The Transforming Asian City

地 理 系 Department of Geography

THE TRANSFORMING ASIAN CITY: Innovative Urban and Planning Practices Conference Proceeding

Editors: Nihal Perera Wing-Shing Tang

THE TRANSFORMING ASIAN CITY: INNOVATIVE URBAN AND PLANNING PRACTICES

Editors: Nihal Perera Wing-Shing Tang

Hong Kong Baptist University

Co-sponsored by: Elizabeth Chan Cheng E-Lay Geography Academic Lecture Fund The Research Committee, Hong Kong Baptist University The Centre for China Urban and Regional Studies (CURS)

May 3-5, 2007 Hong Kong Baptist University

CONTENTS Transforming Asian City: Innovative Urban and Planning Practices in Asia Nihal Perera 1–6

Places for the Gods: Urban Planning as Orthopraxy and Heteropraxy in China Daniel Benjamin Abramson 7-27

Community Politics and Urban Culture: The Practice of Lei Yue Mun Tourism in Postcolonial Hong Kong Iam-Chong IP, Shun-hing Chan and Lisa Y. M. Leung

28-46

Reinventing Public Service Provision for the Socially-Excluded in the City: The Recent Transformation of Homelessness Support and Different Paths Toward Self-dependence for the Homeless in Japan Geerhardt Kornatowski and Toshio Mizuuchi 47-60

A Constructivist Paradigm to Teach Asian Planners Lee Lik Meng

61-81

The Struggle against Loss of Living Space: Squatter Resident Practices and Local Politics in Postwar Japan Takuya Motooka and Toshio Mizuuchi

82-92

Self Organizing and Planning: The Case of Small Towns in Sri Lanka Jagath Munasinghe

93-102

Rajadamnoen Avenue: Thailand’s Transformative Path Towards Modern Polity Koompong Noobanjong

103-115

New Directions in Urbanism and Planning in Asia Nihal Perera

116-133

Small and Medium Cities Negotiate Globalization: Indonesian Experience Pradono, Tommy Firman 134-151

The Rhetoric and Practice of Participatory Planning: The Mix Use Provisions in Delhi Poonam Prakash

152-160

Aranya Township, Indore, India: An innovative experiment for Human Habitat Utpal Sharma and Bhavesh Mehta 161-177 Living Space, Identity, Citizens: The Realization of Participation in a “Middle-Class” Gated-Community in Inner City Shanghai Sun Zhe

178-188

Justice and Innovation: Peasant’s Negotiation of Land in the City Li Lixun, Wing-Shing Tang, Anne Haila

188-189

Changing Paradigms – Initiating change in Asian Cities: A Peoples Struggle in Lahore Imrana Tiwana

190-224

The Formation of a Multi-Cultural Historical Plaza: An Unexpected Urban Renewal Practice in Taipei Huey-Jiun Wang

225-234

Beijing Underground Rufina Wu

235-248

Transforming the Asian City: Lessons and Reflections Oren Yiftachel

249

Roundtable: China-India Comparative Urbanism and Planning

250

Participants’ projects: Nihal Perera and Wes Janz Oren Yiftachel and Nihal Perera Toshio Mizuuchi, Takuya Motooka, Geerhardt Kornatowski Wes Janz List of Contributors

LIST OF THE CONTRIBUTORS

Dan ABRAMSON, University of Washington, Seattle, WA, USA CHAN Shun-Hing, Lingnan University, Hong Kong Anne HAILA, University of Helsinki, Finland Iam-Chong IP, Lingnan University, Hong Kong Geerhardt KORNATOWSKI, Osaka City University, Osaka, Japan LEE Lik Meng, University Sains Malaysia, Penang, Malaysia LI Lixun, Sun Yat Sen University, Guangzhou, China Lisa Y. M. LEUNG, Lingnan University, Hong Kong Bhavesh MEHTA, CEPT University, Ahmedabad, India Toshio MIZUUCHI, Osaka City University, Osaka, Japan Takuya MOTOOKA, Osaka City University, Japan Jagath MUNASINGHE, University of Moratuwa, Sri Lanka Koompong NOOBANJONG, King Mongkut’s Institute of Technology at Ladkrabang, Bangkok, Thailand Nihal PERERA, Ball State University, Muncie, IN, USA/Hong Kong Baptist University PRADONO, Tommy Firman, Institut of Technologi Bandung (ITB), Bandung, Indonesia Poonam PRAKASH, School of Planning and Architecture, New Delhi, India Utpal SHARMA, CEPT University, Ahmedabad, India SUN Zhe, East China Normal University, Shanghai, China TANG Wing-Shing, Hong Kong Baptist University, Hong Kong Imrana TIWANA, Architect-Planner, Lahore, Pakistan Huey-Jiun WANG, National Taiwan University of Science and Technology, Taipei, Taiwan Rufina WU, University of Waterloo, Cambridge, Ontario, Canada Oren YIFTACHEL, Ben Gurion University, Israel / Curtin University, Perth, Australia

Transforming Asian City: Innovative Urban and Planning Practices in Asia Nihal PERERA Ball State University, Muncie IN, USA

In a century where global affairs are being increasingly shaped by events in Asia, the planning and molding of Asia’s own cities do not display much innovation, and the discourses about them strongly downplay the possibility of any non-Western directions to their development. The cities in Asia are undergoing profound social (economic, political, and social) and spatial transformations, but the changes in their physical environments appear to be conservative, reactive, and piecemeal. Moreover, the understanding of the spatial construction of this social transformation is hampered by the lack of analytical tools. Scholarly work on the transforming Asian city is heavily focused on the globalization of Asian cities, used largely as a code-word for the Westernization of core economic and political zones of the city. Their authors have paid little attention to the production of space, place, and identity by regular citizens. As they speak, these scholars and professionals create the image of the Asian city as one that is dominated by West-centered global forces and processes.

“Non-West” is employed here to indicate the difference and not placed in opposition to the West. “Innovation” refers to transformative practices that do not directly follow or mimic a dominant or hegemonic example. It does not refer to something pure or authentic, but to hybrid perceptions, conceptions, creations, and transformations of space that creatively combine local, regional, Western, and global knowledge and experience in new ways, but grounded in global, local, and daily processes.

This conference intends to look beyond the top down and external views of the Asian city, which are partial descriptions, and to evoke people’s spaces and identities.

These are affected, but not determined by larger global forces. Hence, the aim is to excavate the broader and deeper transformation of day-today spaces by the majority of local people and institutions, as part of construction of their social and cultural practices which shape and are shaped by large-scale transformations such as globalization, Westernization, and the formation of national, regional, and local communities. In this context, the conference focuses on cities and communities. The larger goal of this conference is to develop better understanding of the Asian city and the new directions of its developments.

The cities in south, east, and Southeast Asia –called Asian cities in this paper– have been experiencing radical transformations for over three decades. Yet the improvements in the physical environments and the larger construction of social space are of major concern. At the most practical level, the former Chief Executive Officer of the Urban Redevelopment Authority of Singapore, Liu Thai Ker (1998) stresses that the economic upgrading of Asian countries has not been matched by environmental improvement. Hence the current urbanization process is bound to require a second round of planning (may be third and fourth as well), later on, especially when the problems that are overlooked become critical. As more land is developed, and further developed, changes to the city’s infrastructure and the built -1-

environment are bound to be more costly, and will result in the relocation of citizens, activities, functions, and the demolition of buildings and infrastructure.

At the formal level, Asian urban development and planning lack innovation.

There is a strong inability among the professionals and politicians to see the people’s city. This prevents so-called “home-grown” urbanization and blocks the ability to understand people’s aspirations. As indicated in urban projects and development plans, most planners and city leaders in Asia largely follow the West. Development plans opt, for example, to curtail sprawl, privatize development and public spaces, bring back mixed land-uses, urban renewal, revitalize down towns, develop waterfronts, and achieve sustainable urban development. These are responses to problems faced by the “modern” Western city at its various stages of development, and they cause the gentrification of low-income neighborhoods. The plans respond to someone else’s history and itinerary. Yet the issue of social and cultural appropriateness of such frameworks in Asia is yet to be raised.

This perception of the people and their spaces has erased difference and impose a foreign identity for them. It assumes that Asian cities have no specific identity and Asian people have no aspirations outside of following the West. By taking the Asian cities out of local histories and day-today practices, the development and planning discourses have dehistoricized and defamiliarized the local environments in Asia and the imposition of universal goals for them indicates that all people have the same values, worldviews, aspirations, and want to reach the same destiny. These discourses transform the ground realities to fit the theory. As these frameworks are employed and taught in all major schools of planning across Asia, they make the city planners see what they want to see in Asia, tell their own story about the Other people, privileging their external narratives by marginalizing the ordinary city and its local people. The process is, however, not one-sided and people are not passive recipients of external forces. (See below) I see four main reasons for the hegemony of this type of thinking. Firstly, for the majority of planners and city leaders, who still follow the old development discourse of catching up with the West and the currently dominant West-centered globalization discourse, the early adoption of new trends and practices developed in the West increases the competitiveness of their city or their professional work. Such transformation is also expected to provide the image of a “modern” city, i.e., to modernize without substance, from a West-centric perspective. This is a cyclical process that makes it necessary for them to know and appreciate the latest developments in the West which marginalizes –perhaps inadvertently– the new and innovative developments taking place in their own back yards.

Secondly, at the technical level, the knowledge produced in the West and the methods of production are largely the focus of the professionals educated in Western institutions –whether this takes place in the West or in another place. These professionals, and also academics, are largely the agents of importing Western knowledge and promoting it as unmarked knowledge, i.e., universal knowledge without boundaries as opposed to culturally marked Asian knowledge. Thirdly, both politics and planning have changed in favor of private development and profit making.

Political and economic leaders in most countries have figured out that following the so-called neo-liberal path allows their growth coalitions to transform the city into a

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growth machine. Finally, even if a planner or a city leader wants to be innovative, or to look beyond the West, there is hardly any epistemological space, that is violated.

There are no knowledge-bases, or methods of accepted knowledge production, from which to draw. It is this gap that this conference opts to address.

The marginalization of people’s practices and the lack of intellectual tools to appreciate these expose a significant shortcoming in scholarship. Many significant aspects of Asian urbanism particularly from “globalization” and Westernization standpoints are reasonably well studied. For example, the so-called “marketization” of China, the destruction of “traditional” environments, and the homogenization of landscapes are well documented. (See Logan 2002; Wu 1999; Ding and Song 2005) The complementary analysis of the national construction of (society and) spaces also focuses on another power center, the state, and does not take this discourse much further.1 The spaces of daily life of regular people –as opposed to the spaces of capital, the West, and local upper classes– have hardly entered planning and scholarly languages. The discourses privilege mega-projects that make “global” spaces in the circuits of big capital not because they are of higher quality or appropriate, but because the investigations, even critical studies, adopt the same power centers as their vantage points of inquiry. What they see is what is framed through their research design. Unless we want to see the daily practices of the people, we won’t see them.

Besides the focus, the large majority of these studies is Eurocentric, power-centric, top-down and dualistic in approach, and do not allow much agency for the locals.

They employ outsider points of view, view the Asian city as the “Other,” and produce knowledge of Asia for the West and the Western academy. The scope of this Orientalism is highly limited in regard to the intellectual tools it provides to explore and understand any new directions that Asian urbanization and planning might be taking; doing this would require the employment of Asian vantage points. This focus on Westernization, which occupies the historical and cognitive spaces of those places and people of which the discourses speak, is intrusive and colonial. These works have marginalized and silenced local voices, causing epistemic violence against the local people.

Yet the power of the dominant discourses is not absolute. While the system is not complete, resistance operates in the center, within the cracks, and the margins of the system. “Bottom-up” processes and innovations take place and new ideas emerge in Asia’s cities, but at a small scale and slow rate, and caused by small people who negotiate space for their daily practices. Professionals who adapt to the society, culture, and environment also “learn by doing.” Making these ordinary spatial stories visible and available could lead to the creation of new cascades of thought, practice, and scholarship. More immediately, their documentation would create an alternative “tool box” for urban managers, leaders, and planners in Asia, not simply to borrow, but to learn from the other and to generate inspiration for creativity and more diverse practices. The examination and documentation of such practices is precisely the objective of the conference The identification, examination, and validation of innovative trends of urbanization and planning in Asia’s cities can provide an epistemic opening and an alternative –not oppositional– intellectual tool kit for city leaders, planners, and related professionals in Asia. The diversification of spatial and planning tools would provide the scholars

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and practitioners an inspiration and a spring board to generate new ideas.

Highlighting such practices is also a way to bring theory and practice of urbanization and planning closer together, causing research to have an impact on the empowerment of ordinary citizens. The conference will lay a foundation for the addressing of issues of Asian urbanism from an Asian-friendly perspective, acknowledging the agency for local inhabitants –to the degree that is possible. The purpose is not to develop an Asia-centrism, pure Asian knowledge, or to nullify European knowledge on Asian cities. Instead of engaging in oppositional politics, the aim is to provincialize Western knowledge, considering it one possible truth –among many (unequal) truths-and to develop other knowledges from local vantage points, both diversifying knowledge and somewhat leveling the field of knowledge, in regard to social power involved in the production, validation, circulation, and hegemonization of knowledge.

Increasingly, scholars in urban studies and social space employ locally-friendly and empathic perspectives that could acknowledge “local” agency. From the 1970s, scholars of urban political economy have developed a new understanding of the relationship between society and space and have highlighted the class nature of urbanism, planning, and the state involvement. The work is largely oppositional to capitalism. Scholars of colonial urbanism have exposed both the political and social power involved in the historical construction of architecture and urban spaces and the connections between colonial policies and spatial subjectivity.2 The deconstruction and the decentering of colonial, Western, and nationalist discourses have been effectively carried out by scholars of subaltern and postcolonial studies.3 Despite the expansion of these studies beyond their original foci of history and English literature, they have little to say about social space and urbanism. From the 1990s, critically feeding off these streams of studies, a small group of scholars of urbanism and planning have begun to address this gap; they not only expose the Euro-centrism and male-centrism in mainstream work, but also attempt to acknowledge agency and the transformative capacity of the subordinate subjects in the production and transformation of space. Shifting the vantage-point in different ways and questioning ‘post-colonial’ and ‘nationalist’ constructions of social space at different scales, the work of, for example, Holston (1989); Yeoh and Kong (1994); Yeoh (1996); Nalbantoglu and Wong (1997); Perera (1998; 2002a; 2002b); Sandercock (1998); Kusno (2000); Goh (2002); Zhang (2001); and Nasr and Volait (2003) has laid a foundation for the study of urbanism from “subaltern/postcolonial” perspectives.4 Building upon these studies, the conference focuses on innovative aspects of contemporary Asian urbanism and planning. It opts to go beyond and behind the conventional globalization, modernization, and Westernization facades and develop a knowledge-base that can provide a new direction for the research on Asian urbanization and inspire innovative urban, planning, and design practices in these cities. It will approach the issue from a social production of space standpoint, but will adopt local-friendly vantage points, pay special attention to social power in these constructions, and acknowledge local agency.

The objective is not to document all people’s spatial stories or small innovative practices, but to lay a foundation for the addressing of Asian urbanism –or any urbanism– from locally-friendly perspectives, acknowledge the agency for local inhabitants, and allow them to occupy the same time and space that we do through our privileged discourses. In short, we aim to be aware of and remove some barriers that

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prevent them from telling their own stories, and constructing their own spaces. The more immediate scholarly objective is to explore new trends in planning in Asia’s cities that would provide an opening for urban planners and managers in Asia to go beyond the present-day Euro-centric planning systems, and empower themselves to develop plans that are more related to the environment of the city and the people who live in it.

I believe that it is important to allow the conference participants to tell their own stories. As intended, their stories are diverse: they focus on the homeless in Japan and planners in India to small cities in Indonesia and Sri Lanka; address pedagogical, practice, and research issues; and adopt the vantage points of non-governmental organizations (NGOs), one that helped the prostitutes of Calcutta empower themselves, to that of people whose rights are written into plans but are unable to materialize them. Instead of re-presenting these interesting stories, I will let them do the talking. Wing-Shing Tang and I hope that you will enjoy the conference and this volume.

1. For a critic, see Gita Verma, Slumming India: A Chronicle of Slums and Their Saviours (London, 2003).

2. See Anthony D. King, Colonial Urban Development: Culture, Social Power and Environment (London: Routledge, 1976); Robert Ross and Gerard J. Telkamp, eds. , Colonial Cities: Essays on Urbanism in a Colonial Context. Comparative Studies in Overseas History.

Vol 5 (Dordrecht: Martinus Nijhoff Publishers, 1985); Yda Saueressig-Schreuder, Yda, “The Impact of British Colonial Rule on the Urban Hierarchy of Burma” Review X (Fall 1986): 245-277; Thomas Metcalf, An Imperial Vision: Indian Architecture and Britain’s Raj (Berkeley: University of California Press, 1989); Paul Rabinow, Paul, French Modern: Norms and Forms of the Social Environment (Cambridge: MIT Press, 1989); T. Mitchell, Colonizing Egypt (Berkeley, CA: University of California Press, 1991); Gwendolyn Wright, The Politics of Design in French Colonial Urbanism (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1991); Nezar Al-Sayyad, ed., Forms of Dominance: On the Architecture and Urbanism of the Colonial Enterprise (Aldershot: Avebury, 1992); M. Crinson, Empire Building: Orientalism and Victorian Architecture (London: Routledge, 1996); Robert Home. Of Planting and Planning: The Making of British Colonial Cities (London: Belhaven Press, 1997); Matthew Edney, Mapping an Empire: The Geographical Construction of British India 1765-1843 (Oxford University Press, 1999) 3.Edward Said, Orientalism (New York: Pantheon, 1978); Bill Ashcroft, Gareth Griffiths, and Helen Tiffin. The Empire Writes Back: Theory and Practice in Post-Colonial Literatures (London ; New York : Routledge, 1989); Partha Chatterjee, The Nation and Its Fragments: Colonial and Postcolonial Histories (1993); Homi Bhabha, The Location of Culture (London and New York: Routledge, 1994); Gayatri Chakravorty Spivak, “Can the Subaltern Speak?” in Colonial Discourse and Postcolonial Theory, Patrick Williams and Laura Chrisman, eds., (New York: Columbia University Press, 1994); A Critique of Postcolonial Reason (1999); Dipesh Chakrabarty, Provincializing Europe: Postcolonial Thought and Historical Difference (Princeton and Oxford: Princeton University Press, 2000); “Subaltern Studies and Postcolonial Historiography” Position Papers, Nepantla: Views from South 1, 1 (2002): 9-32; Gyan Prakash “Subaltern Studies as Postcolonial Criticism” The American Historical Review 99 (5) (December 1994): 1475-1490; Bill Ashcroft, Gareth Griffiths, and Helen Tiffin, The Post-Colonial Studies Reader (London ; New York : Routledge, 1995); Bill Ashcroft, Gareth Griffiths, and Helen Tiffin, Postcolonial Studies: The Key Concepts (Routledge, 2000); Bill Ashcroft, Post-Colonial Transformations (Routledge, 2001); Partha Chatterjee, The Politics -5-

of the Governed: Reflections on Popular Politics in Most of the World (Columbia University Press, 2006).

4. James Holston, The Modernist City: An Anthropological Critique of Brasilia (Chicago: Chicago University Press, 1989); Brenda Yeoh, Contesting Space: Power Relations and the Urban Built Environment in Colonial Singapore (Kuala Lumpur: Oxford University Press, 1996); Nalbantoglu and Wong (1997); Nihal Perera, Society and Space: Colonialism, Nationalism, and the Postcolonial Identity in Sri Lanka (Boulder, CO: Westview Press, 1998); “Indigenising the Colonial City: Late 19th-Century Colombo and Its Landscape” Urban Studies: Contested Landscapes, Asian Cities, eds., Lily Kong and Lisa Law, 39, 9 (2002): 1703-21; Leonioe Sandercock, eds., Making the Invisible Visible: A Multicultural Planning History (Los Angeles: University of California Press, 1998); Abidin Kusno, Behind the Postcolonial: Architecture, Urban Space and Political Culture in Indonesia (London: Routledge, 2000); Goh, Modern Dreams; Li Zhang, Strangers in the City: Reconfigurations of Space, Power, and Social Networks Within China's Floating Population (Stanford University Press, 2001); Joe Nasr and Mecedes Volait, Urbanism: Imported or Exported?

(Academy Editions, 2003). For a review, see: Brenda Yeoh, “Postcolonial Cities” Progress in Human Geography 25, 3 (2001): 456-468; Anthony D. King, “Actually Existing Postcolonialisms: Colonial Urbanism and Architecture after the Postcolonial Turn,” in Postcolonial Urbanism: Southeast Asian Cities and Global Processes, ed., Ryan Bishop, John Phillips, and Wei Wei Yeo: 1167-186 (New York, London: Routledge, 2003)

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Places for the Gods: Urban Planning as Orthopraxy and Heteropraxy in China

Daniel Benjamin ABRAMSON University of Washington, Seattle, WA, USA

The city of Quanzhou, Fujian Province, China, is both a nationally designated “famous historic and cultural city” and also the origin of a large part of the Chinese Southeast Asian diaspora. Over the past quarter century, broad-based networks of Overseas Chinese (huaqiao – pronounced like “hwah-chyow”) and local family members have stepped up charitable donations and resumed investing in housing and economic development in the region. They have also supported a dynamic revival of folk-religious space that government leaders and planners have learned to accommodate, despite official rhetoric that ignores or even dismisses folk-ritual practice as backward, parochial and non-urban. Actual development consequently reflects a hybridization of standardized and localized planning practices, and produces a city with many special characteristics that have yet to receive professional acknowledgement or official approval.

One of Quanzhou’s most striking characteristics is the way that small neighborhood temples are regaining their former ubiquity in the urban landscape, even in the wake of drastic urban redevelopment. The resilience of Quanzhou’s premodern ritual spaces illustrates how a form of traditional grassroots globalization creates opportunities for professional innovation, multi-stakeholder influence, and the persistence of place-identity in a time of rapid urbanization – despite market forces and an official urban planning and administrative system that are hostile to these phenomena.

Chinese planning as state orthopraxy Tensions and accommodations between standardized and localized (or situational) practice would appear to be inherent in modern life everywhere, yet in China they have special significance. Local practice is particularly problematic in China because standardized urban planning and design plays an important role in maintaining the political legitimacy of the state (Abramson 2006). Even when local officials and non-state actors depart from standard practice, they usually must maintain a façade of conformity, and hide their local practices behind a rhetorical mask, despite governmental injunctions to observe a “unity of speech and action (yan xing yi zhi)”.

If this deceptive aspect of current spatial innovation and localization has not received much attention, there is nevertheless a lively debate among anthropologists and historians about the standardization of culture itself, and particularly of folk ritual in China. The anthropologist James Watson has argued very broadly that the unity of Chinese culture over so many centuries is based on the government’s and social elites’ standardization of all manner of practices, coupled with the their relative lack of concern for what people believe (Watson 2007). In other words, Watson

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distinguishes between ritual and dogma, or between orthopraxy and orthodoxy.

Accepting this distinction, Anthropologist Melissa Brown and historians Paul Katz, Kenneth Pomeranz, Donald Sutton, and Michael Szonyi have found evidence of local practices surviving state/elite attempts at standardization, and not much evidence of cultural unity (Brown 2007; Katz 2007; Pomeranz 2007; Sutton 2007; Szonyi 2007).

As Sutton put it, “some reported orthoprax standardization was illusory, resulting from defensive, subversive, or self-deceiving writings of local elites” (Sutton 2007: 125). In other words, “heteropraxy” is as characteristic of Chinese culture as is orthopraxy, even though representations of practice tend to defer to the ideal of unity (Katz 2007).

Watson notes that the term “orthopraxy” is “defined in the Oxford English Dictionary as ‘correct practice’ or ‘rightness of action’” He also notes that “A secondary definition of orthopraxy in the OED is ‘the curative treatment of deformities’,” and he adds, “one hopes that this usage has little relevance to our discussions here” (Watson 2007: 157n151). Ironically, when Chinese orthopraxy takes the form of urban planning, it actually is used to treat the “deformities” of cities, neighborhoods and villages; to make them not only “modern” but also “correct” and “orderly” (zheng qi).

What are some examples of orthopraxy in Chinese urban planning and spatial policy? To some extent, standardization in the production of Chinese urban space reflects the utilitarian and egalitarian priorities of the Socialist regime, especially during its first four decades, from 1949 to 1989. The bulk of urban fabric – housing – was designed to provide a practical existenzminimum for as many residents as possible at high densities, and to gather them in spatial communities based on their workplace or on the provision of social services. When innovation in housing design was encouraged, it was primarily in order to discover better prototypes for new standards and broad application (Lü, Rowe, & Zhang 2001).

Indeed, Socialist planning orthopraxy may be subsumed under the entire 20thcentury program of rationalist developmental modernism, in which environmental standardization was coupled with standardization of social behavior, in the interest of overall societal development (Scott 1998). Such standardization has been expressed in China from the New Life Movement of the 1930s to the current state campaigns to raise citizens’ “quality” (suzhi) (Anagnost 1994: 228). By the 1990s, as the state essentially dropped its social egalitarian motives for development, city-builders adopted new forms of global market-driven urban standardization in the pursuit of investment and tourism, including “branding” of the kind perfected by McDonalds and by the purveyors of “world city” megaproject planning (Marshall 2003; Olds 2001).

But standardization in planning in China both predates and goes beyond the practical requirements of modern socialist rationalization or participation in the global market. The pursuit of standards and the mimicking of models frequently takes on symbolic and almost ritualistic qualities, of the kind expressed in the city walls, gates, and drum and bell towers that marked cities as administrative centers throughout China in the imperial era. It existed as well as in the sumptuary laws and bureaucratization of gods that made residential architecture and ritual space an expression of political hierarchy (Feuchtwang 1977; Watson 1985). Regularity,

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uniformity, and orderliness (zheng qi) have been widely valued aesthetic qualities in Chinese urban design for millenia (Knechtges & Xiao 1982, Vol. 1, “Rhapsodies on Metropolises and Capitals,” pp. 201-203). Perhaps even more important, was the ritualistic and standard quality of the way cities and their plans were described, regardless of the actual accuracy of the description (Forêt 2000; Steinhardt 1990).

Today, municipal leaders demonstrate their leadership with the construction of plazas, exhibition halls and other showcase projects whose programs and designs are strikingly limited in range – so that, for example, the large plaza and wide avenue built in front of the Potala Palace in Lhasa, Tibet, was modeled on Tiananmen Square in Beijing. Another standardizing aspect of urban policy is the categorization and ranking of cities and monuments according to their heritage value. Quanzhou, for example, does not only belong to a category of “famous historic and cultural cities,” it is considered the “third most historic” of all such cities in China, based on its number of nationally designated historic monuments and sites (Beijing is the first – it almost has to be, since it is the capital – and Xi’an is the second). Quanzhou’s status as a “famous” and “important” origin or hometown of overseas Chinese (zhuming qiaoxiang) is also an official designation, based on the ratio of overseas Chinese who originated from Quanzhou to the current resident population. According to this standard, Quanzhou ranks “first” among all qiaoxiang (pronounced like “chyowsyahng”) in Fujian Province (which in turn is the second largest qiaoxiang province, after Guangdong) (Cheng & Ngok 1999; Li 2003).

Thus, through the orthopraxy of urban policy, even categories designed to highlight cities’ identity as places in history and in the world still have the effect of relativizing and subjecting that identity to a national agenda – whether that agenda is the celebration of Chinese heritage, the attraction of tourists and investment from abroad, or the carrying out of public diplomacy with transnational constituencies of ethnic Chinese. Most observations of urban development in China at the turn of the twentyfirst century consider place identity in China to be the casualty of a tug-of-war between nationalistic state-developmentalism on one hand, and the demands of global capitalism on the other (Broudehoux 2004; King & Kusno 2000). Each side in this tug-of-war represents a standardizing force. Perhaps no image so dramatically expresses this view as the cover of economist Peter Nolan’s recent book, Transforming China: Globalization, Transition and Development (Nolan 2004).

Here, a McDonalds golden arches sign pushes up from the fabric of the old city to challenge the dominance of Beijing’s monumental Drum Tower. The tower is both an icon of Beijing’s identity as China’s capital, and also a centuries’-old symbol of state power and imperial standardization. This drum tower and hundreds more like it in cities throughout China once regulated the pulse of China’s urban commerce and social life. McDonalds’s arches are the quintessential symbol of a newer, globalmarket-driven standardization of the environment and behavior that is often seen as threatening both to local and national identities. (The McDonalds sign has been removed since this photograph was taken.)

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In contrast to Nolan’s cover, the image on the cover of China’s Urban Transition, by the urban theorist John Friedmann, conveys a rather different message (Friedmann 2005). This photograph, taken in Quanzhou, shows a small temple against a backdrop of enormous highrises under construction.1 It seems to represent a modern, megascaled and globally homogeneous urbanity overwhelming a local (or at least Chinese), small-scale, agrarian tradition of building. The curious newness of the temple, however, gives some pause; clearly, the tradition is still alive. The temple houses an “earth god” (tudi gong), literally a genius loci, which appears quite defiant in the face of monolithic urbanization. What accounts for the resiliency of this local ritual space?

For Nolan, the global market is clearly the prime determinant of urban development in China. Friedmann, on the other hand, argues that China’s urbanization is driven primarily by an “endogenous process” that in many ways predates the country’s current drive to integrate with the global economy. Looking more deeply at the nature of China’s diverse cities, it becomes clearer that endogenous processes differ from place to place, and have differing relations to global markets. In the city of Quanzhou, and in many other qiaoxiang, global markets and endogenous processes are inextricably entwined. It is precisely the global reach of locally-based networks of investor-families that allows Quanzhou the place to resist national and international regimes of standardization. The houses that huaqiao build for local gods in their ancestral homes, as well as the houses they build for themselves and their local relatives, are expressive of transnationally-enabled place identity.

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Folk ritual as spatial heteropraxy As the anthropological and historical scholars mentioned above have shown, folk cults throughout Chinese history have been one arena in which the interests of imperial consolidation and local autonomy have engaged in rhetorical fencing matches. Coastal Fujian is an area where this dynamic is particularly strong. James Watson’s essay, “Standardizing the Gods,” describes how the most wide-ranging and popular Chinese folk cult – that of Mazu – became the focus of imperial cooptation efforts from the Yuan through the Qing dynasties (Watson 1985). Emperors repeatedly sought to capture the local legitimacy associated with the goddess Mazu, and to prevent her from becoming an inspiration for resistance to imperial rule. They achieved this by “promoting” Mazu in bureaucratic fashion, first to “Concubine, or Consort, of Heaven” (Tian Fei) and ultimately to “Empress of Heaven” (Tian Hou).

Quanzhou is home to one of mainland China’s two most historic root temples for the Mazu cult. Even today this temple, the Quanzhou Tian Hou Gong, and its neighborhood are bones of contention between national interests in promoting the unification of Taiwan with mainland China; the interests of Mazu followers who regularly make pilgrimages to the temple from throughout China and Southeast Asia; and the interests of neighborhood residents who seek to balance the prominence of the temple with other more local cults. Some residents continue to reject the title Tian Hou and prefer Tian Fei as less pretentious and more locally authentic. On Taiwan, there is even stronger sentiment against the imperial/national cooptation of the cult; Taiwanese residents continue to reject both Tian Hou and Tian Fei, in favor of the original name, Mazu – a practice that dates from the days of anti-Qing resistance (Watson 1985: 302).

The central government of the People’s Republic maintains an interest in the temple for reunification propaganda purposes. Since the 1980s [starting when, exactly?], the temple housed an exhibit on the settlement of Taiwan by Minnan (southern Fujianese) emigrants, and continuing cross-Straits cultural affinities. More recently, provincial and municipal governments have sought to make the temple part of a showcase of heritage preservation and urban infrastructural improvement. In 2001, the Fujian provincial government began an archeological excavation of the foundations of Quanzhou’s pre-20th-century South Gate (De Ji Men), immediately in front of the Tian Hou Gong, to coincide with a municipal road-widening project in the same location. These various high-level governmental initiatives have trumped local residents’ control over the space and its name.

