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

1. “The right to the city”, programming urbanisation and the role of planning João Cabral (CIAUD/FAUTL) Measuring urbanity: Densities, networks and urban fabrics Panel III – Governance & Regulation 11th May 2012 Faculty of Architecture, Technical University of Lisbon

2. The relation between expanding urbanisation processes and the role of planning in a scenario of administrative reforms with a focus on place policies and place-based approaches. Suburbanisation is linked with urban planning practices not because they were more efficient and desirable but because it was the best available method of extracting capital from land and its improvements. “Emphasizing the role of capital in the making of suburban life allows it to be acknowledged how a range of practices , including industrial relocation and financialization, have defined the suburbanization process and suburbanism itself” (Ekers,M., Hamel,P. and Keil,R. , 2012: 418)

3. In the debate over urban structure, what seems to be lost is the question of kind of community and network relations to belong to, before deciding its form. The distinction between positivist and interpretive traditions in spatial planning as a conceptual framework for identifying the different functions and stages of the planning process in the production of the built environment. The two traditions are associated with different ways of gathering and using evidence, influencing collaborative and participatory processes. This distinction is useful for evaluating the role of planning under reforms promoting localism in parallel with concerns for territorial cohesion and a more efficient use of public funds emphasizing the need for place policies and place-based approaches.

4. “the question of what kind of city we want cannot be divorced from the question of what kind of people we want to be, what kinds of social relations we seek, what relations to nature we cherish, what style of daily life we desire, what kinds of technologies we deem appropriate, what aesthetic valueswehold.The right to the city is, therefore, far more than a right of individual access to the resources that the city embodies: it is a right to change ourselves by changing the city more after our heart’s desire. It is, moreover, a collective rather than an individual right since changing the city inevitably depends upon the exercise of a collective power over the processes of urbanization.” David Harvey “The Right to the City” New Left Review 53, Sept-Oct 2008

5. Portugal - number of dwellings1991-2010 (INE) • In the last twenty years population in Portugal grew by 7 percent and housing stock by 40 percent, an equivalent to 80 thousand dwellings per year. • Value of housing mortgages grew from 5 thousand million Euros in 1990 to 104 thousand million in 2008. • Total bank credit given to Construction + Real Estate + Housing accounted in 2008 for 168.701 million Euros, while total bank credit in Agriculture + Fisheries + Manufacturing accounted for 16.455 million Euros. • Portuguese GDP in 2008 was around 180.000 million Euros. Source: Pedro Bingre “Análise das relações da política de solos com o sistema económico” (Estudo de enquadramento para a preparação da Nova Lei do Solo) DGOTDU 2011

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

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

10. The Governance of Suburbanization State forms Capital accumulation Private authoritarianism Non-governmental organisations, public-private partnerships, development corporations and various stakeholder-based associations are often autocratic and are producing questionable forms of political citizenship. Arguably authoritarian forms of governance are proliferating most quickly in suburban spaces. Ekers,M., Hamel,P. and Keil,R. (2012) Governing Suburbia: Modalities and Mechanisms of Suburban Governance. Regional Studies, 46:3, 405-422

11. CITIES OR URBANIZATION?Harvey, David in City 1-2, Oxford, London, 1995 Myth • Communitysolidarity can providethestabilityandpower to controlandmanageurbanproblemsandthat “community” can substitute for publicpolitics. • Opposed – communityisanunstableconfigurationrelative to theconflictual processes thatgenerate, sustainandeventuallyunderminethem – as sofar as it does acquirepermanenceitisfrequentlyanexclusionaryandoppressive social form.

12. THE EUROPEAN AGENDA A place-based development policy can be defined as: • a long-term development strategy whose objective is to reduce persistent inefficiency and inequality in specific places, • through the production of bundles of integrated, place-tailored public goods and services, and • promoted from outside the place by a system of multilevel governance. AN AGENDA FOR A REFORMED COHESION POLICY A place-based approach to meeting European Union challenges and expectations - IndependentReportprepared at the request of DanutaHübner, Commissioner for Regional Policy byFabrizio Barca April 2009

13. From place based planning to planning as place making

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

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

16. Thank you St Paul’s/London/2011