The [global] urban process
After reading David's Harvey "The right to the City" I am left with a lot of questions on how to resolve our problem. Who has the right to the city? From what I got, he claims that "everyone" but... who is "everyone"? In his view clearly the capitalist bourgeoisie isn't and shouldn't since they keep messing up so, is it the people who live there (preferably excluding the bourgeoisie maybe)? or the people who work there, who visit it, who where born there, left and came back? Who decides?
I was very interest in his historical explanation of the urban process.. I mean, that's the whole article but the phrase that caught my attention was this one:
"Since the urban process is a major channel of use, then the right to the city is constituted by establishing democratic control over the deployment of surpluses through adequate survival"
So... don't get entirely rid of capitalism "To have surplus is not a bad thing: in deed, in many situations a surplus is crucial to adequate survival" Pg. 13, just make it more democratic. Seems about right, the only problem again is... who is part of this democracy? How do we define it? Who gets to define it? The 7.5 billion people that live in the world? Since it went global then do I have the right to democratically represent the cities of China, Mexico and India? Can this democratic approach make sure that we "all" know the right answers and that we won't make the sames mistakes? I know he doesn't give us the answer to this, he does suggest that cities should come together and ask this question but I wonder...in this "commune" where do I fit in? Should I fit in? Where can I find my "claim the right to the city [...] to claim some kind of power over the process of urbanization"?
Clearly Marxism is not the answer either apparently: "This is the case also in India, where the special economic development zones policy now favored by central and state government is leading to violence against agricultural produces, the grossest of which was the massacre at Nandigram in West Bengal, orchestrated by the ruling Marxist political party."
So where do I look for answers? I think as Architects we have the responsibility to ask these questions and read different perspectives. Not only Marxists that clearly even attack themselves but look for other ways to rethink our problems. Think creatively on how to solve these problems and stop feeling guilty for ourselves for enjoying both the good and the bad things that have happened in history through different regimes. History sadly repeats itself. All of our readings and lectures so far have proved it and what? Are we doomed? Can we change? I honestly don't know the answer but I would for sure love to hear some suggestions.
I was very interest in his historical explanation of the urban process.. I mean, that's the whole article but the phrase that caught my attention was this one:
"Since the urban process is a major channel of use, then the right to the city is constituted by establishing democratic control over the deployment of surpluses through adequate survival"
So... don't get entirely rid of capitalism "To have surplus is not a bad thing: in deed, in many situations a surplus is crucial to adequate survival" Pg. 13, just make it more democratic. Seems about right, the only problem again is... who is part of this democracy? How do we define it? Who gets to define it? The 7.5 billion people that live in the world? Since it went global then do I have the right to democratically represent the cities of China, Mexico and India? Can this democratic approach make sure that we "all" know the right answers and that we won't make the sames mistakes? I know he doesn't give us the answer to this, he does suggest that cities should come together and ask this question but I wonder...in this "commune" where do I fit in? Should I fit in? Where can I find my "claim the right to the city [...] to claim some kind of power over the process of urbanization"?
Clearly Marxism is not the answer either apparently: "This is the case also in India, where the special economic development zones policy now favored by central and state government is leading to violence against agricultural produces, the grossest of which was the massacre at Nandigram in West Bengal, orchestrated by the ruling Marxist political party."
So where do I look for answers? I think as Architects we have the responsibility to ask these questions and read different perspectives. Not only Marxists that clearly even attack themselves but look for other ways to rethink our problems. Think creatively on how to solve these problems and stop feeling guilty for ourselves for enjoying both the good and the bad things that have happened in history through different regimes. History sadly repeats itself. All of our readings and lectures so far have proved it and what? Are we doomed? Can we change? I honestly don't know the answer but I would for sure love to hear some suggestions.
Wow. This post is packed with a million ideas, conflicts, and questions. Do I have an answer for you? No. But I think as architects the thought that we can change society or the entire city is crazy. There are way too many factors, complexities, personalities, and politics that go into every city, that it is almost impossible to control everything to be the way we want it to be. With that being said, it is also important to not feel discouraged about it. We need to do our best to make what little changes we can, and this is through small individual projects. We should do our best to make sure that each project we complete displays our ideals, good ethics, sustainable principles, community improvement, and any other positive changes that we can implement. Can we change the entire city this way? No. But with small steps, we can help to inspire others to design in a similar way, and maybe, just maybe, we can slowly redevelop the city into a place that we would truly like it to be.
ReplyDelete