The social sustainability of cities : diversity and the management of change ; [international research project "Towards Socially Sustainable Cities: Building a Knowledge Base for Urban Management"

Cities are a locus of human diversity, where people with varying degrees of wealth and status share an association within a particular urban boundary. Despite the common geography, sharp social divisions characterize many cities. High levels of urban violence bear witness to the difficult challenge of creating socially cohesive and inclusive cities. The devastated inner cities of many large American urban centres exemplify the failure of urban development. With an enlightened democratic approach to policy reform, however, cities can achieve social sustainability. Some cities have been more successful than others in creating environments conducive to the cohabitation of a diverse population. In this collection of original essays, case studies of ten cities (Montreal and Toronto in Canada, Miami and Baltimore in the United States, Geneva and Rotterdam in Europe, Sao Paulo and San Salvador in South America, and Nairobi and Cape Town in South Africa) are presented and analysed in terms of social sustainability. The volume as a whole looks at the policies, institutions, and planning and social processes that can have the effect of integrating diverse groups and cultural practices in a just and equitable fashion. The authors conclude that policies conducive to social sustainability should, among other things, seek to promote fiscal equalization, weave communities within the metropolis into a cohesive whole, and ideally, provide transport systems that ensure equal access to public services and workplaces, all within the framework of an open and democratic local governance structure. MuPDF error: syntax error: invalid key in dict MuPDF error: syntax error: invalid key in dict MuPDF error: syntax error: invalid key in dict MuPDF error: syntax error: invalid key in dict MuPDF error: syntax error: invalid key in dict MuPDF error: syntax error: invalid key in dict MuPDF error: syntax error: invalid key in dict MuPDF error: syntax error: invalid key in dict MuPDF error: syntax error: invalid key in dict CONTENTS 7 FOREWORD – Humanizing the City: A View from UNESCO's MOST Programme 9 ACKNOWLEDGMENTS 13 NOTES ON CONTRIBUTORS 15 1 Understanding the New Sociocultural Dynamics of Cities: Comparative Urban Policy in a Global Context 23 2 The Social Sustainability of Montreal: A Local or a State Matter? 59 3 Governance and Social Sustainability: The Toronto Experience 88 4 Miami: Governing the City through Crime 118 5 'A Third-World City in the First World': Social Exclusion, Racial Inequality, and Sustainable Development in Baltimore, Maryland 143 6 Geneva: Does Wealth Ensure Social Sustainability? 177 7 Room to Manoeuvre: Governance, the Post-industrial Economy, and Housing Provision in Rotterdam 195 8 São Paulo and the Challenges for Social Sustainability: The Case of an Urban Housing Policy 222 9 Downtown San Salvador: Housing, Public Spaces, and Economic Transformation 248 10 Social Transformation in a Post-colonial City: The Case of Nairobi 270 11 Cape Town: Seeking Social Sustainability in a Fast-Growing City 300 12 Learning from Each Other: Policy Choices and the Social Sustainability of Cities 328 Some cities have been more successful than others in creating environments conducive to the cohabitation of a diverse population. Case studies analyze ten cities in North America, South America, Europe, and Africa in terms of their social sustainability.