In a fairly standard approach to urban design, the road-widening project and excavation were combined with the creation of an urban plaza bordered by new commercial buildings in an “historic” and “local” (fang gu) style. The design of the plaza was somewhat unusual in that it revealed the South Gate foundations as archeology (rather than recreating a new gate entirely); the project, however, replaced a cluster of houses, small shops, a school – and a local temple to the Tian Wang, or “Heavenly King”. This temple guarded the moat just outside the gate’s barbican.

When it was demolished as part of the plaza construction, the neighborhood temple council struggled with the municipality for larger compensation, and also to have more space to build a new, reconstructed temple on the margins of the plaza.

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Left: Gate of the Tian Hou Gong in Quanzhou, with expansive plaza and excavation site in foreground. Right: Reconstructed Tian Wang Fu, hemmed in by new commercial construction across the plaza from the Tian Hou Gong.

Although the council and residents who frequent the Tian Wang Fu may not have been happy with the cramped space they ultimately received, by the standards of most Chinese cities it was rather remarkable that they were able to find a place for their god in the redeveloped cityscape at all. In more cases than not, the residents of Quanzhou have prevailed in local-supralocal conflicts over the city’s ritual space, and managed by stealth or public relations (often involving huaqiao) to maintain a continuity with the history of that space.

In order to appreciate the role that temples (and to a lesser extent ancestral halls) play in the urban landscape, it is useful to view them less as individual structures, and more as places that ritually express and perpetuate a system of ordering the whole landscape. Temples do this in two ways. First, they act as godly “headquarters� for local territories that are nested within other territories in a system of spiritual governance that mimics or parallels the worldly administration of space (Feuchtwang 2001). Second, along with ancestral halls, temples are nodes of activity in a ritual network that transcends the borders of the locality and embraces other temples with the same god, or with allied gods, or other ancestral halls built by members of the same family-name group, wherever in the world they may be.

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Cross-straits Temple Networks. Upper Left: Quanzhou’s Mazu Temple, the Tian Hou Gong. Upper Right: The main Mazu temple in Lukang, Taiwan. Lower Left: Quanzhou’s Fu Mei Gong. Lower Right: Lukang’s Fu Mei Gong.

The first of these functions of ritual space is significant because it allows “locality” and “community” to be simultaneously bounded by different spatial systems of governance – governance by the state and governance by the gods; the tension (even rivalry) between these two systems creates an opportunity for communal autonomy from the national state. The second function, on the other hand, is significant because it links these semi-autonomous communities into a translocal network that can extend well beyond the national state – in other words, it allows global influence to serve as a foil to state authority, thus strengthening local autonomy even more.

This is a radically different view of how ritual space relates to state power and planning in China than one would gather from looking only at studies of capital city planning (Heng 1999; Sit 1995; Steinhardt 1990; Zhu 2004). The usual conclusion drawn from this literature is that ritual space is entirely at the service of the state.

Although some studies have looked at more pluralistic roles for ritual space in Chinese cities (Xu 2000), including even in the capital Beijing (Meyer 1991; Naquin 2000), they rarely explore how the boundaries between secular urban administration and the ritual ordering of urban space are not only blurred, but are negotiated, and constantly shifting through history. Xu Yinong’s study of Suzhou comes close to being an important exception; it includes a description of how conflicts between elite principles of governance and the principles of fengshui were resolved in urban development, according to the balance of local corporate power and local

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government. However, his account is not extended enough to show how this arena of struggle and negotiation changed over time.

Studies of ritual space in Quanzhou and other qiaoxiang perhaps provide a richer ground for exploring the possibilities of popular spatial practices influencing urban policy, planning, and design. The historical anthropologist Wang Mingming has studied Quanzhou’s system of territorial neighborhood cults from the Yuan through the Qing dynasties. The system, called pu-jing after two levels of nested administrative jurisdictions, the pu and the jing, served the imperial government as a means of standardizing local administration (see Licheng District Gazetteer Editorial Committee 1999: 82-83). However, in alternate periods of history, the system also provided local communities with a means to assert their spatial, cultural and moral autonomy (Wang 1995, 2004).

Each pu was headquartered at a temple, and within the pu there were many jing, each of which also had a temple as headquarters. Various regimes since the last years of the Qing dynasty have replaced the pu-jing system in Quanzhou with more broadly applied systems of spatial administration. Since 1949, the street committees or subdistrict offices (jiedao banshiqu) and resident committees (jumin weiyuanhui) respectively correspond roughly to the pu and jing as territories of a certain size and number in the old city center. Even today, many older huaqiao continue to use the pu and jing to address mail from overseas to Quanzhou [ask Jin Xin about this; see her paper, p. 4].

The replacement of one form of spatial administration with another from regime to regime is bound up with the government’s struggles to control ritual practices broadly in Chinese society. These struggles transcend the specific ideologies of the different regimes: whether the regime considered itself Buddhist, Confucian, Nationalist or Communist, successive governments since the late 19th century have striven to invest spatial administration with ritual meaning, while ensuring that such meaning does not become excessively local and irrelevant to supra-local (imperial/national) identity.

As Wang Mingming recounts, the gods who were housed in pu-jing temples would be taken out for ritual processions on their birthdays to survey the boundaries (xun jing) of the territories they oversaw. By the mid-19th century, these processions often became the occasion for violent feuding between neighborhoods. “Blood feuds” (xie dou) in Quanzhou and in other towns in southern Fujian and Taiwan eroded the pu-jing system’s function of maintaining social order, and challenged the state’s moral authority. In 1895, the Qing government’s response was to incorporate local neighborhood rituals into one large city-wide ritual of “Universal Salvation” (pu du) that was orchestrated by an unusual coalition of social elites and official Buddhist and Taoist orders (Wang 1995: 65-69). One might interpret this as a case of state-driven ritual innovation as a means of bringing supra-local order to a fragmented landscape of local spatial practices.

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Xun Jing in progress in the old center of Quanzhou, 2000.

However, soon after, “Confucian fundamentalism” and “anti-superstition” movements across China turned even on Buddhist and Taoist practices and spaces, as well as those of less institutionally organized local cults, and sought to standardize the very notion of religious practice (Goossaert 2006). In early 20th-century Quanzhou, Nationalists acting on a Modernist anti-superstition impulse, destroyed, neglected, or expropriated a number of major temples, including the Tian Hou Gong, but left most of the neighborhood- and lineage-level system largely intact. After 1949, the Communist regime began to carry out an inverse policy: some major temples were redefined as “historic and cultural preservation sites” according to emerging international protocols of heritage protection; while the neighborhood temple system and ancestral halls were largely suppressed – either demolished, closed, or taken over for other uses.

Under both the Nationalist and Communist regimes, the definition of religious practice became increasingly subject to a global standard during the 20th century. The Chinese constitutional guarantee of religious freedom is currently confined only to five “major traditions”: Buddhism, Taoism, Islam, Roman Catholicism, and Protestant Christianity (Overmyer 2003: 308). As recently as 2005, a new law has called for “local governments to ‘standardize’ the management of religion nationwide,” and the spatial marginalization of unsanctioned churches and temples is often the result (French 2006).

Since 1980, however, China’s re-engagement with the global economy has given the local government new reason to allow the re-opening of even the small neighborhood temples and ancestral halls, because they are attractors for huaqiao who might invest in the local economy. And yet the historic tension between local spatialritual heteropraxy and supra-local orthopraxy continued to reveal itself in the way various levels of government responded to the revival of local place-based cults.

The anthropologist Ann Anagnost described temple cult revivals in the 1980s in Zhangzhou – a qiaoxiang city in the same linguistic and cultural region of southern - 15 -

Fujian as Quanzhou – as “vehicles of local memory that restore to local communities a sense of place marked by the singularity of their history and their ritual traditions” (Anagnost 1994: 223). She observed that the official suppression of this revival of “feudal superstition” and the appropriation of its spaces for secular “modern” uses (schools, community centers, youth clubs, etc.) was itself a form of ritual – a ritual that was actually fundamental to the definition of the Party-state and its methods of government. As Anagnost writes, “The rituals of the state and of local deities compete with each other to inscribe these sites with their own meanings, at times in a relationship of mutual exclusivity, at other times in a relationship of uneasy accommodation. In this contestation for symbolic space, however, we see that the relations of power between the state and local authority are always proximate and never final” (Anagnost 1994: 223).

At the time of Anagnost’s writing, Chinese cities and industrializing villages had yet to enter their most rapid phase of growth. Since then, the suppression of traditional local cults in the coastal qiaoxiang has become less strident. Mayfair Yang, another anthropologist writing ten years later than Anagnost about another qiaoxiang region, has described how overseas-invested industrial growth and urbanization in rural Wenzhou, Zhejiang Province, is inextricably entwined with “ritual expenditure” in both folk religious space and civic infrastructure including schools, hospitals and micro-credit (M. Yang 1994; M. M.-h. Yang 2000, 2004). The party-state’s position with respect to these investments is quite ambiguous. On one hand, the economic growth and local responsibility for social services is undeniably in line with the national developmental agenda and the shedding of state welfare responsibilities. On the other hand, the expenditure of a large share of the resulting wealth on non-rational “feudal” and “backward” spatial practices is completely at odds with the state’s idea of “modernization” – an idea which is at least as fundamental to the state’s identity as its developmentalist agenda. Yang interprets Anagnost’s “uneasy accommodation” as “economic hybridity.”

Khun Eng Kuah has examined even more specifically the huaqiao role in the development of rural qiaoxiang – in her case, Singaporean huaqiao investing in villages in Anxi, a rural county in the prefecture of Quanzhou (Kuah 2000). Her study, which focused closely on the identity and motives of the huaqiao themselves as well as their village kin and local officials, interprets their relationship as one of “moral economy”. Motives for supporting the revival of ancestor worship, among other pre-modern ritual practices, included the sentimental (the sense of attachment between the diaspora and its place of origin); the moral (the obligations of descendents to ancestors, and of wealthier family members to poorer ones); and the instrumental (the development of good relations for purposes of investing in profitable business or accomplishing civic goals). Kuah found that while all three parties – huaqiao, villagers and officials – acted according to a combination of these motives, the more local officials (village and district level) tended to justify ancestor worship on sentimental or moral as well as instrumental grounds, while the higher (county) level officials justified it overwhelmingly on instrumental grounds (Kuah 2000: 167).

From spatial heteropraxy to innovative planning

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So what are we to make of a situation in which “uneasy accommodation,” “economic hybridity” and “moral economy” begins to transform more formal approaches to planning and urban policy? The studies described above focused largely on rural settlements, albeit rapidly changing ones. Professional planning in China, with all its standards in the service of spatial administration and corporate investment, is largely confined to urban centers. It is for this reason that the urban core of Quanzhou – its historic center and the urbanizing villages immediately adjacent to the center – provides such an interesting case for examining the incorporation of spatial heteropraxy in official planning. It is rare for the urban center of a city in mainland China as large as Quanzhou to experience such a revival of preRevolutionary ritual space.

Of 154 temples identified as ever existing in the old inner city of Quanzhou according to a Quanzhou gazetteer of 1982 and surveys by official historians and the Party, 82 have either remained, been restored in place, or been rebuilt nearby; of those 82, half were restored or rebuilt, nearly all since the mid-1980s (Fujian Sheng Quanzhou Shi Diming Bangongshi [Fujian Province Quanzhou City Place-name Office] 1982; Quanzhou Shi Licheng Qu Dimingzhi Bianji Weiyuanhui [Quanzhou Municipality Licheng District Gazetteer Editorial Committee] & Quanzhou Shi Qu Daojiao Wenhua Weiyuanhui [Quanzhou City District Daoist Cultural Committee] 1990). Only eleven were official Buddhist temples; the rest either loosely categorized as “folk-belief” or considered by officials to be Taoist. And all except the largest of the temples have been revived purely on the initiative of residents and their huaqiao relatives, many of whom used the language of historic preservation and recent strengthening of property rights (in the case of ancestral halls) to pressure local officials to recognize the legality of the structures.

In an effort to play catch-up with the residents and cultivate the overseas connections that the temples represent, the inner city district Party’s United Front Department (Tongzhan Bu), has attempted to formalize the system of folk cults within the national administration of religion. The United Front Department is the branch of the Party responsible for outreach to non-Party political constituencies, to Taiwan, and to overseas Chinese. The local government is effectively trying to have “folkbeliefs” made into a new category, as legally recognized as are the five “world religions” already inscribed in the constitution. To this end the United Front Department has published a tourist-quality brochure cataloging all of Quanzhou’s temples (Quanzhou Laozi Yanjiu Hui [Quanzhou Laozi Research Committee] & Licheng Qu Wei Tongzhan Bu [Licheng District Party Committee United Front Department] 2002). In the meantime, as the city has widened major streets and redeveloped the housing along them, planners and developers have accommodated a number of temples either by building around the existing temples or making space for the temples to be rebuilt.

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Map of Quanzhou’s historic center, showing the location of the Qing dynasty city wall (since demolished) and temples recorded in gazetteers and surveyed on the ground by the author. Temples in red have been preserved or rebuilt; those in black have been demolished or occupied for other uses and not restored.

The incorporation of folk temples into the official urban redevelopment and design practices of Quanzhou was a gradual process. In the first redevelopment schemes of the early 1990s, temples were an afterthought at best. Standard approaches to road development, open space, and new housing precluded them. Planners quickly - 18 -

recognized, however, that communication with residents that was crucial to the implementation of projects – especially communication with elders and other respected community members, most of whom were active in temple councils.

Indeed, the official leaders of the lowest level of government, the residents committees, were themselves frequently temple council members as well.

Temple in the Beimen (North Gate) area of Quanzhou, surviving and thriving through over a decade of environmental change. Upper Left: the temple in 1993, neglected and dilapidated. Upper Right: the same temple in 1997, newly restored and embellished.

Lower Left: In 2000, amidst demolition for redevelopment. Lower Right: In 2005, the carefully preserved centerpiece of a new, higher density neighborhood.

As one planner put it, temple preservation became a very “natural (hen ziran de)” part of the planning process (Lin 2005). Temples are communal property, and thus difficult to compensate for their demolition. Even their relocation involves costly and time-consuming rituals, since their siting and orientation has implications for the efficacy of their gods’ power. More broadly, in his view, planning must take into account the “entire body of social values (zhengge shehui jiazhi tixi)”, as well as general professional standards or the personal values of planners themselves; this is especially important given that planning cannot be implemented without the cooperation of residents. The Vice Mayor in charge of urban development during this period put it even more strongly in an interview: “We must respect freedom of religious expression!”

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Redevelopment plan for Beimen Street, showing preservation-worthy buildings, including two temples, in orange and dark red (the temple depicted in the figures above is circled on the plan).

Not all of Quanzhou’s spatial policy-makers can be so explicit about their willingness to work with “the entire body of social values” among their constituents, however. Representations of planning practice depend on the relative positions of their proponents and the audience to whom those practices are being represented. A “unity of speech and action” is born out between the explanations of planners and leaders on one hand, and the reality of what they built on the ground, in Quanzhou’s historic center. The rapidly urbanizing villages on the edge of that center, however, present a different story. There, the rural status of the residents leaves them susceptible to government efforts to “civilize” them. The low political position of village leaders leaves them relatively powerless to resist land deals between developers and higher levels of government. Finally, the villages’ lack of access to planning expertise leaves their “sub-standard” environments dependent on municipal professionals for “correction.”

At this point, our story returns to the site depicted on the cover of John Friedmann’s book. For this site is not within the inner city, but in a village at the edge of the city that has rapidly become absorbed by urban expansion. Dongmei, by virtue of its peri-urban location, has come under much more intense development pressure than most of the inner-city neighborhoods mentioned above, which recently have largely been protected by a sweeping preservation policy for the city’s historic center.

Unlike the inner-city neighborhoods, residents of Dongmei have had to adjust to the loss of farmland and other dramatic changes in their livelihood; an influx of migrant workers who are twice as numerous as the local population; a shift in administrative status from rural peasant to urban resident, and from village to urban community.

Under these conditions, many urbanizing villages at the edges of Chinese cities have succumbed to government pressure at the township level or higher to relinquish control of collective property to make way for large industrial or residential - 20 -

development (Su 2005). While waiting for this to happen, villagers typically make the most of their proximity to the city by building extremely dense and poorly served houses for rent to migrants and no public improvements are made to the village until it is completely demolished (Tang & Chung 2002; Zhang 2001).

Dongmei certainly reflects these conditions, but the Party Secretary for the villageturned-community has maintained a strong grip on both community development affairs and also land. The village has upgraded itself gradually, with periodic street widenings; replotting of land to accommodate new private houses; the laying out of its own small industrial park; the enclosure of the fresh market in a large shed; construction of a landscaped park with an opera stage and public toilets; and construction of a new school, a large community center and administrative building – all on the village’s own initiative, even as the fields around it have been filled in apace with developer-built housing estates, office parks, and factories. The result is a hybrid environment of standard planned development surrounding a core of various non-standard improvements and private houses of varying quality and rents on their original lots. The village’s transition to an urban community is thus following a less traumatic path than is usually the case (Anderson 2003).

Dongmei village/community-commissioned plan for “human settlement upgrading”

From the perspective of municipal planners and news media, Dongmei is still “a typical village-amid-the-city” (dianxing de chengzhongcun), with all the chaos, crime and filth that that connotes. Since any excuse of substandard conditions could trigger a complete expropriation and redevelopment of the village, the village secretary has taken pains to see that his own upgrading plans have received municipal planning bureau approval – which the bureau has been reluctant to give. He also produced a remarkably expert public relations video on the first anniversary of Dongmei’s establishment as an urban community. The video, “From Hamlet to City” (Cong - 21 -

Cunzhuang dao Chengshi), begins with a scene of the secretary haranguing a group of resident representatives about the terribly filthy conditions that characterized the village before. The video includes multiple shots of the new estate housing around but de-emphasizes the continued presence of original villager housing at the community’s core. The video also focuses on community cultural activities – giving prominence to highly standard national yangge dancing groups and downplaying uniquely local Minnan operas and ballad-singing (though in fact the latter is much more popular).

Of special interest is the video’s depiction of the same temple that appears on the cover of John Friedmann’s book. This temple, dedicated to the generic agricultural deity, the tudi gong, is shown in the middle of a road that is to be widened and connected to the district government at some distance. The video narrator introduces the temple as “perhaps the last trace of the old Dongmei Village,” and announces that “This last bastion (baolei) will also be shoveled away (yao chanchule).” (In fact it is untrue that there was no other “trace” of the old village; two other temples and many old houses, as well as the household-owned property structure and land division continued to exist.) The secretary then stresses how, through “[thought] work” residents who initially opposed any damage to the temple eventually agreed that it needed to be demolished to clear the road. Further commentary stresses the modernizing imperative of urbanization, without any indication that continuity has been as important a part of Dongmei’s experience as radical change.

‘The superstitious belief in the tudi gong is gradually disappearing in the march towards urbanization, and the hundreds-and-thousands-years-old deeply rooted peasant mindset (yishi) is fading (danhua) from the minds of the residents. And from their bodies, the mark (yinji) of the peasant after so many years is gradually being erased by the new environment. With the new people-centered (yi ren wei ben), modern urban environmental consciousness, the lives and thoughts of Dongmei people (Dongmei ren) are indeed undergoing enormous transformation (jüda de bianhua)’.

In fact, the Dongmei tudi miao was only moved a few yards to the side of the road, and built more solidly and colorfully than before. The development company of the neighboring housing estate even donated to the temple’s reconstruction, and had its name carved in the stone stele commemorating the event. As with much of Quanzhou’s public space, the planning of Dongmei has taken locally tailored and very non-standard forms. What is truly standard is the language that local leaders use to describe the change. In using this language, local leaders selectively promote the village’s accomplishments in terms of the modernization and “civilization” of its environment and population. It is necessary that they engage in this deception, in order to preempt coalitions of external official power and capital, and to maintain their own positions of authority. The result, however, is that they mask the village’s actual innovative heteropraxy and place identity.

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The Dongmei Shui-Wei Tudi Gong with completed housing behind, and commemorative stele highlighting the donations of the real estate development company.

Conclusion These cases from Quanzhou shows how local place-based innovative planning practices in China are emerging from situations negotiated between the grassroots and various levels of government authority. In some cases, innovation is occurring explicitly, and is acknowledged (if downplayed) by local professional and political leadership. In other cases, where innovative practice is more politically risky, it must be covert, hidden beneath a veneer of ritually standardized description. Either way, Quanzhou illustrates how the “hometowns of overseas Chinese” (qiaoxiang) provide special opportunities for heteroprax planning.

Just as Chiang Bo-wei has described individual private huaqiao houses as a “heterotopia” of hybrid transnational architectural practices (Chiang 2003), so the temples and other community spaces of the qiaoxiang also may be considered a heterotopia of hybrid urban spatial practices. The actual planning of these spaces, unlike the design of the individual houses, may not be any more transnational than the planning of urban space elsewhere in China; all kinds of Chinese cities abound now with luxury villa subdivisions, hotels, and shopping centers whose design is influenced or imported from abroad (Gaubatz 2005; King & Kusno 2000). Rather, the unanticipated, uncontrolled and indirect influences of grassroots transnational networks in the qiaoxiang force planning to accommodate local (community-scale) informal practices. In the process, the planning approach itself becomes more localized and less standard, while the informal practice of building temples becomes less transgressive, and somewhat more standard. The process is one of hybridizing the formal and the informal.

Innovation cannot emerge without heteroprax challenges to ritual; yet ritual is politically and culturally imposed on Chinese society at all scales and from all sides.

Innovation therefore emerges from the accommodation of conflicting sets of rituals.What allows the residents, and their local leaders, to use this standard language effectively, are the multiple motives and bases for its existence. We are left wondering whether and how other cities and communities may have developed - 23 -

innovative urban spatial practices in the interstices of China’s different standardizations.

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Wenhua Weiyuanhui [Quanzhou City District Daoist Cultural Committee].

(1990). Quanzhou Jiu Cheng Pu Jing Jilue (Jiu Pu Jing Gong Miao Fu) [Rough Survey of Pu and Jing in Quanzhou's Old City (Including Old Pu-Jing Temples).

Quanzhou: Quanzhou Shi Licheng Qu Dimingzhi Bianji Weiyuanhui [Quanzhou Municipality Licheng District Gazetteer Editorial Committee] Quanzhou Shi Qu Daojiao Wenhua Weiyuanhui [Quanzhou City District Daoist Cultural Committee].

Scott, J. C. (1998). Seeing Like a State: How Certain Schemes to Improve the Human Condition Have Failed. New Haven: Yale University Press.

Sit, V. (1995). Beijing: The Nature and Planning of Chinese Capital City. Chichester; New York; Brisbane; Toronto; Singapore: John Wiley & Sons.

Steinhardt, N. S. (1990). Chinese imperial city planning. Honolulu: University of Hawaii Press.

Su, H. (2005). Zhongguo Difang Zhengfu de Xingwei: Yi Shanghai Jiaoqu de Tudi Zhengyong wei ge An 中国地方政府的行为：以上海郊区的土地征用为个案.

Thomson Hall 317: University of Washington.

Sutton, D. S. (2007). Death Rites and Chinese Culture: Standardization and Variation in Ming and Qing Times. Modern China, 33(1), 125-153.

Szonyi, M. (2007). Making Claims about Standardization and Orthopraxy in Late Imperial China: Rituals and Cults in the Fuzhou Region in Light of Watson's Theories. Modern China, 33(1), 47-71.

Tang, W.-S., & Chung, H. (2002). Rural-urban transition in China: illegal land use and construction. Asia Pacific Viewpoint, 43(1), 43-62.

Wang, M. (1995). Place, Administration, and Territorial Cults in Late Imperial China: A Case Study from South Fujian. Late Imperial China, 16(1), 33-78.

Wang, M. (2004). Mapping 'Chaos': The Dong Xi Fo Feuds of Quanzhou, 1644-1839.

In S. Feuchtwang (Ed.), Making Place: State Projects, Globalisation and Local Responses in China (pp. 33-59). London; Portland, Or.: UCL; Cavendish.

Watson, J. L. (1985). Standardizing the Gods: The Promotion of T'ien Hou ("Empress of Heaven") Along the South China Coast, 960-1960. In D. G. Johnson, A. J. Nathan, E. S. Rawski, J. A. Berling & American Council of Learned Societies.

Committee on Studies of Chinese Civilization. (Eds.), Popular Culture in Late Imperial China (pp. 292-324). Berkeley: University of California Press.

Watson, J. L. (2007). Orthopraxy Revisited. Modern China, 33(1), 154-158.

Xu, Y. (2000). The Chinese City in Space and Time: the Development of Urban Form in Suzhou. Honolulu: University of Hawai‘i Press.

Yang, M. (1994). Public & private realms in rural Wenzhou, China [videorecording]: an ethnographic video Berkeley, CA: University of California Extension Center for Media and Independent Learning.

Yang, M. M.-h. (2000). Putting global capitalism in its place - Economic hybridity, bataille, and ritual expenditure. Current Anthropology, 41(4), 477-509.

Yang, M. M.-h. (2004). Spatial Struggles: Postcolonial Complex, State Disenchantment, and Popular Reappropriation of Space in Rural Southeast China. The Journal of Asian Studies, 63(3), 719.

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Zhang, L. (2001). Strangers in the city: reconfigurations of space, power, and social networks within China's floating population. Stanford, Calif.: Stanford University Press.

Zhu, J. (2004). Chinese spatial strategies: imperial Beijing, 1420-1911. London; New York: Routledge Curzon.

1

The photograph, taken by this author and lent to Friedmann, depicts a temple in the urbanizing village of Dong Mei, described in greater detail below.

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Community Politics and Urban Culture: The Practice of Lei Yue Mun Tourism in Postcolonial Hong Kong1 Iam-Chong IP, Shun-hing CHAN and Lisa Y. M. LEUNG Lingnan University, Hong Kong

Introduction There is an extensive literature now on how travelling as a feature of globalization is characterized by multidirectional mobilities and cultural differences, a socio-cultural background against which global cities, including Hong Kong and other Asian cities, undergo their transformation by incorporating cultural elements into their economic and spatial changes.1 Henceforth tourism is viewed as a mediating process between the global forces and local socio-cultural formation. Many tourism studies tend to couch this process in the antagonism between the tourist industry or the nation-state and indigenous cultures. On the one hand, since the 1990s, the ‘social constitution of the tourist gaze’ has become the key concept which a great deal of research has used. Some work investigates the cultural mediation of spectacle, landscape and display, highlighting various mediators and assessing their impact on travellers’ sense of place2. Studies note that most tourists rely heavily on tourist authorities, guidebooks, site operators and travel writers, because they stay in the host country for a short period of time, lack local knowledge and prefer to enjoy their leisure time rather than understand the deep meaning of others’ cultures. These basic conditions give rise to a highly mediated sphere of consumption within which tourists move about in the host country and consume cultural product. On the other hand, there is also work on how tourism, as a part of an increasing global mobility of people, commodities and signs, gets involved in the issues of local culture and identity3. Those who are toured not simply dance to the tune of the tourist gaze, but also actively engage in representing their own cultural heritage.4 But some argue that highlighting ethnic differences as ‘staged authenticity’ runs the risk of cultural alienation and debasement 5 . Authentic cultures are viewed as a rare species endangered by commodification which turns the use value of culture into exchange value in the tourist markets haunted by commodity fetishism.

Among these studies, as Chris Healy argues, there is implicitly a sense of intellectual responsibility and authority which takes the form of ‘patrician preservationism’6. The new challenge facing the local communities is not simply a distortion of their cultural authenticities; instead they are struggling for survival, pursuing economic interest and discovering new meanings in their cultural traditions7.

Despite its business nature, tourism can be seen as an unruly generative force with multiple values and practices that is not entirely disciplined by the imperative of capitalist economy8. Local agency may not take the form of resistance mapped on to a ‘site’ of consciousness or to ‘culture areas’.9 This argument echoes Stuart Hall’s redefinition of ‘the local’ in the post-colonial context as a matter of identities opening to new things and speaking across boundaries rather than of a narrow sense of ‘ethnicity’.10 1

Another version is published in Cultural Studies Review, 12(2): 107-128.

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This study attempts to explore the material-semiotic production of local values in and about Lei Yue Mun, a small residential and entertaining community in the city of Hong Kong. and their articulation with metropolitan, regional and global forces.11 Some argue that Hong Kong, as a colony and migrant city, did not have a strong sense of local identities and cultures until the 1980s, no mention of the so-called “indigenous culture”. In the postwar era, although the colonial government helped build a local society, it never intended to formulate a clearly defined identity and local project.12 Instead Hong Kong, particular its rapid and dramatic development in the postwar period, is always characterized by its status in the hierarchy of global city and even an example of a modern city.13 Yet the perception or conception of Hong Kong as a global city neglects the fact that it is a colonial city with historical connections with the western world and its local formations. The recent reflections on academic and public discourses on cities also remind us of the locally specific variations among cities and their ordinary aspects of the cities.14 Making sense of this is crucial to identifying both local agency and the structural constraints imposed by the seemingly ever-present power of cultural enterprises.

There have been few studies of the cultural aspects of Hong Kong tourism until recent years. 15 Most work focuses on the relevance of human resources 16 , management17, planning18 and economy19 to the tourist industry. In this study, we argue that the tourist practices have not only been articulated with corporate globalization and colonial imaginations, but are also enabled, constrained, and regulated by community organizations such as the kai fong (neighbourhood) associations formed by the Government during the colonial period to maintain a harmonious relationship between local Chinese and British colonial rule, and also the government-funded social service agencies that have played a significant role in promoting local identities by encouraging residents to participate in community affairs. These organizations are still ‘local allies’ of the postcolonial regime in one way or another.

The making of the seafood village Literally, Lei Yue Mun means ‘Carp Fish Gate’. It was originally the name of the eastern passage or “gate” of Hong Kong’s Victoria Harbour, and it now refers to an urban space in the Kwun Tong District of East Kowloon where one of the few remaining squatter areas is located20, and where tourists, both local and international, come to visit primarily for its famous seafood. There are two reasons for choosing Lei Yue Mun as a case for this study. First, it is a squatter area with a long history of settlement and identifiable cultural heritage such as the Tin Hou Temple, the lighthouse and an abandoned quarry, and it is one where seafood tourism has emerged from the local economy and is meshed in with a complicated web of relationships.

Second, various tourist practices are present, ranging from the seafood cuisine provided by local restaurants to promotion activities organized by a community service agency. Their different orientations toward tourism constitute a very interesting case for the analysis of important issues related to tourism cultural studies, such as the negotiation of culture and economy; the tourist gaze and the environment; heritage and identity construction; acts of mediation between local and global; and negotiation between agents operative in the process of shaping both tourism and community.

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Walking through the main gate of Lei Yue Mun and the pedestrian path in the evening, one will see glamorous signboards of seafood restaurants lightening the water of Lei Yue Mun. Inside and along the only main road, the Lei Yue Mun Seashore Road, on the two sides of the narrow road, there are not only the seafood restaurants, but also stalls selling all kinds of marine products, including fishes, lobsters, shells, prawns and so on in big glass tanks. Workers or bosses usually stand in front of the stalls to introduce their fresh products to visitors and to persuade them to buy. Once they get a customer to buy from them, they will introduce that customer to a designated restaurant connected to their stalls where they can have their seafood cooked and consumed. Our ethnographic study found that each stall has made deals with a certain restaurant, revealing a complex web of business collaborations within the Lei Yue Mun seafood community. The customers can witness how the seafood is killed, and may be escorted by the stall owner to the restaurant, along with their ordered items. This is to assure the customers that ‘what they see is what they get’.

Visitors in a group tour would usually treat these stalls only as spectacles, getting the feeling of being a tourist in a ‘seafood village’ or taking pictures with big lobsters.

Most of them just walk around a bit after meals to enjoy the night view of the harbour or simply leave immediately for another destination if they belong to a tour group.

Individual visitors may walk to as far as the Tin Hou Temple, but only during day time because the roads outside the seafood district are dim. Under this mode of seafood-oriented tourism, there is no way for them to understand the wider community where this ‘seafood village’ is located and has emerged.

