion can be achieved through the participation of theurban poor in decision-making, formulation of policies,

and implementation of local action plans. Experiencehas shown that the urban poor can be effective localdevelopment agents.

• The tension between participatory and representativedemocracy can be creative as opposing views and in-terests are aired and provide the basis for increasedunderstanding, communications and tolerance.

• Public-private partnerships and civic engagement arekey contributing factors to successful urban renewal.They can provide, for example, for a balanced ap-proach to the competing needs of fostering economicdevelopment, of stimulating the capital investmentsrequired for urban rehabilitation, and of preserving acity’s cultural heritage. They are also effective meansto improving inner city housing, infrastructure and so-cial services.

c. Transparency and Accountability are indispensable for ef-ficient governance of towns, cities and metropolitan areas:• Local level responsibility and accountability for local

resource management is necessary to fight corruption.The participatory budgeting process, an innovative ap-proach to urban governance and decision-making, pro-vides a voice for the urban poor in both the allocationand use of municipal and other resources. This methodcan greatly enhance transparency and accountabilityand improve service delivery at the local level.

• The city-region is becoming an increasingly recog-nised and important entity and level of governance toaddress the multiple facets and issues of social andeconomic development and environmental manage-ment.

• The renovation and rehabilitation of inner cities in de-cline, can be an effective factor contributing to overallurban economic development and social inclusion. Dueattention must be paid, however, to avoid over-gentri-fication.

“Participation andcivic engagementare key principlesof good urban gov-ernance that shouldbe encouraged andsupported throughpractical meas-ures”

8


2.4 Economic and Social Developmentand Eradication of Poverty

To be truly effective, urban poverty reduction initiativesshould be broad-based and integrate mutually rein-forcing components such as a) Shelter and infrastruc-

ture upgrading to provide for a healthy and safe livingenvironment; (b) Assistance to disadvantaged groups, in-cluding the disabled so as to promote the integration of lessfortunate citizens within the community; (c) Involvement ofwomen in decision-making, so as to respond to their specificneeds and improve their access to development assets, in-cluding land and finance; (d) Targeted support for small andmicro enterprises in implementing public works and the de-livery of basic services, including those developed bywomen, are effective means of promoting sustainablesources of employment and income within the community.

a. Meaningful participation, partnership and inclusive deci-sion making are crucial for sustainable socio-economic pro-grammes and projects to reduce poverty.• Poverty reduction requires that the poor are seen as

“actors” rather than “beneficiaries”, and as agents fortheir own betterment capable of contributing in a sig-nificant way to structural change. Poverty is funda-mentally a structural problem and its solution requiresstructural changes.

• Reducing poverty requires equitable sharing of devel-opment benefits and costs by all in society, includingthe poor.

• Community ownership of local development resources,such as community funds and credit schemes, ensuresthat local initiatives do not grind to a halt because ofthe inability to sustain motivation and therefore partic-ipation. Their management should be based on theneeds and effective demand of the poor and not on pre-conceived ideas of what the poor require.

• Appropriate legal and institutional frameworks that en-able the cooperation of a wide range of local partnersare required to institutionalise poverty reduction initia-tives and to ensure their sustainability.

b. Vision, leadership, commitment and long-term strategicplanning are essential for effective and sustainable povertyreduction programmes and projects.• At the municipal level, clear commitment from the au-

thorities is necessary if participatory programmes areto be sustained.

• In many countries, central government support is nec-essary in the fight against urban poverty, as citybudgets are often inadequate.

• For poverty reduction initiatives to be effective in termsof scale and impact, appropriate institutional frame-works are required to provide an effective voice to localactors and the urban poor.

c. International support in urban poverty reduction pro-grammes continues to play an important catalytic role.• Globally, the challenge is to find ways of investing a

small proportion of these Official Development Assis-tance (ODA) resources towards urban poverty reduc-tion.

• While international assistance is important, it should beaimed at leveraging local financial and human re-sources, and should always endeavour to strengthennational policies and initiatives.

d. South-south cooperation is a powerful mechanism forsharing information, transferring technology and for thereplication of successful approaches.• Countries can and should effectively utilise south-south

exchange of knowledge, expertise and experience inthe design and implementation of community develop-ment funds and related poverty reduction activities.

• Successful participatory planning and budgeting sys-tems were first initiated in cities of the South and haveproven effective in reducing corruption and poverty.

• The lessons learned should be scaled up to the nationallevel and be widely replicated.

“urban poverty re-duction initiativesshould be broad-

based and integratemutually enforcing

components such asshelter and infra-

structure, assistanceto disadvantaged

groups, involvementof women, and tar-

geted support forsmall and micro en-

terprises”

9


The Committee was divided into four sessions dealing with the main components of the Habitat Agenda:• Shelter and services;• Environmental management;• Urban governance;• Eradication of poverty.

During the first session, the Committee was briefed on the national housing policy of the Republic of SouthAfrica, which is based on the right to adequate housing. The committee was informed of large-scale housingschemes and upgrading projects recently implemented in Egypt. In both Egypt and South Africa, the nationalhousing strategy is attempting to promote home-ownership for low-income groups with central governmentsupport and the use of targeted subsidies. During the same session, upgrading programmes in Colombia,Senegal and India were presented focussing on security of tenure and the provision of basic services involvingcommunity participation. These programmes provide concrete evidence that large-scale slum upgrading ini-tiatives are both feasible and sustainable.

The second session was devoted to the improvement of the urban environment, a key concern of both theHabitat Agenda and Agenda 21. Environmental strategies, plans and activities initiated since 1996 in Dar esSalaam, Stockholm, Chengdu and Katowice were presented and discussed. In spite of the variety of problemsand goals, from urban poverty reduction in Dar es Salaam to control of urban densities in Stockholm, and re-ducing water and air pollution in Chengdu and Katowice, the methods and tools adopted by these four citiesshare much in common: involvement of stakeholders, awareness-raising, inter-agency and inter-municipalitycooperation, combination of long-term vision with short-term action plans. The lessons learnt are clearly ofa universal nature and could be used for promoting sustainable cities all over the world.

The third session was devoted to participatory urban governance, with examples from Brazil, France, Nigeriaand Spain which highlighted how decentralisation of responsibilities and resources to local authorities, com-bined with citizen’s participation, can play a critical role in promoting economic development, social inclusionand the improvement of the living environment. Cross-cutting goals such as gender equality were also advo-cated in the lively debate which followed each intervention.

The last session addressed the broad issue of poverty reduction through integrated approaches mobilising thefull potential of the poor and using human settlements as a strategic entry point. Case studies were presentedfrom three continents: Asia (Thailand), Latin America (Peru) and Africa (Morocco). They exemplified the roleand benefits of partnerships between governments, local authorities and community groups representing theurban poor.

Case Illustrations3

Issues of Concern - By 2020, three-quarters of the world’s urban dwellers will livein cities and towns of the developing world. The majority of these cities and townsare already witnessing large percentages of their population living in slum and

squatter settlements, with inadequate infrastructure and services. Many of the urbanpoor have no security of tenure, a situation which acts as a major disincentive for gov-ernment, local authorities, the private sector and the communities involved to invest inthe improvement of their living environment.

This rapid urbanisation process coupled with inadequate institutional and legal frame-works and poor management capacities at all levels results in the “urbanisation ofpoverty”. Many local authorities in developing countries are trying to deal with theseformidable challenges by encouraging open, accountable and effective local leader-ship that brings people into the shelter development and improvement process. How-ever, these local authorities and communities themselves need to be continuallyempowered and supported to establish and maintain enabling structures that facilitateindependent shelter initiatives and creativity and to encourage a wide range of part-nerships between the public, private and civil society sectors.

Agreed Commitments - To ensure the access of the urban poor and vulnerablegroups to adequate shelter, governments renewed their commitments – madeat Istanbul in 1996 (Habitat Agenda paragraph 40) in the Declaration on Cities

and other Human Settlements. Governments resolved to promote the upgrading of

Shelter & Services3.1

10


slums and squatter settlements within their countries. Theyreiterated their commitments to meeting the goals of theMillennium Summit that calls for a significant improvementin the lives of 100 million slum dwellers by 2020.

Governments clearly indicated that what they are looking foris to attack urban poverty and not the urban poor; to get ridof slum conditions and not slum dwellers; to remove squat-ting but not squatters. Governments renewed their com-mitment to the following principles:• Promote legal security of tenure and access to land to

all people, including women and those living inpoverty.

• Undertake legislative and administrative reforms togive women full and equal access to economic re-sources, including the rights to inheritance and toownership of land and other property, and ensuringtheir right to security of tenure.

• Promote access for vulnerable and disadvantagedgroups to safe drinking water, sanitation and otherbasic services.

• Promote the upgrading of slums through rehabilitationand maintenance and the regularisation of squattersettlements.

• Undertake legislative and administrative reforms tosupport the efforts of people individually and collec-tively, to produce affordable shelter and basic services.

• Increase the supply of affordable housing.• Ensure legal protection from discrimination in access

to shelter and basic services.• Promote shelter and supporting basic services and fa-

cilities for the homeless.• Protect all people from and providing legal protection

and redress for forced evictions that are contrary to thelaw.

• Promote the upgrading of informal settlements andurban slums.

Operational Experience – The experiences fromSenegal, South Africa and India demonstrate that theempowerment and capacity building of local commu-

nities, including women and men, in special skills – such asparticipatory informal housing provision and slum up-grading, poverty alleviation and income generation pro-grammes – are important elements in the provision ofsecure tenure to the urban poor and to reducing housingright abuses such as forced evictions.

While Colombia and Senegal have made progress inadopting legalisation in favour of tenure for urban dwellers,Egypt and South Africa have promoted innovative partner-ship arrangements among different stakeholders resulting insocial solidarity and integration among the disadvantagedgroups. In addition, South Africa has encouraged reforms ofurban land registration and slum upgrading initiatives fordisadvantaged groups. Further more, Egypt and South Africahave developed special support programmes for the cre-ation of self-sustaining credit systems. This support includestargeted subsidies to enable the urban poor to accesshousing credits. These subsidies are leveraged with contri-butions by civil society organisations to organise mortgagecredit for low-income households.

The experience of several cities in India, such as Mumbai,Pune and Bangalore shows that the rehabilitation and propermaintenance of water supply and sanitation systems pro-motes private sector investment in a city. Their experienceshave been built on partnerships between provincial govern-ments, local authorities, NGOs and community organisa-tions. Many cities emphasised the fact that effective urbanwater management depends to a large degree on strong po-litical will, awareness raising and capacity building of localauthorities and policy makers. This includes a better defini-tion of their roles and responsibilities towards disadvantagedgroups, especially women and children.

11

12


A right to adequate housing

South Africa is among some 30 countries that have in-cluded the right to housing in their Constitution. Sec-tion 26 of the South African Constitution, adopted in

1996, states that all South Africans have the right of “accessto adequate housing.” A recent court ruling in South Africa,however, stressed that it is not an unqualified obligation onthe State to provide free housing on demand, as the consti-tution states that “The State must take reasonable legisla-tive and other measures, within its available resources, toachieve a progressive realisation of…” (Section 26), theright of access to adequate housing. Moreover, the courtruled that there “is an express recognition by the framers ofthe Constitution that the right to housing cannot be effected

immediately.” It is, however, the Government’s duty to takereasonable legislative and other measures, within its avail-able resources, to achieve the progressive realisation of theright to adequate housing. The Government must thus showthat it has worked as effectively as possible to achieve thisright.

Since the introduction of a democratic government, a widerange of legislation has been adopted to improve thehousing conditions of the average citizen in general, and ofthe most vulnerable and disadvantaged groups in particular.Moreover, and in line with paragraph 61 of the HabitatAgenda, the Housing Act calls for monitoring and evaluationof the situation with regard to homelessness and inadequatehousing. The South African Human Rights Commission, es-tablished by Chapter 9 of the Constitution, is a major instru-ment in this context. It carries out and publishes an annualreport on the realisation of the rights enshrined in the Con-stitution, including the right to adequate housing.

One of the main mechanisms to implement the new housingpolicy of South Africa is the use of a wide range of targetedsubsidies. All households with incomes below certain min-imum levels qualify for such subsidies. Since the first dem-ocratic elections in 1994, the Government, working incollaboration with a wide range of civil society actors, hasprovided subsidies to more than 1,334,200 houses for thepoorest among the poor in rural as well as urban areas. Atotal of 1,155,300 houses have been constructed, housingsome 5,776,300 people, or close to one-eighth of the totalpopulation of 40 million people.

The People’s Housing Process is a major initiative ad-dressing the shelter needs of the poorest and most vulner-able and disadvantaged groups. It makes a particular effortin involving women in decision-making and in drawing ontheir special skills and roles in the communities. Thescheme contributes to the empowerment of communitiesand to a transfer of skills. As with most of the current ini-tiatives in South Africa, this housing delivery approach relieson targeted subsidies from the government and technical, fi-nancial, logistical and administrative assistance from NGOsand support organisations. Several initiatives implementedunder the umbrella of South Africa’s housing policy wererecognised as good and best practices in 2000 (seewww.bestpractices.org).

