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The World’s Urban Future. Pacific Asia Mega-Urban Regions. Coastal Corridors of Urbanization. Bipolar Development and Rural Depopulation. Countries with Pro-TNC Policies. FDI 1970-1997. Urbanization and Civil Society.
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Urbanization and Civil Society • “Civitas,” the idea of the cityis closely associated with the vision of the active involvement of civil society in public life and in democratic societies.. • Civil society: the organized face of society through voluntary associations outside of direct control of either the state or the private economy. • Governance with state and civil society is needed to transcending entrenched communes of resistance. • civic spaces are required for the flowering of civil society : spaces of social inclusion and associational life
Lifeworlds, the Public Sphere and Globalization in Pacific Asia
Civic Spaces • Civic spaces: “inclusive spaces in which people of different origins and walks of life can co-mingle without overt control by government, commercial or other private interests, or de facto dominance by one group over another”. • “Change life? Change society? First there must be an appropriate space!”Lefebvre’s (1991:59). • “Civic space” is notthe equivalent to “public space.” • Civic spaces are mostly equivalent to“community free spaces” – theyrequire regulation: rules of access and use if they are to function in an inclusive, fundamentally non-violent and civil manner.
8 Types of Civic Spaces • Public parks/plaza • Public sidewalks and “main street” • Community/civic centers and public buildings • Commercial establishments with traditions as civic spaces • Private establishments regulated by the state to include civic spaces • Cyber civic spaces • Marginal, illegal/covert, and disguised civic spaces • Insurgent spaces
Piazza in Italy Public Parks/Plaza Ancient Rome “Civil society was coterminous with the sum of public opinion heard in the forum, theater and other places of gathering in the city. Without the infrastructure and the institutions of the city, its strangers and its tapestry of personal connections, there could be no Public Benefit, Common Good, or indeed Civil Society.”
Public sidewalks and “main street” • The mix of civic with commercial as well as residential functions at a neighborhood and community scale is one of the most important enhancements to urban life (Jane Jacobs 1961). Amsterdam
Volunteer Action Center Community/civic centers and public buildings Government, non-profit and for-profit community centers have provided civic spaces covering a wide variety of activities, ranging from hobby clubs and the arts to community political organizations and action groups.
Sento Commercial establishments with traditions as civic spaces Some types of commercial establishments are given commercially viability because they are frequented for the civic spaces they provide. Many are long-established social institutions that have continued to thrive in contemporary times.
Free speech at shopping mall Private establishments regulated by the State to include civic spaces The quality of civic life in all civic spaces greatly depends on the ways in which they are regulated by the state, private or common property owners, stewards and users. In some instances, governments have moved to create civic spaces in privately owned locations that have serve the public at large.
Cyber-cafe Cyber civic spaces • “virtual communities” • dystopian futures • “digital divides” and privileged spaces Internet cafes with low-cost access to computers abound in many Pacific Asia cities, especially in Southeast Asia where ability to buy computers is still restricted to a small percentage of the population. Increasing concentration of ownership of all forms of media into huge transnational corporations stands in sharp contrast to the promises of the civic space expansion through the spread of easy access internet use within civil society.
Green Environmental protest, a temple – Seoul Marginal, illegal/covert, and disguised civic spaces Civic spaces might be harbored, for example, in temples, religious schools or other sites for religious practices that governments dare not directly enter. They are common in large ethnic communities where the very numbers of people and ‘foreign’ languages shield them from intensive state control.
Bangkok Monument of Democracy Insurgentspaces Sites that are imbued with deep cultural and political meanings that, while perhaps invisible on a daily basis, become the spaces for protests and challenges to the dominating interests. Insurgent spaces are also shifting from direct civil society-state confrontations to civil society-corporate economy relations. Executive Yuan
Lifeworlds, Neighborhoods and the Developmental State • From the point of view of modern nationalism, neighborhoodsexist principally to incubate andreproduce compliant national citizens. Locality for the modern nation-state is either a site of nationally appropriated nostalgias, celebrations, and commemoration or a necessary condition of the production of nationals. Neighborhoods as social formations represent anxieties for the nation-state, … they need to be policed almost as thoroughly as borders.(Appardurai 1996:189).
“Guests must be reported to ‘the authorities’ within 24 hours”
Monas, Jakarta Before “Improvement” After Addition of Fences
Inul, Dangdut and “Drilling”Protest-- Jakarta Fountain Circle
Response to Civil Society at the Fountain New Design Previous Design
Redesigned Community Space in Singapore -- center shade tree removed, replaced by decorative palms on outer perimeter -- stainless steel benches installed without shade
Public Housing Play Area, Singapore Newly designed child play area for public housing
Global Capital and Culture Until the latter part of the 20th century, culture was principally developed within nation-states and national cultures. In recent years, however, new technologies and institutional changes have begun to break down the symmetry between nation and culture, resulting in a new form of “cultural globalization” affecting political identities, national solidarity and cultural values. (Held, et al.(1999), Global Transformations; Politics, Economics and Culture).
Globalization of Circuits of Capital and Pacific Asia Urbanization Circuits of capital by Year of Intrusion Bangkok Population 1880-2000
Rattanokosin Island and Global Tourism Sanam Luang Democracy Monument “Without the ‘stupid’ Tha Tien Market, tourists would be able to take nice pictures of the nearby sites.” Quote attributed to Bangkok Governor Samak Sundaravej, promoter of renovation of historical Rattanakosin Island for “Sustainable Tourism.”(Poonyarat 2002).
Intentional World City Mega-Projects Rama III Pahon Yothin
(net)citizens win a civic space “Festivic” Space in Seoul Lifeworld<–>Public Sphere World Cup Rally, City Hall Plaza
Global Migration and Cultural Spaces Filipino Sunday gathering on Orchard Road, Singapore Estimated Legal and Illegal Foreign Workers, c. 2001 • Sources: various government documents compiled by the author. *Foreign workers includes only low-wage “blue-collar” workers. • **Numbers do not include ethnic Korean residents without citizenship who number about 637,000 (Migration News 2002b).
Conclusions • Civic Spaces are created in nexus of civil society-state-economy • Until 1990s civic space issues dominated by state-civil society relations • The global economy is now the major force in the city and civic spaces • Civic spaces are crucial to associational life and the public sphere; • People will mobilize to create and maintain them. • Civic spaces formed through insurgency are ultimately ephemeral; how to routinely provide and sustain them is most important. • The multicultural future of cities poses new challenges for civic spaces.