As a matter of fact, Lei Yue Mun is neither a seafood market place “artificially” enhanced or constructed for tourist attraction like those in famous port cities such as Sydney, nor a village with rural setting where people still live on primary production like fishing, agriculture and mining. Despite the fact that Lei Yue Mun is still often represented as a fishing village in many tourist discourses in Hong Kong,21 most of the local residents are not fishermen and it historically has never been an economy that depends primarily on the fishing industry. At present, there are four squatter villages (On Li West, Ma Wan, Che Ting, and Ma Pui) in Lei Yue Mun populated by around three thousand people. Most have jobs in different industries and services on land. Leaving aside the new Chinese immigrants that have moved in to Lei Yue Mun since the 1980s, most of the so-called ‘indigenous dwellers’ who have lived there for two to three generations are descendants not of fishermen, but of miners. The media representation of Lei Yue Mun is quite far away from the present and past situation of Lei Yue Mun. As some Hakka people, who have lived in Lei Yue Mun for a very long time, said, their ancestors came from Guangdong (Canton) to work in the quarries in Lei Yue Mun as early as the beginning of the twentieth century. This means that at the end of the nineteenth century, there were already quarries operating in Lei Yue Mun. Farming had became another important economic activity along with more people settling there in the 1930s. More refugees from Mainland China came to Lei Yue Mun to make a living after 1945 and the quarry business became more prosperous. The Government later tried to regulate this industry by issuing licenses for using explosives only to those quarries operating with trained personnel.

Since the bay area of Lei Yue Mun (now called Sam Ka Tsuen Typhoon Shelter) is

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small compared to Shau Kei Wan just opposite on Hong Kong Island, it never developed into an important shelter/settlement for fishermen like Shau Kei Wan. But there were still many fishermen working in the nearby waters with smaller boats.

According to various informants, including Mr Wong Shek Shing, the chairperson of the Lei Yue Mun Business Association, in the early 1960s some fishermen started to sell their fish products either from their own boats near the shore or on the ground near the shore. The fresh fish sold in this relatively close urban place attracted richer people from other parts of Hong Kong to come to buy fish or consume them in one of only two small, shabby restaurants there. This was the early mode of operation of this now internationally famous seafood tourist destination.

The urban development of Kwun Tong new town and You Tong, two nearby areas, in the late 1950s had a great impact on the local economy. Lei Yue Mun became more accessible by land and thus attracted more local visitors to come to enjoy seafood. As a consequence, more local residents living on the land abandoned their farms and started to sell fish on boats. Subsequently, more arable land and pig pits were torn down to make space for more simple restaurants as the demand increased. When the quarry business gradually declined because of lacking competitive power, and finally collapsed in 1967 when all quarries were forbidden to use explosives22, many quarry owners turned to the seafood business in Lei Yue Mun and many workers became seafood restaurant workers. The people selling fish from boats near the shore began to continue their business on land by building simple fish stalls right in front of their boats. In the 1970s these stalls, together with the restaurants (regulated by the Government and self-regulated by the Lei Yue Mun Business Association (LYMBA) formed in 1967) still served mainly local visitors. Later, when more businessmen from the developing Kwun Tong industrial area brought their overseas customers to Lei Yue Mun, this place gradually received increasing attention from both local and international media through the 1970s and 1980s. At the same time the operators of seafood business began to diversify the variety of their products by introducing overseas species to Lei Yue Mun. By that time, the Hong Kong Tourist Association (HKTA) (now known as the Hong Kong Tourism Board, HKTB) had begun to highlight the seafood business of Lei Yue Mun in its promotion programmes.

The negotiation of community, culture and economics When discussing the life of a tourist object in Australia, Meaghan Morris stated precisely the connecting scheme between culture and economics in tourism: ‘Whenever tourism is an economic strategy as well as a money-making activity, and wherever it is a policy of state, a process of social and cultural change is initiated which involves transforming not only the ‘physical’ (in other words, the lived) environment of ‘toured’ communities, and the intimate details of the practice of everyday life, but also the series of relations by which cultural identity (and therefore, difference) is constituted for both the tourist and the toured in any given context’.23

As we find this a sound framework for our analysis of tourism in Lei Yue Mun, we would like to add a remark about community on it. The history of LYMBA, established in 1967, is definitely a good example to show the relatons by which cultural identity is constituted in tourist practices. In the early 1960s when the seafood stalls and restaurants was initially developing their business, the water and power supply of Lei Yue Mun, like most squatter areas, was seriously insufficient. For their - 31 -

own business and also the local residents' interest, the operators of the seafood industry organized themselves to petition for installation of electricity wires, water pipes and telephone lines for the fish stalls and restaurants. Later the infrastructure for these utilities was extended to domestic use. They also erected street lamps, built public toilets and paved the first road along the seashore where the stalls and restaurants were located. In 1995, when a landslide occurred on one of the slopes of Lei Yue Mun and some of the fish stalls and restaurants were issued with a Government notice of eviction, the Business Association stepped in to resolve the conflict between the Government and the residents. As a result, both the affected seafood operators and the affected residents were able to stay on. The Tourism Commission’s Tourism District Enhancement Programme in 2003 also helped with renovating the sitting-out area and repaving the footpath serving the restaurants.

These would not only benefit the business sector but also the residents.

According to Wong Shek Shing's memory, in the mid 1960s, LYMBA was very active in negotiating with the colonial government and mobilizing local residents to raise money for road construction and join the cleaning campaign for the community.

Since the 1980s, it has further participated in the planning process of Lei Yue Mun, including the problems of squatter houses and the proposal of building a highway cutting across the community. Over the past few decades, most key members of LYMBA have played key roles in the Lei Yue Mun Kai Fong Association (KFA), a local consultative body established by the colonial government in 1957 when Lei Yue Mun was included in the administrative district of New Kowloon. For example, the chairpersons of both KFA and LYMBA are restaurant owners. KFA was a social organization recognized by the Government as representing local interest, an integral part of the colonial governance of Hong Kong, termed as “administrative absorption of politics”.24 Today they still work closely to represent the interest of seafood industry and see it as the interest of the community. The roles of these two organizations in government's consulatitive politics remains almost the same after the handover in 1997 despite without new conflicts during the economic downturn.

The 1998 policy speech made by Tung Chee-wah, the first Chief Executive of Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (HKSAR), clearly stated the vision of developing tourism in Hong Kong in the post 1997 era. He emphasized that tourism is one of Hong Kong’s ‘traditional economic strongholds’ and that Hong Kong as a city has ‘a unique flavour’ like Paris or Istanbul. Tourists have been attracted by ‘our Eastmeets-West culture, our day and night shopping and entertainment, and a spectacular, yet safe physical environment’, said Tung. Besides positioning Hong Kong as ‘ Asia’s world city’, in this policy speech, Tung used the phrase ‘Asia’s entertainment capital’ to justify the Government’s plan to construct new entertainment mega-facilities such as the Disneyland theme park and the West Kowloon Cultural and Entertainment Complex. However, Tung added, ‘new facilities and attractive events are key planks in the tourism strategy, but they are not the whole story. We need to look at ways of better presenting to the world our distinctive heritage…We intend to do more promote our heritage to help develop tourism…’25 A local scholar, Pang Lai-kwan, once stated that the Government’s tourism policy has increasingly pushed Hong Kong in the direction of a ‘city of sight’ or ‘spectacle’ 26, not only by investing into new entertainment facilities such as Hong Kong Disneyland, but also by stripping away the historical specificity of cultural

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heritage items, such as resituating the old colonial building, Murray House, many miles away in Stanley Market.27 We basically agree with Pang’s analysis. The socalled ‘unique flavour’ of Hong Kong is simply understood as ‘East-meets-West culture’, a very broad term that is never clearly defined in terms of its essential sociopolitical content. For the government, so-called Eastern culture usually refers to obvious elements of Chinese cultural heritage such as the Tin Hou Temple in Lei Yue Mun, the Cantonese opera, and so on. Meanwhile, the notion of so-called Western culture is mostly referred to colonial-style buildings such as Murray House, the Central Police Station, Victoria Prison and the former Central Magistracy Compound in Central. To explain how these two forms of culture might have met would involve a deeper understanding of colonial history. But this historical ‘meeting’ would never be articulated in the form of the ‘cultural tourism’ that the Government intended to develop.

Obviously, for the Government, promoting culture is not the primary objective of developing tourism in Hong Kong. It is a ‘traditional economic stronghold’, as claimed by Tung at the very beginning of his policy speech in 1998—a speech made when Hong Kong was experiencing its first economic crisis after 1997 because of the collapse of the stock and property markets. Without the motivation or the ability to restore Hong Kong’s once prosperous manufacturing industry, the Government turned to the tourist industry to save the economy. That is why the section on tourism in the 1998 policy speech was the longest in the era of Tung’s administration. It was in that same year that Tung decided to appoint a Commissioner for Tourism, and he established the Tourism Commission in the following year to enhance tourism facilities and support the development of new attractions and events, as well as maintaining a partnership with the coordinating body for tourist business, the Hong Kong Tourist Board. When Tung once again addressed tourism seriously in 2004, it was also in the aftermath of an economic crisis—one caused by SARS in 2003. The discourse on ‘increasing employment’ was always sound enough for the Government to justify putting a higher priority on developing new attractions rather than on heritage tourism projects. The re-emphasis on the fading tourism slogans of ‘shopping paradise’ and ‘gourmet paradise’ in Tung’s 2004 policy speech demonstrated a desire to meet the consumptive drive of tourists coming from Mainland China under the new Individual Visit Scheme28. This shift in the target market from European, American or Japanese tourists to the mainland Chinese noticeably altered the tourist landscape in Hong Kong.

According to the Tourist Commission, Lei Yue Mun falls under the category of existing tourism spots requiring improvement, and the strategy is ‘to preserve Lei Yue Mun’s indigenous character as a fishing village on the one hand, and upgrade its supporting facilities and improve its environment on the other.’ 29 However this was not translated by the 2004 government policy speech into setting up Lei Yue Mun as a priority area for improvement works--unlike Stanley, another spot with a similar “waterfront scenery” flavour. The actual improvement works done or planned so far in Lei Yue Mun are in fact quite minimal, when compared with other projects that fall into the same category. In fact, the seafood business holders in Lei Yue Mun feel that the Government has paid less attention to Lei Yue Mun than before. This has been puzzling them for some time since they think they have worked hard to up-keep Lei Yue Mun seafood as a locally and internationally famous brand, a labour which is in line with the Government’s boast that Hong Kong is, ‘Asia’s world city’ and a

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‘gourmet paradise’. According to Mr Wong Ping-kuen, a Kwun Tong District Councillor and a shareholder in a big Lei Yue Mun seafood restaurant, it was actually with the encouragement and full support of the Hong Kong Tourist Association back in 1992 that they organized the first Seafood Festival in Lei Yue Mun. Now, he said, the Government is apathetic towards this event. The seafood festival in recent years has become nothing more than some seafood restaurants offering special ‘seafood festival menus’ to interested patrons. Nonetheless, Mr Wong highlighted the spectacle of the ‘seafood street’ as an important reason why Lei Yue Mun is still attractive to tourists, besides boasting the unique ‘Lei Yue Mun’ style of cooking various kinds of seafood. Cultural heritage elements such as the Tin Hou Temple and the lighthouse are only supplementary to the seafood attraction there.

Amidst this perceived government apathy, however, the government did indeed carry out a feasibility study on a large-scale development of Lei Yue Mun’s tourism and entertainment facilities back in 1999 when Tung wanted to save the economy by developing tourism. The study was conducted in the light of the existing popularity of Lei Tue Mun’s seafood business and ‘village environment’. The three plans suggested in the ‘Lei Yue Mun Rural Improvement and Development Plan’ ranged from keeping the indigenous rural characteristics of Lei Yue Mun, to transforming it into a diversified entertainment area30. But after some consultation with concerned parties, including the business operators and residents in Lei Yue Mun, the proposals have been suspended, if not scrapped31. More recently, however, real estate corporations are starting to develop residential blocks in the nearby area, making use of the sea view of Lei Yue Mun as their selling point. Overall, Lei Yue Mun has become a site where various governmental, commercial interests and community politics converge and take advantage of, while still assisting (perhaps in name only), the prescribed tourism development of the area.

The identification of Lei Yue Mun solely with exotic seafood in dominant tourism discourses also shaped the cultural identity of local residents. According to a survey conducted in 2000 by the local community service agency, the Christian Family Service Centre (CFSC), which collected views of local residents (including people living there and working there) on the future development of the area, 53.6% of the three hundred interviewees--mainly middle and old aged people--said that the first thing they thought of in relation to Lei Yue Mun was the seafood stalls and restaurants (compared to 37.6% for Tin Hou Temple, and 30.5% for the lighthouse), and 52.7% said that their impression of Lei Yue Mun was ‘a good place to take seafood’. At the same time, 49.7% said ‘a tourist attraction’ and 30.4% said ‘a small fishing harbour with a village flavour’(compared to 24.7% for ‘squatter area’, 22.3% for ‘good place for fishing and entertainment’, and 19.9% for ‘a community with close neighbourhood relationships’) 32 These statistics interestingly revealed the tendency of the residents, under the influence of the dominant discourse on Lei Yue Mun, to take on the constructed exotic image of Lei Yue Mun as a tourist space rather than as the marginalized squatter area where they live or work everyday,.

However, as tourism in Lei Yue Mun has been so intensively constructed around the seafood business, and since those stalls and restaurants are geographically concentrated along the seashore and somewhat distanced from the residential area, the ‘visual consumption of the environment’33 of tourists has been very much limited to the ‘seafood street’ and the sea view, and not the narrow lanes and irregularly built

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stone houses up the slopes. Therefore the everyday life of Lei Yue Mun residents is less subject to tourist gazing.

The downhill trend of the seafood business since 1997 has brought about another change in the relationship between tourist space and living space in Lei Yue Mun. According to the seafood operators we interviewed, there are external factors leading to this decline, such as the general economic recession in Hong Kong, the fading of the unique position of Lei Yue Mun in seafood as competition increases, and insufficient government support. Some also attributed the negative trend to their own mode of operation, such as lacking a modern way to manage a restaurant.34 One key problem that may ‘scare off’ visitors nowadays is the traditional way of selling seafood, that is, displaying seafood in the stalls without a price tag. This practice is seen to be a way to avoid direct competition among the operators. But as a traditional organization, the Lei Yue Mun Business Association has no motivation to balance the interests of its members and to change this culture, but rather has an investment in treating bargaining as a characteristic or flavour of seafood transactions in a ‘seafood village’ like Lei Yue Mun. From our observations, we also found that the Association is not powerful enough to reform this traditional mode of operation or to balance the interest of seafood operators located in different positions along the ‘seafood street’, and coming from different backgrounds as more and more people invested in the seafood business during its transformation from a local business into a famous tourist attraction.35 Sticking to their existing traditional mode of operation, the Association, like the government, turns to local cultural heritage for a way to supplement seafood attraction in order to sustain the global image of Lei Yue Mun. Mr Wong Shek-sing said: ‘This tourist spot is a bit too monotonous by only providing seafood. If someone is sensitive to seafood, he or she will not come. I think we should expand the scope of Lei Yue Mun. In this place, we actually have other tourist attractions, such as the Tin Hou Temple and the lighthouse. We can construct a viewing platform…a pier…a seashore walkway…a huge Tin Hou statue on top of the hill facing the Victoria Harbour, like the Buddha statue in Po Lin Temple in Lantau…Why do people go to eat vegetarian food in Po Lin Temple? Because there is a huge Buddha’. (Interview transcript)

It is quite clear that until very recently Wong himself has been equating seafood with Lei Yue Mun tourism. As a matter of fact, the Tin Hou Temple has been standing there for more than two hundred years, even before the arrival of the current residents’ ancestors. In Chinese traditional culture, Tin Hou is the goddess of fishermen, and so a Tin Hou Temple is usually located near the sea. Interestingly, the Temple in Lei Yue Mun was actually constructed by a pirate back in the late Ching Dynasty, although there are many legends concerning the history of the Temple and the goddess Tin Hou. But, the local business sector’s seemingly ‘cultural’ strategy of promoting heritage such as the Tin Hou Temple for Lei Yue Mun tourism is in fact an economic one, just like that of the Hong Kong government. In other words, the symbol of Tin Hou can become part of the whole project of constructing Lei Yue Mun into an ‘indigenous fishing village’, and the Tin Hou Statue suggested by Wong can become another icon for the delineation of Hong Kong’s ‘East-meets-West’ culture. This can be considered a process of ‘manufacturing traditions for tourism’.36 The question arises, how does the business sector position the Lei Yue Mun living - 35 -

space where traditions are generated? The flavour of an “indigenous fishing village” cannot be sustained by the thirty to forty seafood business structures along the seashore. Not only has the arrival of many new immigrants from China moving in to this relative cheaper living place provided abundant labour for the seafood business (while many indigenous people operating the seafood business have been moving out of this squatter area for better accommodation and jobs), but also historically the seafood business has emerged from the community and some of the business operators still own houses there. Therefore, when asked about how they respond to the three plans included in the Government-initiated ‘Lei Yue Mun Rural Improvement and Development Plan’, most of the interviewees in the business sector responded that they would support the idea of maintaining the rural characteristics of Lei Yue Mun while improving the facilities—meaning that there should not be mass demolition of the squatter huts for the sake of tourism development.

For example, Wong Ping-kuen said: ‘Our opinion is very clear. The existing qualities of Lei Yue Mun are already attractive to tourists. If one tourist destination is destroyed, it takes tremendous resources to build another one. Additionally, the impact of the existing famous brand will disappear.

What’s more, it would arouse the dissatisfaction of the local residents. The success of Lei Yue Mun tourism today cannot be separated from the effort of local residents in the past decades. The Government should consult local residents on how to develop this place; it should not to destroy it by making whatever plans. In my opinion, the government does still want to preserve the rural characteristics here’. (Interview transcript)

We can see here that Wong is using ‘the local residents’ as a source of bargaining power to negotiate the rural characteristics of Lei Yue Mun with the Government.

However, he also refers particularly to those local residents who have contributed to tourism development--meaning, seafood attractions--in Lei Yue Mun. What about the majority of those who are not related at all to the seafood business? Of course, in the present circumstances, the business sector’s strategy of preserving the so-called ‘rural characteristics’ of Lei Yue Mun does not seem to clash with the interest of squatter residents, but what would happen if the Government wanted to clear the squatter area to ‘manufacture’ more traditions for tourism, as in Stanley, or indeed to make way for real estate development? Would the business sector sacrifice its economic interest for the sake of preserving local cultural heritage if they found such government plans viable for their own survival or financial benefit?

There are no simple answers to these questions. The local restaurants have succeeded in maintaining the ‘seafood village’ and its cultural image among the tourists. However, the ‘seafood village’ is not merely a successful business model which could be applied to other places. In order to understand their ‘success’, we cannot afford to neglect the local and ‘informal’ characteristics of the seafood industry in Lei Yue Mun, mostly sustained as it is by local restaurant owners with a strong historical and community background, who are still surviving in this squatter area. According to a government regulation their premises, like all the squatter houses surrounding them, are classified as temporary structures. In spite of this, these premises are tolerated and even promoted as a tourist attraction by the Government in recent years. What makes this community unique is that the local restaurants and their associations, such as the Business Association and the Kai Fong Association, have - 36 -

managed to gain this acceptance, strongly enough to form a local and informal economy largely segregated from the economy outside. Obviously, no ordinary company would take the risk of running a restaurant in an illegal premise located in a squatter area, even though it is called a ‘seafood village’.

Yet at the same time, its informal and local characteristics prevent Lei Yue Mun from undergoing significant changes. As Mr Lee Wah-ming, a member of the Legislative Council, has said, despite people’s eagerness to push government to invest more in the infrastructure of Lei Yue Mun to maximize tourism, it is almost impossible to launch any project in this small community unless a large number of squatter houses (probably including some restaurants) are cleared away to make space for new constructions. Behind the space open to the tourist gaze and beyond its toured object of ‘seafood’, the restaurant operators are consciously or unconsciously sustaining a local and self-limiting economy embedded in its historical and geographical contexts.

Cultural tourism for community development: the politics of residents’ tourist practices While the seafood stall and restaurant operators are local residents themselves, and while they also employ local residents, these operators and employees account for only around 20% of the families, according to Mr Wong Shek-sing. The benefits of tourism, therefore, have not trickled down to the rest of the local population. In Lei Yue Mun, two organizations claim to work for the benefit of the residents: KFA and the Lei Yue Mun Community Service Unit of the Christian Family Services Centre (CFSC). KFA has always been a basis for local elites to maintain the status quo of the community and thus their economic interest. Therefore the kai fong (which literally means “residents”) in leading positions were already seafood business operators or elites when Lei Yue Mun transformed into a tourist destination37. Thus one can say that the KFA represents the concerns of a particular group of residents whose interests are very much connected to the rise and fall of seafood tourism; the KFA has been the traditional determinant force in directing the seafood business, and even more influential than the Lei Yue Mun Business Association formed later. For example, the major tourist promotion activity--the seafood festival--has always been an initiative of the KFA. CFSC is one of the many Government-subsidized social service agencies providing community development service in Hong Kong. The colonial government, in response to its crisis of political legitimation during and after the riots in 1966 and 1967, provided more social welfare and public facilities for the local population through new official channels, charitable organizations and churches.38 With the colonial government's assistance and encouragement, CFSC started their service unit in Lei Yue Mun in 1979 and it has been actively organizing residents to improve their living environment in the community. Their work includes organizing fire teams to oversee the safety of the squatter huts, providing services for children and women, conducting surveys to find out the needs of the residents and connecting with residents from other squatter areas to negotiate with the government on squatter housing policies. The Lei Yue Mun Residents’ Association, formed by CFSC in 1985, was considered a ‘radical’ organization by the KFA since the members of the former Association were more militant in fighting for their housing rights as a squatter

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residents. Although the Residents’ Association dissolved in 2001, the KFA still keeps a distance from CFSC while the social workers in CFSC try to maintain a friendly relationship with them.

However, the two parties were never connected by tourism until CFSC got involved in the discussion of the different tourist development plans suggested by the Government and by Chan Kam-lam, a pro-Beijing Legislative Councillor and a former Kwun Tong District Councillor who has been actively involved in the promotion of Lei Yue Mun tourism. According to Ms Lui Ka-wai, the present officerin-charge of the Lei Yue Mun Service Unit of CFSC, consultation on Lei Yue Mun’s rural improvement plan--including a plan of constructing a highway across the community—began as early as 1993. But the ordinary kai fong (for Lui also refers to the non-elite residents served by CFSC as kai fong) were never consulted. Chan Kamlam went on in 2001-02 to make another suggestion, this time to construct a cablecar route to the hill top where a military heritage site is located. By then, she had realized how local residents would be affected by such development plans, without having a way to express their opinions. She therefore began to think of using tourism projects to draw residents’ attention to planning issues. Although she is critical of the mainstream tourism for ‘just taking “things” away from Lei Yue Mun and not leaving anything here but garbage and nuisance’, her strategy is not to intervene in mainstream tourist practices, but rather to start alternative projects aimed at ‘leaving’ precious ‘things’ in the community .

The first such effort, ‘Preserving the Past and Glorifying the Present--Community Construction Project’, began by using various means to collect memories from different groups of people living in Lei Yue Mun. The survey on residents’ opinions about the future development of Lei Yue Mun (discussed in the previous section) was one of the activities of this Project. It revealed that the residents identified with the characteristic of Lei Yue Mun as seafood tourism destination: from the texts recording their stories or snatches of memory, we can see that along with places like the Tin Hou Temple and its festivities, the lighthouse, the quarries and the broken pier, the more recent emergence of the seafood stalls and restaurants and the gradual improvement of their living conditions constituted part of the collective memory of people living in Lei Yue Mun39. Besides producing cultural ‘things’ such as booklets, photo essays and a VCD on Lei Yue Mun’s living history, CFSC also organized a series of cultural activities to introduce the history of other living heritage sites marginalized by mainstream tourism, including the Hoi Bun Primary School, the squatter houses and the quarries. These activities were targeted at local residents as well as at other community groups outside such as teachers and students.

In addition to all these efforts to cultivate a sense of belonging in the community of residents and generate cultural resources for community/tourism development, CFSC also organized two groups of residents to be the ‘hardware’ for carrying out alternative tourist practices. The first group, called ‘I am the Boss’ and given a ‘selfhelp’ orientation , began in 2001 with the dual objectives of ‘helping unemployed people and low income families to overcome their financial difficulties by selling Tshirts and souvenirs to the tourists’ and ‘introducing the characteristics, culture, and history of Lei Yue Mun to the tourists so as to help promote tourism in this district.’ (according to a pamphlet of the ‘I am the Boss’ Self-help Group). The second is the ‘tour guiding group’ (formed in 2004) in which residents are trained by CFSC social

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workers as tour guides, not to visiting the seafood street, but to walking around the squatter area and being introduced to the life and history of Lei Yue Mun residents.

The tours usually come from other local communities, and from schools, universities and social service organizations who are attracted to Lei Yue Mun not because of seafood but the squatter culture of the community.

Now, these two groups of residents work together when a tour comes to Lei Yue Mun through a contact made with CFSC. When the tour guides finish their work, the members of the self-help group sell T-shirts imprinted with icons of Lei Yue Munlike carp, the Tin Hou Temple or the typhoon shelter, and a small variety of handicrafts. This kind of alternative tourism practice, very much dependent upon the contacts of CFSC, has not brought much economic return to the members but rather the satisfaction of introducing the local culture to visitors from their own perspective as residents. As Ah Ho, a core member of the ‘I am the Boss’ group and a participant in the tour guide work, remarks: ‘We are quite different from the commercial tour guides because we grew up here. We also know the information on Lei Yue Mun known to the outside guides, such as the two to three hundred years’ history of the Tin Hou Temple and its relation to the pirates. We may not express this as systematically as them. But will they know that a big vessel passes by the Temple at around 9.00 to 10.00 every morning, giving a great visual impact to the on-lookers? We can tell the visitors all the everyday life details of living here, such as where to buy the most delicious cake; anecdotes of staging Chinese opera at Tin Hou Temple; where we caught fish when we were small…An outside guide can give you cold information, but we can give you warm life experience...But we have been facing a problem of keeping a balance between the two objectives set in the beginning--promote community culture and be self-reliant financially…In the beginning, we just aimed at selling T-shirts. But now we are changing to promote culture, telling the buyers the story behind the T-shirts’. (Interview transcript)

As a matter of fact, Ah Ho and the other three core members in the Group do not need to or could not live on this ‘business’. They are either employed, retired or working as a housewife. The only member who is genuinely unemployed withdrew his share and left the Group after three years, not because he did not identify with role of promoting local culture, but because his expectation of generating income from this tourist practice was not fulfilled.

We also found that this kind of community-oriented practice of tourism also falls into the dilemma between culture and economy. As clearly spelled out again by Lui Ka-wai during the interview: ‘The original idea of starting the ‘I am the Boss’ Group was not for tourism per se, but to involve people in paying attention to planning issues. Since several planning issues happening here are all related to tourism, we try to focus our work on this. If activities organized around cultural tourism become systematized, we will retreat from this scope of work’. (Interview transcript)

If tourism is only a means or an excuse to intervene in the planning of Lei Yue Mun, and if ‘culture’ is defined as the life histories of residents and the lifestyle of squatters, it is understandable why CFSC would not make effort to turn this volunteer-oriented group into a real self-help group, or to help the members become real ‘bosses’. Without much experience in running small business, CFSC follows its - 39 -

conventional model of organizing resident associations in the community and emphasizing consciousness-raising, group sharing and social involvement rather than economic calculation and the management of small business groups or cooperatives.

For them, ‘developing tourism’ is only a tool for mobilizing residents in the same way as in the 1980s. In other words, the ‘cultural strategy’ used in these unintended tourist practices is not an economic one but a political one, that is, to guarantee that the voices of the local residents are heard in future consultations.

The term “political” does not refer to any political activism; instead it is embedded in a set of professional practices by social workers. The expansion of social services sector after the early 1970s resulted in professionalization of social workers including those involved in community organizing and resident organization. But the urban social movements guided by professional social worker gradually developed into a moderate way of grassroot mobilization and “polite politics” corresponding with the (post-)colonial government's consultative politics and delicate system to handle social resistances.40 From CFSC's use of “culture”, we could identify more political implications of social worker's professional practices after the field of “community development” has been shrinking since the late 1990s due to decreasing funding from social welfare department. Recently CFSC, like many community development service centre, has turned to various piecemeal projects about “culture” sponsored by various funders.

“Culture” here is put by CFSC into a binary opposition with economy and the economic activities around cultural promotion could not be sustainable. Without sufficient incentives such as job opportunities and considerable income, residents could not integrate their material life with an alternative image of Lei Yue Mun. The slow development and the reliance of the ‘bosses’ and the community tour guides on CFSC are symptomatic of the kind of tourism practice framed by social service agencies. Furthermore, it is contradictory to the agency’s objective of using tourism as a means for political intervention since, first, the agency can never retreat from such practices if the members are unable to operate the ‘business’ independently. However, second, the residents may not have bargaining power in any future consultation related to tourism planning if they are not one of the economic forces in Lei Yue Mun tourism, given the context of the wider economy-oriented tourism development trend in Hong Kong. The ‘business’ run by the ‘bosses’ and the local tour guides may be too minimal to have much impact on Government planning and the dominant tourism culture in Lei Yue Mun. Compared with the seafood restaurant owners, CFSC and its partner groups fail to develop a viable local business model in the community or to form a significant party in the planning and negotiation process of local tourism development.

However, although this kind of alternative practice of tourism is neither an economic strategy nor a financially self-sustained activity, we observe that this also involves a process of social and cultural change in Lei Yue Mun. First, the tourist gaze brought by those alternative tours guided by local residents may result in ‘the toured’ becoming a closer tourist object. As Ah Ho shared with us: ‘Indeed, I myself didn’t feel comfortable in the beginning because your life becomes the spectacle of the outsiders. Someone may look at you while you are taking meals. Later I gradually adapt to this as I find the visitors are quite friendly and they just want to know

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more about our community’. (Interview transcript)

It may indeed be too simplistic to position ‘the toured’ as victims of tourism, particularly in such locally participant modes of touring carried out by guides like Ah Ho. The relationship between the tour and the toured differs in terms of motivation and mode of operation from that prevailing in a more mainstream form of tourism.

The residents inside a house as gazed upon by a visitor coming from another community for a friendly visit is different from the spectacles of fishes, lobsters, prawns to be consumed, materially and symbolically, in the seafood street. The history and everyday life practices of people living in squatter communities may become more real and not just imagined as in terms of their membership of an inauthentic ‘seafood village’ or ‘urban paradise’.

As we mentioned above, the KFA has been keeping a distance from CFSC whom they consider a competitor or an opponent in the kai fong business. So when CFSC started to get involved in tourism, both KFA and the Lei Yue Mun Business Association became suspicious of what they were doing. But Lui Ka-wai thinks that their ‘campaign’ or cultural tourism project has to certain extent changed the mentality of the mainstream tourist operators like Wong Shek-sing and Wong Pingkuen, since they, too, have begun to talk about the importance of local culture or cultural heritage. No matter whether this observation of Lui’s is correct or not, cultural heritage and local culture has become the starting point and common language for the two parties involved in very different tourism practices to engage in a dialogue in the future.

Conclusion From the above analysis of the case of Lei Yue Mun, we can begin to see how the local, national and global may be negotiated in Hong Kong tourism development.

Historically, as an internationally famous tourist attraction Lei Yue Mun emerged from a very local economy that supplied local seafood for local urban consumption.

But interestingly enough, as the tourist business became prosperous and fewer local residents remained in the fishing business, so that the operators needed to turn to overseas for greater supplies of more varied marine products, it was the construction of a local ‘fishing village’ flavour in mainstream tourism discourses that sustained the attraction of Lei Yue Mun seafood tourism. This combination of a local and a global imagination for Lei Yue Mun is mediated by the nationalistic design of the Hong Kong SAR Government to maintain the international standing of a ‘financial centre’ for this post-colonial space. The mediation is carried out by two means. Discursively, the saying that Hong Kong itself has emerged from a ‘small fishing village’ into an ‘international financial centre’ is very widely circulated in media texts and historical writings. This has provided a basis or a frame of reference for us to make sense of the tourism discourse of Lei Yue Mun. That is to say, Lei Yue Mun is represented as the past of Hong Kong, and this can satisfy the nostalgic feeling of local visitors and the exotic imagination of the ‘Pearl of the Orient’ still held by overseas tourists.