Presenter: Ms. Sankie Mthembe-Mahanyele, Minister for HousingContact: Mr. Diet von Broembsen

Chief Director: Policy Planning, Department of Housing,Pretoria 0001, South AfricaTel: (27-12) 421-1453Fax: (27-12) 341-8893E-mail: [email protected]

Housing Policy of South Africa:Operationalising the Right toAdequate Housing

13

Lessons learned

A number of lessons can be drawn from the SouthAfrican experience with regard to implementingthe right to adequate housing. Among these arethe need for forging a national consensus on thedefinition of adequacy; the need to identify addi-tional financial resources, and to improve the ca-pacity of all stakeholders to play an active role inthe housing delivery process. Moreover, there is aclear need to identify new and additional options inthe housing markets, both in terms of quality ofdwellings and in terms of innovative tenure optionsthat meet the requirements of the poorest groups.

The main lesson, however, is that a revision of na-tional legislation alone is not sufficient to achievethe full realisation of the right to housing. Consid-erable financial commitment from government isnecessary to improve the housing conditions of themost vulnerable and disadvantaged groups.

The principle of enable-ment — which is men-tioned throughout the Habitat Agenda — is not in-consistent with the use of targeted subsidies. Infact, enablement and subsidies are complemen-tary. It is only by enabling the not so poor to helpthemselves that resource can be made available tohelp the poorest among the poor. Or as it is statedin paragraph 97 (a) of the Habitat Agenda — “Toprovide for the shelter needs of those belonging tovulnerable groups, Governments … should pro-vide … targeted and transparent subsidies, socialservices and various types of safety nets to themost vulnerable groups”.

DebateThe discussion revealed that the plight of evictees was a major concern inSouth Africa’s housing policy. In cases where evictions were unavoidable theprovision of alternative shelter for evictees is essential. The issue of qualitycontrol versus the quantity of units produced was being addressed in SouthAfrica through the establishment of a National Home Builders RegistrationCouncil. It was clearly recognised that a gradual approach to implementinghousing standards was necessary.

Public support for housing the poor and the need for formal lending institutionsto adjust their practices are often required in dealing with the needs and cir-cumstances of the poor. It was pointed out that the housing policy is aimed atfinancial sustainability. Besides the use of targeted subsidies, the housing fi-nance system also relies on household savings, sweat equity, and self-con-struction of housing. Considerable efforts have been made to involve women incommunity savings groups.

Other major issues raised were employment and partnerships. A particularlyimportant role is played by and given to small-scale contractors in the imple-mentation of housing projects. To this end, the policy includes major efforts incapacity building, and separate budgets are set aside for this purpose. The ex-perience also shows the need to pursue settlement upgrading in tandem withthe construction of new housing units.

14


Providing shelter on asustainable basis

The Government’s commitment to the implementationof the Habitat Agenda regarding Shelter for all was il-lustrated by two cases: the Mubarak Housing Project

and the Future Housing Project. Both of these projects wereimplemented using the principle of “Eltakaful El-Egtemaie”,an indigenous cultural value in which resources are mo-bilised from capable groups to support disadvantagedgroups:

• The Mubarak Youth Housing Project was started in1996 and completed in December 2000. It comprises70,000 units distributed in 15 Egyptians cities. Built ata cost of L.E. 2.75 billion with a maximum density of120 persons/acre and a height of 5 floors, the designsallow for ample green areas, parking spaces and social

services. The state offered soft loans of L.E. 15,000 perunit payable over 40 years at 5% interest rate. In thenext 5 years the Government is planning to replicatethe project on a larger scale. As the name implies, thebeneficiaries of this project are the youth.

• At the initiative of H.E. Mrs. Susan Mubarak, in February1998, an NGO “Gamayet el Mostqbal” (Society of theFuture) was formed in March 1998, which saw thelaunch of “The Future Housing Project”. 70,000 unitswill be built in 3 phases over a period of 6 years. Thefirst phase of 15,000 units is already complete. Thewealthy business community has offered to raise L.E. 1billion in this period, covering 50% of the total costwhile the state covers the remaining cost. Soft loans ofL.E. 14,000 per unit, payable over 40 years, at an in-terest rate of 5% are available. The Council of ArabMinisters awarded the project for Housing and Recon-struction Award in 2000.

Presenter: Mr. Mohamed Ibrahim Soliman, Minister of Housing,Utilities and Urban Communities

Contact: Eng. Mohamed Magd El-Din Ibrahim,Supervisor of Minister’s Cabinet,Ministry of Housing, Public Utilities and Urban Communities1 Esmail Abaza - El kaser El Anny, Cairo, Egypt

Shelter Programmes and CityDevelopment Strategies in Egypt

15

Lessons learned

• The use of carefully targeted and transparentsubsidies can be an effective means to en-able the poor to gain access to housing. Inthe particular case of Egypt, the subsidies areprovided through soft loans that are ear-marked for the individual and not for the costof the house the ownership of which can besold or otherwise transferred. Nonetheless,these schemes can only be sustainable in thelong run if they are accompanied by incomegenerating initiatives and employment oppor-tunities to avoid the problem of defaults andthe vicious circle of slum formation.

• Young people suffer disproportionately fromlack of adequate housing, particularly whenthey represent up to two-thirds of the urbanpopulation as they do in Egypt. Targeted in-terventions for providing housing solutionsfor the youth can help integrate them in so-ciety, provide a basis for productive lives andhelp avoid problems of inter-generationalfriction and crime.

The Government’s commitment to “City Development Strategies” was illustrated bythree examples of upgrading programmes:

• The Manshiet Nasser Upgrading Project, with a density of more than 400 per-sons/acre, squatting on government land, is the largest informal settlement inCairo. It covers an area of 850 acres. It lacks infrastructure, adequate servicesand has poor living conditions. Putting into practice the concept of “renewal andreplacement”, desert land near the informal settlement is developed to accom-modate a portion of the squatters. Enabling those who stay behind to benefit fromimproved infrastructure and services. Existing buildings that are in good condi-tion are preserved. Infrastructure is provided for the whole area. The Govern-ment and its partners have further contributed 4 schools and a hospital. Theprivate sector contributes by creating jobs in the form of micro enterprises, thushelping in poverty reduction. This pilot project will be replicated in other informalareas.

• Luxor City is one of the 560 special natural and cultural sites in the world recog-nised by UNESCO. It has many historical sites and agricultural lands constitute thetwo main sources of employment. Both are threatened by the rapid expansion andinflux of traffic without the necessary and adequate infrastructure in place. TheGovernment and its partners have established a programme, which deals with therestoration of historical monuments to provide a source of tourism revenue while,at the same time, upgrading the surrounding settlements.

• The Ismailia Governorate Project comprising, five cities has a total population of700,000. Ismailia City is the capital of the Governorate, with a population of221,000. The Governorate has a diverse economic base but lacks sufficientwater resources. Land reclamation projects are putting demands on water re-sources and producing large volumes of wastewater, which is left untreated.There is conflict between urban expansion and agricultural activities. The purposeof preparing strategic development plans is to help coordinate land use, improveenvironmental management and mobilise resources to create new and more di-versified employment opportunities.

Both the Manshiet Nasser Upgrading Project and the Ismailia Governorate Project wererecognised as good practices in 2000 (see www.bestpractices.org).

DebateThe discussion focused in the inherent risks ofproviding credit schemes for housing to thepoor, given their lack of regular income andsteady employment. This is more so withhousing projects than with traditional micro-credit for enterprise development as the sumsinvolved for housing are relatively large and theperiod of repayment very long. The longer therepayment period, the higher the risk of defaultand thus of evictions. For this reason it is im-perative that shelter and urban developmentinitiatives for the urban poor include a majorfocus on income-generating activities thatstrengthen the economic independence to thepoor.

16


Inter-sectoral collaboration forsites and services

The city of Medellin has a population of approximately2 million inhabitants within 293 neighbourhoods. 350thousand people inhabit 104 settlements that have

been registered by the Municipal Planning Secretary as in-complete or inadequate. The inhabitants of these neigh-bourhoods face problems such as unemployment or lowincome, poor living conditions, insecurity and crime, as wellas low levels of formal education.

The Municipality developed a holistic programme focusingon six different components:

• Neighbourhood Upgrading or Habitat Betterment: Thiscomponent comprises infrastructure development in-cluding roads, water and sewerage, educational,health, cultural, recreational and community facilities,and the stabilisation and protection of the soil.

• Reduction of Geological Risk: This component is aimedat recovering land situated in high risk areas for use aspublic spaces, reforestation and passive recreation aswell as implementing public awareness projects on en-vironmental issues.

• Legalisation of Tenure: This component provides forformal tenure through the regularisation of landholdersand the promotion of ownership as the basis of the de-velopment process.

• Housing Betterment and Resettlement: This componentaddresses the issue of housing quality. It includes theresettlement of those inhabitants situated in high-riskareas and strengthens stability and habitability of sitesin order to improve the physical security for thedwellers.

• Community Participation and Promotion: Training andbasic capacity building is provided to the community toenable them to play an active role in the design, imple-mentation and follow-up of the projects.

• Planning and Management: Programme impact is mon-itored and evaluated.

Presenter: Mr. Alvaro Jose Cobo Soto, Director-General of HousingMinistry of Economic Development of Colombia

Contact: Ms. María Eugenia Pereyra RudasAdviser, Ministry of Economic development of Colombia, Bogota, Colombia(57-1) 382-1302, (57-1) 382-1303 Fax: (57-1) 382-1303 E-mail: [email protected] [email protected]@mindesa.gov.co

Holistic Upgrading Programme inMedellin, Colombia

17

Lessons learned

The case of Medellin provides important and com-pelling reasons for using an integrated and holisticapproach to shelter improvement and communitydevelopment. Besides the granting of securetenure, which provides the basis for subsequentimprovements to infrastructure and services, theprogramme seeks to reduce the physical and so-cial risks and vulnerabilities, to strengthen the ca-pacity of the community to play an active role inproject design and implementation and crime re-duction. An integrated approach will strengthensocial inclusion and enhance the social capital thatcan be brought to bear.

The programme has made significant physical and social improvements. Phys-ical improvements include construction or upgrading of minor and major publicworks. However, the social improvements are of equal if not more importancein terms of sustainability. The programme has fostered social inclusion, em-powered the community to play an active role in their development and has re-sulted in, inter alia, significant reduction of crime and violence as well as newsources of income and employment.An initiative on the improvement of low-income settlements in Medellin wasawarded the Dubai International Award for Best Practices in 1998.

DebateThe discussion focused on, inter alia, the following areas: the underlying causesof social disintegration, the contribution of secure tenure and income generationto improved governance; measures to deal with land speculation; the scaling upof upgrading programmes on a city wide basis; the roles of different actors andstakeholders such as the community, civil society, local authorities, nationalgovernment and the private sector. The discussion further highlighted that theprovision of secure tenure is also a powerful means for creating a sense of be-longing to a community, promoting civic engagement and social inclusion andguaranteeing local ownership of a project or programme.

18


A multifaceted approach toshelter improvementCities in Senegal and particularly the capital city of Dakarhave been witnessing exponential population growth and acorresponding decline in the quality of life and growth inhaphazard urban sprawl and development. In an attempt tobetter guide the overall development of its towns and citiesthe Government of Senegal decided to promote more flexi-ble planning processes involving a wide variety of stake-holders. The Government initiated a comprehensive restruc-turing and land regularisation project for informal settle-ments located largely within the Dakar metropolitan area.

This comprehensive land regularisation and slum-upgradinginitiative consists of the following components:

• The establishment of new institutional frameworksthat recognise and enable the formation of neighbour-hood associations that can better voice the needs anddemands of the urban poor.

• The creation of innovative financing schemes toleverage the financial contributions of the poor for localdevelopment initiatives and to ensure better financialmanagement and sustainability.

• The provision of secure tenure to slum dwellers whichhas enabled them to access formal credit systems.

• The promotion of the role of women in poverty allevia-tion and income generation programmes.

• The reduction in the cases of land speculation andmaking land more affordable to the poor using targetedsubsidies.

The benefits of the programme include administrative aswell as physical improvements in the areas of:

• Urban Governance - improved decision-making ad re-source allocation processes based on collective deci-sion-making on improving the urban environment; thecreation of a network of partners between neighbour-hood associations, banking institutions and relevantunits of government.

• Physical restructuring including the construction of ac-cess roads to respond to the needs of the urban poor,extension of water supply and sanitation systems to thelow-income neighbourhoods, electrification schemes,and construction of elementary schools and healthclinics.

Several components of this initiative including housing fi-nance, the role of women in micro-enterprise development,waste management and sanitation, and slum upgradingwere recognised as good and best practices in 1998 (see:www.bestpractices.org).

Presenter Mr. Seydou Sy Sall, Minister of Town and Regional PlanningContact: Mr. Youssou Diop

Ministere de lÚrbanisme et de l’HabitatRepublic du SenegalTel: (221-8) 23 32 78, Fax: (221-8) 23 62 45E-mail: [email protected]; [email protected]

Improvement and Restructuring ofSpontaneous Settlements in Dakar,Senegal

19

Lessons learned

Collaborative, cross-sectoral and participatoryhousing restructuring and improvement pro-grammes are capable of providing real and lastingimpact on reducing urban poverty. The case ofDakar shows how this impact can be achievedthrough combined efforts in involving the urbanpoor in decision-making, providing security oftenure, improving basic infrastructure and serv-ices, removing the barriers to access of credit, andjob-related training.

Enhanced security of tenure, however, representsthe key for vastly improved opportunities for ac-cess by the urban poor to credit. Such credit notonly allows the urban poor to improve theirhousing but is also essential for income generatingactivities. The use of targeted subsidies should beperceived not only as a positive contribution topoverty reduction but also an enabling contributionto the creation of new economic opportunities forthe urban poor.

