TOWARDS A JUST CITY JAVIER MARTINEZ. URBAN STUDIES SYMPOSIUM: URBANIZATION FUTURES June

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1 TOWARDS A JUST CITY JAVIER MARTINEZ URBAN STUDIES SYMPOSIUM: URBANIZATION FUTURES June

2 THE JUST CITY - BACKGROUND 1970s mainstream in planing was stimulating growth and the functional city The functional city (CIAM) Helicopter viewpoint Kill the expressway now (Jacobs) Viewpoints from the street 1960s critiques emerge to the modernist/rationalist helicopter view and to urban decision makers for exacerbating disadvantages in urban redevelopment and ignoring diversity

3 THE JUST CITY A DEFINITION a city in which public investment and regulation would produce equitable outcomes rather than support those already well off (Fainstein, 2010 : 3)

4 THE JUST CITY WHY?

5 THE JUST CITY SOCIAL JUSTICE It relates to the geography of social justice who gets what where and how? who should get what where and how

6 THE JUST CITY MAIN CONCERNS The Just City attributes: EQUITY DEMOCRACY DIVERSITY Fainstein (2010)

7 EQUITY

8 THE JUST CITY - EQUITY Equity implies fairness (distributional equity) in which policy aims at bettering the situation of those who without state intervention would suffer from relative deprivation Let s contrast fairness with the utilitarian framework (greatest good of the greatest number or benefiting the majority) where according to Fainstein- the doctrine of the greatest happiness of the greatest number says nothing about the happiness of those not among the majority (Fainstein, 2010 : 37) Main sector where planners are confronted with equity issues relate to urban regeneration, social services, transportation and housing.

9 INEQUALITY MAPPING SOCIAL JUSTICE PERSPECTIVE 12.0% 11.3% 10.0% 8.0% 6.0% 8.2% 7.8% 6.0% District Oeste District Sudoeste District Noroeste District Sur District Norte District Centro 4.0% 4.4% 2.7% 2.0% 1.6% 0.0% 1.3% 1.0% 0.5% 0.4% 0.1% Rosario District Best-Off / Worst-Off Neighbourhood Area 10

10 DEMOCRACY

11 THE JUST CITY - DEMOCRACY Distributive vs procedural justice (focus on outcomes or processes and participation ) Fainstein relates this to the communicative rationality planning but also argues that a just process not necessarily produce a just result. A communicative [participatory] model as she also recognises- calls for knowledge that is situated contextually and that relies on reasoning, empathy, and a variety of kinds of evidence to support policy propossals (Fainstein, 2010 : 25)

12 THE JUST CITY - DEMOCRACY In a communicative model / deliberative democracy peoples views are informed through the interaction with others it does not adequately confront the constraints on democracy in a society where resources are privately owned and controlled may poorly operate in situations of social and economic inequality Farenstein argues not to ignore the reality of structural inequality and hierarchies of power (Fainstein, 2010 : 30) Institutionalized citizen participation increases the information available to policy makers by providing local knowledge (Corburn 2005); it makes decision making more democratic but not necessarily more equitable Participatory mechanisms primarily became vehicle for middle class interests (Fainstein, 2010 : 66)

13 DEMOCRACY PARTICIPATION BIASED TOWARDS THE MIDDLE CLASS Martínez, J., Pfeffer, K., & van Dijk, T. (2011). E-Government Tools, Claimed Potentials/Unnamed Limitations. Environment and Urbanization Asia, 2(2),

14 DIVERSITY

15 THE JUST CITY - DIVERSITY Recognition of difference including race, ethnicity, gender, religion, and culture. Group differentiation is both an inevitable and a desirable aspect of modern social processes. Social justice required not the melting away of differences, but institutions that promote reproduction of and respect for group differences without oppression (Young 1990 : 47) social differentiation without exclusion (Young 1990 : 238) Material equity + recognition of difference = social inclusion

16 RESIDENTIAL SEGREGATION / ETHNIC GROUPS Turkish concentration areas in Enschede Desriani, R. W. (2011). Assessing Residential Segregation Profiles for Ethnic Groups in Enschede, the Netherlands. Master of Science in Geo-information Science and Earth Observation, University of Twente, Enschede.