Materially, the tourism development projects in Lei Yue Mun serve as part of the grand plan for the government to revive Hong Kong’s tourism industry in order to salvage the area’s (still) sluggish economy, assisted by the central Chinese Government’s new policy allowing an Individual Visit Scheme to the SAR.

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Yet the internal dynamics of the different parties involved in tourism in Lei Yue Mun is a more significant factor that has transformed tourist practices there earlier than government's promotion and global tourism market. Supported by pro-Beijing party councillors coming from both the District Council and the Legislative Council, the Kai Fong Association and the Business Association are the dominant forces that can negotiate with the Government over concrete plans and projects. In many studies, the tourist gaze and the toured object are often viewed as hegemonic constructions on the part of government or big corporations. Insufficient attention, however, is paid to the perpetuating forces of the daily practices of local agents and their historical specificities. In order to make sense of tourism culture and devise alternative tourist practices, we cannot afford to neglect the institutional and historical processes working at the local level.

It is also worth noting the diversity and complexity of the local agents at play even in a small community such as Lei Yue Mun. The seafood operators (of the stalls and restaurants) indeed represent dominant economic interests in the area, hence gaining more recognition from the government and more say on the discussion table deciding the development of the area. But those local residents who are not directly related to the seafood business tend (especially in the squatter areas) to be marginalized in the whole tourism discourse of Lei Yue Mun where seafood is still seen/constructed as the crucial essence, not just of the seafood industry itself, but also for the survival of the area. On the other hand, different organizations (such as kai fong associations, commerce organizations, and community groups) are often present in more traditional and closed communities like Lei Yue Mun. Not only do they have diverse and sometimes conflicting orientations, they also form intricate webs of relationships which often complicate the politics at work in these places. All in all, these diverse local agents help to enrich the conception of ‘the local’ in the discussion of (cultural) tourism practices.

The seafood restaurant owners have established a cultural economy characterized by the vivid image of a ‘seafood village’ and its social embeddedness in this squatter area. They are weaving a network of interest which excludes any competitor outside Lei Yue Mun as well as ordinary residents in the community. The failure to recognize and involve these local residents has perhaps prompted local community organizations such as the CFSC to devise ways to get more residents involved in the community planning process, by turning tourists’ gaze from the exotic image of seafood village to the community life of Lei Yue Mun. But its tourist projects, failing to generate an alternative economic practice and merge it into people’s material life, are not able to go beyond cultural promotion to generate an alternative tourist practice and industry. Although CFSC is marginalized by the dominant forces, including the Government departments and seafood operators, its emphasis on local culture may provide a bridge for dialogue between them and the business sector. Furthermore, the dual identity (as both seafood operator and community resident) of some members from the business sector may also be an important agent of negotiation when there is conflict of interest between the business and community in any future change.

However, the traditional mode of operation and the geo-historical constraints of Lei Yue Mun’s tourist industry may prevent the community from transforming into a modern tourist destination that may better satisfy the need of the market.

Nevertheless, all local agents are still sustaining a local space and exploring the possibilities for re-articulating a locality.

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This study provides a local perspective for understanding such a global city as Hong Kong. Yet this localization, rather than a space of indigeousness or cultural authenticity, could not be understood without taking into consideration of the colonial effect on the community level and its postcolonial variations. No matter whether kai fong association or community development service organizations, they, as ‘local allies’ of the colonial regime in one way or another, are maneuvring their autonomy both enabled and constrained by the (post-)colonial power relations.

1

See Iain Borden, Joe Kerr, Jane Rendell and Alicia Pivaro, ‘Things, Flows, Filters, Tactics’ in Iain Borden, Jane Rendell, Joe Kerr and Alicia Pivaro (eds), The Unknown City: Contesting Architecture and Social Space, the MIT Press, Cambridge and London, 2001, pp. 2-28; Mark Gottdiener, The Theming of America: Dreams, Visions and Commercial Spaces, Westview, Boulder, 1997; Michael Sorkin (ed), Variations on a Theme Park, Hill and Wang, New York, 1992; and Sharon Zukin, The Cultures of Cities, Blackwell, Oxford, 1995.

2 Edward Bruner, ‘The Ethnographer/Tourist in Indonesia’, in Marie-Francoise Lanfant,John Allcock and Edward Bruner (eds), International Tourism: Identity and Change, SAGE Publications, London, 1995, pp. 224-41; Tim Edensor, Tourists at the Taj:Performance and Meaning at a Symbolic Site, Routledge, London and New York, 1998; Can-Seng Ooi, Cultural Tourism & Tourism Cultures, Copenhagen Business SchoolPress, Copenhagen, 2002; and John Urry, The Tourist Gaze (Second Edition), SAGE Publications, London, 2002.

3 Meaghan Morris, ‘Life as a Tourist Object in Australia’, in Marie-Francoise Lanfant, John Allcock, and Edward Bruner (eds), International Tourism: Identity and Change, SAGE Publications, London, 1995, pp. 177-191.

4 Sharon McDonald, ‘A People’s Story: Heritage, Identity and Authenticity’, in John Urry and Chris Rojek. (eds), Touring Cultures: Transformations of Travel and Theory, Routledge, London and New York, 1997, pp. 155-25.

5 Davydd Greenwood, ‘Culture by the Pound: an Anthropological Perspective on Tourism as Cultural Commoditization’, in Valene Smith (ed), Hosts and Guests, University of Pennsylvania Press, Philadelphia,1989, pp. 129-138; Dean MacCannell, ‘Reconstructed Ethnicity: Tourism and Cultural Identity in Third World Communities’, Annals of Tourism Research, vol. 11, 1984, pp. 361-77; and Dean MacCannell, The Tourist (second edition), Macmillan., London, 1989.

6 Chris Healy, ‘White Feet and Black Trails: Travelling Cultures at the Lurujarri Trail’, Postcolonial Studies, vol. 2, no.1, 1999, pp. 55-73.

7 James Clifford, Routes: Travel and Translation in the Late Twentieth Century, Harvard University Press, Cambridge, 1997.

8 J.K. Gibson-Graham, The End of Capitalism (As We Knew It): a Feminist Critique of Political Economy, Blackwell Publishers, Cambridge, 1996, p. 18.

9 Donald Moore, ‘Remapping resistance: “Ground for struggle” and the politics of place’, in Steve Pile and Michael Keith (eds), Geographies of Resistance, Routledge, London and New York, 1997, p. 92.

10 Stuart Hall, ‘The Local and the Global: Globalization and Ethnicity’ in Anne McClintock, Aamir Mufti and Ella Shohat (eds), Dangerous Liaisons: Gender, Nation, and Postcolonial Perspectives, University of Minnesota Press, Minneapolis, 1997, p. 186.

11 Jonathan Murdoch and Mara Miele, ‘Culinary Networks and Cultural Connections: A Conventions Perspective’, in Ash Amin and Nigel Thrift (eds), Cultural Economy Reader,

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Blackwell, Oxford, 2004; and Theodore Bestor, ‘Wholesale Sushi: Culture and Commodity in Tokyo's Tsukiji Market’ in Setha Low (ed), Theorizing the City: the New Urban Anthropology Reader, Rutgers University Press, New Brunswick, 1999, pp. 201-242.

12 Lui, Tai-Lok. 2002(1997). “The Self-sustaining Hong Kong Society.” Reading Hong Kong Popular Culture, 1970-2000. Hong Kong Oxford UP, pp. 663-670; Turner, Matthew. 1995.

“Hong Kong Sixties.” In Hong Kong sixties : designing identity. Hong Kong: Hong Kong Arts Centre, pp. 13-34, p. 22.

13 Saskia Sassen. The Global City : New York, London, Tokyo. Princeton, N.J. : Princeton University Press, 2001; and Michael Mainelli and Mark Yeandle of Z/Yen Group Limited.

The Global Financial Centres Index. London: The City of London, 2007.

14 Jennifer Robinson. Ordinary Cities : Between Modernity and Development. London ; New York : Routledge, 2006.

15 See Hai Ren, ‘Economies of Culture: Theme Parks, Museums, and Capital accumulation in China, Hong Kong and Taiwan’, PhD thesis, University of Washington, 1998; Ngai-Ling Sum, ‘Paradox of a Tourist Centre: Hong Kong as a Site of Play and a Place of Fear’, paper presented at the Fifth Annual Meeting of the Hong Kong Sociological Association, Department of Politics and Sociology and the Institute of Humanities and Social Sciences, Lingnan University, 20 December 2003; and Lai-kwan Pang, ‘Sightseeing and (Inter)national City: Hong Kong Tourism and the Society of Spectacle’, < http://www.isop.ucla.edu/cira/pang_paper.htm> 16 Hong Kong Association of Registered Tour Co-ordinators, An Evaluation of the Need to Upgrade the Service Professionalism of Hong Kong's Tour Co-ordinators, Hong Kong Association of Registered Tour Co-ordinators, Hong Kong, 1998.

17 School of Hotel and Tourism Management, the Hong Kong Polytechnic University, Public Opinion on the Prospect of Tourism in Hong Kong (in Chinese), School of Hotel and Tourism Management, the Hong Kong Polytechnic University, Hong Kong, 2000.

18 Hong Kong Planning Department, Planning Study on the Harbour and Its Waterfront Areas: Stage 1 Public Consultation Report, Hong Kong Tourism Board and Planning Department, Hong Kong, 2002.

19 Kai-Sun Kwong, Tourism and the Hong Kong economy, The Hong Kong Centre for Economic Research, Hong Kong, 1997.

20 There used to be many squatter areas in Hong Kong. Back in the 1950s and 1960s, many people migrated to Hong Kong legally or illegally from Mainland China. Because of the housing shortage, many just built squatter houses on hill slopes or in undeveloped areas. Later the government started to control the rapid development of squatter settlements by registering those already existing and demolishing those huts built after the registration. Over the last two decades, many big squatter areas with long histories were swept away by the government for real estate development; there are not many left in Hong Kong. Therefore squatters remaining in areas like Lei Yue Mun have become a special “characteristic” of Hong Kong housing.

21 In the Visitors’ Kit produced by the Hong Kong Tourism Board (a coordinating body for tourism-related business such as hotels, travel agencies and restaurants which works closely with the government) ‘Lei Yue Mun Seafood Bazaar’ is one of the recommended district attractions in Kowloon. The description says: ‘this fishing village is popular for its seafood and ideal for a night out with friends. You can choose your own fresh fish (so fresh it’s still swimming in a tank!) and decide how you’d like it prepared. Make sure you ask the price before ordering.’ See Hong Kong Tourism Board, Visitor’s Kit, Hong Kong Tourism Board, Hong Kong, p. 18.

22 In 1967, a riot broke out in Hong Kong. It was initiated by the supporters of a labour dispute in one of the plastic factories in San Po Kong, an industrial area in Kowloon. Later the dispute developed into a political conflict between the British Hong Kong Government and

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the pro-China leftist organizations, as the labour struggle became more ideological under the influence of the on-going Cultural Revolution in China. People from the leftist camp made bombs and allowed them to explode in many urban spaces so as to threaten the government.

As a result, many people died or were wounded. That was when the government stopped all quarries from using explosives.

23 Meaghan Morris, ‘Life as a Tourist Object in Australia’, pp. 180-1.

24 King, Ambrose Y.C. 'Administrative absorption of politics in Hong Kong: Emphasis on the grass roots level', In Ambrose YC King and Rance PL Lee (Eds). Social Life and Development in Hong Kong. Chinese University Press, Hong Kong, pp. 127-146.

25 All the quotes in this section from Tung Chee Wah’s 1998 policy speech on tourism are taken from paragraphs no.44 to no.

48: < http://www.policyaddress.gov.hk/pa98/English/econ2.htm> 26 See Lai-kwan Pang, ‘Sightseeing and (Inter)national City’, p. 8.

27 The 1844 colonial building in Central used to be a British garrison and was most famous in the local community for its numerous ghost stories. It was torn down in 1982 to vacate an expensive piece of land for the new China Bank Building. Under the strong urging of cultural advocates, the government agreed not to destroy this piece of architecture but to keep the sundered parts of the building in a warehouse for further action. It was not until 1990 that the authorities decided to reassemble the pieces of the old Murray House, and to re-erect the building in the tourist hub of Stanley Market in the south of Hong Kong Island.

28 The “Individual Visit Scheme” is a new scheme allowing individuals from most places in Guangdong Province and some major cities in the Mainland to apply for a visit of seven days to Hong Kong. Previously, a Chinese Mainland visitor could not visit Hong Kong individually but had to join a tour group. This scheme is one of the initiatives taken by the Beijing administration to help Hong Kong to re-vitalize its tourist business as well as the whole economy severely stricken by SARS in 2003.

29 Hong Kong Tourism Commission, ‘Replies to questions raised by Lingnan University on Lei Yue Mun’ , Hong Kong Tourism Commission, Hong Kong, 2005.

30 The ‘Lei Yue Mun Rural Improvement and Development Plan’, initiated by the Planning Department and carried out by an environmental resource management consultant firm in 1999, suggested three plans to develop tourism in Lei Yue Mun. They were, first, to preserve the traditional rural characteristics of Lei Yue Mun and to improve the environmental and basic facilities; second, together with Yau Tong industrial area, to develop the northern part of Lei Yue Mun into a commercial, recreational and residential area while keeping the rural characteristics of the southern part; and third, to increase the tourist characteristics and recreational facilities in Lei Yue Mun, including constructing a seashore walkway, big-scaled in-door recreational facilities and an urban park.

31 This may be partly due to the conflict aroused by a plan of constructing a highway across Lei Yue Mun to Cheung Kwan O, a newly developed town in the East Kowloon, within this ‘Lei Yue Mun Rural Improvement and Development Research’. There were objections among the residents and the business sector in Lei Yue Mun because the highway would divide the area into two halves, destroying the authenticity and originality of Lei Yue Mun. Later, the Government abandoned this plan, and thus the whole development plan had to be re-considered.

32 Christian Family Service Centre, Treasure the Past and Glorify the Present (in Chinese), Lei Yue Mun Service Unit, Christian Family Service Centre, Hong Kong, 2001.

33 John Urry, ‘The Tourist Gaze and the Environment’, in Consuming Places, Routledge, London, 1995, pp. 173-192.

34 These viewpoints are expressed by Mr Yip Pak-keung, Ms Yuen Kam-ying, owner of a famous fish stall and a seafood restaurant, Mr Wong Ping Kuen, manager of a seafood

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restaurant and a Kwun Tong District Councillor, and Mr Wong Shek-sing, chairperson the Lei Yue Mun Business Association.

35 Tai Fat Hou is the only seafood restaurant that has modernized its operation by improving the hygiene, environment and service of the restaurant and improving the management skills of its personnel. (Tai Fat Hou is also the only restaurant in Lei Yue Mun that has a website).

However during the interview with Ms Lee, when asked about her impression of the Lei Yue Mun Business Association, Ms Lee expressed a kind of contempt and a gesture of distancing from the Association.

36 Meaghan Morris, â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;Life as a Tourist Object in Australiaâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;, p. 181.

37 For example, one of our interviewees, Mr Law Shing-hing is now the deputy chair of the Lei Yue Mun Kai Fong Association. He owns five restaurants and stalls in Lei Yue Mun and other places. His father was one of the indigenous residents who first sold seafood on boats in Lei Yue Mun. Another interviewee, Mr Lui Tung-hai, is the secretary of the Association. He is now an elected District Councillor in Kwun Tong.

38 Scott, Ian. Political Change and the Crisis of Legitimacy in Hong Kong. Oxford University Press, Hong Kong, 1989.

39 See Christian Family Service Centre, Treasure the Past and Glorify the Present (in Chinese), Lei Yue Mun Service Unit, Christian Family Service Centre, Hong Kong, 2001; and Christian Family Service Centre, Looking for the Stories of Lei Yue Mun (in Chinese), Lei Yue Mun Service Unit, Christian Family Service Centre, Hong Kong, 2002.

40 Ho, Kwok-leung. Polite Politics: a Sociological Analysis of an Urban Protest in Hong Kong. Aldershot: Ashgate, 2000.

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Reinventing Public Service Provision for the Socially-Excluded in the City: The Recent Transformation of Homelessness Support and Different Paths toward Self-dependence for the Homeless in Japan Geerhardt KORNATOWSKI and Toshio MIZUUCHI Osaka City University, Osaka, Japan

Introduction With the burst of the bubble economy, changes in family patterns and failures on the side of existing social provisions, homelessness has become increasingly a frequent and common sight in the urban public spaces of Japan. Gradually but steadily, the homeless have settled themselves in public parks, shopping arcades, underground bypasses, street sides, under flyovers, on river banks etc. The ‘takeover’ of public parks, which before held the meaning of spaces for leisure, meeting points and family/friends activities, initially created grudge and displeasure from the part of city residents as the meaning and images of parks had changed in an unfamiliar way. Tents and shacks on the sideways of streets became the focus of issues of security and the like, as these streets serve the function of school commuting etc. In this way, the homeless have had a considerable impact on not only the cityscape but also to a certain extent on the daily lives of the city residents. Not surprisingly, the homeless have become the object of harassments and government led preparations of eviction.

In other words, they have taken on ‘the role of marginalized actors in public space as a focus of social exclusion’ (Mitchell, 2003: 5). It is incorrect to say that the homelessness problem in Japan is solely related to the socio-economic situation of the latter 1990s. Homelessness has existed from way before. The main difference with the current situation is the fact previously homelessness had a ‘hidden’ character and was mainly constricted to daily labor districts (yoseba) where it was contained as well (Mizuuchi, 2003, Aoki 2000). Sporadically vagrants wandering around in stations and underground bypasses could be spotted, but this type of homeless individuals didn’t cause any commotion due to their low profile character. Coupled to the spillover of the yoseba districts and the recent emergence of homeless who had no experience with the daily labor market or forms of vagrancy, the issue has spread throughout the main cities at first, and also appeared in the local cities afterwards.

In 2006 the authors have conducted a national survey on the present state of homelessness in Japan. In order to capture the full scope of the recent conditions, the authors have visited 52 homelessness support organizations (hereafter abbreviated to ‘HSOs’) in 43 cities and interviewed a number of rough sleepers in each city as well.

Based on the result of this survey, this paper will clarify the transformation of homeless support movements and the emergence of new ways of self-dependency and in this light consider the efforts against social exclusion and challenges towards existing kinds of public service provisions.

Towards a national and local framework for homelessness policy The increased ‘visibleness’ of homelessness created the urgency for city government bodies and the central government to come up with efficient measures to tackle the problem in a way that the homeless can be included back into society and - 47 -

out of the public scene. The enactment of the Special Measures Law for the Self-dependent Life of the Homeless in 2002 (hereafter referred to as the “Self-dependency Law”) is the embodiment of the central government measures outline. This law provides a framework that offers a wide range of options for the homeless towards retaining a self-dependent life. The Self-dependency Law was formulated by the demand of the major cities like Tokyo and Osaka which needed this proper framework in order to efficiently use resources to deal with the homelessness issue. The Self-dependency Law is centered on the provision of regular jobs, which is considered to be the main concept of making homeless individuals self-dependent again. The practical realization of these job provisions takes place in the so-called “self-dependency support centers”, where the homeless are institutionalized for a period of three to six months１. In addition to the introduction of jobs, these centers also offer training and services to upgrade the chances for the homeless so that they can smoothly attain and retain a regular job. By securing regular jobs, the center gives incentives to save up enough capital for deposit money and the first months of rent in order to move into private apartments. This move forms the last stage to a self-dependent life. The self-dependency support centers are run by social welfare corporations which are commissioned by the city government. They only accommodate homeless individuals who look able to perform a regular job. In the case of Osaka, those unable to perform regular jobs (for physical or mental reasons) are directed to rehabilitation or relief centers where they are offered support in obtaining livelihood assistance. In cities like Nagoya, Kitakyushu, Sendai, Kawasaki, and Sakai, support in livelihood assistance is provided by the self-dependency support centers as well２.

Figure 1 is an overview of the public provision for the homeless per city. Major cities like Tokyo, Osaka, Nagoya and Yokohama all are provided with assessment shelters. Here, the homeless enter through the introduction of outreach patrols or consultation at the social welfare office. After examination, they are after approximately from two weeks to one month transferred to self-dependency centers or other welfare facilities. The severe mental cases and physically handicapped are appointed to rehabilitation centers and hospitals directly from outreach. In the more local cities like Fukuoka, Ichikawa, also self-dependency support homes are provided.

Contrary with the self-dependency support centers, these are individual room apartments publicly rented from the private sector, managed by NGOs and integrated into the local policy. In these apartments as well the homeless receive job introduction support or livelihood assistance. These homes are also available in Sapporo, Niigata, Sendai, Chiba, Wakayama, and Hiroshima etc., but are solely run by support NGOs due to the unavailability of public funds. Most of the local cities however (marked by the red spots in figure 1) don’t have any form of self-dependency accommodation.

Except for Tokyo, major cities such as Osaka, Nagoya, Yokohama and Kawasaki also have park (station) shelters installed. These short-term shelters serve on a night-basis and offer accommodation as a rule for those residing in the park. In Osaka and Nagoya, these shelters have been constructed in line with the forced evictions that have taken place before. In Tokyo it was decided to give forms of housing aid so the homeless could be directly guided into apartments. On the other hand, park shelter provision is inexistent in the local cities. As opposed to the case of major cities, the homeless have been unable to penetrate these public park spaces and occupy them.

The difference in scale of homeless population in major and local cities has been

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responsible for this. After 1996, the number of homeless tent dwellers in the major cities increased precipitously by the hundreds, making it impossible for park keepers to keep control over the situation and therefore leaving no other option than to allow this problem to escalate. It didnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t come so far in the local cities. As soon as any form of tent settlements appeared, park keepers would deal with the problem themselves, strongly recommending or forcing these tent dwellers to look for other resorts.

Consequently, the only form of fixed habitation in local cities has been restricted to more or less remote spaces under bridges and on river banks, or to wander around in stations and arcade shopping streets. The river banks are the legal domain of national government, therefore making it legally impossible for city governments to organize evictions or confiscations. Besides the public sector policies, private sector related HSOs have come to fulfill an immense role in providing support and assistance for the homeless in Japan.

Figure 1: The Status of Public Sector Homelessness Support in Japan and Actual Condition on Prefecture and City Scale.

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It was exactly around the period of the formulation of the homelessness law that these support movements rapidly spread out from the major cities to engage in the more local parts of the country and consequent to this process the content of their support activities transformed as well. The definition of homelessness in Japan is limited to only the state of rough sleeping, meaning only those being ‘roof-less’, excluding those in shelters and other forms of unstable housing. The transformation of homelessness support activities, coupled with the public sector policies, has resulted in new ways or in put in other words, new options, a new set of choices for the homeless to retain self-dependency.

A reawaking of support movement in Japan The processes into homelessness are complex although one can discern a trend that those who hold human capital in Japan don’t easily end up living in the streets (Iwata, 2007). It is this lack of human capital that has left the homeless in need to rely on material support form support movement or to be able to secure stable elements such as fixed forms of habitation and (mainly informal) means of income.

Considering homelessness not only being a problem of rough sleeping but also to a wider extent, including those on the verge of becoming homeless and those who finally have escaped homelessness but can’t seem to fully reconnect with society, it is reasonable to say that the homelessness support organizations have created a basic level of livelihood opportunities for the homeless. Before, these opportunities were mainly offered in the yoseba districts, where the daily laborers come to search for work, as well in the hostel and flophouse areas where they were housed on daily a daily rent basis. These districts were located in Kamagasaki (Osaka), San’ya (Tokyo), Kotobuki (Yokohama), Sasajima (Nagoya) and Chikko (Fukuoka). Labor movements in the 70s, backed up by student movements, set up soup kitchens run by Christian organizations, nighttime outreach patrolling and afterwards day centers in order to offer the daily laborers support at times of unemployment and to protect them from crime syndicates and malignant construction companies. In this way they struggled for the rights of the daily laborers and created means of access to labor related forms of social assistance.

In these yoseba and flophouse areas, daily laborers with unstable incomes faced the acute danger of becoming homeless. As soon as they became entangled in a roofless life, they were discriminated and stigmatized by society as beggars or vagrants, thus leaving them excluded from the everyday society. Up until the 90s, homelessness was a game of survival where the line of being taken up in an emergency hospital or die in the streets was very thin. Apart from medical intervention, there was no policy whatsoever to deal with rough sleepers. The sudden transformation of support movement after the 90s was a partial switch from labor movement and neo-left wing inspired student movements into housing and machizukuri３ related movement. This was the result of factors such as the aging of daily laborers and the sudden increase in unemployment due to the Heisei Recession after the bubble economy, giving rise to the homelessness dilemma of the latter 90s.

Almost simultaneously, blue tents appeared in shocking numbers in public spaces such as public parks, river banks and station terminals throughout every major city in Japan, making homelessness visible to civic society. In Tokyo for example, where instead of the yoseba of San’ya a carton box settlement emerged in Shinjuku, one of

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the famous areas of representative space of the metropolis, and the sight of this scenery struck the eyes of many city residents and tourists.

This public impact of the spillover process of the yoseba and the drastic increase of homeless in public spaces has been two-fold. As previously stated, the escalation of the homelessness problem in public spaces aroused social discontent but on the other hand it also created an opportunity to raise social awareness about an issue which before was merely stigmatized and discriminated against. This social awareness gave impulse to certain individuals and volunteering organizations to commence support assistance in major as well as local cities. This process of support movement resembles likewise former social movements of anti-pollution and Buraku４ liberation in the 70s and the machizukuri movement in response to the aftermath of Hanshin-Awaji Earthquake, all where support actions where organized by the initiative of civic groups. In this way, homelessness became partially recognized as a social issue whereby certain individuals felt the need to organize support movement and volunteering activities to cover the inadequacy and incapability of government response.

Amidst the process of forced evictions in the late 1990s and early 2000, some support movements stepped away from their opposition stance and began to grope cooperation with the notion of negotiation as the basic foundation from the city government. It was around this time that these movements organized themselves into NGOs, legal bodies in order to back up this process. The threshold of this cooperation process was the introduction of a homelessness support policy on part of the central government acting as a guardian for the city governments. In this way the concept for self-dependency was introduced and regular job introduction was brought forward to serve as the main foundation of the concept. In addition, livelihood assistance was made possible for those who are in a physically restricted condition and those who rejected every sort of support policies and preferred to continue using public spaces became the object of forced eviction. At first this policy was introduced in Osaka and Tokyo in 1999 and afterwards with the official formulation of the Homelessness Self-dependency Law in 2002, it was applied nationwide.

With the shift from resistance and struggle to negotiation and cooperation, the fielding extent of homelessness support movement gradually expanded and in a certain way, the movement became subjected to confusion and inner tensions. Support organizations that held on to resistance and struggle as their main identity kept on stressing the demand and struggle for the living rights of those who wish to continue their homeless way of living. In practice, these demands focused on the possibility of public spaces to function as addresses for resident registration, a place for permitted squatting and sheltering and in the most extreme case even for the entire liberation of these spaces or full autonomy over it in an anarchistic kind of way. On the other hand, the support movements that shifted towards a negotiation based attitude gave priority to cooperation, witnessed primarily in the local cities. These organizations changed into full-pledged NGOs sharing the objective of co-developing a ‘one-stop service’５ in which support is directed first to the attainment of livelihood assistance and afterwards to support for the transition into private apartments. From this perspective, support movement has diversified. On the other hand, the central government’s policy, which as stated above uses regular job introduction as its billboard, collides with this livelihood based approach.

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As an attempt to restore ‘the original function’ of public parks as a space for leisure etc. (Toda, 2005: 82), Tokyo started the “Housing First” policy６ initially in Toyama and Chuo Park in Shinjuku and afterwards in other large parks as well. The concept of this policy is to move the tent dwellers out of the parks into private apartments let by the Metropolitan Authority for a duration of maximum two years (contract renewal is possible). The rent is thus subsidized and the homeless individual only needs to provide on his own for the additional costs like electricity, gas, food etc.

Yasue (2005) has pointed out some shortcomings of this policy. These range from inadequate public provision of temporal work to the problem of the very objective of the policy, being namely a mere attempt to expose of the tent settlements instead of trying to secure an apartment life for the homeless in general７.

Consultation on the spot: what do the homeless need?

Apart from those who strongly resist and prefer to continue their life in the public spaces, the homeless in Japan have been offered no choice but to escape their state of homelessness by becoming self-dependent by engaging in regular jobs or through the obtention of livelihood assistance. As stated above, the sort-term shelters and self-dependency support centers were installed for this purpose. With the creation of regular job introduction, support for the obtention of livelihood assistance and the choice to remain occupying public spaces, the pattern of homelessness has diversified as well.

The HSOs in the major cities have mainly concentrated their support activities on the assistance of those homeless male singletons who reside in blue tents in parks and under flyovers and those who settled in carton boxes in stations, the so-called ‘fixed type of habitation’ group. In contrast to those who wander around and thus have no fixed form of habitation, this type of homelessness has been the most easy to detect and most easy to support８. There are almost little to no cases in Japan of homeless individuals illegally occupying abandoned houses or women or families to live in a fixed form of homelessness. In regard to local government homelessness policy as well, priority has mainly been given to only this fixed type of homelessness. In a similar way of the major cities, self-dependency is promoted through regular job introduction and livelihood assistance by means of transferring the homeless from public spaces into private housing. Not being bound to the central government’s framework, these local governments have presented both ways of self-dependency on the spot during outreach patrols and were relatively successful in persuading some of the homeless to give up their way of living and move into apartments９. However, like in the case of the major cities, there was no provision in this policy whatsoever for the those homeless individuals who are self-dependant, or “self-providing” as the authors prefer to express it, meaning that they experience relatively few difficulties at all being homeless as they reside in fixed habitation and have steady incomes from informal sector miscellaneous jobs.

In the next part we will discuss some of the results of the survey, namely the factors that mostly influence the will or decision to remain homeless and where policy and homelessness support activity seem to fall short. In relation to this, we will also pick up the more representative voices and consider their reasons against institutionalization and other forms of support.

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Cross analysis survey results What makes the basic level of livelihood possible for the fixed type of homeless is the fact that these homeless are in relative good health, able to perform physical labor such as collecting recyclable resources and donâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t or only very slightly suffer from any form of mental disease. These factors are closely correlated with the intention to resist public service provision and to the level of self-provision these homeless attain. And indeed, cross analysis of the intention to continue being homeless or to escape homelessness with the type of habitation shows us that the type of fixed habitation is more inclined to continue being homeless (Fig. 2). Those with a stable place to reside thus show a greater percentage to continuing their present condition. A steady place to reside offers the possibility to stock material needed to perform informal and formal sector labor. In case of tent settlements there are most of the time informal networks and a sort of community sense of looking after one other.

Homeless individuals who are looking after another individual or who find themselves in a mutual dependency relationship with another individual are less inclined to give up their actual way of living. Also striking is the percentage of those with unfixed habitation shows a much greater determination to becoming self-dependent again, with the use of public provision or support from homelessness support movements. The unfixed type shows a substantial amount of those unable to determine whether they should change their determination or not. The lack of self-determination and not having a steady place to reside is what makes these homeless individuals doubt if they can be self-providing.

Cross Analysis of the Type of Fixed and Unfixed Habitation of Homeless Individuals Continue Being Homeless

Can't Determine

Escape Homelessness 0%

65%

35%

34%

66%

35%

65%

33%

67%

25%

75% 20%

40% Fixed

60%

80%

100%

Unfixed

Figure 2: Cross Analysis of the Intention to Continue or Escape Homelessness with Type of Habitation.

The major factor in the decision to remain homeless is the duration of the period of homelessness (Fig 3). Those who have been homeless for less than a half year show a great determination to change their situation. Obviously, this group hasnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t become used yet to the hardship of everyday survival which the homeless face.