DebateThe discussion focused primarily on the causes and effects of increased urbanisation andthe degree to which forced evictions and relocation are necessary to improve infrastruc-ture, provide services and reduce congestion. Strong reservations were expressed re-garding the relocation of slum dwellers far from their original settlements. Relocatedvulnerable group may become more vulnerable as their daily activities are disrupted andthey lose access to sources of income.

The discussion also focused on the need to go beyond settlement upgrading to addressprevention of slum formation and to improve overall urban planning and management soas to avoid or at least limit the amount of forced evictions, relocations and resettlement.

20


Improving infrastructure andsecurity of tenure

The lack of toilet facilities in low-income neighbourhoods of In-dian cities is an acute problem, posing considerable healthand environmental hazards. The project is intended to provide

slum dwellers in three cities in India (Mumbai, Pune and Bangalore)with improved toilet facilities through a partnership arrangementbetween their respective provincial governments, NGOs, commu-nity organisations and the slum dwellers themselves. The thrust ofthe project is to provide each slum resident with access to a toiletfacility within a 10 to 15-minute walking distance.

The implicit objectives of the project were threefold:

• To gain de facto recognition and security of tenure - By par-ticipating in the provision of toilet facilities for slum residentsin the selected communities, governmental authorities notonly had to recognise their existence but also their right ofabode and thus their entitlement to security of tenure. Thegranting of secure tenure was further justified by the fact thatthe communities were investing in the projects.

• To promote capacity for community-driven development initia-tives - The project used a collaborative and inclusive processinvolving all stakeholders, but in particular those that are usu-ally marginalised in decision-making and planning, namely thepoorest of the poor and women. This enabled the project todraw on the strengths of the local community, the slumdwellers themselves and their representatives.

• To involve the poor in the management of their own sanitationinfrastructure - The project succeeded in putting into place a“user pays” system, thus vesting the ownership of the facili-ties within the community. A person hired from the commu-nity manages each facility. This person (woman) is responsiblefor the collection of user fees and is further provided with ac-commodation that sits atop the facility. This accommodation isconsiderably larger than the norm.

Presenter Ms. Sheela Patel, Director, SPARCContact: Ms. Sheela Patel, Mr. A. Jockin and Ms. Celine De Cruz

Society for Promotion of Area Resource Centres (SPARC)Bhulabhai Desai RoadMumbai, IndiaTel: 91-22-3865053, 3858785 Fax: 91-22-3887566E-mail: [email protected]

Community-Driven Provision ofUniversal Sanitation in Indian Cities

21

Lessons learned

From the above presentation, the lessons learned include the following:

• Sustained mass movements of the poor have to educate and or-ganise themselves internally while exploring partnerships withother actors and stakeholders. However, it is vitally important thatpartnerships, which involve external donors, do not end up be-coming a simple exercise of agreeing to pre-conceived projects andideas. It is important that organisations of the poor and the poorthemselves redefine the meaning of the word “participation” to bemore than just consumers of development.

• In order to become active members in urban development, com-munities of informal settlements have to create a large number ofgroups and forge their collective priorities. Once this critical massof participation has been reached, there is a need to create institu-tional capacity within and between these organisations to effec-tively foster and implement solutions acceptable to all. Once thisthreshold is reached, the community leadership can engage gov-ernment authorities to design programmes, projects and manage-ment structures that are sustainable.

• Sanitation has become a demonstrable governance issue, and onewhich captures the involvement and participation of all cities andtheir inhabitants in a very compelling manner. Sustainable solutionsmust involve a multitude of actors and the poor themselves, partic-ularly in defining their own needs and priorities, and in ownershipto ensure proper management and maintenance. Further benefitsare derived when the poor take part directly in construction, man-agement and maintenance. They acquire skills that provide em-ployment opportunities that were closed to them in the past. Theyalso prove to themselves and to others that they are capable of pro-viding accountable services to their constituency.

Debate

The discussion centered on the positive aspects of innovativeand broad-based partnerships and the unique approach thatwas used to gain security of tenure for slum dwellers. Ap-proaching security of tenure through indirect means, such asinfrastructure or service provision, is a unique method of ob-taining this crucial and important right.

The solidarity built among the various actors to find a workablesolution to a common problem did more than just solve theproblem – it raised awareness and capacity within the minds ofslum dwellers that they can effectively be in control of theirown destinies. This individual awareness and building of self-esteem has proven to have immeasurable positive impacts onthe lives and livelihoods of the poorest of the poor – in partic-ular women.

It was also noted that the users themselves undertook the de-sign and construction of the physical infrastructure. This notonly ensured that the infrastructure was designed to meet ac-tual local needs but also provided on-the-job training for theslum dwellers in infrastructure design, construction and super-vision. Many of those that benefited were women who other-wise would not have had an opportunity to learn such skills.

Issues and Concerns - Efficient and productive cites and towns are essential forlocal and national economic growth and welfare. At the local level, strong urbaneconomies generate the resources needed for public and private investments in in-

frastructure, education, health and improved living conditions. A sustainable urban en-vironment is an essential contributing factor to productive cities as it affects the qualityof life of all people and groups and organisations at home and at the workplace.

Urban environmental problems are complex, multi-dimensional, interactive and veryoften poorly understood. Traditional urban institutions are not very well suited to dealwith complicated environmental issues, which cut across institutional responsibilitiesand administrative boundaries. New models of operation and decision-making areoften required, not least in determining the extent to which environmental resourcescan sustain ongoing development activities.

New environmental planning and management approaches in many countries andcities show the critical importance of reviewing institutional arrangements, the impor-tance of using better information for better planning, the crucial role of public envi-ronmental education and awareness, the appropriate role of technology and, not least,the need for political will.

Environmental Management3.2

22


Agreed Commitments - Key Habitat Agenda Commit-ments relevant to Environmental Management in-clude the following:

• Encourage and support participation and civic engage-ment;

• Promote partnerships in the implementation of localenvironmental plans and Local Agenda 21 initiatives;

• Promote decentralisation and strengthen local author-ities;

• Facilitate access to basic infrastructure and urbanservices including sound transportation systems;

• Intensify efforts for improved sustainable environ-mental planning and management practices;

• Reduce urban pollution;• Prevent disasters, rebuild improved settlements.

The “Declaration on Cities and other Human Settlements inthe New Millennium” includes the following specific com-mitments:• Paragraph 10 takes note of the “development of inte-

grated and participatory approaches to urban environ-mental planning and management, and welcomes thesupport provided by many governments to mecha-nisms for consultations and partnerships among inter-ested parties to prepare and implement localenvironmental plans and Local Agenda 21 initiatives”.

• Paragraph 41 states that “the management of urban-ization processes requires strong and accountablepublic institutions able to provide an effective frame-work in which everybody has access to basic services;and that capacity-building needs to be directed to-wards supporting decentralization and participatoryurban management processes”.

• Paragraph 59 commits governments “to promote ac-cess to safe drinking water for all and to facilitate theprovision of basic infrastructure and urban services,including adequate sanitation, waste management andsustainable transport”.

• In paragraph 61 governments resolved “to intensifyingefforts for improving sustainable environmental plan-ning and management practices, and for promotingsustainable production and consumption patterns inhuman settlements in all countries, in particular in in-dustrialized countries; and that integrated approachesaddressing social, economic and environmental issuesshould be taken more systematically at all levels; andthat Agenda 21 and the local Agenda 21 initiatives pro-vide important inputs to this process”.

Operational Experience – The Katowice andChengdu cases emphasise the importance of thor-ough identification, assessment and prioritisation of

environmental issues, with the active involvement of thevarious actors who possess vital information and expertise.They also stress the need for mobilising strong political sup-port. Stockholm and Chengdu demonstrate that the mostimportant resource is to be found in the participation of theaffected people. The case of Dar es Salaam demonstratesthat consultations with the community is not only a prereq-uisite for consensus-building and ownership, it also canhelp mobilise additional resources.

Stockholm experienced the fact that broad-based participa-tion helped to introduce innovative approaches and strate-gies such as “the better use of land already in use”, and howbest to reduce environmental pressure in transportation sys-tems through “modal split” strategies. Dar es Salaamshows that labour-intensive community contracting can bean effective means of poverty reduction as well as a meansof promoting civic engagement. Implementation strategiesengaged the full range of institutions, capabilities and ac-tors. Katowice stressed the importance of inter-municipalcooperation to address area-wide environmental issues af-fecting a large agglomeration. Dar es Salaam uses a creditfinancing mechanism to encourage local community contri-butions; and Chengdu used a combination of public sectorsponsored initiatives and awareness building to garner polit-ical support.

All the cases highlighted the importance of reviewing ex-isting institutional arrangements. Stockholm introduced newlegislation on how to manage consultative processes. In Dares Salaam financial resources were decentralised to im-prove maintenance, and new mechanisms were put in placeto ensure quality control, accountability and affordability inoperations involving partnerships with the private sector.Some cities made use of special opportunities and lever-aging strategies. Stockholm introduced mixed-use develop-ment areas to promote a harmonised approach todevelopment. Chengdu noted that the adoption of a city-wide “sustainable development approach” led to increasedinternational recognition and helped to mobilise additionalresources.

23


Presenter: Mr. Tumsifu Jonas Nnkya, Director,Institute of Human Settlements Study, University of Dar es Salaam

Contact: Mrs. S.T Sijaona, Permanent Secretary,Ministry of Lands & Human Settlements DevelopmentTel: (255-22) 2124576Fax: (255-22) 2113165E-mail: [email protected]

Environmental Planning andManagement in Dar es Salaam,Tanzania

Community-based upgradingand privatisation of environ-mental services

About 70 percent of the population in Tanzanian citieslive in informal housing areas. The main character-istic of both formal and informal settlements in Dar es

Salaam is the lack of basic infrastructure and services in-cluding water supply, sewerage, access roads, drainage and

solid waste management.Presently between 40 and70 percent of the urban in-habitants live in the in-formal settlements. Some ofthe underlying causes ofthis situation and the re-sulting environmentaldegradation are inappro-priate urban planning prac-tice and policies, includinginstitutional inefficienciesand lack of co-ordinationamong the key actors inurban development.

The Environmental Planningand Management (EPM) ap-

proach was introduced in Dar es Salaam in 1992. Since1998 the concept is being replicated in all the Municipalitiesin the country. Overall, the programme is benefiting morethan 50 percent of the urban population in the country. Thetwo cases presented in New York illustrate some of theachievements and impacts realised and lessons learnt. Tan-zania’s adoption of the EPM approach is fully consistent withthe Habitat Agenda. In paragraph 137, the Agenda calls onGovernments at all levels to support mechanisms for con-sultations and partnerships among interested parties to pre-pare and implement local environmental plans.

The first case focuses on the upgrading of Hanna Nassif, aneighbourhood of about 23,000 inhabitants. Following a re-quest from the local community, the Government of Tanzaniain collaboration with donor agencies and with participationof the residents, initiated the Hanna Nassif Community-Based Upgrading. The project adopted an innovative ap-proach in both its institutional set-up and the use oflabour-intensive community contracting and communitymanagement. The other case addresses improved solidwaste management involving private and community-basedcollection methods.

Both initiatives build capacity within the community for theimprovement of infrastructure as a means of reducingpoverty. The implementation of the initiatives also took intoaccount the revised National Urban Development Policy(1995) which recognises and provides a framework for reg-ularising informal settlements. They also followed the recentgovernment policy on Employment Generation and PovertyReduction by supporting small-scale enterprises and labour-intensive approaches to public works.

The University College of Lands and Architectural Studies(UCLAS) provided Technical Support while Dar es SalaamCity Council played the role as facilitator and promoter to in-volve key actors such as residents and private sector com-panies. UNCHS (Habitat) was the technical co-operationagency with International Labour Organization (ILO) as as-sociate agency. The overall management of funds was en-sured by the National Income Generating Programme (NIGP)and funding was provided by the United Nations Develop-ment Programme (UNDP), with additional support from theFord Foundation, various bilateral donors and a substantialcontribution by the local community.

In both cases, inappropriate planning practices and policiesincluding institutional overlaps and inefficient deliverymechanisms had led to a lack of basic services, especially

24

in waste collection for the urban poor. This situation was redressed through the local application of “Localising Agenda 21”and Habitat Agenda principles of creating environmental awareness, engaging in broad-based consultations, and formingpartnerships between the public, private and community sectors. A key strategy was a settlement regularisation process,providing security of tenure and agreeing on future land use. It also focused on improving local level understanding and ac-ceptance of environmental issues through the use of better information and public awareness campaigns. The SustainableDar es Salaam and related projects received the Dubai International Award for Best Prac-tices in 1998 (see: www.bestpractices.org).

DebateThe results of the upgrading include a drastic reduction of water borne diseases from 4137cases in 1996 to below 2000 in 2000; women and children no longer have to queue forwater; over 60,000 worker days of employment were generated over the 4 year implemen-tation period of which at least half benefited women; new skills have been acquired by thecommunities in project management, accounting, arts and crafts and micro-enterprise de-velopment. Last but not least, about 70 percent of the owners were paying property tax inyear 2000.

The privatisation of solid waste collection in Dar es Salaam started in 1994 following a suc-cessful completion of an “emergency clean up” campaign. In 1992 the amount of wastecollected publicly was virtually zero. By 1994 it was still only 3 to 5 percent of the totalamount generated per day, and the overall haulage in 1996 remained low at about 12 to 15percent of the estimated total of 1800 tons per day. By 1998, however, experiences gainedin private and community sector involvement in waste management had given rise to 68companies with more than 3000 jobs, many of which were engaging women and youth. Ad-ditionally, there are 17 recycling and composting enterprises. Currently about 45 percent ofall waste generated is being collected and disposed of safely.