17 QUALITY OF LIFE AND GENDER In Shumi et al. 2014, we used a mixed-method approach and elicited emic views to understand how the quality-of-life of women garment workers in Dhaka (Bangladesh) was affected by the walking conditions of the routes the take from home to work. 20

18 CHILDREN'S PERCEPTION OF THEIR CITY CENTER Al Arasi, H.A., Martínez, J.A. and Amer, S. (2016) Children's perception of their city centre : a qualitative GIS methodological investigation in a Dutch city. In: Children's geographies, 14(2016)4, pp

19 THE JUST CITY CHALLENGES

20 THE JUST CITY - CHALLENGES Equity, democracy and diversity may have conflicting agendas Complexity if sustainability concept is added > intergenerational justice Efficiency / rationality smart city paradigm / utilitarian principles (Utilitarianism) cost-benefit accounting is used to justify urban programs but they exaggerate benefits and underestimates costs, rely on aggregates, and ignore distributional outcomes (Sen 1999 : 3). A more sensitive form of analysis asks the questions: Who benefits and who assesses what outputs each group in the population receives? (Fainstein 2010 : 55).

21 THE JUST CITY - CHALLENGES Much of planning and policy development involves the collection and aggregation of data and the choice of how to present it. To the extent that experts present analysis not just of benefit/cots ratios but of who gets the benefits and who bears the costs, they can shift the debate toward a concern with equity (Fainstein 2010 : 181) A more sensitive form of analysis will require different forms of knowledge (not only the technical or scientific knowledge) and the recognition of the convergent and divergent views.

22 FACTORS SHAPING CARTOGRAPHIC REPRESENTATIONS OF INEQUALITIES A) Conceptualization of deprivations Deductive (theorydriven) Empirically defined, context-embedded Inductive (content-/community-/ practice-based) Data-driven geography & aggregations Context-embedded/ professionally validated Pre-defined Standard codifications Expert/codified C) Spatial representation B) Knowledge sources Martínez, J., Pfeffer, K., & Baud, I. (2016). Factors shaping cartographic representations of inequalities. Maps as products and processes. Habitat International, 51,

23 ARE WE COUNTING WHAT COUNTS FOR PEOPLE? ETIC VS EMIC VIEWPOINTS Experts People Experts Experts

24 ARE WE COUNTING WHAT COUNTS FOR PEOPLE? ETIC VS EMIC VIEWPOINTS ETIC / EMIC

25 QUALITY OF LIFE / MIXED APPROACH EXPERT VIEW (ETIC) LAY VIEW (EMIC) QUANTITATIVE data (material conditions) Data from: -Quantitative indicators (perceptions / experiential) Data from: - Assessments of satisfaction using numerical and categorical scales QUALITATIVE data (material conditions) (perceptions / experiential) - Landscape appreciation - Consideration of human environment in terms of local cultural milieu - Relations material/social setting - Data from: - Focus group discussions - Participatory mapping - Open interviews - Walking interviews - VGI Martinez, J., Miscione, G., & Verplanke, J. (2016). A Geographic and Mixed Methods Approach to Capture Unequal Quality of Life Conditions. In R. Phillips & C. Wong (Eds.), The Handbook of Community Well-Being: Springer. 28

26 OBJECTIVE VS. SUBJECTIVE QUALITY OF LIFE WELL-BEING DEPRIVATION / DISSONANCE - ADAPTATION Tesfazghi, E., Martinez, J., & Verplanke, J. (2010). Variability of Quality of Life at Small Scales: Addis Ababa, Kirkos Sub-City. Social Indicators Research, 98(1),

27 (WALKING) INTERVIEWS UNDERSTANDING REASONS BEHIND ADAPTATION AND DISSONANCE the house is small and it is not in a good condition but I am satisfied because I cannot pay more than what I am paying now for house rent if I do so my kids will starve while objective (GIS) measures of accessibility to social infrastructure show good conditions walking interviews with residents revealed dissonance and other dimensions attached to accessibility (e.g. affordability) Berhe, R., Martinez, J., & Verplanke, J. (2014). Adaptation and Dissonance in Quality of Life: A Case Study in Mekelle, Ethiopia. Social Indicators Research, 118(2), doi: /s y 30

28 CONCLUSIONS SUMMARY OF QUESTIONS How might (spatial) data or indicators inform and shape work towards the just city? Are we counting what counts for people? -Who determines basic needs/issues? Who maps them? And How? -Role and limitations of a geographic and mixed methods approach In what ways can we measure success towards the just city? Making visible the gap in QoL conditions between neighbourhood areas Monitoring change towards equalization When to intervene in case of dissonance and adaptation? Challenge: who wins and who loses?

29 THE SMART CITY AND THE EMPATHIC CITY The functional city (CIAM) ETIC VIEW Kill the expressway now (Jacobs) EMIC VIEW The Smart city Urban fantasies (Watson, 2013) The technological city? The just city The empathic city?

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