Despite this fact almost one out of ten already is determined to continue being homeless. This is presumably is related to whether the homeless individual possesses a form of fixed habitation or not, and to those who consider giving up their homeless

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life as no option. Those who have been homeless for a long time are fairly adapted to their way of live and are most of the time self-proving. None of the individuals who are homeless for more than five years interviewed have the intention to actively escape homelessness. Many of these though show no intention because they have already given up and donâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t expect their situation to change. Others take pride in the fact that they are self-providing and there are also those who feel that they wonâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t be able to adjust anymore to an apartment life.

Cross Analysis of Period of Homeless

Continue Being0%8% Homeless 8% Canâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t determine6% Don't-know

0%

Less than Half a Year

14%

33% 46%

25%

14% Escape Homelessness

58%

32%

31%

7%

38%

57% 50%

20%

Less than a Year

21% 19%

40%

60%

Less than 5 Years

31% 80%

0% 100%

More than 5 Years

Figure 3: Cross Analysis of the Intention to Continue or Escape Homelessness with Period of Homelessness.

The activities of HSOs in Tokyo and Osaka are also reflected in this outcome.

They have made it relatively easier for the homeless to survive in the streets or public parks because these have a longer history of committed HSOs. Figure 4 is a cross analysis of the intention to continue or escape homeless in major and local cities. The difference is striking: Apart from the fact that the major cities have longer histories when it comes to homeless support movements, the feasibility of erecting tents in public parks also plays a great role. In a negative sense, this has given the type of homeless who are in a state of confusion due to alcohol addiction problems and mental more confidence to survive in the streets. Results have also shown us that there is also a larger share of long-term homeless individuals in the major cities due to this fact.

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Cross Analysis of Major and Local Cities

Continue Being Homeless

65%

35%

39%

61%

33%

Can't Determine

67%

13%

87%

Escape Homelessness 7%

93%

0%

20%

Major Cities

40%

60%

80%

100%

Local Cities

Figure 4: Cross Analysis of the Intention to Continue or Escape Homelessness with Major/Local City.

Representative voices of the homeless We have mentioned before that the reasons for becoming homeless vary from person to person and are very complex. This complexity makes it difficult to develop a set of prevention measures for those who are in danger of becoming homeless, albeit a more total approach towards tackling homelessness would be more effective than the current one (Yamazaki et al, 2006)ďź&#x2018;ďź?. The complexity of becoming homeless is also reflected in the complexity of escaping it. Government policy has tried to cover all the homeless, mainly through the concept of regular job introduction and in lesser extent through the provision of livelihood assistance. This means however that the individual needs of the homeless are generalized and that therefore individual needs are left unaddressed. HSOs have a wider understanding of the scope of the complexity, but of course this doesnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t mean that they are therefore able to address these matters.

During the nationwide interview of homeless individuals in our survey, we were able to distinct some representative individual issues that prevent the homeless of becoming self-dependent again. As these cases are mostly cases of self-providing individuals, public policy and HSOs have been rather unsuccessful to reintroduce these individuals back into society and make them self-dependent again. What follows is an introduction of common factors which obstruct a return to society, representing the sentiment of the homeless themselves.

The generalizing character of public service policy and its practical execution collide with the individual needs and values of the homeless. The idea of institutionalization is unattractive in itself. Institutionalization implies the adaptation to several rules and regulations, resulting in the restriction of free behavior. Those seeking assistance in becoming self-dependent again accept these restrictions, realizing that this may be for the better. Even if engagement to self-dependency is strong, not everybody is cut out to be subjected to a restrictive life of rules. Especially those who have been homeless and fairly unrestricted in their way of living for a long

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period, find the concept of shared accommodation in shelters and self-dependency centers unattractive. Mainly issues of privacy make it hard to complete rehabilitation and the dependency on the institution creates anxiety in regard to how life will be after completion of the rehabilitation. The greatest problem however lies with the cases that were unsuccessful in becoming self-dependent after completion. The reasons why they failed are related to insufficient back-up and time to adapt to the regular job introduction programmes. The center residents are supposed to find a regular job and continue this job after six months and built up a self-dependent life on their own from there. Some need more time and require a financial basis to rely on when they are unable to continue or want to change their present job. The psychological consequences are substantial. Although they have sacrificed their relative free lives in order to self-dependent again, they failed. The reasons for this vary but many of them feel that if they would have had more and longer back-up, they may have been successful. As these individuals return to the streets and parks, the word spreads out about the inadequacy of these facilities, de-motivating others to enter.

More basic, personal motivations are at play as well. A fair share of the amount of homeless individuals consist of those who have fled or chosen to abandon their previous situation. These relate to family situation, debts, injuries, alcohol/gamble addiction and the lack of social skills. Those who have cut contact with their family apparently do so because they don’t wish to put any burdens on them, or because their sense of pride prevents them to confess their actual condition of homelessness.

Possible enrollment in a facility is then rejected out of fear that their situation will come to light to their relatives. Even more complex are those on the run from debts.

They fear that as soon as they enroll in a facility or acquire an official address they may be discovered and localized. Those addicted to alcohol and gambling１１ have no self-confidence whatsoever of being able to live a normal apartment life. Realizing the inability to save up money, they chose not to improve their situation. Finally, there is also a small share of homelessness individuals who are completely disillusioned about society and wish to be left alone. These individuals are very hard to reach, even for HSOs which are turned away by them or only permitted to watch over them for a longer period in case of emergency etc..

The resistance to institutionalization is only a matter in the major and some local cities. In the local cities where public funded accommodation is inexistent the needs and aspirations of the homeless differ as well. As we have mentioned before, the application of livelihood assistance forms the most effective means to assist the homeless into an apartment life. Besides those who reject support because of personal issues, others reject livelihood assistance because it conflicts with their own perception of self-dependency. Being dependant on social welfare is not considered being self-dependent. Those having an income from miscellaneous jobs don’t see a need in switching to livelihood assistance and take pride in the fact that they are working for a living. Rather, if a return to society and the move into an apartment life is to be realized, having a regular job is considered to be a prerogative.

Also remarkable is that a large share who chose to continue being homeless and were regularly employed before, plan to continue until they are eligible for pension.

Only from then they will consider moving into an apartment.

All the issues we have just described have been very representative obstacles for

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the homeless to pursue a return to society and thus a self-dependent life. All over Japan, these issues have been referred to by the homeless making their situation special, or in other words stressing their exclusive need to dwell the spaces in the respective areas they depend on to do. NGOs have tried to address issues like debt repayment, medical and addiction consultation but have been rather unsuccessful in setting up an effective framework to do so. Government policy has fallen short in these problem areas as well but more importantly, has still refused to recognize these issues as valuable reasons for the homeless to continue living in public spaces. This has resulted into the well-known eviction orders and evacuations (Iwata, 2007: 160).

By evicting the self-providing homeless and thus taking away their livelihood basis, their option to continue the way they were living becomes difficult as they have no space, no ‘home’ anymore to rely on for their miscellaneous work. The objective is then that these homeless find their way into the rehab facilities but the reality is that at least an equal share of them move on to search for other public spaces to dwell. HSOs have tried to intermediate this dilemma. These gaps in homelessness policies and counter actions of the major as well local cities have manifested because policy so far has only targeted those homeless individuals who are able and willing to accept the existing forms of public social provisions. There is yet no proper framework to deal with those individuals who are self-providing and choose to continue to dwell the streets and public spaces in the city. However, if homelessness policy is to be able to cover the self-providing homeless, their voices and demands have to be reconsidered and taken notice of through more flexible public social provisions and considerate approaches to the public spaces issue.

Conclusion The impact of the problem of homelessness in Japan has left its mark on the urban images of Japan. Through the occupation of public parks and streets, forced evictions, the installment of shelters and self-dependency centers in problem target areas, the homeless have ended up in situation a social isolation and exclusion in the city. This doesn’t mean necessarily that city governments are actively pursuing exclusion１２. It is a rather a result of the flaws and failures in existing public social provisions and the inexistence of such in the local cities that don’t have any.

In regard to the occupation of public parks and streets, these same public spaces are generally considered to have become ‘places of resistance, which involves the occupation of particular sites involving new spatial and social practices’. (Bridge and Watson, 2003: 258). In the Japanese case this is partially true: especially in the case of the public parks and yoseba districts, support movements have nested itself in these places to provide material and consultation support for the homeless on the one hand, and on the other to demonstrate against public policy for the living rights and against forced evictions. However, these spaces have also become arenas for consultation and negotiation, making them conflicting spaces similar to the identity crisis of homelessness support organizations.

In many other capitalist cities, the strategy to include the homeless (and socially excluded in general) back into society is based on the reintroduction to the labor market (Gough et al, 2006). Japan uses the same strategy tools, hence the centrality of regular job introduction programmes in national and local homelessness policy. So far,

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only Tokyo has tried a different approach by applying the “Housing First” approach.

Both have their positive and negative aspects.

Addressing the gap of full coverage of public social provision and of HSO assistance to those who are self-providing is becoming more and more an imminent matter. This gap has revealed itself against the background of existing public social provision in the major cities and of the lack of such in the more local cities. In practice, policy has been more effective through the provision livelihood assistance.

This however conflicts with the government’s initial idea of self-dependency by regular labor and civic consensus which favors the same concept. The NGOs have come to a full understanding of the importance of applying livelihood assistance and their actions and demands have made it easier for the homeless to obtain access to social security. This doesn’t mean that they don’t consider labor to be important. They have realized that is more feasible for the homeless to engage into forms of work sharing instead of regular jobs. These, most of the time public works, don’t generate much income but in combination with livelihood assistance, it offers a stable basis of livelihood and living improvement.

With the consequent creation of multiple options towards self-independency, a distinct group of homeless now perceive the self-independency concept as to be identical to their state of self-provision and thus see no need to comply with governmental provision or NGO support. Their choice of remaining homeless however becomes then an issue of having a right to dwell the city and inhabit its public spaces. There is a discussion going on within the government is now whether it is meaningful to stick to the labor principle for promoting social inclusion. Some also suggest installing drop-in centers for mainly those who deliberately remain to dwell public spaces. Critics disagree with this plan because it won’t cut back the number of homeless. Especially in regard to the reevaluation of the Self-dependency Law, which is planned for 2007, a reconsideration of this type of homeless and how to reinvent or even invent proper and efficient support for them might become necessary if social inclusion for the homeless in general is to be realized.

References Aoki, H. (2003) Homelessness in Osaka, Globalisation, Yoseba and Disemployment.

Urban Studies, Vol.40, No. 2, 361–378.

Bridge, G. and Watson, S. (2003) City Differences. In G. Bridgeand S. Watson (eds.), A Companion to the City, Blackwell Publishing, pp. 251-260.

Gough, J., Eisenschitz, A. and McCulloch, A. (2006) Spaces of Social Exclusion, Routledge, New York.

Iwata, M. (2007) Social Exclusion and Homelessness. In Y. Hirayama and R. Ronald (eds.), Housing and Social Transition in Japan, Routledge, New York, pp.

140-164 Mitchell, D. (2003) The Right to the City: Social Justice and the Fight for Public Space, The Guilford Press, New York.

Mizuuchi, T. (2003) Growth of Rough Sleepers in Osaka and the Recent Evolution of Action of Government, NPO and Volunteer Organizations. In S. Nakagawa and B. Sumrongthong (eds.), What’s Happening on the Street?, UCRC Bangkok Office,

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Bangkok, pp.32-60.

Toda, Y. (2005) Hoomuresu Chiikishienjigyou No Seikatsu Sapooto [Personal Social Support under the Moving to Community Policy for the Homeless], Shelterless, Vol. 25, Shinjuku Homelessness Support Organization, pp. 82-89.

Yamazaki, K., Okuda, T., Inatsuki, T., Fujimori, O. and Morimatsu, N. (2006) Hoomuresu Jiritsu Shien – Shimin, NPO, Gyousei Kyoudou ni Yoru “Hoomuresu no Kaifuku” [Homelessness Self-Reliance Support: The Recovery of “Home”: Cooperation between NPO – Citizens – Administration], Akashi Shōten [Akashi Shoten Co. Ltd.] (In Japanese).

Yasue, S. (2005) Motto Fukaku Nojyukusha No Naka Ni Haitta Seisaku Wo [Better Policy for the Homeless], Shelterless, Vol. 25, Shinjuku Homelessness Support Organization, pp. 94-106.

１

Some cases are allowed to stay up until nine to twelve months. Those unable to secure jobs during this fixed period are released back on the streets. ２ The range of functions provided by the self-dependency support centers differs from city to city and is geographically based on the existence or inexistence of other welfare facilities such as rehabilitation and temporal relief centers which run under the livelihood assistance law. ３ Machizukuri is the Japanese term for town planning taken up by civic organizations. ４ Buraku are the segregated districts of outcast people in Japan. ５ One-stop service is an all-round service to support homeless individuals on the spot.

Starting with handing out free meals, outreach consultation is conducted and those who are willing to accept assistance are offered support, which is most of the time in the form of livelihood obtention combined with housing provision. Afterwards they enjoy after-follow support as well. ６ This policy is also named “The Transition into Communities Homeless Support Project”.

The Metropolitan Authority of Tokyo decided to implement such different policy after having observed the situation of Osaka and Nagoya. Realizing that the park shelters don’t function too well in relation to eviction preparation, the Authority opted for a different approach. It marked also the initiation of Authority funded outreach teams. ７ Yasue is the director of one of the NGOs that entrusted this project. The project has been running for three years now and although the objective was to connect the provided housing with job introduction, the reality is that almost half of the homeless residing in these apartments tend to be on livelihood assistance. The staff of commissioned NGOs have protected this project as it is to them an important tool for escaping homelessness but are they increasingly criticised by volunteer organizations that come up for the living rights of self-providing homeless. This issue is now being subjected to discussions of how to evaluate the Housing First project. ８ In order to define the scope of the type of homeless with no fixed habitation more clearly, we have decided to describe this type as a state of homelessness in which a homeless individual has no steady form of habitation apart from night time. This doesn’t mean that these individuals have no fixed place to reside but that they have to clear this place during the day. This is mainly the case with homeless individuals sleeping in cardboard boxes in front of shops and station concourses. ９ The bulk of this success in local cities is based on the provision of livelihood assistance.

Regular job introductions have been less successful. This however is the case for local cities where public service provision is existent. The majority of local cities don’t provide these services and rely solely on the activities of homelessness support movement.

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１０

The concept of this ‘total approach’ has been brought forward by the NPO Kitakyushu Homeless Support Organization as a reaction to the narrow definition of homelessness in Japan. The stress of this approach lies on the necessity of including support measures towards individuals who are in acute danger of becoming homeless and concrete after-follow to prevent relapse into homelessness. The organization believes that without such total approach and thus a wider definition of homelessness it is impossible to address homelessness in an effective way. １１ In contrast to many other countries, drug addiction is very minimal among the homeless. １２ An example of this dichotomy can be found in Osaka. The assessment center is located in Maishima, in the most Western part of the city. It is an artificially made island where the city’s incineration oven and sport-leisure facilities are located. Public transport in poorly provided and one has to cross a long catenary bridge if one wishes to go into the city. In overall this is a very isolated area, relatively far from the city center and with bad transport access if one doesn’t possess a car. In contrast to this is the self-dependency center in Kita ward. It is located in the direct vicinity of the city center and has very good public transport access. The center is also engaged in community work, offering various way of support for social inclusion.

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A Constructivist Paradigm to Teach Asian Planners LEE Lik Meng Universiti Sains Malaysia

THE JOURNEY THAT ALMOST DID NOT BEGIN A moment to reflect: The time is around 8 pm on Thursday 19th April 2007. This is the day before the dateline to submit the full paper.

When Nihal Perera first sent the invitation to submit an abstract for this conference in January 2007, I took a look and quickly made up my mind that I would not fit in.

After all, the subtitle said ‘innovative urban and planning practices’. It gave the impression that the organisers were interested only in stories of actual planning work.

You the know, the stuff that real planners do? And me, I always tell people I am a qualified professional planner but I have never done any real planning work. I only teach others how to plan. Anyway, I was resigned to the fact that I probably would not be able to get any funding for the trip.

But then Nihal came to visit Penang in mid-March as part of his Fullbright Fellowship and we had a jolly good time walking the streets of George Town and cruising the back roads of the island. In between renewing spiritual vows we talked about planning, politics and international collaborative learning. He even met my big boss (the Vice-Chancellor) who invited him to a ceremonial event involving royalty where he displayed extraordinary patience while we waited for an appropriate interlude to sneak out unobtrusively to meet and interact with my planning students. We discovered, after going around the world (Shanghai in 2001, Hanoi in 2003 and Mexico City in 2006) that even though much of our academic and intellectual interests appeared divergent they were in fact convergent. I also promised to send him my new book The Construction of a Constructivist : Learning How to Teach Without Teaching. Something must have clicked in his head because at the airport while drinking coffee before his departure, and after going around in a circle enquiring whether any other faculty members at my School were doing work related to his, he asked me to submit an abstract based on my work on constructing knowledge and even threw in a carrot of a promise to help me look for financial support for the trip. I actually gave him a dirty look and said I did not want to crack my head working on the abstract to have it rejected because it did not fit in with the conference theme and focus (actually my language was more colourful but not printable in a respectable conference proceeding). So, he went back to Hong Kong and here I was agonising over how to write an abstract which would not get thrown out by my good friend – he is very exacting in his demands, friendship notwithstanding. So I kept quiet. A few days later, a gentle reminder came via email but I continued to procastinate. I still had not figured out what I would contribute to the conference so I sent him two hyperlinks which I had promised earlier. One link led to an early version of my Constructivist book when it was still a report1 and the other link led to an e-version of my coffeetable book2.

A few days later, an email informed me that a stop-gap title had been inserted into the conference programme, namely, Teaching in the Asian Context : Guided Construction - 61 -

of Knowledge. I looked at it and said, “Oh man, that’s totally wrong” but I figured out he and his colleague organising the conference must have decided tha what I might have to say would contribute to the conference agenda. So I wrote back and said that I will first talk about how the local planners have attempted to revitalise parts of the old city (namely through pedestrianisation schemes) and then I will talk about the international collaborative learning between students of the University of South Australia and my students in which they had work on projects in George Town.

Finally, I would make a connection with constructivism, a big word which even ViceChancellors struggle to understand. And then I gave him the title of the paper as it now stands and asked him whether he still wanted me to go to his conference. And he said ‘Great’. What is it that he sees that I don’t, I wondered?

But then I procastinated some more. Should I write the paper the normal way? You know, the problem – method – data collection – analysis - findings flow which you normally expect from a respectable academic paper? The outline of my paper was stuck in outline for more than a week. Then something clicked in my head while cooking dinner. I should be creative. Let’s bend the rules. So that’s how this paper came about. What better way to talk about constructivism than to apply it in the paper itself. This is a reflective journal of my journey to the East, to the land of the fragrant habour.

How do we teach at the universities?

This paper a.k.a. reflective journal is about how we teach planners. Actually, it is about why we should not teach. It requires a paradigm shift for most professors (junior lecturers included) who are familiar only with the objectivist model of learning. This old model requires very little knowledge of the theory of teaching and learning. All that is required of the professor is to be an authority in his chosen area and to impart that knowledge to his students. He only has to stand in front of the class and deliver the lecture. He knows the truth, there is only one truth and the students merely have to accept what is told to them as the truth. It is a one-way flow of information even if there is a Q&A during the lecture. That may sound a little overdramatic but I am sure we have all encountered professors who have no patience to entertain questions in class much less deal with questions which may appear to challenge their authority. Even if professors do encourage discussion at seminars or crit sessions for design studios the question which must be asked is whether they foster divergent views, or consciously or unconsciously impose their schema on the students?

But not all is dark. I remember enjoying my doctoral seminars with Prof. John Hopkins at the University of Washington back in the early 1990s. He is a big man but gentle in class, listening and encouraging as we (I in particular) tried to digest one book a week for our weekly seminar which had an enrolment of three, often with an attendance of only two, so we could not hide behind the numbers. My fondest memory is the time he drove us to his condominium-with-a-view of the Puget Sound for one of the seminars. There he produced a bowl of fresh cherries and I looked puzzled at my fellow doctoral student Dale and asked “What do I do with it?”. “Just eat it”, she said. My previous encounters with cherries were those you find on top of - 62 -

a sundae, preserved in sugar. Laugh if you like, but I was surprised that cherries could be eaten raw. I have always loved fresh cherries after that, except it costs too much in Malaysia. When you read this story, pause to think. Yes, reflect for a moment. What does it tell you about knowledge and contexts?

I maybe wrong, but I am quite sure that even though John was a practitioner of the art of constructivism he probably was not familiar with the term. I have also encountered a Vice-Chancellor who had not heard of the term constructivism before even though she was very comfortable with the terms student-led and student-centred learning. If you throw in the words pedagogy, andragogy and heutagogy in a room full of professors, eyes will start to glaze over. When you start explaining the differences you may get strange reactions including outright dismissal of the need to know anything more about it. Professors have no incentive to think about such things.

Their future lies in refereed publications in their areas of expertise. In fact, senior professors would pull junior colleagues aside to give them friendly advice that basically says ‘if you know what’s good for you, don’t spend too much time on teaching’ but focus on research and publication if they want to move up in academia3.

My own journey into constructivism started way before I came across the term when I was conscripted to attend a 2-week International Workshop on improving training quality in November 2003 which included teaching and learning methods.

Over the next 6 months following the workshop as I worked on my project I become aware than many of the things I did with my students fitted neatly into the constructivist paradigm but I was also not getting it right in many respects. My journey has now been immortalised in print but I offer you no recipe on how to be a constructivist. To do so is to give you the answer – a constructivist will not do that.

You have to find your own answer. That is the essence of the constructivist paradigm.

A moment to reflect : The time is now 4.00 pm on Friday 20th April 2007. The paper is still without much meat. At the back of my head I know that I already have lots of stuff written in the book and in my other conference paper on e-learning. I just need to pull them together. I have set myself a target to finish the paper by Monday morning. Have spent almost the whole day at my new office enjoying the distractions from my staff discussing the sustainable development report for the university and signing purchase orders and instructions to pay vendors, chatting with colleagues and updating my blog (want a peek? Visit http://kampus-sejahtera.blogspot.com/). Don’t seem to be in a hurry to finish the paper. Still have not found the rhythm to write. I have sent email to Nihal this morning alerting him to the delay and to expect a nonconventional paper. He reacted positively. Good sign.

The time is 8:30 pm. I need to pick up speed. But not at the expense of my favourite TV series. My wife and I enjoy watching 24 and tonight is the start of Day 5. So 10.45 pm is when I will stop all thinking and writing.

What is constructivism?

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In a nutshell, constructivism is a philosophy of education which puts the onus of learning on the learner. The traditional image of the teacher as the authoritative knowall dishing out nuggets of wisdom is being replaced by that of a facilitator who is a partner in the learning. Teaching implies a one-way flow from teacher to student. In the constructivist paradigm the ‘teacher’ cannot be expected to know all. In fact, learning flows in multiple directions : from the facilitator to the learner, from learner to facilitator and from learner to learner. The facilitator does not determine what is learnt – the learner makes that decision.

To put it in context 4 , we should know that there are three major views of learning, namely : behavioural, cognitive and constructivist5. Behavioral theory views learning ‘as a change in behaviour brought about by experience’6. Basically, we just give the students lots of practice and exercises and they repeat them until they master the knowledge or skill. The word training captures this process very well. It has little concern about what goes on in the minds of the learner. The cognitive view is on the other hand concerned with the complex processes that goes on in the minds of the learners. In fact, a process akin to information processing by the computer is used to model the mental processes of learning. The third major theoretical foundation of teaching and learning, the constructivist view(s), postulates that the individual constructs knowledge based on his own experiences. Each of these three theories has generated its own sets of tools and methods for teaching and learning.

Constructivism was reportedly first articulated more than 250 years ago7. It is a philosophy which ranges from radical constructivism in which the individual constructs his own reality to social constructivism, which as the name implies, is reality based on social consensus. So, what is fundamentally different about constructivism for teaching and learning?

For the learner, he is: • expected to be an active participant who builds his body of knowledge which is constantly changing.

• required to be a critical thinker who challenges, questions, interprets, conceptualises and reconceptualises what is known towards a better or more complete understanding of the world.

The teacher is one who : • facilitates that process of discovery.

• must allow enough time for the students to reflect and build ideas and encourage higher-level thinking through open-ended questions.

Peers play an important role : • through collaborative efforts to construct and define knowledge.

In the constructivist view: • it is essential that the student understands that knowledge is constructed and that there could be multiple representations of knowledge.

• discussions are central to the approach - it allows the students to reflect on their ideas and hence to change or reinforce them.

• sharing with and listening to others is a crucial part of the process and the classroom environment must be conducive : comfortable and non-threatening.

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•

learning is centred on the student through the use of tasks which are challenging, complex and close to the real-world.

Inquiry learning, problem-based learning, cognitive apprenticeships, and group work and cooperation are the cornerstones of the constructivist approach8.

Ultimately, we will produce independent thinkers who are able to gather information, analyse the data and make predictions based on the analysis leading to the communication and defence of a position or point of view. The teacher must respect the views and ideas of the students; the teacher’s own views should not dominate or overwhelm those of the students. It is crucial that the teacher and learner understands that in this approach, learning is an active process in which knowledge is constructed by the learner, not merely transmitted by the teacher. Knowledge must have meaning to the learner who builds on prior knowledge to find new context, meaning and connections. Hence, learning is a continuous series of active engagements and interactions leading to lifelong learning. Learning happens when “the beliefs, theories and perceptions of the people are challenged” and the learner is motivated to resolve that challenge with authentic tasks9. Depending on which view of constructivism, the learning could happen as a cognitive process involving mental challenges, or through conversations and collaborative activities, or through hands-on and real-life experiences10.

A moment to reflect: The time is almost 10.00 am on Saturday 21st April 2007. Sent the two kids to school at 7 am for their sports day then went to the market with my wife (weekly routine). Had breakfast, read the papers, cleaned up the fish, chicken and meat from the market and pack for freezing. Now I am ready to really get cracking on the paper. It is a Saturday, an off-day, and here I am working my butt off.

They say that academia is a high-stress profession. Yesterday the Director of my Division at USM popped in to talk about workload index (‘sorry, never heard of it’).

Now that I am the Healthy Campus Coordinator I get involved with all sorts of things.

Apparently one of the Deans made an assessment and came to the conclusion that his staff are unduly stressed resulting in high turnover. Can the Healthy Campus people work on a ‘workload index’ for USM staff? Hmm, sounds interesting but maybe when I come back from Hong Kong. Say, am I stressed out too? Is that why I am taking so long to finish up this paper?

Instructional design (ID) considerations Seriously, how many professors do you know who knows what ID is, much less use it to prepare their lectures?

The constructivist paradigm take into account how learners would construct their own knowledge11. ID simply means the design of any form of instruction to achieve the maximum learning potential of a learner. Traditionally, ID theories are seen as prescriptive because they provide recipes or heuristics for doing designs and they also specify how the end-product instruction should look. It is both a product and a process12. Instructional designers advocate a systematic approach which should be applied by an educator to facilitate his or her instruction or training. The common and - 65 -

generic model of ID is the ADDIE model13 which is an acronym for Analysis, Design, Develop, Implement and Evaluate. The basic tenets of the model require that the process of any instruction or training be first broken down into the 5 components where the instructor must first analyse the target audience to understand what they already know and what they need to know or achieve. The instructor must then proceed to design the course taking into consideration the activities and media for the learning activities as well as timing and scheduling. The design is then developed into materials for the lessons. All the materials will then be gathered and integrated for implementation and tested in a real world situation. The evaluation stage will involve both formative and summative assessments to gather information to improve the design of the course including ease of use, level of knowledge content attainment, improved performance, change of attitude and overall impact.

Constructivists view learners as individuals who build new knowledge based on their personal schemata when confronted with new information relevant to them.

Several principles have to be considered when applying them together with ID to develop and present a new mindset for educators as both constructivism and ID will influence each other. Lebow14 tells us that we should have these five principles in mind when developing any course. The first principle requires us to maintain a buffer between the learner and the potentially damaging effects of instructional practices.

We should increase the emphasis on the affective domain of learning, make instruction personally relevant to the learner, help learners develop skills, attitudes and beliefs which will support self-regulated learning, and we need to achieve a balance between our (i.e professors’) tendency to control the learning situation with the need to promote personal autonomy. The second principle says that we should provide a context for learning which supports both autonomy and relatedness. Third, we must embed the reasons for the learning into the learning activity itself. Fourth, we have to support self-regulated learning and we can achieve this by promoting skills and attitudes to enable the learner to assume responsibility for the development lessons. Finally, we must strengthen the learner’s tendency to engage in intentional learning, especially by encouraging strategic exploration of errors.

These principles support many of the views of constructivism that objects and events have no absolute meaning. Rather the individual interprets each and constructs meaning based on individual experiences and evolved beliefs. The design task, therefore, is one of providing a rich context within which meaning can be negotiated and ways of understanding can emerge and evolve15. Constructivist designers tend to avoid the breaking down of context into component parts as traditional instructional designers do, but are in favour of environments in which knowledge, skills, and complexity exist naturally. Hence, instead of adopting a linear and ‘building-blocks’ approach to instructional design, constructivist designers need to develop procedures for situations in which the instructional context plays a dominant part, and the instructional goals evolve as learning progresses.

Well, now do you understand why professors don’t want to bother with all that pedagogy stuff? Can you blame them? It’s an entirely different ballgame better left to the professionals, i.e. those experts in education. I can anticipate your next question – what about me? Do I follow the ADDIE process in my lesson planning?

Well yes and no. I subscribe wholeheartedly to the constructivist doctrine and implement the ideas in my planning studios and courses but I have not had the

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incentive to (re)design the courses rigorously along the lines of ADDIE. Don’t be discouraged. You can still achieve the spirit of constructivism without having to throw all your lecture materials into the thrash.

So, what are the key ideas here?

Firstly, it is not about you (the professor). Its about the learners (you used to call them your students). Secondly, its not about what you know and what you want your students to know or understand. Its about the learner actively engaged in making sense of all the knowledge or information he is bombarded with. The bottomline is that you, the professor, must resist the temptation to shortcut the learning process by providing the answers. This is actually a serious issue because I have heard of attempts to implement problem-based learning (which applies the constructivist paradigm) gone wrong. The students have to do group projects and activities do discover the answers themselves but impatient professors who have not clued in on the spirit of constructivism have in moments of exasperation given the students the answers to ‘speed up’ the lessons because they have other more pressing jobs to do and other syllabus to complete. You need to be patient. I had one student who sent me an email when she was in practical training and excitedly told me that she finally understood what I have talking about in the studio for the past few months. She had finally found her context during her practical training.

Remember that the focus is on the student. This is what student-centred and student-led learning really means.

How can you apply it in the classroom?

An example of how I (and a colleague) have applied the ideas discussed above in the classroom is our training workshop for mid-level lecturers. In the workshop, the lecturers were required to work in groups to produce an e-learning course for any subject area integrating Education for Sustainable Development (EfSD).

We took into consideration the four major elements of Educational Philosophy, Technology, the Actors and Readiness and reconceptualised the design of our training programme. Figure 1 is the second version of the concept which now elaborates on the evolvement of pedagogy to andragogy and now heutagogy. I came across the term heutagogy 16 quite recently (July 2006) after the first version of the concept was developed while reading a book on e-learning 17 . Our conceptual framework and approach in fact embodies heutagogy which “recognises the need to be flexible in the learning where the teacher provides resources but the learner designs the actual course he or she might take by negotiating the learning”18. Learners explore “around critical issues or questions and determine what is of interest and relevance to them and then negotiate further reading and assessment tasks”. Hence, “assessment becomes more of a learning experience rather than a means to measure attainment”. As facilitators of the learning, we teachers must develop the learner’s capability and should not seek to embed discipline-based skills and knowledge into the courses. We must also “relinquish any power we deem ourselves to have” but this we have found is very difficult for the learner who has been indoctrinated by the old school, so to speak19.

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This schema has guided the re-design of the e-learning course and training programme for the lecturers. It requires that the lecturers undergoing the course to consider all the relevant factors which will result in the creation of effective teaching and learning experiences in an e-learning environment. In particular, we have emphasised that the demonstration of personal growth will be a major evaluation criteria. This framework was first implemented with a group of 25 lecturers on 9th June 2006.