In conclusion, both initiatives have:(a) successfully employed the principles of partnership, broad-based participation and local ownership of development ini-

tiatives; (b) used the initiatives to promote gender equity and social inclusion, including youth; (c) reduced poverty through capacity building and the use of labour intensive community contracting for both waste man-

agement and infrastructure upgrading; and (d) built awareness and promoted the use of technical information in decision-making to reach consensus on critical is-

sues of standards, secure tenure and relocation.

Lessons learned

Four specific factors contributing to the success ofboth these initiatives can be identified. These are(a) broad-based participation at all levels in deci-sion-making and implementation; (b) the inte-grated approach to infrastructure development,service delivery and poverty reduction through theuse of labour intensive community contracting; (c)the simultaneous negotiation for secure tenureand future land use; (d) an institutional reform thatincluded decentralisation and a clearer definitionof roles, responsibilities and actors to ensure ac-countability, transparency and affordability.

The deliberate strategy of ensuring that these ini-tiatives be replicable has led to similar projects innine other municipalities, reaching about 50 per-cent of the total urban population in Tanzania.

25

26


Planning a compact and environ-mentally sound city

The case concerns Stockholm’s past, recent and futureplanning strategies towards developing an environ-mentally sound leading edge city in the “IT and wire-

less communication industry” . The overall goal is continuedcity growth and development whilst preserving and en-hancing the city’s unique characteristics.

In the past, one of the objectives of planning has been theprovision of affordable housing. Using the principles ofzoning resulted in a physical segregation between dwelling,work and business areas. New suburbs developed togetherwith an efficient public transport system as well as large-scale systems for heating, sewage and waste treatment.However, many of the quickly built large-scale urban areashave, over time, developed social and ethnic tensions in thesense of appearing as “class-segregated” .

Consequently, the City Council developed a new planningstrategy based on a multi-stakeholder approach (Stockholm

City Plan 99). Citizens, civil society organisations, local au-thorities, companies and government authorities took in theplanning process. The aim of City Plan 99 is to “build the cityinwards” and to review reuse of already used land. The planconcentrates on four environmental priority areas:

• Redevelopment of areas for mixed-use urban activities(between living, working and recreation areas) withurban nuclei serving as nodes for public transport;

• Environmentally sound transport and traffic systems tofurther increase the modal split;

• Urban greening, with emphasis on bio-diversity andsocio-cultural elements following a “Green Map” con-cept;

• Housing areas with job-matching programmes, particu-larly in the context of the IT and communication in-dustry.

The City Council realised that the key to sustainable urbandevelopment is a broad-based participatorymanagement approach. During a number ofround-table discussions, city residents andcertain strategic groupings identified howStockholm could strive for more sustainabledevelopment while opening up new opportu-nities for development. . The priority areasidentified for intervention include: resourcesmust be handled more efficiently; travel andtransportation must be adapted to environ-mental needs; healthy and wholesome foodinitiatives should be promoted; green areaswithin the city must be protected; and thelocal infrastructure must be suited to all formsof traffic. The City of Stockholm’s initiatives inenvironmental management and urban plan-ning were recognised as a good practice in1998 and 2000 (see: www.bestpractices.org).

Presenter: Mr. Mats Pemer,Director, Strategic Planning Department, Stockholm

Contact: Mr. Mats PemerDirector, Strategic Planning Department, Stockholm City Planning AdministrationP.O. Box 8314, 104 20, Stockholm, SwedenTel: (46-8) 508 266 44 Fax: (46-8) 508 272 23 E-mail: [email protected]

Developing a Sustainable CompactCity in Stockholm, Sweden

27

DebateThe case draws conclusions from practical demonstrationprojects within the city and the successful linking and coor-dination of other sectoral initiatives such as the “GreenMap” strategy, which is used to define the best places forhuman recreational activities. Discussions centered on howlong the city can “expand inwards” which the City Councilestimates at about 30 years. The issue of city-compactinginitiatives resulting in significant rise in land and propertyvalues was also raised. However, in the case of Stockholm,70 percent of the land is owned by the government allowingthe City Council to help prevent excessive increases in landvalue. However, gentrification will still continue and publiccontrol of land may not fully prevent very low-incomegroups from migrating to the periphery of the city.

Lessons learned

Broad-based participation of civil society in the planning process is cru-cial for successful environmental planning and management. The issuesare by their very nature cross-cutting and cross-sectoral, affecting wholeareas and the way people work and play. The existence of national plan-ning legislation can be very effective for improving urban managementand planning by providing clear guidelines on, for example, how best tomanage broad-based consultations and participatory planning processes.Improving the modal split by providing alternative means of transport hasproven effective in reducing the environmental pressure caused by indi-vidual motorised traffic. Co-operative programmes with job matching be-tween industrial and housing areas not only reduce transport demand butcan also help to overcome social and ethnic segregation. Linking re-gional and international train systems with local transport networks canenhance the integration of the city centre with its suburbs as well as withsecondary cities in the region.

28


Attracting investment throughenvironmental improvement

Chengdu, a city of more than 10 million inhabitants, ad-dressed serious environmental degradation of the Fuand Nan rivers. This was designed to attract new in-

vestment and give a competitive edge for Chengdu’s futureas a “city embraced by two rivers” . Decades of rapid in-dustrial urbanisation with little regard for environmental im-pacts and the long-term opportunity costs, left the rivers ofChengdu as “open sewers” – the main recipient for thecity’s industrial and domestic wastes. Furthermore, lack ofcontinuity in flood control arrangements left the city increas-ingly vulnerable.

The initiative responded to popular pressure, most notablywhen school children presented a petition to the Mayor in1995 calling for action to improve the city’s rivers. Thisraised awareness and renewed a sense of civic pride, whichstimulated a public sector vision for clean water with openspaces and parks, free from flooding. To effectively addressthe problem, it was necessary to relocate 30,000 familiesinvolving some 100,000 living in slums on the banks of bothrivers. This involved a consultative process involving multipleactors and stakeholders resulting in a multi-million dollarproject which was implemented over a 5-year period.

Key actors involved included a multi-departmental teamfrom planning, construction, land, parks and gardens, envi-ronmental protection bureaux and commissions; technicaluniversities and research institutes; deputies from thePeople’s Congress, members from the Political ConsultativeConference, and the neighbourhood committees of Liuyinjie,Shangheba, and Linjiangdonglu. Industries were also re-quired to respect new environmental standards, and to ac-tively participate in their enforcement.

This large-scale re-housing project prompted the city to un-dertake a comprehensive rehabilitation of the entire city.Major results include: flood prevention and the restoration ofthe ecological flow of the two rivers through dredging, de-silting and freshwater management; major industrial reloca-tion and redevelopment including emissions control toreduce water and air pollution; the re-housing of 100,000 in-habitants of informal settlements along the river bank usinga combination of one-time grants, targeted subsidies and af-fordable housing finance with preferential treatment ac-corded to the disabled and the elderly in-house andneighbourhood selection and employment opportunities;major infrastructure improvements including state of the artsewage treatment, roads and bridges, canals and telecom-munications; and the creation of a continuous band of parksand gardens along the rivers’ banks.

DebateThe Chengdu experience demonstrates the effectiveness incombining several parallel approaches to urban redevelop-ment including broad-based consultations and discussionsfor determining priorities for development and environ-mental protection as well as the use of a “carrot and stick”approach combining the use of financial incentives and theenforcement of new standards and norms. For example, in-dustries were challenged with new emissions standards thathad to be achieved through cleaner production technologieswithin a fixed period of times, failing which they were tomove or close. Neighbourhood committees discussed the

Presenter: Mr. Shaoxiong Wang, Vice Mayor of Chengdu MunicipalityContact: Mr. Liu Xuegui

Ministry of Construction of the People’s Republic of China2, Ren Min Xi Rd, Chengdu, P.R. ChinaTel: (0086-28) 6271961Fax: (0086-28) 6642750E-mail: [email protected]

Comprehensive Urban EnvironmentalRenovation in Chengdu, China

29

Lessons learned

Community visioning has emerged in recent years as a powerful tool forforging a shared enthusiasm and commitment for a new future. It has alsoproven to be effective in fostering more holistic approaches to sustainabledevelopment, as recommended by the Habitat Agenda. A key to their successlies in the ability of the local authority to engage cross-sectoral coordinationand public participation resulting, in strong political support for the pooling ofsectoral budgets to implement a wide range of projects, be they in housing,infrastructure, urban greening or cleaner production. The establishment inChengdu of a multi-departmental team to collect information and reviewstrategic options was a key contributing factor to the success of the project.The involvement of universities and civil society organisations ensured a highdegree of public awareness and political support.

Equally important was the involvement of different levels of city governmentand neighbourhood associations in plan preparation and implementation. Al-though the relocation component of the project proved to be a massive un-dertaking affecting over 100,000 people and representing investmentsequivalent to the annual municipal budget, the most important resource was“the participation of the people concerned” and the most important resultwas “the increase in people’s environmental awareness for achieving sus-tainable development” .

China, without a doubt, has forged its own policies and strategies for devel-opment. But the Chengdu experience shows how a local home-grown initia-tive has successfully adopted and adapted international trends inparticipation and principles of good governance to forge a new vision and im-plement more sustainable human settlements development.

housing relocation proposals with the communities, designingand negotiating relocation of communities in “blocks” so as tomaintain social cohesion. Both initiatives involved the lever-aging of targeted subsidies and one-time grants with the re-sources of industry and of the inhabitants concerned.

Increased civic awareness played a critical role and led to vol-untary clean-up organisations, environmental protection soci-eties and river protection teams. Indeed social bodies,community associations, schools and universities donatedfunds equivalent to US$5 million.

The bulk of financing for redevelopment was, however, mo-bilised from the private sector whereby real estate companiesbid for land lease and development rights for new housing es-tates and commercial areas based on agreed to land-use plansand zoning. This represents a judicious combination of govern-ment planning and market operations. It was noted that the cityadopted new policies and procedures based on internationallyaccepted norms to guarantee transparency in the biddingprocess. The discussions focused on the advantages of “up-stream” management and coordination between the local au-thority and central and provincial government to mobilisesupport for multi-sectoral and multi-agency investments anddevelopment; the use of indicators to review progressive im-plementation and especially pollution reduction; and the oppor-tunities presented by using planning as an instrument forinvolving private sector investment. The city was commendedfor its fund mobilisation strategy and focus on pollution controland a long-term vision for sustainability. Chengdu wasawarded the Habitat Scroll of Honour for its Fu-Nan river revi-talisation project in 1998 and received the Dubai InternationalAward for Best Practices in 2000.

30


The Katowice experience focuses on the issue ofbrownfield remediation and how a local authority ad-dressed issues related to the rehabilitation and re-use

of industrial sites, and solid waste and sewage managementin revitalising the urban environment. The Katowice ag-glomeration is considered an exceptional area in Polandowing to its environmental and spatial conditions. The ag-glomeration is the most urbanised, industrialised anddensely populated region in the country with a population of2.1 million inhabitants. It has been an industrial region sincethe 19th century with a high concentration of heavy indus-tries based on coal, zinc and lead. This industrial heritage isclearly noticeable in the contemporary urban structure andin terms of environmental degradation. The latter is evi-denced by the agglomeration’s many degraded areas, floodlands, areas of subsidence and abandoned heaps of indus-trial waste.

In order to address these issues the municipalities of the Ka-towice agglomeration joined forces under the “Union forSustainable Development of the Cities of Katowice Agglom-eration” . The union set up mechanisms to involve a largenumber of concerned actors who could contribute to solveenvironmental issues including representatives of municipaland regional governments, private sector, research institu-tions, universities, and municipal enterprises. The union wascreated to respond to the need for a specific institutionalframework required on common environmental issues,which could not be addressed by individual municipalities.

Problems were addressed through initial demonstrationprojects, serving as a basis for documenting lessons learnedfor replication in other areas of the agglomeration facingsimilar problems. Demonstration activities were carefully se-lected according to strict criteria such as the communality ofthe problems to be dealt with, the feasibility of the project in-tervention and its replicability. These activities served as abasis for establishing municipal and agglomeration-wideenvironmental strategies. UNCHS (Habitat), UNDP and UNEPsupported the capacity and institution-building activities aswell as the planning process which led to the mobilisation ofadditional funding for implementation from local, nationaland international partners such as the World Bank and theEuropean Union.

To facilitate the continuous learning process through thesharing of knowledge and the exchange of experience, Cu-pertino with local and international partners was promoted.The useful role of the United Nations was recognised in fa-cilitating exchange of experience with other cities and ad-vancing collective know-how on environmentalmanagement. The Sustainable Katowice AgglomerationProject was recognised as a best practice in 1996 (see:www.bestpractices.org).

Presenter: Mr. Piotr Uszok, Mayor of Katowice and Ms. Justine Gorgon, Project Manager

Contact: Mr. Piotr Uszok, MayorKatowice City Hall - Urzad Miasta KatowiceUl. Mlynska 4, 40-098 Katowice, PolandTel: (48-32) 2538133 Fax: (48-32) 2537143E-mail: [email protected]

Environmental Management andCity Development in the KatowiceAgglomeration, Poland

Reversing environmental degradation in an industrial region

31

Lessons learned

Inter-municipal cooperation is indis-pensable for effectively addressing en-vironmental issues affecting a largeagglomeration. Such inter-city cooper-ation must be complemented by the in-volvement, within each participatingcity, of all the actors concerned. Ex-change of information, know-how andexperience among cities is a keymechanism for learning to addresscomplex urban environmental issues.Such an exchange can be effectivelysupported by a variety of actors in theinternational community.