Based on this framework, we designed the actual workshop training using the following principles : • Only basic technology training is provided, just enough to get them started.

There will not be too much “hand-holding”. The aim is to de-emphasise technology and to provide opportunities for discovery.

• The course must be learner-centred and learner-led but we will provide a framework and some common expectations. For example, they must develop a course which encourages critical thinking amongst the learners, integrates sustainable development and use the Moodle software.

• They must work in collaborative projects but must also demonstrate personal growth.

• There must be opportunities for articulation of ideas and dialogues.

• The tasks must be challenging. The challenge we have thrown at them is to put pedagogy (or rather heutagogy), technology and sustainable development together – something which none of them have ever done.

• The project must be real world and authentic rather than hypothetical. This is achieved by asking them to design a course (using e-learning technology), a task which is part of their portfolio as lecturers. The sustainable development component provides added real-world context as the emerging global agenda for educators.

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Figure 1 : Conceptual Framework for EfSD using e-Learning Technology

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In simple terms, when you design a constructivist-based course, think of these key ideas : • • • • • •

Student-centred and student-led learning Active engagement Real-world problem solving Inquiry and critical thinking / Creative thinking Collaboration and teamwork The process and the learning is more important

You can use this case study to develop and implement your classes and studio for your planning courses.

A moment to reflect: The time is now 2.44 pm on Saturday 21st April 2007. I have already told Nihal that by hook or crook I will send him the paper by Monday morning. I will probably have to stay up the whole night tomorrow. As I continue to write this journal, I realise that trying to reinvent the wheel is really difficult. I realise that many in the audience for this conference and the readers following that will not have heard of constructivism. I have therefore spent a substantial amount of time putting the pieces together to provide a primer on the subject. I have ended up being guilty of self-plagiarism. But I comfort myself in the knowledge that even as I cutand-paste from my earlier work, I am reflecting and attempting to reconstruct myself.

At this moment I have the basic structure to provide a sufficient understanding to the reader about what constructivism is. I will revisit the text perhaps tomorrow to see if I can inject fresh insights, perhaps rewrite some parts so I am not accused of plagiarism, even if I am stealing my own ideas. But I am not optimistic. I should now focus on connecting it to the teaching of planners. I am going to take a short nap now to rejuvenate myself (destress, if you like). I have achieved much progress in this paper but I am not jubilating – some thing’s bugging me. But I am making good progress. I am starting to notice a pattern here. I usually take a long time preparing for a paper and than I go full steam ahead and complete it in 3 or 4 days.

How is constructivism relevant to the teaching of planners?

Constructivism is an approach which you can adopt and apply in any area of study whether it is to teach mathematics, science, art, social studies and of course urban and regional planning. Even when you conduct a ‘traditional’ lecture, you can still be a constructivist. Just plan for audience participation. Pause to ask questions but remember to be patient and give enough time for them reflect and respond. I know that it becomes awkward when you ask a question but nobody wants to attempt to answer – the ‘pregnant pause’ is what they call it. Reassure your students that you are not looking for the correct answer. And if they appear give the ‘wrong’ answer (or the answer which you are not expecting) you should not be dismissive because that is their current construct of the knowledge. Instead you should try to keep the momentum going to encourage others to respond until they get the ‘right’ answer.

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Ah, yes, that’s kinda like a contradiction isn’t it? Didn’t I say that there is no right or wrong answer? This is the dilemma. I have been told many times by other lecturers that in their field, there are certain basic knowledge which everyone must know and there is no two ways about it. Those are facts. They are given. You cannot challenge them. You have to know this basic facts before you can learn other things.

Constructivism is not the right approach for learning these basic knowledge, so they say. My reaction is to accept that as their current construct of constructivism but I do not know whether they will pursue a deeper understanding of this subject.

Which now brings me to planning. I have searched the Web looking for signs of change in the planning curriculum around the World. Some of the sites I have visited include the Royal Town Planning Institute (RPTI), the Association of Collegiate Schools of Planning (ACSP) and the Canadian Institute of Planners (CIP) but I was disappointed as far as teaching and learning methods are concerned. My conclusion is that professional planning is still very much focused on the content of the course rather than how it is to be delivered. We are still more concerned about providing the requisite skills and knowledge to become a professional planner then how we educate planners.

In none of the planning curriculum which I have seen is any term related to pedagogy mentioned. The teaching and learning method is not an integral part of the design of the course. Well that’s not quite true of course. Seminar, studios, workshops, lectures, fieldwork – these are the most common modes of delivery and yes, they do embed an appropriate ‘pedagogy’ into the lessons. The question is whether lecturers are fully aware of what is expected when we adopt any one of those methods. I venture to stick my neck out by saying that lecturers will focus on the content rather than the learning. The focus of the lecturer should be on empowering the learner rather than on the content – there will always be more content than time.20 Learning how to learn must become a recurring theme and concern for the constructivist teacher not only to empower the student but also to disempower himself from the role of the Confucian master.

How is this important for the training of planners? We are training our planners to be rationale thinkers who can define a problem, analyse it and come up with a solution. But those solutions are often old ideas which failed but recycled and reused anyway because planners take the safe route. In the emerging new economy, often labeled the innovation economy, what we need are creative and critical thinkers, people who can synthesis new knowledge to generate innovative products and solutions.

Whether we call them workshops, studios, seminar, lectures, fieldwork or ‘learning-by-doing’ or some other buzzword, we must go back to the basics in learning how to learn and unlearn how to teach.

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A moment to reflect : The time is now 6.07 pm on Saturday 21st April 2007. I am hot and sweating from a 33 minute jog around the neighbourhood. What do you do when you jog? You reflect of course. And so I did. I thought about my earlier entry about self-plagiarism and I said, ‘hey, I have seen lots of speakers recycling their conference papers all over the world’. In my case, actually this is the first time I am presenting this topic at an international conference. Okay, so some of it is from another conference but I am reconstructing myself by putting various parts of my knowledge in a different context. So, fine, I don’t feel so bad. Then I thought about why I was sort of reluctant to submit an abstract for the conference and I realised that it has a lot to do with the writing above connecting constructivism to planning education. I wrote that just before going off for my jog. I realise that I really don’t have much to offer at this point by way of an answer or even a schema of how we should go about pushing the constructivist agenda in planning education. But then I realise, hey, this is just the start. Perhaps this conference and this paper might just stimulate an interest in constructivism for planning education. Perhaps it could lead to a collaborative effort to put learning in the hands of the learner. We can figure out together why we want to do that and how to go about it. I know AESOP is already wondering about it21.

Are we all constructivists?

You may be surprised that you actually have (at least some) of the qualities of a constructivist. Most of us do. We just don’t know what to do with! Try the ATTLS survey (Attitudes Towards Teaching and Learning Survey) at the Moodle.org website.

It has a set of 20 questions, 10 of which measures the qualities of what is called “connected learning” while the others identifies the opposite, labeled as a “separate knower”. A connected learner is a person who can be considered a social constructivist. Neither one is bad. Its just your attitude towards learning. I won’t tell you more cause it will spoil your fun. But ask yourself : Are you constantly challenging the authors of books you read or speakers you are listening to? Or do you try very hard to understand their point of view, putting yourselves in their shoes?

Am I a connected knower?

Way before I really understood constructivism, I took the ATTLS survey at the Moodle.org website. As I was writing my Constructivist book I revisited the Moodle site to take another look at the my survey results (Figure 2). I was suitably shocked as it showed that I was lower than the ‘international’ average in terms of being a connected knower. On the other hand, I displayed extremely strong characteristics of the ‘disconnected’ knower - well, okay, make that ‘separate’ knower. So, the survey showed that I was less a social constructivist that I have claimed myself to be. How’s that possible? I was in a state of disbelief but after reflecting and investigating the basis of the survey, I managed to rationalise the results (which you have to get the book to know more). But for the purposes of this journey, suffice to say that analysing the results of the survey had in fact made me more aware of what I should do as a constructivist professor. It has helped me to reconstruct myself. Again, not to spoil your fun, go do the survey yourself and reflect on your results. If you need help interpreting, get in touch with me (likmeng@gmail.com).

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Figure 2 : Lee Lik Meng's ATTLS results Source : Lee, 2007

What about other lecturers in USM? I have been involved for more than 2 years facilitating the training of mid-level academics at USM in the area of e-learning. One of the fun things we do is the ATTLS survey which helps the lecturers not only to better understand constructivism but also themselves. Figure 3 shows the results of 51 lecturers from diverse background taking part in the survey. The top chart shows that on average, all the lecturers showed strong leanings towards being social constructivists or the connected learner (see the light-blue line and vertical bars labeled “class average”). For one particular lecturer (dark blue line), he displayed very strong constructivist values, strongly agreeing to 8 out of the 10 statements. If a person is a social constructivist, then he or she would be expected to strongly disagree with the statements which are associated with a separate learner. The chart at the bottom (separate learning) however shows greater dispersion and variations in terms of the lecturers’ response to the statements which measured separate learning. In fact, on average, most tended to agree to the measurements saying that they are separate learners. For the same lecturer who showed strong connected learning traits, he also displayed dominant traits of the separate learner, strongly agreeing to 5 of the 10 statements.

Now what does all this mean? You could say that we lecturers are probably a very confused lot. But that is not necessarily a bad thing. In fact, a recurrent sentiment amongst the participants during my e-learning training programme which adopts the constructivist paradigm is that they are confused. We tell them being confused is normal and necessary. More seriously, what it means is that each of us need to know what our attitudes and qualities are and apply them appropriately. For instance, being a devil’s advocate is not an appropriate behaviour, if you are the learner. But if you are the facilitator, it can be used to stimulate thinking and discussion.

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I have also noted that the lecturers displayed strong traits in the connected learning spectrum compared to our students. I attribute this to their advance training in research which has moulded their critical and higher order thinking skills.

Figure 3 : USM Lecturersâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; ATTLS results Source : Lee and Wan Fauzy, 2006.

What about the students?

Are our students, the younger generation, any different? In one of my small classes the students similarly displayed both traits of being connected and separate learners (Figure 4). However, compared to the lecturers, the studentsâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; distribution was more dispersed for connected learning as well as less pronounced. That is, connected learning is not as dominant compared to the lecturers. The results were based on responses from 13 masters students undertaking a planning law course. They are

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from varied backgrounds including social science, development studies, architecture and planning.

Figure 4 : Students’ ATTLS results Source : Lee LM, 2007.

A moment to reflect : The time is now 9.24 pm on Saturday 21st April 2007. Just back from dinner with the family. As I was driving to dinner, I resolved that the next section on international collaborative learning will be written from memory – no more cut and paste. How much will I recall? What do I really want to say?

Just read Nihal’s emails giving last minute encouragements. Apparently I’m not the only one procastinating. Nihal gave a new dateline, Monday, with an option to negotiate for more time. Wow, he’s even more generous than I am. It reminds me of my students asking for dateline extensions, pleading that it would be in my interest to give them more time because the product would otherwise be ‘not so good quality’. I usually give them the extension because it is the learning that is important, not a product submitted on time. This is also one of the problems with the current set up.

Students complain of having to complete 10 to 15 assignments during a semester and most of them are due about the same time. Sometimes over a period of 3 or 4 days, they have 4 or 5 assignments to turn in. It is partly a problem with time management but do we really need to see a product to make an assessment? When I came back from my sabbatical in March 2007 I was asked to take back three lectures of my

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planning law course at the tail-end of the semester. And I was asked to give them a 20% coursework assignment. I decided that it was too much to expect them to write an essay because they said that they had 3 or 4 other assignments due in the next few days. So I gave them an extract from my planning law manuscript, asked them to form small groups of 3 or 2, read the extract and come back to present and discuss their construct (about discretionary planning powers) with a concept map. Of course, I had already twice demonstrated the use of concept maps for my earlier lectures. The concept maps which they produced were very different between groups. For each of the groups I zeroed in on a specific part of the map to stimulate discussion to enable them to understand what discretionary power means. It was one of the better class discussions I have ever had. I was even able to get the quiet and shy ones to open up.

I was quite pleased with myself as the class interacted and demonstrated a firm grasp of the concepts. I graded them based on their concept maps and their presentations.

Everyone did very well. Which leads us to the Aussies. They don’t have exams.

After they go back from their trip to George Town there is no portfolio or report to submit – only their journal and the slide presentations but I might not be totally right.

International collaborative learning It all started in Hanoi in September 2003 at the Asian Planning Schools Association (APSA) Conference when Steve Hamnett of the University of South Australia (UniSA) spoke to me about bringing a group of students to George Town, Penang for a study trip the following year. I said ‘Great. I can get my masters planning students to work with them’. At the back of my mind I was saying ‘Hey, these guys are spending all this money coming all the way from Australia and my students can get to collaborate with them for next to nothing’. When we started the project all we agreed on was to put the UniSA and USM students to work on group projects over the 2 weeks or so that the Aussies would on spend in Penang. We did not set out any specific goals or objectives to be achieved. Basically, each group would comprise students from both universities and they will decide on the subject or topic of their project through negotiation. How they approach the study was left very much to the students to decide. We did not insist for instance that they must do a questionnaire survey or apply a certain methodology or define what is the desired outcome or product. For the UniSA students, the entire trip is the course itself while for my students I merged it into their planning studio requirements. I also facilitated arrangements on this side including liasing with the local planning authority. In preparation, the students studied various possible locations for study and carried out some background research and reading.

My strategy was to meet all the students for the initial briefing and lead them on a walkabout the old city to point out various points of interest. When the groups have made their initial assessment and chosen their topic as well selected their site, I would disappear into the background and let them work on their own. I knew that my continuous presence may be a handicap for my students as they would feel that they are constantly being assessed by me and be reluctant to communicate freely with the visitors. Rick, the Aussie lecturer, on the other hand was constantly following and observing the groups but this did not pose a problem for my students because they knew that Rick was not assessing them. In between, updates and progress reports were made by the students. Each group would arrange their own schedules for - 76 -

meetings and discussions either on the field, at the hotel or on the USM campus. The culmination of their study is a slide presentation (OK, make that a Powerpoint Presentation) by each group, usually with representation from both schools speaking.

These presentations have obviously to be in English which puts a tremendous burden on my students who are mostly not fluent in the language but so far they have survived the test by being resourceful such as having prepared scripts and practice sessions. For the first visit in 2004, we managed to entice the Director of Town Planning of the local planning authority to attend the final presentation. Even the Mayor showed up towards the end of the session. But the novelty has worn off so we have not been able to entice them to come for the 2005 and 2006 presentations. Yes, the Aussies (actually UniSA students who came to Penang come from all over the World) have been here three times already and have given notice that they will be back again in October 2007. Each time we have followed basically the same modus operandi with slight variations. For instance in 2005, we gave a special discount for all the Aussie students to attend the APSA Conference in Penang that year while the following year they attended the Sustainable Housing Conference. The conferences however reduced the amount of time for the students to worked on their projects.

Apart from the final presentation, I required all my students to submit a 2 or 3-page reflection focusing on the learning experience rather than the content of the projects.

This to help them to internalise their experience, to focus their minds on what they had learnt over the past 2 weeks. In the second year, we even had a group reflection together with the UniSA students after the presentation. Generally, most of my students have reported very positive experiences except for one so far who felt that it was a waste of his time. I do not have the benefit of the journal entries of the UniSA. Steve had promised a report after the last visit but I have not seen it yet. It is something which I think both sides must work on in the future so that we can both learn and record our experiences.

After three successful collaborations I can say that these are some of the key benefits : • Social learning – I know from my students’ reflection that their interaction have been an eye-opener in terms of work ethics (or rather study ethics). My students report that the Aussies are very serious about learning, always carrying a book around to read and always interested to hear what the local students have to say. The students from both sides learn to be tolerant of each other’s views. Sometimes some mature students (primarily from the Aussie side) tend to be more assertive and dominant while on the side of the locals some of them have yet to learn the art of turning back the clock during discussion and are unable to get their views across. The students from both sides have so far been eager to work together despite the local students facing pressures of having to attend other lectures during the period.

• Cross Cultural Learning – I understand that the UniSA are given predeparture briefings about dos and don’ts when in Penang but I have reports from some of my female students who are uncomfortable when the male Aussies student speak very close to them or when the male students are too casual on body contact. One local student also expressed shock and disappointment that for dinner the Aussies chose a place were beer was served - 77 -

as it was against their religion. I tell my students that they should politely express their views on these matters which they feel very strongly about but my view is that the students must sort it out themselves. Only then will there be international understanding.

• Learning about planning – We have not insisted that the students use any specific tools or methods of analysis or planning. They mainly relied on the power of observation and informal interviews apart from literature search to obtain their information. No sophisticated techniques of analysis have so far been used and their analytical approach has relied mainly on group discussion.

One of my students have commented that the Aussie students are very good at making observation on site especially on the physical aspects but hardly touch on social-economic issues. I am sure that this cannot be generalised to all the Aussie students. Many of the Aussies students are mature students with working experience and their knowledge and skills are very impressive to the local students. At one of the reflective sessions I had asked the Aussie and local students what approach or method had they applied in their study. The question was met with silence, broken by Rick who replied that they had used the intuitive approach. I then asked them to think about the possibility of applying that approach in their professional work given that it is a quick (and dirty) approach which they have shown could be used effectively to come up with the same issues which professional planners now spend years using sophisticated methods or techniques to produce.

• Learning to think differently – I have found many of my students find it difficult to challenge the norm. For example, if a proposal is made by a government agency they will accept it unquestioningly. If they find that their survey data is contrary to the views currently held by a government agency or report, they don’t question the government report. In fact, they suspect that their survey is defective. Yes, amazing you might think but that is the culture of conformity. I am pleased to note that in many of the projects presented there is a willingness to compare alternative possibilities to even make conclusions which are different from the official stand. For example, the local authorities claim that the Campbell Street Pedestrianisation project is a success by citing the rise in rentals in the area. But one of the groups compared the pedestrianised area and an adjoining area which has not been pedestrianised and came to the conclusion that they are more in favour of not pedestrianising the streets as it destroys the vibrancy and old world charm of the streets.

Whether their conclusions are valid is not the issue. That they have come to the conclusion after studying the matter and negotiating amongst themselves is what excites the constructivist.

What about the product, you might ask? I would tend not to focus on the product or outcome of the fieldstudy given the limited time. It is unreasonable to expect them to identify all relevant issues or to examine all possible perspectives or to expect them to come up with new ideas or creative solutions. We did not set those as the goals. In fact, as I have said it before, we did not have a specific set of goals or objectives.

Perhaps it is time to set those goals so that the students will make a conscious effort in those directions. But I would not want the collaboration to be too much - 78 -

directed from the top. It might constrain the creativity. Of course we also need to accommodate UniSA’s course objectives, which you might be surprised, we have not discussed or explored in depth apart from the casual conversations. Since then, I have talked to Nihal about his work bring students from Ball State University to Sri Lanka and Beijing (or was that Shangahi) for his Asia Studies programme. This could be simultaneously developed with a set of common goals which could become the genesis of collaborative learning at the international level. So far, the collaboration between UniSA and USM has been informal based on the mutual interest of Steve and myself. So far, the university management has been tolerant and supportive but without a formal recognition of the effort it makes it a little more difficult for the students to deal with other lecturers when they ask for postponement of lectures to work on the collaboration. Official recognition will also make sense for USM as international networking and collaboration are one of our Key Performance Indicators (KPI) as a Research University.

How is all this relevant to this conference?

I don’t know if we can generalise my analysis above to all Asian planners and planning students. I sure that we are not all the same. This conference is about discovering innovative planning and practices in Asia and there must be many to report. But if you read the conference rationale and justification you get the sense that the organisers are saying that Asian planning and practices are not innovative enough.

I postulate we can only propagate innovation and creativity in planning practices if the planners are first trained to be creative and critical thinkers and the constructivist paradigm offers much promise to mould a new generation of Asian planners for the new economy.

A final moment to reflect : The time is now 2.40 am on Sunday 22nd April 2007. I had not planned on working through the night. It must be the cup of Kopi-O (black coffee) I had and half cup of white coffee I shared with my wife over dinner keeping my brain active. I have finished a complete draft and I managed to do the last section from memory. I am quite pleased. Now I know why Nihal and partner wants me in Hong Kong. I will read the paper again tomorrow and check for errors but I will not attempt to rewrite any of the earlier sections as I had intended earlier. I think the paper can stand as is.

8.49 pm. I have read the paper again and edited and made corrections for errors. I now know where I need to do some work for future constructs of this paper. We need to revisit the planning curriculum on two fronts. One is to look specifically on the teaching and learning methods. The second is to connect planning with futures thinking, especially in terms of how planners can respond to the emerging innovation economy. How will it transform urban form? Will planners be creative enough to come up with innovative solutions for the lifestyle of the global citizens of the future?

I considered whether I should have an abstract. I decided against it – won’t fit in with the idea of reflective journal.

I am done. 8.55 pm 22nd April 2007

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1

http://www.hbp.usm.my/itsupport/elearning/papers/TheConstructionOfAConstructivist_v2_a .zip 2 The University in a Garden http://www.usm.net.my/garden/ 3 Reinventing Undergraduate Education: A Blueprint for America’s Research Universities, The Boyer Commission on Educating Undergraduates in the Research University. http://naples.cc.sunysb.edu/Pres/boyer.nsf/ 4 This section is extracted mainly from Lee Lik Meng, 2007. The Construction of a Constructivist : Learning How to Teach Without Teaching. USM Press.

5 Anita Woolfolk Hoy and Wayne Kolter Hoy. 2003. Instructional Leadership : A LearningCentred Guide. Boston : Allyn & Bacon. p. 60 – 101.

6 ibid, p. 63.

7 Giambattista Vico (1668 – 1744) claimed that a clear understanding of human beings is the result of an understanding they have constructed of themselves,.

See http://www.saskschools.ca/curr_content/constructivism/what/philosophy.html and http://plato.stanford.edu/entries/vico/ 8 See Woolfolk and Hoy, op cit, p. 94 -105 and In the Constructivist Classroom... at http://www.saskschools.ca/curr_content/constructivism/ 9 Andew Seaton, 1998. 'Opening school doors to the real world: A review of literature on computer mediated communication and its role in the creation of constructivist learning environments', Australian Educational Computing, vol.13, no.1, pp.18-21 http://www.andrewseaton.com.au/opening.htm 10 There are several theoretical perspectives of constructivist learning including sociocognitive learning, situated learning and social constructivists learning. Martin Dougiamas (1998) in A Journey into Constructivism also talks of the various faces of constructivism (trivial, radical, social, cultural and critical constructionism) but reading it makes me even more confused. Dougiamas developed Moodle.

See http://dougiamas.com/writing/constructivism.html#faces.

11 This section is mainly extracted from Lee Lik Meng and Wan Mohd Fauzy Wan Ismail, “Learner-centred Moodling : Training lecturers to use e-learning technology for EfSD”, ASAIHL Conference, Education for Sustainable Development, Gurney Hotel, Penang, 19 - 22 June 2006.

12 Maureen Tam, 2000. “Constructivism, Instructional Design, and Technology : Implications for Transforming Distance Learning”. Education Technology & Society. Vol : 3 No. 2. http://ifets.ieee.org/periodical/vol_2_2000/tam.html retrieved on 24 Nov 2006.

13 Brent G. Wilson, 1997. “Reflection on Constructivism and Instructional Design”. In C. R. Dills and A. A. Romiszowski (Eds.), Instructional Development Paradigms. Englewood Cliffs NJ: Educational Technology Publications. http://carbon.cudenver.edu/~bwilson/construct.html date retrieved 24 November 2006.

14 D. Lebow, 1993. “Constructivist values for systems design : five principles toward a new mindset”. Educational Technology Research and Development, 41, 4-16.

15 M. J. Hannafin, K.M. Hannafin, S.M. Land and K. Oliver, 1997. “Grounded practice and the design of constructivist learning environments”. Educational Technology Research and Development, 45 (3), 101-117.

16 The term “heutagogy” appears to be connected to “heuristics” which according to answers.com is an “educational method in which learning takes place through discoveries that result from investigations made by the student”. Thanks to Khor YL for making that connection.

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17

Samantha Chapnick and Jimm Meloy, 2005. Renaissance e-learning : Creating Dramatic and Unconventional Learning Experiences. San Francisco : Pfeiffer (John Wiley & Sons, Inc). p 31 – 40.

18 Stewart Hase and Chris Kenyon, 2000. From Andragogy to Heutagogy. RMIT University UltiBase Articles. http://ultibase.rmit.edu.au/Articles/dec00/hase2.htm date retrieved 24 November 2006.

19 For instance, after successfully completing their PTK3 projects and having made their invigorating presentations which showed they had appreciated much of the philosophy behind the e-learning module, some of the lecturers could not help asking for instructions on what to do next to get everything right for the final assessment.

20 Kathleen Chinndarsi, H. Jacob and J. Miller, 2002. “How can we teach students to learn?”, Teaching and Learning Forum 2002. http://www.ecu.edu.au/conferences/tlf/2002/pub/docs/Chindarsi.pdf 21 The Association of European Schools of Planning Conference (AESOP) in Naples in July 2007 has a track on planning education and practice with a suggested theme on the reflective approach to teaching http://www.aesop2007napoli.it/track03.html

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The Struggle against Loss of Living Space: Squatter Resident Practices and Local Politics in Postwar Japan Takuya MOTOOKA and Toshio MIZUUCHI Osaka City University, Osaka, Japan

Introduction The Utoro District in Kyoto Prefecture's Uji City still exists today as an illegally-occupied settlement of Japan-resident Koreans. There are very few remaining squatter areas in present-day Japan, and the social and political background of the Utoro District differs from squatter settlements in the Third World. Its problems can be grasped as not necessarily ones of poverty but of social exclusion.

In recent years in the few remaining squatter districts of resident Koreans such as Kyoto City's Higashi Kujo and Itami City's Nakamura Districts, housing improvement projects have been carried out as in the Utoro District. In the background of these projects being carried out, in addition to the fact that the so-called 'housing-poor', the homeless who became visible in the city who were victims of the 1995 Hanshin-Awaji Earthquake or the collapse of the bubble economy, were finally dealt with as a social issue, was the fact that the movement for the protection of 'housing rights' emanating from the Second UN Conference on Human Settlements (Habitat II) in 1996 penetrated into Japan and was an impetus for such projects.

In the Utoro District as well, neighborhood-building is being undertaken together with the district's residents, mainly centered on the assistance movement through the ‘Save Utoro Association’ (more officially known as ‘Against the Land Sale!

Association to Protect Utoro’). The goals of the assistance movement are first to void the illegality of the occupancy and make improvements to the housing-poor conditions of the residents, and then additionally to overcome the social exclusion problem and promote a smooth process of civic improvements with the residents as the chief actors. The purpose of this presentation is to focus on the current situation in Utoro and the activities of the aid group, the 'Save Utoro Association,' and to grasp the commonalities and differences between it and the community-based activities in squatter areas of various other Asian cities at present.

In order to do that, we will devote some space to introducing Japan's political and social currents as they relate to urbanization in squatter and housing-poor areas.

First of all, in the immediate aftermath of World War II, as in the present day Third World, many squatter areas developed within cities, and they formed one type of substandard housing. However, in the midst of the subsequent rapid urbanization, many squatters were forcibly removed and the number of squatter areas declined. In this process however, some districts, almost all of which were where Korean residents were concentrated, survived as illegally occupied areas. This paper will begin by explaining historically the reasons why Korean residents' squatter areas survived and have now benefited from housing improvement projects or are at least beginning to do so. In Chapter 1 we will address this topic from the viewpoint of the city as a whole, describing the geographical-history of changes in squatter areas in postwar Japanese

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cities.

Also, in order to grasp the urbanization process in the Utoro District, we will take a brief look at the history of housing improvement movements in the context of postwar Japan. We will describe the housing improvement movements undertaken by the residents themselves in the housing-poor areas of postwar Japan, and the government's response to them in the form of the 'Dowa (assimilation/social equality) projects' and 'housing district improvement projects'. Concretely speaking, we will talk particularly about the history of the buraku underclass liberation movement in areas subject to anti-buraku discrimination, and also touch on the activities of Okinawans (South-Western Islanders) living in squatter areas in Osaka connected with housing improvements in their area, which followed the lead of the buraku movement. We will also talk about what kinds of restraints in the urbanizing process were put upon Korean residents in relation to housing improvement, which apply also to the residents of Utoro.

In the last chapter, we focus on the details of circumstances in the Utoro District, examining the problem of social exclusion in Utoro and reasons why housing improvements have not been carried out, against the background of the former two chapters. We then look at the workings of the 'Save Utoro Association' movement since 1989, and proceeding from its social context and relations, look at the direction towards which the Save Utoro Association is aiming in civic improvements.

Geographic history of squatter areas in postwar Japanese cities Formation of squatter areas During the Pacific War, due to repeated American air raids and air raid related demolition, the number of houses, e.g. in Tokyo was reduced by about one million compared to before the war. Because so many houses were lost through war damage, large numbers of bombing victims and people forced out of cleared areas had nowhere to live and became homeless and destitute. Since details of property rights became confused due to war damage, most of those who were homeless and destitute essentially became illegal squatters.

The homeless and destitute could be roughly divided into two categories. One consisted of 'vagabonds' who were thrown onto the streets and gathered to live in crowded urban areas and around train stations, and the other was made up of the 'barrack' dwellers who built dugouts or shacks in the bombed-out areas. The government authorities at the time saw the 'vagabonds' and the 'dugout and shack dwellers' very differently. While the 'vagabonds' were quickly herded into shelter facilities (Rehabilitation Facilities or Relief Facilities) under the government's welfare program by directives from GHQ (the Occupation authorities), the dugout and shack dwellers were left to take care of themselves. This means that building a shack and occupying a fixed location was looked on favourably. In other words, as a matter of social welfare policy vagabondage was suppressed and shack building encouraged, so people who had been left homeless and destitute squatted on river banks or vacant land in groups, and thus many squatter districts were formed by concentrations of shacks in such illegally occupied areas.

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Also, in response to the housing shortage immediately after the war, rather than directly providing housing through emergency basic housing or housing for the displaced, the housing policy at that time tried to solve the housing shortage through indirect means. Among these, in providing for city planning in the future, was the 'Temporary Building Limits Ordinance' promulgated in August, 1946 which encouraged the construction of temporary structures in areas with facilities slated for city planning or land consolidation planning areas. However, what this policy did was to covertly recognize illegal occupancy. From such housing and land, if the local authorities deemed it necessary for their plans, they would try to evict the residents, but many residents had nowhere else to move to, and there were many cases where they refused the eviction orders and stayed where they were. Then, in 1949 the restrictions on moving into urban areas were lifted, there was a great influx of population into the cities, and there was an expansion of squatter areas within the city.

Transformation and marginalization of squatter areas On the other hand, beginning in the early 1950s, in the advance of improvements in the built-up environment of cities through war damage reconstruction projects, the government began to demolish and remove squatter areas. These measures against squatter areas were however confined to a few districts on a case-by-case basis at the beginning of the 1950s. The reasons were that evicted squatters simply kept moving to other areas which they occupied illegally and the number of squatter settlements actually grew, and also because in the squatter areas there were not only shacks that had been built by the residents' own hands, but entrepreneurs had built rental apartment buildings on illegally occupied city land where many people now lived who had no idea they were illegal. As the consolidation and reconstruction works progressed, there were even criminal cases of illegal occupancy where people had deliberately built shacks on city land in anticipation of the moving compensation money or war damage insurance that would be paid for housing that was on land planned for parks or roads. Thus, during the 1950s, with the urban population growing, the provision of both public and private housing lagged behind, squatter areas continued to increase, and within cities there developed a condition where squatter areas would expand even as some decreased.

However, what we should note here is the relation between the advancing state of reconstruction work and the reformation of squatter areas. In reconstruction work, the work in the city's inner core received priority, and squatter areas in the inner core were removed. Districts where such works were completed became regulated, and it was difficult to re-occupy land there. On the other hand, reconstruction work in the outer margin areas had low priority, and squatter settlements in such districts tended to be left alone. From the 1950s on, as reconstruction work progressed, squatter areas came to be more and more located on the margins instead of in the core areas as a result.