DebateOne of the remarkable achievements of this initiative was the decision of local authorities to jointly establishinstitutional arrangements allowing them to address common issues that they could not address individually.The experience showed clearly that to effectively address environmental issues, the involvement of partnersin the public, private and community sectors is required. Issue-specific cross-sectoral working groups werecreated for this purpose and a large number of training, consultations, workshops and study tours were or-ganised for capacity building purposes.

Taking into consideration the scale of the environmental problems and the limited availability of resources,the only feasible response was to engage in a demonstration - replication strategy. This strategy allowedplanners to experiment with approaches and technical solutions and learn from the best lessons. Docu-menting these lessons, making the information available to decision makers and organising capacity buildingactivities were indispensable tasks in order to widen the impact of the limited international support.

Among key questions and issues discussed were the following:

• How to establish urban environmental indicators and how to apply them in monitoring changes in orderto efficiently provide relevant information to decision makers. The Katowice experience confirmed thatthrough small-scale demonstration activities, indicators can be established based on lessons of real lifeexperience, which can be adapted and applied on a larger scale at municipal and agglomeration levels.

• How to establish mechanisms for inter-municipal Cupertino in large agglomeration, how to divide re-sponsibilities among the various levels, what works, what the difficulties are and how to resolve them.The presenters from Katowice explained that their type of Cupertino set-up required incremental ad-justments. They highlighted the fact that the major ingredient for a successful Cupertino was based onpolitical will and support, coupled with the search for solutions to common problems.

• How to address gender issues including women’s employment. It was explained that this issue was par-ticularly difficult in a situation and in an area where the most important jobs were traditionally reservedfor men. However, deliberate efforts were made to involve women in decision-making and that thechanging nature of the economy was offering more job opportunities for women.

32


Issues and Concerns - Most of humanity will soon live in cities, and the trend of ur-banisation is irreversible. Cities hold tremendous potential as engines of economicand social development, creating jobs and generating ideas through economies of

scale and creative and innovative civic cultures. Cities today, however, can also gen-erate and intensify social exclusion, denying the benefits of urban life to the poor, towomen, to youth, and to religious or ethnic minorities and other marginalised groups.Hard-won international experience over the past two decades indicates that the keyingredient to realising more inclusive cities is neither money nor technology, nor evenexpertise (although these are important), but good urban governance. There is anemerging consensus that good governance is the sine qua non for sustainable humanand settlements development.To achieve this, there is an urgent need to enhance the capacity of local governmentand other stakeholders to practice good urban governance and to raise awareness onthe importance of urban governance around the world, focusing attention on the needsof the excluded urban poor. In this regard, the involvement of women in decision-making at all levels is critical, recognising that women are one of the biggest leversfor positive change in society. The theme of “inclusion” has a central position in thedebate on urban governance processes. Inclusive cities promote growth with equity.These are places where everyone, regardless of their economic means, gender, race,ethnicity or religion, are enabled and empowered to fully participate in the social, eco-nomic and political opportunities that cities have to offer. Participatory planning anddecision-making are the strategic means for realising this vision.

Urban Governance3.3

33

Agreed Commitments - Having examined both theopportunities and the challenges of urbanisation, theHabitat Agenda concluded that cities “properly

planned and managed, hold the promise for human devel-opment and the protection of the world’s natural resourcesthrough their ability to support large numbers of peoplewhile limiting their impact on the natural environment.”In adopting the Habitat Agenda, member states recognisedthe importance of good governance and committed them-selves to fostering “transparent, responsible, accountable,just, effective and efficient governance of towns, cities andmetropolitan areas”. They also called on UNCHS (Habitat) topromote human settlements management, “aiming atachieving transparent, representative and accountable gov-ernance through institutional development, capacity-building and partnership”.

Three key commitments of the Habitat Agenda have a directbearing on urban governance:• Promote Decentralisation and Strengthen Local

Authorities.• Encourage and Support Participation and Civic En-

gagement.• Ensure Transparent, Accountable and Efficient Gover-

nance of Towns, Cities and Metropolitan Areas.The Declaration on Cities and other Human Settlements inthe New Millennium strengthened the call for good urbangovernance through its recognition in paragraph 14 thatgood governance at all levels is essential to addressing thechallenges of urban poverty and environmental degrada-tion. This is further strengthened by paragraph 51, whichcommits member states to “intensify efforts for ensuringtransparent, responsible, accountable, just, effective and ef-ficient governance of cities and other settlements. Severalother paragraphs of the declaration also support the man-date of the campaign.In his address to the Special Session, the Secretary-Generalof the United Nations stressed that urban governance is aprecondition for economic efficiency and effective adminis-tration. He further stated that a healthy society is one thatgives all its members a chance to participate in decisionsthat affect their lives. He also said that improved urban gov-ernance, therefore, implies greater democracy andstrengthened local authorities.

Operational Experience - All the cases presented inthis session of the thematic committee show that thestrategic approaches of the Habitat Agenda can help

to significantly reduce urban poverty and social exclusion.Especially relevant here are the principles of decentralisa-tion, empowerment of communities, partnerships betweenvarious spheres of government and civil society including theprivate sector, as well as participation and capacity-building.The cases further show that the following principles of goodurban governance are key to the success of the initiativespresented:• Sustainability including city visioning and local envi-

ronmental action plans;• Subsidiarity including decentralisation and

fiscal devolution;

• Equity by bringing the poor and marginalised into thedecision-making realm of the city and ensuring equi-table provision of infrastructure and services to allurban;

• Efficiency through the involvement of and better defini-tion of roles and responsibilities of different actors inservice delivery;

• Transparency and accountability including measures toreduce local level corruption and the use of participa-tory budgeting;

• Civic engagement to promote the active involvement ofpeople in decisions affecting their livelihoods and topromote social capital; and

• Security in the form of protection of vulnerable groupsand the environment.

The cases of Santo Andre, Lyon, Nigeria and Barcelona eachemphasise the validity of several of these principles anddemonstrate how they can be applied through context-spe-cific practical measures. The cases show that it is possibleto strike a balance between equity and efficiency concerns,leading to more inclusive as well as more productive cities.An enabling political context is in all cases a crucial factor forsuccess.

34


Social inclusion in Santo André

Santo Andre, with a current population of 650,000, ispart of the São Paulo Metropolitan Area. Santo Andréhas been undergoing a period of transformation, from

its industrial past to an expanding tertiary sector. The eco-nomic gap between the rich and poor has grown, exacer-bated by the slowdown of the Brazilian economy during the1990s. As a result, living conditions have deteriorated and anumber of favelas – areas of extreme poverty – haveemerged.

The municipality is promoting an Integrated Programme ofSocial Inclusion as a strategy to alleviate poverty. The objec-tive of the Programme is to establish new ways of formu-lating and implementing local public policies on socialinclusion. Fourteen principal partners, local, national and in-ternational, are actively involved in the programme. Fourareas were chosen for the pilot phase, selected through aparticipatory budgeting process, resulting in a total amount

of US$5.3 million, which has been invested in the provisionof urban infrastructure and services.

The project has seen the improvement of basic services insome of the worst neighbourhoods. Micro-credit facilitieshave been made available to small-scale entrepreneurswhile health care has been made more accessible throughcommunity health agents. Other social programmes havebeen implemented including literacy campaigns for adultsand programmes aimed at street children. Recreational fa-cilities have been made available, serviced plots have beentransferred to families and low income families re-housed inapartment buildings. An index has been developed tomeasure social inclusion and data collection is carried out ona regular basis. One of the most important results has beenthe engagement of a wide range of actors and the creationof effective communication channels. All activities havetaken into account gender participation and mainstreaming.

The administration will extend the pilot programme to allslum areas in the city, through differentiated slum upgradingprojects while strengthening the approach towards regular-isation of land tenure. In addition, the Programme will attendto all families facing situations of extreme economic exclu-sion through a revised minimum income policy and throughthe up scaling of existing programmes. Three initiativesfrom Santo Andre on Good Governance, Traffic Managementand Administrative Reform are featured on the Best Prac-tices database (see: www.bestpractices.org).

Participatory relocation inSamambaia

At a distance of 25 km from Brasilia, the SamambaiaAdministrative Region occupies the southwestern re-gion of the Federal District, covering a total of 104

square kilometers. The urban area of 26 square kilometershad only 5,549 inhabitants in 1989 but grew to a populationof approximately 163,000 inhabitants in 2000.

Santo André:Presenter: Mr. Celso Daniel, Mayor, Santo AndréContact: Celso Daniel and Jeroen Klink

Municipality of Santo Andre, Praca IV Centenario, Santo André, BrazilTel: (55-11) 4433 – 0150, Fax: (55-11) 4433 – 0323E-mail: [email protected]

Samambaia:Presenter: Mr. Joaquim Roriz, Governor of the Federal District of BrasiliaContact: Mrs. Ivelise Longhi, Secretary for Urban Development and Housing

Tel: (55-61) 325-1801, 325-1802, 325-1803, Fax: (55-61)322-6820E-mail: [email protected]

Urban transformations in Brazil

35

Lessons learned

The effective reduction of urban poverty and social ex-clusion in Santo Andre and the successful transforma-tion of Samambaia from a shanty town into a vibrantcity are based on a number of key principles:• Well targeted Government interventions in the

urban sector can foster citizenship and enablepeople to create more productive urban liveli-hoods.

• The active participation of the urban poor in thedecision-making the promotes effective formula-tion and implementation of local action plans.

• The participatory budgeting process, an innova-tive approach to urban governance and decision-making, provides a real voice for the urban poor inboth the allocation and use of municipal and otherresources.

• The Municipality of Santo Andre has shown thatwhile effective leadership needs to be ensured bythe local administration it, in turn, needs to de-volve decision-making and implementationpowers to the community.

• A well articulated, multi-faceted housing policy in-tegrated in a broader strategic planning frame-work is critical to expanding the range of housingoptions for all urban dwellers and can generateemployment in the process.

• Inter-agency collaboration and effective channelsof communication between various actors andstakeholders is critical to successful slum im-provement and reduction of poverty and social ex-clusion.

• Principles of equity, civic engagement and secu-rity are key to success.

The residents of Samambaia are resettled squatters from Brasilia. Confronted withsquatting on the extensive public open spaces and gardens that characterise theplanned capital, Central Brasilia, the city authorities entered into a dialogue with thesquatters. The authorities offered to resettle them in the Samambaia suburb, providedthe squatting families agreed that land titles would be given in the name of wivesrather than husbands. This was to safeguard against the sale of plots by men. Re-portedly, ten years later, few, if any families had sold their plots. The relocated squat-ters were assisted to move, sites and services were provided, but they had to buildtheir houses themselves. In order to guarantee easy access to the City and employ-ment, a subway has been constructed.

The consolidation of the city through government assisted settlement programmesspurred the transformation of the wooden shanties of the early phases into brick andmortar houses, now constituting 85% of the housing stock. The community structuresand networks were kept as much as possible intact during the resettlement process.The city of Samambaia has now a high quality life, a vibrant local economy, a well es-tablished network of schools and a centre for professional skills training. It has amplepublic open spaces and sports facilities, is well endowed with health facilities and hasa good public transportation network.

With the approval of the Samambaia Local Structure Plan in 2001, a range of new ini-tiatives are being executed by the Regional Administration of Samambaia. One of theseinnovative projects is the “Linhão de Samambaia”, which makes efficient use of a stripof land previously reserved for a power transmission line to accommodate approxi-mately 68,000 additional urban residents. Another example is the “Arrendar” project,consisting of 1,350 units with rental housing contracts offering future purchase op-tions, implemented in partnership between the Federal Government and the Govern-ment of the Federal District.

These projects are part of a new multi-faceted housing policy of the Federal District,designed to promote better use of existing urban land, to decentralize government ac-tion in the field of housing, to optimize employment generation and to ensure synergywith other sectoral policies. This is backed up with a new housing information systemto effectively monitor the interventions programmed under the policy.

DebateThe discussion of the Brazilian case illustrations highlighted the following issues:• The importance of a supportive and enabling political context and political good-

will, which has provided a very positive environment for the programmes.• The importance of secure tenure for the financing of projects and sustainability

of project achievements, as people are more confident to invest their own sav-ings if they have secure tenure.

• The importance of including the poor in the planning process. This improves the

self-esteem of poor communities and guaranteestheir continued involvement.

• The potential of participatory budgeting which en-tailed the setting of priorities by the poor either di-rectly or through their elected representatives.

• The importance of addressing urban politics andpower in programmes aimed at promoting social in-clusion.


36

Presenter: Mr. Gerard Collomb, Mayor of Lyon and President of Greater LyonContact: Mr. Jacques MOULINIER, Président

Délégué au Conseil de DéveloppementTel: (4-78) 84 95 11, Fax: (4-78) 68 15 81Mr. Patrick LUSSON, Chef de la Mission Prospective et StratégieD’Agglomération Communauté Urbaine de Lyon20 rue du Lac / F-69003 LyonTel: (4-78) 63 46 65, Fax: (4-78) 63 48 80E-mail: [email protected]

City Development Strategy inResponse to Globalization inLyon, France

A shared vision for sustainabledevelopment

Lyon, capital of the Rhône-Alpes Region with a popula-tion of 1.2 million, is situated in south-eastern France.Since the early 1980s Lyon has been undergoing a

transition from a mainly industrial centre to a city regiondominated by the service sector with a major emphasis oneducation, transport and information technology. A lot of in-vestment has gone into research on health. The Lyon areaenjoys an elaborate transport system based in part on a net-work of high-speed and regional trains serving the citycentre. The neighbourhoods of Lyon are clearly divided withthe wealthy residing on the hills to the west and the easternneighbourhoods dominated by traditional industries – tex-tiles, chemicals, metallurgy, mechanical engineering –housing mainly the working-class and immigrant popula-tions. The disparity in the urban fabric between the twoareas could not be clearer. Other challenges facing the cityinclude providing access to information and communicationtechnology, encouraging the participation of other stake-holders in the governance of the city and striking a balancebetween business activities and environmental man-agement.

In its attempts to address the social issues and problemsfacing the area, the Urban Community has drawn extensivelyon establishing a city policy in partnership with the centralgovernment. In 1997, the Millennium 3 approach, designedto provide the conurbation with a comprehensive, integrateddevelopment project, was launched with a focus on sustain-able development. Regular forward planning sessions wereorganised and provided a forum for public debate. Workinggroups were set up to find solutions to the challenges cur-rently facing Lyon and to draw up proposals for concrete ac-tion. These groups are made up of civil servants, electedmembers of the Urban Community Council and representa-tives of other bodies and civil society whose reactions anddegree of commitment vary widely. Part of the planningprocess was devoted to the sharing and exchange of lessonsfrom experience with fifteen cities in eight other countries.This enabled the pooling of expertise, the in-depth discus-sion of strategic approaches and options, and a better un-derstanding of issues, working methods and strategies. Thejoint approach via a network enabled the city to leveragelocal, national and regional knowledge and expertise indrawing up a blueprint and developing a methodology formore sustainable urban development. The approach adoptedby Millennium 3 outlined the following priority areas, eachdesigned to create:• A city receptive to other cultures and to the world,• An attractive, liveable city,• A city that fosters the spirit of enterprise,• A city conducive to lifetime learning,• A city putting emphasis on consultative democracy.

The Millennium 3 approach is leading to the emergence ofnew projects as well as the increased visibility and viabilityof existing ones. Civic engagement is facilitated and accom-plished through the formation of working groups that havebroad membership representing most stakeholders. Im-proved efficiency has been noted in the transport, health andeducation sectors.

37

Lessons learned

The key lessons learned include the following:• The participatory formulation of City Develop-

ment Strategies is an important vehicle forlong-term visioning, conflict resolution, andinclusion of marginalised groups, bridging thedivided city and addressing the issues of so-cial, economic and environmental sustain-ability.

• The tension between participatory and repre-sentative democracy can be a creative onewhereby opposing views and interests areaired and provide the basis for increased un-derstanding, communications and tolerance.

• City-to-city cooperation can be a highly ef-fective means of sharing knowledge and les-sons learned from experience and to deepenand widen a city’s understanding of both theissues and the strategic options for ad-dressing them.

• The city-region is becoming an increasinglyrecognised and important entity and form ofgovernance to address the multiple facetsand issues of social and economic develop-ment and environmental management.

• Principles and processes of sustainability in-cluding city visioning, participatory planning,subsidiarity, equity, efficiency and civic en-gagement are key to success.

DebateThe discussion addressed the interesting question of how tostimulate and sustain productive debate between differentlevels of government. The nature of public-private partner-ship was another topic, including mechanisms for ensuringthat both risks and benefits were shared among the part-ners involved. In this connection, the strategic role of localauthorities in stimulating private sector involvement washighlighted.

Discussions were also devoted to the issue of the urban re-newal of high-rise residential areas developed in the 1960sin Lyon and also in many other cities in Europe. These di-lapidated residential areas, which had become a vehicle forsocial segregation, had been rehabilitated, but this shouldbe seen as dealing with the consequences of a solutiononce appropriate at a given historical period.

The relationship between participatory and representativedemocracy within urban governance was raised. In Lyon,while openness was accepted as a fundamental principle,the participatory process had yet to include large numbersof people and there was ongoing debate about this issueand about participatory budgeting in urban renewal.

It was emphasised that in urban renewal projects such asthe one in Lyon, there was a need for striking a balance be-tween zones of development and conserved natural zones.It was further recognised that mechanisms for handlingconflict within communities participating in urban renewalneeded to be put in place. Finally, the need to recognise theconstant dynamic of renovation and renewal was stressed.Socio-economic change is a continual process and urbanplanning needs to develop mechanisms for addressingchange within the context of the built environment.

38

Towards effective decentralisation

By the year 2000, the proportion of the population livingin the urban centres of Nigeria had risen to more than43.5 percent and the projection is that more than 50

percent of the entire population will be living in urban cen-tres by 2010. The history of Nigeria has given rise to a verydense network of urban centres unequalled in Africa. Thegrowth in population and the complexity of urban networkspresent a daunting challenge to governments at all levels.Despite the recent re-structuring of the political system,through the strengthening of state and local governments,the widening disparities between the urban and rural areasin terms of the quality of life remain a major concern inNigeria. Notable steps taken to redress the problems includethe National Urban Development Policy, whose goal is to de-velop a dynamic system of urban settlements that will foster

sustainable economic growth, promote efficient urban andregional development and ensure improved standards ofliving and well-being for all Nigerians. Health and educa-tional programmes at the national level are being carried outin line with the policy of balanced development in all thezones of the country.

A major constraint in the implementation of the policy of bal-anced development across the country is the issue of re-source control, which has recently become very contentious.The agitation for more responsive governance structures towhich people could relate and participate in brought aboutthe need to create more States and Local Government coun-cils. Thus the structures that would promote decentralisationand strengthen local authorities were established. Since thereturn to civilian rule through democratic representation, theConstitution, which gives legitimacy to the existing arrange-ment, has been the bone of contention necessitating the set-ting up of a Constitutional Review Committee. The expectedresults are greater devolution of power and resources to theLocal Governments, the establishment of a more conduciveenvironment for civic engagement and popular participationin decision-making, as well as the empowerment ofwomen’s groups.

In its bid to improve urban governance, the administration ofNigeria has been pursuing the following policies:• The promotion of environmental sustainability through

the Urban and Regional Planning Law of Nigeria (De-cree 88 of 1992) which provides the legal frameworkfor the implementation of the policy. The law specifiesthe urban limit for any settlement as well as the plan-ning and development parameters guiding such devel-opment. It holds a good promise for the protection ofrural agricultural lands in peri-urban areas.

• The principle of subsidiarity: Nigeria is presently struc-tured into 36 States based on the existing dialects, con-tiguity and cultural affiliation and 774 LocalGovernment Councils. Each of the Councils is furthersub-divided into Wards with a minimum of 10 and max-imum of 15 per council.

Presenter Mr. Wole Okunfulure, Director, Lands, Urban & Regional DevelopmentContact: Mr. Wole Okunfulure,

Director, Lands, Urban & Regional DevelopmentFederal Ministry of Works and HousingMabuchi - Abuja, NigeriaTel: (234-09) 5211632, Fax: (234-09) 5235746E-mail: [email protected]

Sustainable Urban Development and Good Governance in Nigeria


Lessons learned

The issue of balanced spatial and economic devel-opment remains a contentious one with inevitablefrictions between national level prerogatives andprinciples for equitable development and local au-tonomy. The present policies of Nigeria are clearlybased on the principles of subsidiarity, improvedaccountability and transparency through civic en-gagement and participation. These principles re-quire, nonetheless, the revision of constitutionallaw and legislation affecting all levels of govern-ment and administration.

39

• Civic Engagement and Citizenship: the existing structures provide the opportunityfor mass participation in governance from the ward up to the national level.

• Gender mainstreaming and social equity: ensuring that women have access to de-cision-making processes and a more balanced distribution of resources country-wide.

Debate

One issue raised in the discussion was the possibility of taking advantage of majorpolitical changes to introduce social and economic improvements in human set-tlements. This was the case in this programme, which had taken advantage of

the new democratic environment brought by the transition from military dictatorship tomulti-party democracy to strengthen the role of local government.

The potentials and dangers of devolution were also discussed. Some felt that too muchdevolution ran the risk of “balkanizing” the nation state. After all, the nation state is stillvery fragile in many parts of the developing world. Another issue highlighted in the dis-cussion was the development of strategies for combating corruption in the process ofimproving transparency in urban governance, an important goal in this case. Finally, theimportance of taking bold risks in governance reforms was highlighted, as was the needfor mechanisms for ensuring spatially even development.

40


Urban revitalisation withoutsocial exclusion

Barcelona, a city with more than 1.5 million inhabi-tants, is the centre of an extensive metropolitan re-gion (RMB), which occupies a surface area of 3,236

km2, inhabited by 4.3 million people (69 percent of the totalpopulation of Catalonia). Ciutat Vella is the city’s principlehistoric, culture and leisure centre, containing most ofBarcelona’s historic, cultural and artistic heritage. It repre-sents 4.3 percent of the surface area of the city and 5.6 per-cent of its population. Despite its unique assets, this districtwas experiencing major deficiencies in education andhealthcare delivery, housing and urban infrastructure, loss ofeconomic activity, marginalisation and unemployment. In re-sponse to this emerging trend, the city council, in partner-ship with citizens and the private sector, formulated anintegrated plan to rehabilitate housing, improve public infra-structure, promote local economic development and imple-ment social welfare programmes.

The process of developing this integrated plan – mooted inthe principle of decentralisation and Public-Private collabo-ration – required a public investment totalling US$ 806 mil-lion between 1988-1999. Facilities that were targetedinclude the construction and renovation of the museums, apublic university, civic centres and a public hospital. Morethan 2000 public residential dwellings have been con-structed and a further 22,400 residential dwellings rehabili-tated. The houses have served to resettle residents affectedby a new urban development plan opening up new spacesand providing for new roads. Urban redevelopment and so-cial policies have improved the life expectancy of the district,its educational levels, household income and economic ac-tivity, reducing the economic and social gaps that existedboth within Ciutat Vella and between this district and the restof the City. The key contributing factors to the success of thisinitiative include the following:• Efficiency - The principle of decentralisation has re-

sulted in regional decentralisation into city districts and

Presenter: Mr. Joan Clos, Mayor of BarcelonaContact: Ms. Margarita Obiols, Director of International Relations

Barcelona City Council, Barcelona, SpainTel: (34-93) 4027882, Fax: (34-93) 4027877E-mail: [email protected]

Sustainable EconomicTransformation and Decentralizationin Barcelona, Spain

41

Lessons learned

The renovation and rehabilitation of inner cities,which have been experiencing considerable declinein Europe as well as the rest of the world, can be aneffective and key contributing factor to overall urbaneconomic development and social inclusion. In thecase of Barcelona, the revival of the inner city corehas restored much of the splendour of the city aswell as providing an attractive area for tourists andresidents alike. One the key issues is to avoid over-gentrification, which destroys the initial social fabricand character of the inner city.

Public-private partnerships and civic engagementare key contributing factors to successful urban re-development, providing for a balanced approachbetween the need to foster economic development,the onerous task of renovating historic heritage andto improve inner city housing, infrastructure and so-cial services to promote social equity.

improved cooperation at a metropolitanlevel for a growing number of critical is-sues including: transport, the environment,regional planning, the design of large-scale interconnecting infrastructure(trains, airport, etc.) and telecommunica-tions.

• Subsidiarity - The division of the city intodistricts has brought the administrationcloser to its citizens, making it possible todecentralise many of the activities under-taken by the latter, whilst enabling inte-grated activities on a city district level.

• Civic Engagement - Undoubtedly, the par-ticipation of a civil society has been one ofthe keys to the success of the transforma-tion of the city, providing it with greater so-cial use as well as social capital. One ofthe most noteworthy outcomes includesthe collaboration between networks of as-sociations in which over 4,600 bodiescame together including educational, eco-nomic (public and private sectors), social and administrative institutions.

• Equity - Gender equality and social inclusion, the fruits of social integration policiesand accompanying investment in related infrastructure, have complemented thedevelopment of economic potential of the city. Between 1988-1996, the economiccapacity of households grew significantly, the most important aspect of this growthbeing directed towards the less prosperous areas of the city, as a result of har-monisation of various local policies. Consequently, specific social policies havebeen – and continue to be – implemented, offering assistance to pensioners, im-migrants, abused women and the disabled.

• Sustainability - Of equal importance is the urban regeneration policy implementedin the city over the last few years, focusing on high quality town planning in all dis-tricts. The regeneration of historic centres of the city involved the creation of ex-clusive areas for pedestrians, the renovation and rehabilitation of one of theprinciple axes and vistas of the city and of basic urban facilities.

DebateAn important issue raised in the discussion was the need to address the negative im-pacts of gentrification on low-income communities. The importance of conserving thehistorical heritage of old city centres was emphasised. Urban renewal projects shouldnot aim at destroying and rebuilding, but at rehabilitating and conserving. The impor-tance of inclusiveness, of redeveloping and up-grading with the residents was identifiedas the most effective guarantee of cooperation by the public.

The Barcelona project demonstrated the social role of the private sector in renewal pro-grammes, beyond profit making, and this model could be used elsewhere. The case alsodemonstrated the effectiveness of strategic planning, based on the long-term needs ofthe city residents. Facilities built for the Olympic games were designed with the futureneeds of the city in mind, not just for that particular event. It was also emphasised thatthe problem of urban sprawl needs to be addressed through the use of appropriate de-velopment densities.

The discussion further emphasised the importance of institutionalising public participa-tion, the need for public policies to protect the young and the poor from being expelledfrom redeveloped areas by real estate interests and the need for cultural sensitivity toprotect common heritage.