As for the residents, the squatter districts were where socially disadvantaged people congregated, and they came to be seen by the world as wind-driven 'drift piles'.

For example, they came to be characterized as districts composed of people gathered together working in the informal urban business of collecting rubbish, or from the standpoint of ethnicity, they were seen as places filled with Korean residents, Okinawans, Amami Islanders, or people from the rural hinterlands. Also, from this

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time on Japan began to recover economically and incomes began to rise, but ethnic minorities and others who could not ride this boom gravitated to the squatter areas.

Socio-spatial exclusion in squatter areas The fact is that during the decade of the 1950s, not all areas of poor housing or poverty were necessarily made up of squatter districts. If one looks at the types of poor housing in cities in 1960, one can see that districts of generally deteriorated housing had developed within cities where the land was legally occupied, and this category includes buraku districts and areas not suffering damage during the war.

Nonetheless, among these poor housing districts, those that were squatter areas came to be seen in a distinctly different manner. That is to say, during the 1950s the squatter areas were often dealt with as a social problem by the newspapers. Four problems were mainly emphasized in connection with them, 'the view', 'fire hazards', 'hygiene' and 'social pathology', and by the repeated reporting of these issues, the general public came to accept the appropriateness of the government's activities in demolishing 'barracks' in squatter areas. In particular, the fact that various social pathologies became associated in the public's mind with the squatter areas had a direct relationship to their being pushed out to the margins. In other words, as the awareness spread that contact with the squatter areas should be avoided, this helped the movement to push the squatter areas out to the fringe areas. And as the squatter areas moved to the margins of urban areas, they became less visible to the civic society, and direct contact disappeared, the aura of 'weirdness' attached to them and fear of their social pathologies spread even more. Through the repeated coverage in the media of the squatter districts as a problem, the squatter districts were socially constructed into a 'space of exclusion.'

Squatter areas and urban planning Then, after the late 1950s, amid the social problems surrounding squatter areas, it was the issue of illegal occupancy in particular that aroused the public. At the same time, in parallel with these social issues, the response of the government evolved so that it was now no longer on a local level but on a national scale. In actuality, in the municipal assemblies and chambers of commerce of the 'Six Big Cities' (Tokyo, Yokohama, Nagoya, Kyoto, Osaka, and Kobe) measures against squatter areas were debated, they each sent petitions to the Justice Ministry requesting clearance action, and finally in 1960 the Diet passed the Law of Theft of Immovable Property. Based on this law, in most of the cities there were systematic measures to crack down on illegal occupancy, and large scale demolition of squatter areas was carried out during the 1960s. For example in the Tokyo Metro Area, in preparation for the 1964 Olympics, there was large scale urban development and the squatter areas of the city were virtually eliminated.

Now, the problem with this that we need to pay attention to is the fact that the government's elimination of the squatter districts was carried out, not to eliminate the problem of 'illegal occupancy' from the viewpoint of public nature, but from the viewpoint of urban planning. The means used for removal and later compensation for the residents had the following characteristics: Although there were a few cases of forced removal by administrative subrogation, in most cases they conducted money

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negotiations individually with residents and encouraged voluntary evacuation. For example in Kobe, in order to avoid the residents organizing among themselves, the authorities pushed voluntary removal through means of individual negotiations, and in many districts residents in the middle of individual negotiations were actually evicted, and the squatter areas were eliminated piecemeal, bit by bit.

What then is the background of squatter areas like Utoro that have survived up to the present? In areas not necessary for the impending urban plans, there was no need to crack down on illegal occupancy, so they were left alone. As well, we should not overlook the fact that the government did not act partly because of humanitarian objections to forced evictions. Consequently, in the background of squatter areas continuing to survive as Utoro has, there are both humanitarian reasons and government neglect, but the problem of social exclusion described above has become even more severe. In particular, most of the remaining squatter areas are settlements of Korean residents, and are deeply entwined with the social exclusion of Korean residents.

Housing improvement movements in squatter areas of postwar Japanâ&#x20AC;&#x201C; discriminated-against Burakumin, Okinawans, and Korean Residents The movement for improvements in living environment and housing The 1927 Poor Housing Districts Improvement Law was enacted at the initiative of the Interior Ministry to deal with problems of slum housing. In the prewar period, based on this law, several thousand substandard houses in the six big cities, except for Kyoto, were completely demolished and replaced with public housing blocks that were either reinforced concrete or made of wood. In actuality, the social bureaus or social departments in each city adopted these as projects from the top down for which the residents were supposed to be grateful. Slum clearance proceeded physically, but most of the improved districts became vertical slums and their slum-like quality was continued after the war.

Since the proportion of national subsidies set in this law was low, and selection standards for slums were not clearly defined, after the war it lapsed into non-use, but then against the rise of the Buraku Liberation Movement, which often dealt with slum housing, in order to co-opt the movement the LDP-led government and the Construction Ministry's Housing Bureau enacted the Housing District Improvement Law in 1960. The projects under this law aimed at improvement of the poor housing districts in cities which were once again starting to be recognized, but the big difference between them and the prewar slum clearances was that the Buraku Liberation Movement actively took the initiative. The discriminated-against buraku areas which had always been forced to express the most extreme form of poverty, during the period of high economic growth demonstrated great strength in the liberation movement and the accompanying battles over demands with the government. Viewed as an urban social movement, they played a large role in reconstructing the built environment of the city.

In Osaka, this battle began in 1957 when the buraku residents of Nishinari Ward who were squatting on land scheduled for road building as part of a war damage

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recovery project organized a grassroots movement demanding housing. The Dowa Projects Promotion Cooperative Association, already deeply involved with the government since the movement to acquire livelihood and work funds to help support buraku residents economically, in separating the Buraku Liberation Movement from the government demands, deepened its relations with the government. In this atmosphere of trust, they succeeded in getting apartments built for buraku people in 1959.

On the other hand, in the realm of urban politics, the governing LDP also, in opposition to the rise of the Liberation Movement, founded its own buraku liberation group and introduced a model project for the improvement of Dowa districts. The Buraku Liberation Movement, which developed strong ties and received aid from the Socialist and Communist Parties, raised a national citizens' movement for the solution of the buraku problem and succeeded in gaining passage of the Special Dowa Countermeasures Law in 1969. Under this, works began for the thorough improvement of the living environment within a law with a 28-year time limit.

These living environment improvement projects were an extremely unusual example of national funds being used as the consumption fund on a large scale for housing improvement in cities. This Special Countermeasures Law was in effect until 1997. At the peak of these projects, heading into the beginning of the 1980s, many buraku slums were actually transformed into reinforced concrete public housing districts. To evaluate this positively, it was a great national project of public housing construction for slum improvement. However, at the same time, the liberation movement was slanted towards demands to the government to secure housing improvement and social welfare facilities, it changed into a movement for securing the right to move into housing, and the thrust of the movement was obscured.

Especially in the big city buraku, as a result of greatly promoting public housing improvement, the more prosperous stratum wanting their own houses moved out of the buraku, people with relatively low income gathered there to live, and only people who came and went from the buraku were accepted. This was simply the building of a concrete buraku with no social mixing. The movement itself split in the 1970s into the Socialist Party faction which pushed for exclusive improvement of the buraku and the Communist party faction which thought the buraku should be merged into the national society and advocated elimination of buraku in stages. Although visible discrimination was eliminated, in evaluating whether or not these projects reproduced buraku, the Democratic Party (formerly the Socialist Party) and the Communist Party take diametrically opposed views.

Ethnic group protests and their becoming a spectacle The improvement of the Dowa districts by the Buraku Liberation Movement progressed remarkably, stemming from the demands for public housing in the rebuilding of the squatter areas. Examples like this of demands for slum improvement based on a history of discrimination are quite rare. One example that we should introduce here is the housing demand movement that arose from slum housing areas where many Okinawans were concentrated. They had moved to the mainland around 1972 when Okinawa (located in the Ryukyu, South Western, Islands), which had been under American control, reverted to Japan.

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Osaka was one of the cities where laborers from Okinawa and the Amami Islands migrated, and particularly in Taisho Ward, where the Okinawans were most concentrated, there appeared squatter areas where their proportion was high which were called 'Okinawan slums'. The Okinawa Prefecture People's Association, a group representing migrants, felt that Okinawans should assimilate with Osaka citizens and they chose a conventional political networking strategy through already existing groups like the block associations, municipal assemblymen, City Hall, and power brokers. Consequently, to these establishment types, the Okinawan slums were something foreign, an embarrassment that they tried to ignore. However, to young people who had been awakened by the political movements and student movements in the reversion of Okinawa, the existence of the slums was a reflection of discrimination against Okinawans and they held the national and city governments responsible for tolerating it. Demanding improvement in the Okinawan slums, in the mid 1970s a grassroots organization separate from the Prefectural People's Association succeeded in a housing demand struggle like that of the Dowa movement.

In this, while learning from the Buraku Liberation Movement, they thoroughly asserted their Okinawan identity and made discrimination against Okinawans the core of their struggle. This is a very rare case. At the same time as fighting for housing, they launched a cultural offensive, staging Okinawa-style Bon festival dancing in Osaka, deliberately making their ethnicity a visible spectacle and heightening it. This movement succeeded by 1979 in gaining the construction of about 1,000 units of public improved housing.

On the other hand, what kinds of urbanizing gains were there for the Korean residents living in squatter areas? They had a social and political history of not being involved in the housing improvement demands related above. First of all, in Japan the idea of 'foreigner resident in Japan' (zainichi) had for a long time meant only Westerners. The arrival of several boatloads of Vietnamese refugees in 1975 forced the recognition of Japan's view of itself as a 'nation of borders and national citizens' in the context of global relations. It exposed the Japanese populace's ignorance and lack of concern for the rights of foreigners. In Ikuno Ward in Osaka, where many Zainichi (which now means â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;Koreans resident in Japanâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;) people were concentrated, there were crowded areas of one- and two-story wooden housing left over from before the war that had not suffered war damage. There was virtually no public housing, for which in any case Zainichi people were originally ineligible, people survived through labor intensive household industries like the manufacture of cheap sandals, and an ethnic urban territory was recreated as 'an underdeveloped country inside a world class city'.

In this sense, there was a decisive difference when compared to the Dowa districts of the same inner city of Osaka's southwest side, where vast national funds had been spent and dramatic changes had occurred.

The Zainichi people's demands toward the city came not from the first generation, who largely looked after their own businesses and livelihoods and as foreigners living abroad did not and should not expect the rights of Japanese nationals, but from the second and third generations who rightfully appealed as legal permanent residents of Japan. The movement taken up by the second and third generations of Korean residents protested against the conditions under which, even though they held permanent residency, as foreigners they had no rights, and was linked to a systematic overhaul. The fingerprinting refusal movement as well, centered around Korean residents, took on a different dimension from the existing North-South ideological

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split on the Korean Peninsula, but was rather something demanded directly from their own life world. Through this movement, during the 1990s there was steady progress in obtaining many rights related to public housing, old age pensions, and employment as civil servants. In relation to public housing, for example in obtaining the right for Koreans to enter Dowa housing from within the Dowa liberation movement, in recent years there has finally been some activity in linking together the liberation movement with other groups who have been discriminated against. Also, as a movement for renovation of dwellings, building-renovation-type civic improvements aimed at the ethnic districts have begun in the last few years. As we will explain below, the activities in the Utoro District are an extension of this trend.

Social exclusion in the Utoro District and resistance to it No. 51, Utoro, Iseda-cho, Uji City is a rectangle of land surrounded by residential housing and adjoining the Land Self Defense Force's Okubo Base. Up until the war, this area was river bank and uninhabited forest and fields belonging to a landlord in the Iseda village. The formation of this district is largely linked to the construction of the Kyoto Airfield, the predecessor to the Okubo Base. Under a 1938 plan to build military airfields, aircraft factories, and pilot training bases at a number places around the country, the national government began construction of the Kyoto Airfield in 1940. Then, for the large scale construction works of extending the runway and building hangars, about 1,300 Koreans were brought in as a cheap and hard-working labor force. Also, at the adjoining aircraft factory of the Japan International Aviation Works (the forerunner of Nissan Car Body) a large volume of transport and trainer planes were manufactured. About 1943, a temporary barracks for holding Korean laborers was built on one corner of the grounds.

At the end of the war, the land at Utoro was supposed to have been disposed of as property belonging to a wartime military supply enterprise, but it never was, and ownership was ceded to Nissan Car Body (an affiliate of Nissan Motors) in 1962.

After the war, what had been the wartime aircraft factory was taken over by GHQ (the Occupation authorities) and it was reborn as an automobile factory (later to be Nissan Car Body's Kyoto plant). One part became an American military base (at present the Land Self Defense Force's Okubo Barracks).

In the midst of this, all of the Korean laborers were simply left there without any compensation. Many of them returned to their native land at their own expense, but the people who, for economic and other reasons, could not return even if they wanted to, moved into the ruins of the temporary labor barracks and were forced into unemployment and extreme poverty. Consequently, most of the residents shared the mindset that 'somehow or other we'll go back to Korea' and lived a hand-to-mouth, day-to-day life without any awareness of ownership rights concerning the land or houses as real estate. Until the Korean War ended there was a movement that requested the Uji City Hall to adopt some livelihood subsidies for Korean households, but after that there was a turn to following the line of the national Korean resident movement which advocated 'no participation in Japanese domestic politics', and movements by the residents acting for themselves were restrained. Even after this they were cut off from the surrounding Japanese society, and as they managed construction work, waste recycling, paint, and concrete block manufacture, the Utoro District became formed as a refuge and information center for postwar Korean society.

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On the other hand, as far as forces external to Utoro, Utoro District residents engaged in activities that tried to secure the land where they were living, including in 1970 sending a letter to Nissan Car Body asking to buy the land. However, Nissan Car Body ignored it and showed no concern whatever for making improvements to the area. The governing authority, Uji City, was also hostile to the Utoro District. For these reasons, the Utoro District and its residents have had a long history of being shut out by the authorities, and in fact there have been almost no cases where a government official had occasion to enter the Utoro District. Because of this the district has been neglected and has survived for many years even while being a squatter area.

The Utoro District's crisis and aid intervention Finally in the 1980s assistance from the outside began to take notice of Utoro which until then had declined contact with the outside world. The occasion for this was a fire that occurred in 1985. At that time there were no water mains or fire hydrants in Utoro, and more than half the tightly packed houses and storehouses were burned. After the fire, citizens of Uji City launched a 'Citizens' Association to Request Water Mains in Utoro', conducted a petition drive and submitted their request to the city. And from this activity construction of water distribution pipes was completed in Utoro. Subsequently, this aid movement was connected to the activities of the 'Against the Land Sale! Save Utoro Association'.

The background for the launching of the 'Save Utoro Association' was the problem of land transfer in Utoro. Because of a downturn in business in the Nissan Automotive group, suffering from an industry slump, in 1987 they deliberated selling off idle assets and decided to dispose of the land in Utoro. In March of that year the land was sold in single lump to one resident for 300 million yen, and several months later that resident sold it again to Nishi Nihon Shokusan for 445 million yen. Next, Nishi Nihon Shokusan sent out eviction notices to each household in December 1988, and in February 1989 filed a suit in the Kyoto Court for evacuation of the buildings and land. It was after this lawsuit was filed that citizens who supported the residents gathered and formed the Save Utoro Association. They asserted that, "The historical cause for the Utoro problem is Japan's invasion and colonial rule of Korea. The Japanese government should fulfill its postwar responsibilities to resident (North and South) Koreans. Nissan Car Body has a social responsibility as an enterprise. They should buy the land back and restore the status quo ante, and solve the problem responsibly and peacefully through negotiations with the residents." The subsequent activity of Save Utoro Association, together with giving support in the eviction lawsuit, has been to establish Utoro as a problem for Japanese society as a whole.

Support for the Utoro District and looking toward future civic improvement The residents' movement in Utoro began at first with pursuing Nissan's responsibility as an enterprise for neglecting the deteriorated environment in the district. They based this on experiences of the German Volkswagen and Daimler-Benz companies. In fact, they had exchanges with Volkswagen factory laborers and together conducted an international peace forum in Japan in 1990.

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However, since losing the eviction lawsuit in 1992 (the loss was actually finalized in 2000, and in 2006 the land ownership was upheld), the movement to pursue corporate responsibility has been forced to change course. Bracing themselves against the carrying out of forced evictions after the court's verdict was sustained, the goal of the Save Utoro Association has become to somehow prevent the residents from becoming homeless. In the midst of this, the members of the Save Utoro Association at first, based on the experience of the court battle over military pensions for Korean residents, began a movement to have the Japanese court decision nullified from the viewpoint of the UN social rights conventions. Then, after the 1996 Habitat II conference, they demanded a halt to forcible evictions and to be allowed to continue living in the Utoro District based on 'housing rights'. Also, since that time, Save Utoro Association members began participating in the Academy for Housing for Life and Well-Being, Japan and building relationships with researchers.

The building of relationships with the Save Utoro Association is not limited just to Japan. In 2004, at an international conference on housing problems held in South Korea, the Save Utoro Association presented a research report on the Utoro problem, and subsequently public sentiment to 'Save Utoro' spread in South Korea, and people have begun collecting contributions and making appeals to the government for help.

Additionally, in September 2006, in the â&#x20AC;&#x153;Report of the Special Rapporteur on Contemporary Forms of Racism, Racial Discrimination, Xenophobia, and Related Intoleranceâ&#x20AC;? before the UN Human Rights Council, Mr. Doudou Diene issued a warning to the Japanese government about solving the Utoro problem. Mr. Diene said, "Concerning the situation of the Korean community living in Utoro, the Government should enter into a dialogue with the Utoro residents and take immediate action to protect them against forced evictions and prevent them from becoming homeless. In light of the fact that the Korean residents of Utoro have been placed in this land during colonial times to work for the Japanese State for its war effort, and considering that they have been allowed to live there for 60 years, the Government should take appropriate measures to recognize their right to continue to live in this land."

Thus, since the court's decision for eviction, the problem of forced evictions is no longer just the problem of the Utoro District, but has become established as a problem for Japanese society and for maintaining its relations with South Korea. In so saying, for the residents of Utoro to continue living there, it is necessary to point out that not only should forcible evictions be stopped by international laws and the UN Human Rights Convention, but that they mean that the residents should be able to continue living there. For that, what is required is establishing a vision of the future for the Utoro District such that the land owner will allow the sale of the land and Uji City, which is the local government, will offer its support. At present, the residents of Utoro and the Save Utoro Association are constructing a plan for civic improvement, and the issue for the future is how much of this plan can be realized as an alternative to the forced evictions. In outline, this plan includes two aspects, the 'guarantee of residence rights' and 'war reparations and the historical responsibility of Japan's government and society.'

However, not only does this not solve the problem of funds for buying the land (even with assistance from the South Korean government, the residents' own money, and contributions, there is not enough; they are waiting for assistance from the Japanese government), it can't be said that the plan itself is very practical. So we

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cannot be content and overlook the current realities. At this time, we think that David Harvey's phrase, 'spaces of hope' is highly suggestive. He borrowed this from Balzac's words, "Hope is the desire of memory," and spoke thus: "The creation of 'spaces of hope,' together with the surfacing of memory, demands the creation of means which are opened up by the expression of all desires." In order for the Utoro District to become a 'space of hope' in the future, isn't it necessary that at the same time that it is the 'hometown for Korean residents' it also becomes a cultural focus and base for transmitting a message of living together with the surrounding local Japanese society?

In other words, the realization of this plan is a touchstone for whether or not there will be hope in the future of Japanese society.

Postscript Mr. Masaki Saito of the Save Utoro Association was extremely helpful in the preparation of this presentation. We wish to express both our deep thanks to Mr. Saito and our hopes that in the future the community at Utoro will develop in a more positive direction.

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Self Organizing and Planning: The Case of Small Towns in Sri Lanka Jagath MUNASINGHE University of Moratuwa, Sri Lanka

Introduction The ‘objective’ positioning supposedly assigned with Modern Planning compelled Planners to take vantage points external to the phenomenon they deal with.

Thus, the explicit intension of Planning has throughout been to intervene as an external agent to alter the existing course of events (Campbell & Fainstein, 2003) that the Planning agency views inappropriate. For this reason, urban areas (both large cities and small towns), when not Planned through deliberate efforts, are generally seen as ‘organic’, grown without directives, unorganized and therefore, await deliberate Planning interventions. However, we can witness that Planning interventions are not necessarily well received at all instances, since the urban areas already have some internally organized structures, which resist, contest and negotiate Planning actions. Planning agencies and the urban areas are thus, in a process of transactions, leading the urban form to evolve in certain directions. In this rather incomplete work, presented here, I have made an attempt to bring this transactional process into light as it could be observed in the case of small towns in Sri Lanka.

Small and medium scale towns, which have populations of less than one hundred thousand (UN Classification of Cities), play a vital role in human settlement patterns, urbanization trends, national economies, and the administrative processes of many countries all over the world. Recent statistics show that more than a third of the world population is concentrated in small and medium scale towns. Yet, a vast majority of urban studies, emerging from Planning and related disciplines, have their focus either on the large cities or on the urban metropolitan regions. Notwithstanding the fact that there is enough to be studied in large cities, this focus eliminates more than a third of the urban landscapes from the attention of scholarly investigations. Hence, there is a necessity to refocus our attention in urban literature to include Small and Medium scale urban areas.

A vast majority of urban areas in Sri Lanka can be categorized as small towns as the residential populations within their delineated boundaries have yet to exceed 50,000. However, the boundaries of these urban enclaves are not obvious since their urban characteristics disperse towards the peripheries and merge with the surrounding sub urban and agricultural landscapes. At the same time, while some of them have been formally designated as ‘urban areas’, many others remain non designated, but urban in character. Therefore, in this paper they all are referred in a common term: ‘township’ to emphasize the functional entity and the term ‘town’, where used, indicates the delineated physical area.

Categorical urban planning attempts in these townships can be noted from 1950s, during the post independent period of Sri Lanka. Town & Country Planning Department, established under the provisions of Town & Country Planning Ordinance - 93 -

of 1947, and the Urban Development Authority, established under the Law with the same title in 1978, have been the institutions directly involved in planning these townships. But, as it could be witnessed from the early stages of their evolution, the Public Works Department, Government Railway and later the Roads Development Authority also intervened in them from time to time, in the manner of planning infrastructure. Therefore, in this paper, the term ‘Planning’ refers to both categorical ‘Urban Development Planning’ and infrastructure development projects, instigated by state agencies.

Urban Planning in Sri Lanka, with no difference to many other countries, is generally shaped with visions towards orderly physical environments, achievable through ‘rational decision processes’. Thus, planning institutions generally find most of the urban areas in the island are spontaneous growths, for which they exhibit several disorderly characteristics. A most frequently stated disorder is the linear growth of urban activities along main transportation routes, obstructing vehicular movements. Another mostly stated disorder is created by the informal sector sales activities, and their occupation of the interface between the main roads and formal activity locations, obscuring both pedestrian and vehicular movements at town centers. Lands at the centre of the towns occupied by service oriented, non-profit making institutional activities are often seen as sub-optimizing the land use. Almost all Planning related activities undertaken by the urban development and regulatory agencies in Sri Lanka problematized these characteristics, which are common to all small and medium towns. Yet, when intervened to plan, the responses from towns sometimes resulted in situations, which are more problematic and quite contradictory to what was envisaged by the Plans. This process, observable throughout the evolution in small towns of Sri Lanka is examined and discussed in the forthcoming sections of the paper, as a series of transactions between Planning and the ‘selforganizing’ systems internal to the townships.

Transactional perspective and self organizing systems At the early stages from its origin, ‘environment determinism’ was the philosophical underpinning of Modern Town Planning (Rydlyn,1993), parallel with the dominant understanding in environment-behaviour studies at that time.

Accordingly, the desired behaviour of inhabitants, and the orderly functioning of a habitat was seen as a function of appropriately organized physical environment.

Towards 1960s, this understanding was questioned both in environment-behaviour research and in Planning, in a context where deterministic plans and spatial designs proved less successful. The elimination of conventional Master Planning and the integration of systems approach, participatory methods, etc, can be noted as the philosophical shifts in planning to adopt ‘interactionist’ perspective emerged at that time. In this paradigm, physical environments were seen providing options for inhabitants to choose (Werner and Altman, 2000), for which Urban Planning opt providing options within a broad structure than determining strict land uses. However, ‘interactionist’ perspective too showed limitations to explain the evolutionary nature of human habitats. Thus, it is gradually being shifted by ‘transactionists’ view, advocating the environment and the inhabitants to be seen as in a continuous process of transactions, for which the actions of both the environment (along with its regulators) and the inhabitants are instrumental in evolving human habitats (Dayaratne, 2002). The process continues as a function of different forms of

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behaviour adopted by the agents of both fronts. In an environment (urban area), the agents that constitute the environment behave as complex systems that support internal means of organizing and are resistant to be guided by an outside agency. Such behaviour can be identified as leading to ‘Self Organizing’ of the environment.

‘Self-organization’ is a concept emerged in natural sciences, mainly in ecology, that has many adaptations in social sciences. In the context of social sciences, the concept can be understood as a recurrent process of producing and reproducing actions and structures by social (and other) systems. The structures are permanently produced by the systems, and the structures in turn, enable the functioning of the systems. When the structures are disturbed by external interventions, the systems reorganize themselves either to recreate or to newly create structures, contesting and negotiating the conditions imposed by external agents. In sociology, Luhmann’s (1984), Gidden’s (1984) and Lefebvre’s (1991) work are frequently quoted as underlying the essential elements of the concept. In Urban Planning and Urban Design studies Portugali’s (1996 ) ‘Inter-representational Networks’, Hillier’s (1996) ‘Spatial Integration’ and Munasinghe’s (2004) ‘Unitary Concept of Environmental Image’ have close associations with ‘self-organizing’.

The evolution of small townships through self-organizing: During British administration in Sri Lanka (1815-1948), the landscape of the island underwent an unprecedented change. One of the first and important elements introduced during this period that enabled the transformation of the whole landscape of the island was the gravel road network. This network, constructed mainly between main cities and Colombo, where the administrative and commercial functions were centralized, facilitated the flow of commodities in bullock carts. The bullock carts, in a few days long journey along these tracks from farther areas of the country, found their rest overnight at places where a water body had to be crossed in a ferry. Lands next to these ferry points began to develop into small service stations, catering to the needs of bullock carts, and gradually turned into trading centres towards the beginning of the twentieth century (figure 1). After some time, these locations were selected by British governors to decentralize administrative functions. As a result, they got re-established as administrative and service towns, where secretariats, courts, police stations, post offices, and government rest houses came into being. Some of them got further strengthened with the railway stations came into them, as parts of rail transportation system introduced towards the later part of the nineteenth century. This was followed by the conversion of cart tracks into highways to facilitate the movements of motor vehicles. Rail and motor roads made them transportation terminals, and the increased fleets of motor vehicles compelled the road development agencies to construct new roads in them, intending to de-tour vehicular traffic. In late 1970s, the liberalization of the economy has brought in tremendous impacts into these places, introducing a variety of service activities, increased motor traffic and changing their building forms and character. As at today, these townships act as the nodal points of Sri Lanka’s spatial structure as well as the reference points of its inhabitants’ cognitive map of the national space.

Most of the literature has seen these towns as composites of different physical elements, which had been introduced into them at different times. Yet, careful observations show that they are in self-organizing processes through transactions their

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internal agents make with interveners. Planning activities have always come in the form of interventions to regulate the physical forms of the towns and the functional orders of the townships. When intervened, a township reorganizes itself, reproducing the prevalent order of functioning within an alternative physical form, reacting to Planning interventions. In this process, a few common elements in these townships can be identified that exhibits systemic behaviour. The first and the most implicit among them is the socio-political network that has always influenced structuring the social, spatial and economic order of the township. The second is the economy of the place that has been finding its way of optimizing contacts and driving the competition between the uses of space, thus, influencing the spatial form. The third and more explicit is the system of inhabiting, which is generally called the ‘bustle’ of the place.

It includes both mobile (pedestrians, cyclists, motorists and passengers) and stationed elements (residents, way side watchers, vendors, etc) and seems to be finding the appropriate place, depending on the level of connectivity of spaces within the town.

Relating to these three agents, the evolution of a typical township can be narrated in the following manner. When the gravel roads were constructed by the British, and when the ferries started to operate, the commodities from distant areas were delivered to Colombo, and vise-versa, in bullock carts. As stated earlier, at their night parking, the bullock carts demanded essential services such as meals, tea, water, liquor, etc, at ferry points. Catering to the demand, service activities came into being at those points.

The character of these places at this era can be construed by several historically valued documentations by Tennent (1859), Percival (1901), Cave(1907), Wright (1908), Cordiner (1900), Davy (1917) and many others, as well as upon the undocumented memories descending from the elderly members of the places.

Accordingly, even at the initial stages, the service centre (known as ‘Gaala’: the carriage park) was informally structured, so that certain activities and certain actors were enabled and the entrants were restricted. The socio-political network was dominated by a few elite, whose vested authority was not challenged by the others.

The bullock carts were paying undefined taxes to pass through the location (Gunaratne,1984). The economy of the place was confined to Gaala, and at a latter stage expanded service and trade activities attracted inhabitants from surrounding rural areas. The bustle was in a routine, where the carts arrive, rest and leave, and the service providers were activate when the cart vendors were present. Temporary shacks, put up near the ferry, provided shelter for service and trade activities at early stages (Cave,1907), and the lands on either side of the road were gradually occupied by elite residences (which were latter called Bungalows). By the time the service point got evolved into a formal trading place in late 1800s, the implicit socio-political networks surfaced in the form of formal social organizations. Apart from the dominant ‘Merchants’ Association’ (Velanda Sangamaya), Wright’s (1908) impressions on coastal towns of Sri Lanka provide evidences of the other networks such as the ‘friend-in-need society’, that was fabricated through complex kin, cast, class, and religion based relationships. Such networks held strong regulatory powers in all activities in the township: trade deals, relationships, transfers, and even dress codes. The administrative and other institutions came into the towns at a latter stage, found their locations at a close proximity to the trade and service area, finding mutual inter-dependence. The economy was regulating the physical form of the township. At this time, all activities of the township were located along the cart track in a linear pattern, optimizing the contacts between relevant parties. Single and two storey buildings built up to the edge of the road, leaving space, just adequate for two carts to

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pass by. The road, flanked by buildings was the main space (called ‘Main Street’ or ‘Kelin Veediya’ even today by the inhabitants) of the township that provided the venue for all important meetings, gatherings, celebrations and protests. Thus, the main street was the bustling area of the town at any given working day, which was full of activities such as selling, buying, brokering, idling, and even begging.

The introduction of motor traffic brought in paving onto the gravel road surface and replaced traditional ferry crossings with steel or timber bridges. The point of the ferry was not necessarily the most technically feasible location for the construction of the bridge, and had to be built in a place off the ferry point. Inevitably, the connecting road had to turn that way and the main street of the township was now confronted to a situation of destabilizing. This can be interpreted as a deliberate Planning intervention by an external agent: the Public Works Department. The new bridge road, instead of the conventional ferry road was carrying all vehicles and the bustle has shifted there losing contacts with the ferry road. Under such circumstances, the economy of the place restructured the spatial form by shifting trade and service activities from their original locations in the old ferry road into new places along the new road that was leading to the bridge. The socio-political networks were yet powerful and influencing the new business location through land ownership. The new elite residences were coming up on either side of the new main road, next to the main business area. By the time the country gained independence from British colonial ruling in 1948, the township had already deserted their original locations at the ferry points and organized along new main roads, and the busting main street is re-created in the new main space.

Most of the townships were introduced with rail stations, in late 1800s. This can be seen as another major Planning intervention in these townships. The rail station, unless there was an inevitable cause, was located near the existing business area. In this context, the township reorganized its form and functions responding to the new comer. As the rail transportation gained popularity, more pedestrian movements came into new ‘Station Road’ that connected rail station to the Main Street. Naturally, the economy of the place turned the order of activities in that direction, capitalizing upon new contacting possibilities availed on the Station Road. The trade and service activities extended towards the rail station expanding the spatial extent of the township. Hence, the bustle was gradually shifting towards the rail station.