Issues and Concerns - Rapid urbanisation and concentration of poverty withinurban areas are common phenomena in developing countries, especially in Africaand Asia. While less than 30 percent of the world’s total population was living in

urban areas in 1950, in 1995 the level of urbanisation reached 45.27 percent, and isexpected to rise to 54.38 percent in the year 2015. In 1980, only one-third of theworld’s poor were living in urban areas (40 million out of 120 million households). Itis estimated that by the year 2000, 55 percent of the poor were living in urban areas(72 million out of 128 million households). About one-third of the developing world’spopulation lives in extreme poverty, and urban poverty is now increasing at a fasterrate than rural poverty.

In response to these trends, which can be accurately described as the “urbanisationof poverty”, it is important to develop strategies for improving economic growth andreducing poverty within towns and cities, especially in developing countries. Suchstrategies must encompass urban economic investment, employment creation and in-come-generating activities (including micro- and small-scale industries), in addition toshelter improvement.

A major challenge is how the above-mentioned strategies should be implemented. Ex-perience has shown how the enabling approach, through the creation of partnerships

Eradication of Poverty3.4

42


(among the public sector, the private sector and civil so-ciety) can significantly improve the flow of resources intopoverty reduction programmes and projects.

Another challenge with respect to the implementation ofpoverty-reduction strategies is the level of focus of suchstrategies. From a human settlements perspective, thelocal level is very important for implementing most of theconcrete action necessary to reduce poverty. The enablingapproach should be seen as being about central govern-ment enabling local actors to solve their problems, throughdecentralisation and supportive legal and fiscal frame-works. It is these fundamental issues that are addressed inthe case studies summarised below.

Agreed Commitments - The case studies below illus-trate how the socio-economic development andpoverty reduction dimensions of the Habitat Agenda,

including the key commitments, have been implemented atthree different levels: national (Morocco case), local (Villa ElSalvador case) and community (Thailand’s Urban Commu-nity Development Fund).

The key commitments in the Habitat Agenda relevant to theeradication of urban poverty are as follows:• Provide equal opportunities for a healthy and safe life;• Promote social integration and support disadvantaged

groups;• Promote gender equality in human settlements devel-

opment;• Strengthen small and micro-enterprises, particularly

those developed by women; and• Encourage public-private sector partnerships and

stimulate productive employment opportunities.

Paragraphs 115 to 124 of the Habitat Agenda (titled “Socialdevelopment: eradication of poverty, creation of productiveemployment and social integration”) state that the wholerationale for sustainable development is to raise the stan-dard of living, especially that of the poor, while at the sametime avoiding uncompensated future costs. Paragraphs 155to 162 (titled “Improving urban economies”) further spellout the action required to stimulate urban economic growthand reduce poverty, some of which are illustrated in thecases below. Paragraphs 29 and 31 of the Declaration onCities and Other Human Settlements in the New Millenniumfurther re-emphasise these issues.

One of the main thrusts of the Habitat Agenda is the em-phasis placed on the local level (especially in paragraphs180, 237 and 238). So, clearly, the cases reported below arerelevant to the implementation of the Habitat Agenda in thisrespect. An enabling approach to the implementation ofsustainable human settlements development and to the re-duction of urban poverty are among the main principles ad-vocated by the Habitat Agenda (paragraphs 44 and 45), andis further reinforced in the Declaration on Cities and OtherHuman Settlements in the New Millennium (paragraphs 39,41 and 42).

Operational Experience - The first common threadrunning through the experiences described in thecases on economic and social development and

eradication of poverty is the broad view adopted towardsurban socio-economic development. It is a view that recog-nises the diversity of initiatives and actions necessary to im-prove the quality of urban life and to address urban poverty.The Thailand case illustrates how poverty reduction effortsat the community level have to be wide in scope. The Perucase illustrates how participatory planning and budgeting atthe local authority level can be used to address a wide rangeof needs that matter to the urban citizens. The Morocco caseis a good example of the need for comprehensiveness in na-tional poverty reduction frameworks.

The second common experience is the emphasis placed onthe poor. The Thailand case in particular focuses on how thepoor were empowered through ownership of local develop-ment resources, on the basis of which support was providedby government. The other two cases had specific provisionsfor the participation of the poor and for the improvement oftheir living conditions through income-earning opportunities,including for women (as in the Morocco case).

The third characteristic running through the cases is the en-abling approach, with its essential ingredients of communityparticipation, inclusiveness and partnerships. The Thailandcase is an outstanding experience of community participa-tion and empowerment of the poor through mobilisation oftheir own resources. In the other two cases, inclusive, par-ticipatory frameworks at the local authority level are re-ported as having been very effective. In all cases,inclusiveness is illustrated by the involvement of disadvan-taged groups and of women in both decision-making and in-come generating projects.

The fourth common experience running through the cases isthe focus on local level action, either through community or-ganisations (as in Thailand’s Urban Community Developmentcase) or within the framework of the local authority (as inLima’s Villa El Salvador case). One of the primary objectivesof Morocco’s national poverty reduction pilot programmewas to provide a comprehensive national framework thatwould enable local poverty reduction action to take place.

43

44


Harnessing community resources for urban poverty reduction

The project focuses on how the Urban Community De-velopment Fund (UCDF) of Thailand was created as atool for poverty eradication, empowering both the

urban and rural poor. The project covers 53 provinces out of75 throughout the country, and has resulted in about 950community saving groups out of a total of 2,000 urban com-munities, as well as more than 100 community networks.

The Urban Community Development Office (UCDO) was setup in 1992 in an effort of the Thai Government to take a newapproach and develop new processes for addressing urbanpoverty. The Government established a revolving fund of1,250 million Baht (about US$28 million) through the Na-tional Housing Authority to set up a special programme anda new autonomous unit, the Urban Community Development

Office (UCDO), to address urban poverty nationally. The pro-gramme sought to improve living conditions and increasethe organisational capacity of urban poor communitiesthrough the promotion of community savings and creditgroups and the provision of integrated loans at favourableinterest rates as wholesale loans to community organisa-tions. This new Community Development Fund was to beaccessible to all urban poor groups who organised them-selves.

The idea, however, was not simply to provide low-interestloans to the poor. Community savings and credit activitieswere seen as a means for engendering a community’s ownholistic development, capable of dealing with the rootcauses of poverty. Of importance was the development ofcommunity managerial capacity and stronger community or-ganisations to exercise leadership in various community de-velopment processes and to leverage external developmentresources. Thus the development process included commu-nity action planning and the creation of partnerships withother local development actors – especially municipalities.

Various kinds of low-interest, wholesale loans were offeredto community savings and credit groups and networksthroughout the country. They were allowed to add a marginto cover their expenses or the cost of other community de-velopment activities or welfare programmes. The organisa-tions added certain margins so the members would receivethe loans at a rate near to or slightly higher than the pre-vailing market rates, which, in any case, were still muchlower than those in the informal money lending systems.

Between 1997 and 1999, the problems of the economiccrisis affected the urban poor’s savings and credit groupsimmensely and several community savings and creditgroups came to the verge of collapse. This led UCDO to thenew direction of bringing groups to work together and sharerisks and responsibilities through networking, thus wideningcommunal responsibility for loan repayments. These newnetwork processes were mobilised to deal with several otherurban community issues such as infrastructure, housing,community planning, education, health and welfare.

Presenter: Ms.Somsook Boonyabancha, Director, CODIContact: Ms. Somsook Boonyabancha, Director

Community Organizations Development Institute (CODI)New Petchburi Rd, Huaykwang Bangkok 10320 ThailandTel: (662) 7180911, 7166000, Fax: (662) 7180937, 7166001E-mail: [email protected]

Urban Community DevelopmentFund, Thailand

45

Lessons learned

• The Thai experience provides compelling ev-idence that access to credit is one of themain barriers preventing the urban poor fromdeveloping and extricating themselves frompoverty. It also demonstrates that commu-nity-based savings and credit for housing isone of the most effective means to do so, asit allows people to lead more productive lives.

• The management of Community Funds orpoverty reduction programmes should be de-signed on the basis of the conditions of thepoor, not on the basis of market or bureau-cratic exigencies. The wholesale lendingsystem uses market rates and the resultinginterest rates are much lower than those of-fered by informal credit systems.

• As poverty results from causes that are struc-tural, it is necessary to develop ways in whichthe poor themselves can become strongerand have more confidence to initiate change,implement their own development activitiesand engage in partnerships and dialogue withpublic authorities. This process requires along-term effort in capacity building.

Debate

The main achievements of UCDF are listed below.• Increased community organisations and networks: UCDO has been able to

expand its activities into 53 provinces throughout the country. About 950community saving groups and more than 100 community networks havebeen set up. Much of this expansion took place after the creation of CODI inOctober 2000.

• Increased community assets and direct financial resources: More than 1,000million baht (about US $22 million) have been disbursed as various kinds ofloans and more than half of the loans have been repaid. At the same time,community based savings groups have, to date, mobilised more than 500million baht (about US$11 million).

• Increased community management and enterprising capacity: Having estab-lished their resource base, communities, with the help of UCDO, have beenable to create linkages and partnerships with other groups, and to developthe confidence necessary to initiate and implement activities to improvetheir living conditions and to form effective partnerships with local authori-ties.

• More diverse housing solutions developed - from individual projects to cityprocesses: Several kinds of housing projects have been developed throughloans to community initiatives, including buying existing slum land, resettle-ment schemes that are in close proximity to former communities, slum im-provement and post- disaster housing repairs and reconstruction. As aresult, the urban poor have a much wider range of options and the lessonslearned have formed the basis for several city-wide housing developmentactivities.

• Development of large-scale community welfare activities: Most of the com-munity networks have developed their own community welfare programmesto take care of the more vulnerable groups in their midst. These welfare pro-grammes have been completely designed and carried out by the networks,and include funds for school fees, funds for people who are sick, funds forthe elderly, and funds for emergencies within communities.

• The experiences of CDF have spread to other countries: Several countriessuch as Cambodia, Laos, Vietnam, India, South Africa, Namibia and Zim-babwe have developed similar approaches in their countries and there arenow many similar community funds in operation.

The discussion highlighted a number of issues including the fol-lowing:• The CDF used existing knowledge and expertise within the

community through a system of information sharing andnetworking. Project implementation is a continual learningprocess. The standards of the housing projects imple-mented may not be very high, but they are adequate, ap-propriate and ones which the communities can work withand afford.

• The initial capital need not be as high as in the CDF. Sim-ilar organisations have started with much smalleramounts of capital.

• Many community initiatives grind to a halt because of theinability to sustain motivation and therefore participation.However, in the case of the Thai CDF, the fact that the fundis completely owned by the people ensures continued in-terest and participation.

• All of the housing developed through the CDF utilised thecooperative approach; though this approach is not im-posed on members. The financing of housing starts withcommunity savings which is then leveraged with loansfrom the fund at low interest rates.

46


Addressing the needs of theurban poor through participa-tory budgeting

This case deals with the process by which a system ofparticipatory planning and budgeting was introducedin Villa El Salvador, a part of the capital city of Lima,

Peru, consisting of more than 320,000 people.

In 1996, the newly elected municipal government of Villa ElSalvador proposed a new vision of development to its citi-zens. This vision: “Villa El Salvador es una comunidad soli-daria, un distrito productivo, y una ciudad saludable” (Villa ElSalvador is a community that works in solidarity, is a pro-ductive district, and a healthy city). The municipality pro-posed the idea of formulating a new integrated developmentplan for Villa El Salvador and work began in 1999 on a long-term plan to the year 2010.

The Municipality faced a big challenge: in order to elaboratethe new plan the entire population would have to participate,however, the traditional means of participation - the neigh-bourhood assemblies – as those were not adequately in-cluding women, young people and the full social diversity ofthe city. The answer lay in the process of city consultation.At the end of the consultation process, a large-scale citizens’referendum (Consulta Urbana) took place in November of1999 in which 48,000 citizens, men and women over 16years of age, participated.

Once Villa El Salvador’s 2010 Integrated Development Plan(Plan Integral de Desarrollo de Villa El Salvador al 2010) wasapproved, the next step was the formulation and approval ofthe Municipal Investment budget for the Year 2000. The mu-nicipal government decided to use the participatory budg-eting approach whereby a portion of its capital investmentbudget was decided upon in group meetings that took placein each of the 10 sectors of Villa El Salvador. The municipalbudget allocation process for 2001 followed the same logic,now with the additional goal of institutionalising an appro-priate legal framework that fully recognises the rights of cit-izens in decision-making.

To coordinate the process, a Technical Planning Committee,headed by a special commissioner from the Municipality,was formed. Two NGOs, DESCO and Calandria, were part ofthis committee and another NGO, FOVIDA, joined the team inthe formulation and approval process of the participatorybudget for the Year 2000. Besides mobilising resources inorder to support the consultation process, the NGOs´ prin-cipal function was to support, at all levels, the process of de-velopment of working methodologies. The United Nations’Urban Management Programme for Latin America and theCaribbean (PGU-LAC/UMP-LAC), participated in this processby means of the “City Consultation Project”. Later, the Pro-gramme supported the first international meeting on partic-ipatory budgeting that was held in Villa El Salvador inSeptember 2000. More than fifty Peruvian mayors were ableto share their experiences with the Municipality of Villa ElSalvador and with other representatives of four other LatinAmerican cities.

Presenter: Mr. Martin Pumar, Mayor of Villa El Salvador and Mr. Gustavo Riofrio, DESCO.Contact: Mr. Martin Pumar, Alcalde

Marianna Llona, Gustavo Riofrio, DESCOTel: (51-1) 263-1318, Fax: (51-1) 284-0128E-mail: [email protected], [email protected], [email protected]

Participatory Planning and Budgeting in Villa El Salvador,Lima, Peru

© T

opha

m/Im

ageW

orks

© T

opha

m/Im

ageW

orks

47

Lessons learned

The main lessons learned included the following:• A participatory planning and budgeting

process can have large-scale impact both interms of improvements to living conditionsand in terms of administrative efficiency andeffectiveness.

• A clear commitment from public authorities isnecessary and if the municipality’s commit-ment is perceived as fleeting or insincere, theprocess is most likely to fail.

• A high degree of social and political con-sensus can be built through participatoryplanning and budgeting resulting in the lever-aging of additional resources.

• Better communication between stakeholders,as it is promoted by participatory budgeting,prevents misinformation, promotes establish-ment of a long-term vision and fosters coher-ence of policy across issues and over time.

• The development of the city and the fightagainst poverty cannot be financed by themunicipal budget alone. Resources fromlocal stakeholders must be mobilised andcentral government support is important.

• Sharing the experiences with similar partici-patory budgeting processes from other coun-tries is very useful. Villa El Salvador benefiteda great deal from lessons learned from sistercities in Brazil, Uruguay and Venezuela someof which had longer experience in participa-tory planning and budgeting.

Given the results, the costs incurred were minor: a plan was adopted by a large numberof citizens and approximately US$560,000 of municipal investment was decided uponin a participatory way, representing US$1.75 per capita and 30 percent of the Munici-pality’s annual investment budget. Villa El Salvador was recognised as a Best Practicein 2000 for this initiative on “Participatory Urban Action” (see: www.bestpractices.org).

DebateThe main results and impacts of Villa El Salvador’s experience are summarised below:• Participatory budgeting is a recently developed tool that has made considerable

inroads in Latin America. By sharing decision-making for public investment, citiesand urban communities such as Villa El Salvador have been able to reduce cor-ruption, improve transparency and accountability, provide an effective voice for theurban poor and, not least, improve living conditions and the environment. Withoutdoubt, this and other similar experiences demonstrate that sharing of power doesnot imply giving it away. Establishing a direct link between people and their localgovernment is not only a means for communities to voice their complaints, but itis also a highly effective way to make difficult decisions and to ensure broad sup-port for what has been decided. It represents a continuing learning process indemocracy with implications that go beyond the immediate context of program-ming and budgeting. It is a process in which people realise the commitment ofpublic authorities to be responsive to the people’s needs and to be transparent andaccountable.

• The contribution of NGOs and community-based organisations in the process hasalso provided civil society organisations with a renewed impetus to engage in de-velopment work and to leverage their resources in investment projects. This hasan added benefit of mobilising additional human, technical and financial re-sources.

• Other local authorities in Peru have become interested in and are learning fromVilla El Salvador’s methodology.

An important issue emerging from the discussion was how to institutionalise the par-ticipatory process, including the need for a legal framework, which is critical for its sus-tainability. The importance of political will and commitment at both the national andlocal levels was emphasised. The participation of communities in strategic planningand in assessing the costs of urban services was highlighted as an innovative ap-proach. It was noted, however, that the long-term relationship between representativeand participatory democracy requires further analysis and discussion.

© T

opha

m/Im

ageW

orks


Developing a national frameworkfor local poverty reduction

The case describes a national pilot programme on urbanpoverty reduction launched in 1998. The programme is beingimplemented in three cities, namely Casablanca, Marrakech andTangier.

The Pilot Programme on Poverty Alleviation in Urban and Semi-Urban areas (1998-2001) was implemented at the local level inthe context of furthering sustainable human settlements devel-opment. The programme was an initiative of the Ministry of Em-ployment, Vocational Training, Social Development andSolidarity, with financial support from UNDP and technical as-sistance from UNCHS (Habitat). The Programme tested new ap-proaches to social development based on partnerships betweenlocal communities, government departments, civil society andthe private sector. The objective of the Programme was tostrengthen the capacities of local actors in the formulation andimplementation of integrated action plans for the alleviation ofpoverty in urban and semi-urban areas.

In addition to raising funds for disadvantaged populations,which was one of the Programme objectives, this collective ex-perience provided an opportunity to test new approaches in thefollowing areas:• The development of diverse partnerships involving all local

actors;• The establishment of consultation forums and support of a

continuing dialogue among the different actors in eachmunicipality;

• The strengthening of local capacities for planning andmanaging local initiatives;

• The participatory formulation and implementation of oper-ational projects which, based on their visibility and impact,would serve as replicable models.

The local actions focused on three priority concerns: (i) in-creasing income; (ii) improving access to housing and basicservices; and (iii) protecting vulnerable groups and promoting

Presenter: Mr. Monceyf Fadili, National Coordinator,Programme Pilote de Lutte Contre la Pauvrete Urbaine.(Pilot Programme for Urban Poverty Reduction)

Contact: Mr. Monceyf FADILI,Rabat Chellah - MAROCTel: (212-37) 76 03 60, Fax: (212-37) 76 21 90E-mail: [email protected]

Reduction of Urban Povertyin Morocco

48

49

Lessons learned

The initiative demonstrates both the need for andthe benefits of adopting a multi-sectoral approachand of involving various government departments.Such an approach brings to bear a range of re-sources for simultaneously addressing the interre-lated issues of education, health, youth, women,employment and housing. Furthermore, the initia-tive confirms the critical role of local authorities asthe level of government most capable of identi-fying and addressing local issues and the impor-tance of training and capacity building at the locallevel. More specifically, the following lessons werederived from the Morocco experience:• Centralised decision-making can be comple-

mented by local partnership approaches thatmobilise local resources, create synergiesamong ongoing activities, and promotebroad-based participation for the benefit, es-pecially, of disadvantaged groups.

• Good local development practice can bereplicated and scaled up with the support ofnational government programmes.

• Replication and up-scaling of successful localexperiences at the regional and nationallevels is an effective strategy for leveragingnational and international support for localpoverty alleviation initiatives.

their social integration. The Programme’s main strategy was to pro-vide seed funding and project development support through the mo-bilisation of sponsors for local projects. Over 50 percent of theProgramme’s financial resources were allocated to operational activi-ties with direct and immediate benefit to the targeted populations.

To ensure ownership by local partners, the Programme contributedfunding of up to 25 percent of the total project cost. The Programmebrought all partners together in a framework of contractual agree-ments on project development and implementation. This approach en-sured that the projects responded fully to the needs and priorities oflocal stakeholders. At the same time this approach created a sense ofcommon ownership amongst the local actors and target populations.In addition to being fully consistent with modern forms of local man-agement, the approach quickly gained credibility with the local com-munity.

DebateThe main results and impacts of the programme were as follows.• Creation of a framework for national interventions and support

that will enable local actors to take concerted decisions and actions.• Local capacities were strengthened at two levels: (i) creation of dialogue and con-

sultation forums through the Municipal Steering Committees in charge of project for-mulation and follow-up and training of elected representatives according to thematicmodules developed by UNCHS; and (ii) strengthening of local associations’ capaci-ties through the provision of training in project development and management inorder to improve professionalism in their interventions.

• The mobilisation of different partners around poverty alleviation projects has madeit possible to launch an approach of economic, social and spatial integration aimedat improving the living conditions of disadvantaged populations. Women were in-volved in sustainable income-generating activities (micro-enterprises, cooperatives,etc.) and in functional literacy, professional training, and mother-child integration ac-tivities.

• The Programme succeeded in involving all strata of disadvantaged populations, re-flecting a gender balance in project participation, in addition to implementing inte-grated projects for the benefit of children (literacy, training, delinquency prevention),the handicapped (job-qualifying training) and the elderly.

• In follow-up to the Programme, the Social Development Agency was created by theMinistry of Employment, Vocational Training, Social Development and Solidarity as afinancial window that provides assistance to projects and local partnerships. Thisentity is expected to build on the Pilot Programme’s achievements and assets inorder to initiate and support nationwide actions and projects aimed at enhancing theliving conditions of the most vulnerable populations.

• Also in follow-up to the programme, a local development programme entitled “CleanCities in Morocco: Local Agendas 21 for the Promotion of Environment and Sustain-able Development in Urban Areas”, was launched, on the basis of operational in-struments tested by the Pilot Programme.

In the discussion that followed the presentation highlighted the issues of devolution ofpower and of financial resources as well as questions related to community participation.There was general agreement on the importance of a clear and compelling set of socialpolicies based on the principles of participation, partnerships, and the strengthening oflocal capacities. The demonstration/replication approach, conceived from the beginningas a learning process, was seen as an essential ingredient for cost-effectiveness and sus-tainability. It was acknowledged that the pilot projects themselves may not necessarilycontribute directly to a significant reduction in poverty, but are useful for testing, refiningand demonstrating effective local poverty reduction methods and approaches for subse-quent replication and up-scaling.

50


Annex

A. Agenda of the Thematic Committee

Wednesday, 6 June 200111h - 12h Introduction and Method of Work

Shelter and Services

12h - 13h The South African Housing Policy: Operationalising the Right to Adequate Housing

15h - 16h Shelter Programmes and City Development Strategies in Egypt

16h - 17h Holistic Upgrading Programme in Medellin, Colombia

17h - 18h Improvement and Restructuring of Spontaneous Settlements in Dakar, Senegal

18h - 19h Community-driven provision of universal sanitation in Indian Cities

Thursday, 7 June 2001Environmental Management

9h - 10h Environmental Planning and Management in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania

10h - 11h Developing a Sustainable Compact City in Stockholm, Sweden

11h - 12h Comprehensive Urban Environmental Renovation in Chengdu, China

12h - 13h Environmental Management and City Development Strategy for the Katowice Agglomeration, Poland

Urban Governance

15h - 16h Urban Transformations in Brazil

16h - 17h City Development Strategy in Response to Globalisation in Lyon, France

17h - 18h Sustainable Urban Development and Good Governance in Nigeria

18h - 19h Sustainable Economic Transformation and Decentralisation in Barcelona, Spain

Friday, 8 June 2001Eradication of Poverty

9h - 10h Urban Community Development Fund, Thailand

10h - 11h Participatory Planning and Budgeting in Villa El Salvador, Peru

11h - 12h Reduction of Urban Poverty in Morocco

Concluding Remarks

51

B. Thematic Committee Officers (Bureau):Chairperson: Mr. Slaheddine Belaid, Minister of Public Works and Housing, Tunisia.

Vice-Chairperson: Mrs. Erna Witoelar, Minister for Settlements and Regional Infrastructure, Indonesia.

Vice-Chairperson: Mr. Jose Maria Matamoros, President of the National Housing Council, Venezuela.

Vice-Chairperson: Mr. Luis Garcia Cerezo, Permanent Representative of Spain to UNCHS (Habitat).

Rapporteur: Mrs. Elena Szolgayova, Ministry of Construction and Regional Development, Slovak Republic.

Secretary: Mr. Daniel Biau, Ag. Deputy Executive Director, UNCHS (Habitat)

C. Thematic Committee Facilitators:• Mr. Michel Delabarre, former Minister and Mayor of Dunkerque, France.

• Ms. Josefina Vasquez Mota, Secretary of Social Development, Mexico.

• Ms. Lydia Mabel Martinez de Jimenez, Director of Housing Policies, Argentina

• Mr. Reuben Mutiso, Architect-Planner, Kenya.

• Mr. Toshiyasu Noda, Counselor for Disaster Preparedness, Cabinet Office, Japan.

• Ms. Aydan Erim, Consultant, Housing Development Administration, Turkey.

• Mr. Patrick Wakely, Director, Development Planning Unit, London University.

• Mr. Esfandiar Kharat Zebardast, Senior Advisor, National Habitat Committee, Iran.

• Ms. Jacqueline da Costa, Director-General, Ministry of Lands and Environment, Jamaica.

D. AcknowledgementsThis publication is the result of a team effort that involved professionals from all parts of the United Nations Centre for Human

Settlements (Habitat) for the following tasks:

• Rationale and overall coordination - Jochen Eigen

• Editing - Nicholas You, Joseph Igbinedion and Jochen Eigen

• Compilation of visual materials and liaison with case study presenters and facilitators - Wandia Seaforth

• Sections on shelter and services - Brian Williams, Inge Jensen, Andre Dzikus, Selman Erguden, Kalyan Ray and Farouk Tebbal

• Sections on urban governance - Raf Tuts and Nicholas You

• Sections on environmental management - Ole Lyse, Jean-Christophe Adrian, Bernd Decker, and Chris Radford

• Sections on eradication of poverty - Naison Mutizwa-Mangiza.

As one basis for this publication, the proceedings of the Thematic Committee were documented in June 2001 by Yamina Djacta,

Naison Mutizwa-Mangiza and Wandia Seaforth of UNCHS (Habitat). Notes by Catherine McGuire of the Joslyn Castle Institute

for Sustainable Communities supplemented the official record. Images were reproduced courtesy of the case study authors and

the following colleagues and partners: Daniel Biau, Bernd Decker, Jochen Eigen, GTZ, Jay Moor, Wasna Warah, Topham/UNEP

and ImageWorks. This publication was designed and laid out by Michael Jones Software, Nairobi. Axumite Gebre-Egziabher

has contributed to the organisation of the Thematic Committee.

United Nations Centre for Human Settlements (Habitat)Nairobi, October 2001

www.unchs.org

implementing the habitat agenda - the 1996 - 2001 experience

Documents