However, the state of affairs in the town has throughout been seen as problematic by planning related agencies of post independent Sri Lanka. Mainly the bustle was seen as a hindrance to the smooth run of motor vehicle introduced into the country a few decades back. Thus, from 1960s the relevant authorities drew proposals to widen the existing main roads, through the towns. But this time the township was more reactive to the situation. Resistance was openly expressed and the project implementation agencies had difficult sittings with the local socio-political agents.

Since the proposal was to widen the existing 06-08 meter (two lanes) wide road into a 12-20 meter (4 lanes and parking bays) width all along, it earmarked large parts of a majority of shops and other buildings along the Main Street to be demolished. The social network, surfaced in the form of Merchants Association, tied up with local political institutions stood against this proposal. On one hand the road widening intended to convert privately possessed property into public property, changing the ownership. And on the other hand, it could have erased the existing linear interface

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between the road and the other urban activities of the town, thus affecting the economy of the place. After a few sittings with local agents, if the widening activity was still not possible, relevant agency (Public Works Department and later Road Development Authority) had no choice, but to have an alternative road constructed to de-route traffic flows, avoiding the bustle in town. But, the local merchants were sensitive to the likely destabilization of the existing structure of the township, by changing the spatial economy with de-routed traffic flows. Hence, they reacted with some positive response and offered the Planning agencies to have some space out of their premises for road widening purpose. At some instances proposals were negotiated, but at the other instance the new road project went on with no hearing.

Panadura (1960s), Ambalangoda (1960s), Matara (1960s), Weligama (1970s), Maharagama (1970s), Mawanella (1990s) are few examples where the alternative roads were constructed. Kalutara (1960s) and Wattala (1980s) are examples where the existing roads were widened with a compromise, and Kadawatha is an example where both widening and de-routing are being implemented.

Self-organizing can be seen in this situation too in these townships. The opposing and proposing reactions of the socio-political networks were showing behaviour leading to self-organizing. The merchants were first resisting the external agency’s proposal and reacted to the project as it could affect the existing structure of the township. When the Planning agency proposed to construct an alternative main road, a compromising measure was offered by the local agents, since that could also destabilize the existing structure. Performing self organizing behaviour, the economic activities of the town is now shifting into new main road and finding locations on either side of it, where the highest contactability is found. In many towns such as Ambalangoda, and Panadura a large part of the town activities has already been shifted to the new road, leaving the old main street. The new road is becoming the virtual ‘Main Street’ of the town, and the bustle that was seen in the old town can now be seen emerging on the new main street. Similar to the old ‘Main Street’ (which still is mostly called in the same name), the new main street too is a venue for meetings, gatherings, footloose trading, etc. The interesting fact to be noted here is that the emerging situation is quite contradictory to the objectives of the Planning attempt, which expected to provide smooth flow of vehicular traffic, bring in order to physical settings, etc.

One of the recurrent happening common to all of these towns is the periodic confrontations between the urban regulatory agency (either the respective Local Authority or the Urban Development Authority) and the informal sector. Among many informal sector activities, pavement vending and three-wheeler (auto-taxi) parking can be seen as the most prominent ones. They have all along been integrated parts of the township, and the structuring of the township was equally supported by these agents. The economy of the place, assuring the highest contactability, has been directing them to appropriate locations. Most obviously, the interface between the formal activities and the street space was providing the affordances for the vendors and taxis. They in turn, have been attracting the inhabitants into their locations due to the availability of the service that the inhabitants are looking for. Thus, they show a systemic behaviour within the township, and are part of the permanent structuring of the place. Yet, they are always seen by the Planning agencies as hindrances to smooth functioning of the town. At times they are forcefully relocated or evacuated the main street of the town, but returned to their original place of operations in a short time.

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Their self-organization behaviour is strengthened by embedding into socio-political networks, which are either formally established (Pavement Vendors’ association: Padika Veladunge Sangamaya and Hired-Taxi Drivers’ association: Kulee Ratha Riyadurange Sangamaya) or exist as informal network purposely organized to withstand external interferences.

Formal, area based Urban Planning started to intervene these towns from early 1980s, with the establishment of the Urban Development Authority, but most of its activities have been confined to Colombo and a few other major cities in the island, and a significant intervention has yet to be seen in small towns. Yet, with the collaboration of the relevant local authority, UDA has been preparing ‘Development Plans’ for local areas, in which the small towns are also constituent parts. In this task, towns are generally viewed as ‘objective’ physical and socio-economic entities that could be amenable to control of Planning. Hence, the internal dynamics are least addressed in planning proposals came out so far. One of the main concerns seen in the preparation of these Plans is the existence of service oriented government institutional activities such as schools, hospitals and administrative offices, at the centres of towns, for which highly valued lands are seen as put into sub-optimal uses. Hence, they are proposed to be relocated elsewhere, clearing valued lands and making them available for competitive uses. In one such instance, in Moratuwa (a town situated towards the south of Colombo), an attempt to relocate nearly one hundred years old school was resisted and contested by local social networks and the Planning agency had to differ all Planning decisions in sequence. In this case, the local social groups valued the historic and emotional value of the facility, linking to place attachments, collective memory, etc, internal to them. Thus, it was part of the structure of the town that extended beyond the physical facility, whereas for UDA it was an ‘objective’ urban activity that could be moved to re-organize the land uses. Similar situation is presently in seen at Matara (at southern coast of Sri Lanka), where all administration buildings and the hospital are proposed to be relocated away from their present locations at the town centre. Local social groups raise their voice against this proposal mainly on the grounds that such actions would destabilize the existing spatial and economic structure of the place, diluting pedestrian and vehicular movements within the town, and thereby minimizing the contactability. These incidents are indicative of the likely transactional process between the dominant planning agency of Sri Lanka, the UDA, and the internal agents leading the towns to evolve further. The internal agents seem to be performing behaviour, similar to the ones discussed above, that may recur self organizing in these townships. We may witness developments of these in the years coming by.

Conclusion In this incomplete piece of work, I have attempted to reformulate the already known story of the evolution of small towns of Sri Lanka as a process of reactive operations between the internal systems and the Planning agencies. In order to conceptualize the process the ‘transactionists perspective’ of environment-behaviour studies and the concept of self-organizing, popular in many areas of studies, were adopted. A transactional process is initiated with an intervention of an external agent in a structured phenomenon, whose internal elements prevails in a state of equilibrium and resists any interference. When intervened, the internal agents react and either contest or negotiate the impositions and self-organize the phenomenon to overcome

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the consequences of the intervention. In the case of small towns, the Planning agencies intervened to change the existing cause of events in small towns, which have already structured in a certain manner. The township was seen as consisted of three main agents that were instrumental to construct the structures of it: the socio-political network, economy and the inhabiting. Each of these acted as inter-depending systems to create and recreates the structures disturbed time to time by Planning Interventions.

The evolution of the town therefore, is not merely an accumulation of physical elements over a period of time to cater to some social, economic and political needs, as it has been commonly discussed in many pieces of literature on these places.

Rather, they are kind of active processes, which are not readily amenable to the control of the Planning actions.

The discussion was based mainly on my personal observations on different eras and events of these towns. Some of the events have been personally witnessed and the others were recorded from both written accounts and pictorial illustrations available in various secondary sources, as well as from undocumented memories of different persons who witnessed these events. The development projects implemented by infrastructure provision agencies are considered here as Planning actions, since they adopted deliberate planning processes and envisaged changes in existing causes of events in the towns. They have been the main events that affected small towns so far, as the formal Integrated Urban Planning have yet to be fully effectuated. However, although the focus has been on Sri Lankan small towns, what has been discussed in this work may not be alien to other contexts. The small towns are common in large parts of the world and their constituency is the same or sometimes, there may be some other constituent agents, who have not been visible in Sri Lankan context. For example, there may be military mafia or the international diasporas, inbuilt to urban systems, on and above the other social networks, although they are not apparent in the context discussed in this paper. Similarly the economies of places may be overthrown by macro economies or global economy in some situations, especially in large cities, for which the systemic behaviour and structures may be entirely different to what has been discussed here. The system of inhabiting may vary depending on the cultural differences, but we usually find it in any urban location.

At the same time, the external interventions in these townships may not be limited to Planning. There can be other types of external agents that activate self organizing behaviour of townships. The situations followed by natural disasters such as recently affected Tsunami, occasional floods, earthquakes, etc., can be another area that may be reveal the conceptual position of this paper. Similarly the effect of the interference of neo-liberal, global economy, foreign invasions, etc, may also be studied in a more comprehensive study. What is importantly noted here is that the small towns and other similar situations will continue in the same process, which the formal Planning attempts have yet not attempted to recognize. This does not imply that Planning is futile or unsuccessful in towns, but more importantly the examples discussed here show that Planning and implementation do not proceed in a linear process, assuring envisaged end states as it is generally indicated in post-industrial planning theories. They proceed in back and forth moves with more complex relationships, turning out unintended changes both in the process and in substance.

Further, the widely claimed prepositions such as the public interest and objective thinking are questionable when we examine this process. The observations in this paper reveal that the key stakeholders of the urban phenomenon are left unrecognized

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within generalized conceptions of the ‘public’, ‘rational decisions’ and ‘objective positioning’, which are considered as at the roots of the conventional institutionalized Planning approaches.

References Campbel, Scott, and Fainstein, Susan (2003), Introduction: The Structure and Debates of Planning Theory, in S Campbell and S. Fainstein (eds.), Readings in Planning Theory, Oxford: Blackwell Publishing, pp 1-16 Cave, H W (1907), The Book of Ceylon, Cassell & Co, London.

Cordiner, J. (1900), A description of Ceylon, London.

Davy, J (1917), An account of the interiors of Ceylon and its inhabitants with travels in that island, London Press.

Dayaratne, R. (2002), Environment-behaviour research and the practice of architecture: paradigms and paradoxes, Built Environment Sri Lanka, Vol.3:1 Giddens, A. (1984), The Constitution of Society: outline of the Theory of Structuration, Cambridge: Pility Press.

Gunaratne, P S (1984), Panadura Vitti (Sinhala), Colombo: Thisara Publishers.

Hillier, B (1996), Space is the Machine, A Configurational Theory of Architecture, Cambridge University Press.

Lefibvre, H (1991), The production of space, Blackwell, Oxford.

Lloyed-Jones,T (19960, The scope of urban design in Introducing urban design : Interventions and Responses, C. Greed & M. Robberts (Eds), Longman Munasinghe, J N (2004), An approach to conceptualize the environmental image for planning, and unpublished PhD thesis, National University of Singapore.

Percival, R (1801), An account of the island of Ceylon, London.

Portugali, J (1996): Inter-representation networks and cognitive maps, in Portugali, J.(Ed.),The construction of cognitive maps, Kluwer Academic Publishers, London.

Rydlin, Y (1993), The British Planning System; An Introduction, London: The Macmillan Press Ltd. Tennent, J E (1859), Ceylon: an account of the island, 1859 Werner, C.M. & Altman, I. (2000), Humans and nature, insights from a transactional view in Wapner S., Demick J., Yamamoto T. and Minami H.(Eds.), Theoretical Perspectives in Environment – Behaviour Research, Kluwer Academic/Plenum Publishers, New York .pp51-60 Wright, A. (1908), 20th Century Impressions of Ceylon: Its History, People, Commerce, Industries and Resources, First Published in London Press.

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N

Kalpitiya Puttalama Mundal Kurunegala

Chillaw

Narammala Giriulla Mawanella Divulapitiya Kegalle

Madampe Negombo Ja Ela

Colombo

Minuwangoda Kaduwela

Lunawa Panadura

Horana

Badulla

Anguruwella Awissawella

Ella

Hanwella Eheliyagoda

Haputale Kalupahana

Kuruwita

Kalutura

Ratnapura

Balangoda Pelmadulla

Kiriella

Bentota

Kataragama

Ambalangoda

Tissamaharamaya

Dodanduwa

Galle Weligama

Dikwella

Tangalle

Ambalantota

Matara

Figure 1: The Small Towns Emerged at Ferry Crossings at the South Western Quadrant of Sri Lanka (Authorâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Construction based on Secondary Information)

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Rajadamnoen Avenue: Thailand’s Transformative Path Towards Modern Polity Koompong NOOBANJONG King Mongkut’s Institute of Technology, Ladkrabang, Bangkok, Thailand

Introduction Built in the late19th century, the 3.2 kilometer-long Rajadamnoen Avenue links together two administrative nodes of Bangkok: the Grand Palace and Dusit Palace. Not only did the creation of the avenue generate the expansion of the capital outside of the city walls, but also signify Siam’s (known today as Thailand) engagement with modernity.

With the demise of the absolute monarchy in 1932, this stretch of urban space served as a showcase in representing Thailand as a modern nation-state. Similar to the absolutist regime, however, the transformation of the Rajadamnoen was dominated by top-down processes of globalization, homogenization, and Westernization. The results were several statefunded construction projects including monuments and government offices.

Since the 1960s, Rajadamnoen Avenue has been appropriated by bottom-up movements led by college students and urban middle-class to oust military dictators.

Political rallies, protests, and bloody street fighting have secured the Rajadamnoen and adjacent urban space in central Bangkok as a symbol of Thailand’s struggle towards democracy.

This paper examines the transformations of Rajadamnoen urban space with an emphasis on two analytical and critical parts. First, it investigates the avenue as a political form of the built environment: a symbolic device for the state to manifest, legitimize, and maintain power. The focus then shifts to the urban form of politics: the ways in which ordinary citizens negotiate space in both physical and psychological dimensions by means of semantic subversions to practice their social and political activities as well as to form their identities. The discussions further reveal complexity and paradox in interpreting meanings in urban space, which coexist, converge, contradict, and contest along Rajadamnoen Avenue.

A brief history of the Rajadamnoen Rajadamnoen Avenue was built during the last years of the 19th century by King Chulalongkorn (Rama V, 1868-1910). This long strip of urban space literally means ‘the path of royal procession,’ connecting together the city’s twin nodes of administrative and political activities: the Grand Palace and Dusit Palace. In generating and sustaining the growth of the city northward, the avenue was heavily influenced by a number of European grand thoroughfares--namely Paris’ ChampsElysees, London’s Pall Mall, and Berlin’s Unter den Linden (Suksri, 1996: 195-197).

Many state agencies e.g., the Department of Public Works, the Department of - 103 -

Municipal Affairs, the Department of Civil Engineering, the Bureau of Public Health, and the Minister of Bangkok Metropolitan Administration, were responsible for the construction of the Rajadamnoen. From its Europeanized stylistic attributes, an assumption may be made that foreign engineers and architects, especially the Italian team who designed Dusit Palace such as Mario Tamagno, Carlo Allegi, and Annibale Rigotti, played an important role in the conception of the avenue.

Rajadamnoen Avenue is not a single 3.2 kilometer-long passageway, but actually composed of three continuous tributary streets: the inner Rajadamnoen (Rajadamnoen Nai), the middle Rajadamnoen (Rajadamnoen Klang), and the outer Rajadamnoen (Rajadamnoen Nok). The Rajadamnoen Nai, whose length is 525 m. or 0.52 km., originates from Na Phralan Road in front of the Grand Palace to Phanbipob Liela Bridge (Fig. 1) crossing Loard Canal (Klong Loard) (Fig. 4). Then turning right eastward, the Rajadamnoen Klang starts from the Phanbipob Liela Bridge to the old city’s moat crossed by another bridge named Phanfah Lielas (Fig. 2 and Fig. 4). This section of the Rajadamnoen is 1200 m. or 1.2 km. long. Bending left north of the Phanfah Lielas Bridge begins the Rajadamnoen Nok ending at Sri Ayutthaya Road north of Dusit Palace (Fig. 4). The last section is the longest portion of the Rajadamnoen having the length of 1475 m. or 1.4 km. The Rajadamnoen Nok also crosses Padoung Krung Kasem Canal by Makawan Rangsant Bridge, built in concrete with elegant wrought iron details and marble finishing (Fig. 3) (Department of Fine Arts, 1939: 37-38).

: Figure 1: Phanbipob Liela Bridge, Bangkok, ca. 1900s Source: the National Archives.

Reproduced with permission

Figure 2: Phanfah Lielas Bridge, Bangkok, ca. 1900s Source: the National Archives.

Reproduced with permission

Figure 3: Makawan Rangsant Bridge, Bangkok, ca. 1900s Source: the National Archives.

Reproduced with permission

The width of the Rajadamnoen Nai is 28 m., while that of the Rajadamnoen Klang is 58 m. and Rajadamnoen Nok 58 m., respectively (Department of Fine Arts, 1939: 37-38). The Rajadamnoen Nok and Klang have six traffic lanes each way. Two lanes are located at the middle for horse drawn carriages and cars. One is on the island for a sidewalk or promenade, lined with mahogany trees along the way. Another two lanes are for cycling, while the last one is for pedestrian traffic with a row of mahogany trees. The Rajadamnoen Nai does not possess any promenade. Dubbed as ‘the corridor of power,’ this stretch of urban space holds a majestic design of broad and straight traffic lanes. The street was: ‘lined with palaces and used less for walking than for riding on horseback or more often in carriages and, at the end of the [19th] century, for the royal craze of cycling. At the beginning of this century [20th] it was also the scene of processions of motor cars, the itinerary of which was carefully announced in the newspaper, and the novel sight preserved for posterity in early photographs’ (Smities, 1986: 40).

Besides the two palatial compounds, Rajadamnoen Avenue is an axis joining together two important open spaces: the Royal Plaza (Lan Phra Borrom Rupe Song

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Mah) in front of Dusit Palace and the Royal Field (Sanam Luang) in front of the Grand Palace (Fig. 4). Furnished with the equestrian statue of King Rama V, the spatial organization of the Royal Plaza appears to be in a tradition of an Anglicized public square. The statue itself was sculpted to commemorate Chulalongkornâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s fortieth anniversary of his reign. When the construction of Rajadamnoen was completed, buildings along this avenue, particularly the Rajadamnoen Nok, hosted several residences of Chulalongkornâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s progenies, many of which were subsequently converted to government offices after 1932. For instance, Chan Kasam Palace became the Ministry of Education, and Paraus Sakawan Palace became the Headquarters of Bangkok Metropolitan Police.1

The Democracy Monument

Rajadamnoen Nai

Rajadamnoen Klang

Rajadamnoen Nok

Figure 4: The Location of the Rajadamnoen in the Urban Fabric of Bangkok Source: Tourism Authority of Thailand. Reproduced with permission Note: with notations from the author

The Rajadamnoen has been the place where state and royal ceremonies were performed, as well as where significant political events occurred. Hence, not only does the avenue occupy prominent space in the urban fabric of Bangkok, but also in

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the collective Thai psyche. The most important occasion happened on June 24, 1932 when a small group of foreign-educated military personnel and civil servants--known as the People’s Party-- stage a bloodless coup to overthrow the absolutist regime and to install a democratic rule. In addition to the 1932 revolution, the avenue was a site for democratic demonstrations against the junta administration, which evolved into brutal street fighting in 1973, 1976 and 1992. Today, it is used for royal and state functions, as well as political rallies, parades, and celebrations, apart from being one of the city’s principle arteries.

The political form of the built environment The construction of Rajadamnoen Avenue was an integral part of the 19th -century Siamese modernizing elite’s grand scheme to ‘re-brand’ themselves. Together with other forms of cultural artifacts, architecture and urban design were utilized to project the ‘re-fashioned’ image of the royalty to public as a progressive institution in transforming Siam to a modernized, civilized, and cosmopolitan nation-state (Peleggi, 2002). Be that as it may, the monarchical localization of modern tastes and appropriation of the Western material culture through the use of urban space and architecture--in which Rajadamnoen Avenue was a prime instrument--was also aimed to legitimize and maintain the authority of the ruling sovereign. In other words, this long strip of urban space, indeed, operated as a discourse of power mediation for the modernizing elite to pursue their political agenda.

Despite the demise of the absolute monarchy, the post-1932 administration still employed the Rajadamnoen as a showcase in representing Thailand as a modern nation-state. Similar to the absolutist regime, the transformation of the Rajadamnoen was dominated by top-down processes of globalization, homogenization, and Westernization. The results were several state-funded construction projects, but the most politically crucial was the construction of the Democracy Monument, which radically altered both the physicality and meanings of the avenue. This public structure was commissioned by a military dictator, Field Marshal Plaek Pibulsonggkram, a founding member of the People’s Party and the Prime Minister from 1938 to 1944 and again from 1947 to 1957.

Under the pretext of nationalism and democracy, Pibul fashioned a semi-fascist state, focusing on a modernization process. In the cultural arena, the government embarked on the National Building Program, issuing a series of twelve Cultural Mandates (Ministry of Propaganda, 1936) aimed to ‘uplift the national spirit and moral code of the nation and instilling progressive tendencies and a newness into Thai life’

(Ministry of Propaganda, 1942: 982). The mandates instructed the people all aspects of their social life, such as how to communicate, dress, behave, and how to be a Thai citizen, which were ‘necessarily in the interests of progress and civilization that the world might see that Thailand was a modern nation’ (National Archives, 1942: 0701.22.1/7).

These mandates, however, proved to be conceptually schizophrenic; several measures taken to define the new Thai identity were in many respects as much Western as Thai.

The most vivid example was perhaps the name of the country that was altered in 1939 from Siam (a native word signifying an ancient absolutist regime) to Thailand (a hybrid Thai-English term denoting a modern democratic nation-state).

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Figure 5: The Democracy Monument and Rajadamnoen Avenue, Aerial View, ca. 1940s Source: the National Archive.

Reproduced with permission

Figure 7: An Example of Militaristic Expression in a Bass-relief Panel at the Democracy Monument Source: Adam Carr’s Photographic Collection.

Reproduced with permission

Figure 6: An Over-all View of the Democracy Monument Source: Adam Carr’s Photographic Collection.

Reproduced with permission

Figure 8: The Rajadamnoen Edifice Group and the Rajadamnoen Klang with the Democracy Monument Source: The Association of Siamese Architects Collection. Reproduced with permission

Situated on a circular plinth in a traffic roundabout at an intersection between the Rajadamnoen Klang and Dinso Road (Fig. 5), the Democracy Monument celebrated the victory of the 1932 revolution over Siamese absolutism. Being a part of the National Building Program, the design of this modernist structure contains an amalgam of several modern stylistic features from abroad, such as Expressionism, Futurism, Social Realism, and Art Deco. The Prime Minister envisioned ‘the Rajadamnoen the Champs-Elyses, and the Democracy Monument the Arc de Triomphe’ of Bangkok (Nuan la-or, 1997: 83). The monument, he said, would act as ‘a center of all things progressive, distributed by the Rajadamnoen to other parts of the country.’ The main axis of the avenue ‘would be widened and lined up with handsome edifices, becoming a pride of the modern and civilized Thailand’ (Nuan la-or, 1997: 83).

In urban scale, positioning the monument at the heart of the Rajadamnoen not only disrupted the physical continuity of the ‘royal processional path,’ but also the symbolic succession of the monarchy. With the urban cohesion between the two palatial nodes severed, the Democracy Monument performed as a discourse to negate the authority and legitimacy of the absolutist rule to a subservient status under the guise of the nationalist and democratic ideologies. By enabling the People’s Party and the post1932 government to establish their places in the modern history of Thailand, Rajadamnoen Avenue was appropriated to signify a ‘corridor of egalitarian power.’

Since then, this meaning has been coexisting and contesting with the original signification.

Moreover, accompanying the construction of the Democracy Monument was an expansion and modification of the Rajadamnoen Klang. Along this section of the avenue, the government erected the Rajadamnoen Edifice Group (Fig. 8). Conceived in Neo-Plastic and Art Deco manners, these buildings housed several functions,

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including shops, offices, restaurants, and a theater, operating as a sensational stage full of vibrant urban activities for the Democracy Monument to proclaim its glory. Aside from representing Thailandâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s engagement with modernity, the quality of novelty embedded in the design of monument and the renovation/expansion projects for Rajadamnoen Avenue denoted the modernization and Westernization processes of the Thai identity. Based on what the military government deemed as future aspirations of the Thais, their symbolism and iconography promoted a modern and Western-oriented view set out for Thai society that was fascinated with the prospect of industrialization as well as Western technology, knowledge, ways of life, and forms of consciousness.

Because Thailand in the 1940s was mostly un-mechanized and un-industrialized, such allusions to modernity and Westernization via the built environment were a persuasive method for the post-1932 administration to distinguish itself as superior from the inferior agrarian-oriented absolutist rule.

Regardless of the intended signification, a crucial remark can be made on the symbolic duplicity of the Democracy Monument. Its militaristic design elements, e.g., the erecting profile, swards, cannons, and bass-relief sculptures (Fig. 6 and Fig. 7) suggests that this public structure in fact acted as a self-glorifying contrivance for the military government to assert their power rather than being a bona fide manifestation of the Peopleâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Party revolutionary spirit. Regardless of its namesake, the Democracy Monument ironically testified to military despotism, signaling fascism and the practice of lip service to Thai democracy. Consequently, Rajadamnoen Avenue simply served as an urban stage for hypocrisy unfolded in built forms.

The urban form of politics From the end of World war II to the mid-1970s, with some elections and bureaucratized civilian administrations, Thailand was governed mostly by a series of junta and was beset with coups and counter-coups. Under a ruse of national security, the military regime ruled the country with iron fists. Yet, unlike their predecessors, the post-1945 junta--led by Field Marshals Sarit Thanarat (1959-1963) and Thanom Kittikachorn (1963-1973)--were essentially Thai traditionalists. Their nationalist principles, espousing for orderliness and cleanliness, were based on the triumvirate of nation, religion, and monarchy, instead of abstract ideas like the constitution. In order to maintain and legitimize power, the junta revived the role, status, and custom of the crown anchored in the ancient Hindu-Buddhist belief of chakavartin (the celestial ruler or god-king), together with the lese majeste law, thus beginning the authoritative status of the present sovereign, King Bhumibol Adulyadej.

Although the junta retained some aspects of the National Building Program, mainly the modernization process, they abolished and/or altered most cultural policies and social practices initiated by the previous government. As for the built environment, the junta re-semanticized both Rajadamnoen Avenue and the Democracy Monument to signify the royal authority, and by association the power of the military regime, at the expense of democratic egalitarianism.

With a suspension of the constitution by Thanarat, the Democracy Monument lost its raison d'etre. As the military government suppressed commemorative activities for the 1932 revolution, royal functions reassumed the top priority in social festivities and state ceremonials. Many monarchical rituals took place in large public space located

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at both ends of Rajadamnoen Avenue (Fig. 4). For example, the Royal Field hosted the Royal Ploughing Ceremony, while the Royal Plaza held the Review of the Royal Guards on His Majesty’s birthday.

Accordingly, the two palatial compounds re-emerged in the urban fabric of Bangkok as the city’s twin cultural-cum-political nodes. Rajadamnoen Avenue was then able to revitalize its ‘Royal Processional Path’ namesake, while emasculating the ‘corridor of egalitarian power’ signification. In contrast, overwhelmed by the monarchical authority, the Democracy Monument faded into a symbolic oblivion and was assimilated into a long strip of urban space along the royal passageway merely as a traffic roundabout rather than a historic landmark. Additionally, by subjugating the Democracy Monument to the spatial domination of Rajadamnoen Avenue, the slippage of meanings rendered this public structure, together with other modernist buildings such as Rajadamnoen Edifice Group (Fig. 8), simply as a continuation of the grand-scale modernization process, inaugurated by of King Rama V. Since the 1960s, Rajadamnoen Avenue has been appropriated by bottom-up movements led by college students and urban middle-class to oust military dictators.

Political rallies, protests, and bloody street fighting have secured the Rajadamnoen and adjacent urban space in central Bangkok as a symbol of Thailand’s struggle towards democracy. In 1973, Thai college students orchestrated a series of massive demonstrations against the junta, evolving to a violent uprising on October 14 that eventually brought down the regime (Fig. 9). Originated in the late-1950s, the resistance was started by students from Thammasat University.

Prior to in the bloodshed, peaceful speeches and marches were held at the Royal Field in front of the university and along Rajadamnoen Avenue. On October 14, 1973, a huge demonstration of 400,000 people marched from Thammasat University to the Democracy Monument demanding a release of some political activists and student leaders from the junta. To win public sympathy and support, the students located their political activities on the same foundations of legitimacy that the military utilized: the triumvirate of nation, religion, and monarchy, then subverting them to use against the junta regime. Through their semantic subversion of the built environment, Rajadamnoen Avenue was re-appropriated to symbolize the people’s path towards modern polity and self-empowerment, whereas the authority of the triumvirate was turned into a discursive discourse of power contention.

On that day, urban surroundings around the Democracy Monument and along Rajadamneon Avenue, together with the march itself, were adorned with the royal images, Thai national flags, Buddhist emblems, as well as patriotic and democratic banners, resulting in a surreal atmosphere yet tangible and energetic environment. The itineraries included the Royal Field, Democracy Monument, Royal Plaza, and King Bhumibol’s Chitralada Palace (Fig. 4). The places with regal significance were strategically chosen to indicate petitions of people’s grievance to the monarchy and the royal grounding of the Thai nationhood. The references to Buddhism alluded to the Lord Buddha’s law of dharma.

The discursive spatial-cum-temporal progression of the rally began at the pipal (bodhi) tree courtyard in Thammasat University referring to the sacred Buddhist bodhi tree, whereas the Dome Building representing intellectual legitimacy of the students,

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which became synonymous with the democratic movement. They were strengthened by the name of the university itself, Thamma (dhrama: the Law of the Universe) + Sat (satra: knowledge). Then, an overlap of meanings occurred with Sanam Luang, whose original meaning was the royal field. In the context of the student movement, it stood for the earth, the ground for democracy and Thai nationhood. Next, the Democracy Monument signified modernity, as well as peopleâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s struggles to fulfill the democratic ideology and their self-empowering process. Taken altogether, these narratives discursively connected the triumvirate with the studentsâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; walk towards democracy and modernity, hence enabling them to challenge the power of the military government (Dovey, 2001: 274).

Initially, the Democracy Monument was to be a resting point for the demonstrators on their way to the Army Headquarters. When the rally reached the Rajadamnoen Nok, it was unorganized and confronted by heavily armed troops. The physical condition of this section of the avenue worsened the situation. The Rajadamnoen Nok was surrounded by lines of mahogany trees and impenetrable fenced compounds, whereas the area around the Democracy Monument encompassed numerous permeable streets with many exits permitting the crowd to escape quickly. The Royal Plaza was also easy to barricade, making the demonstrators highly vulnerable.

The military and police forces exploited the protestorsâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; fragmentation by accusing them of being anti-military, anti-parliament, and anti-monarchy. In the early morning of the following day, students gathering around Chitralada Palace to ask for royal support were attacked and shot by riot police. Although King Bhumibol opened his residence to give them a sanctuary, vicious urban fighting escalated throughout the Rajadamnoen. Tanks, gunship helicopters, and infantrymen opened fires on the students. When a score of casualties accumulated over the next few days, the king decided to intervene by asking Kitikachorn and Jarusathien to exile and granting a temporary constitution together with a provisional government headed by Prof. Sanya Dharmasakti (1973-1975). He also allowed the Royal Field, previously reserved for royal cremations and state ceremonies, to be used for cremations of many dead demonstrators.

Figure 9: Student Demonstration on October 14, 1973 along the Rajadamnoen Source: October 14 Archives.

Reproduced with permission

Figure 10: Government Troops firing at the Protestors on May 18, 1992 near the Democracy Monument Source: www.siamWEB.org.

Reproduced with permission

Three years of chaotic democracy ensued. In 1976, panicked by the fall of IndoChina to communism, the ultra-rightwing elements in the armed forces seized power and massacred students at Thammasat University on October 6, eliminating political activities of the youth altogether. The Rajadamnoen Nai and Sanam Luang witnessed brutal crimes committed by government troops and paramilitary forces on unarmed

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students. Some female students were abused on the ground of Thammasat University, while a number of their male counterparts were mercilessly killed. A number of dead bodies were hung under tamarind trees around the Royal Field. The surviving students fled and/or joined the Communist Party of Thailand to wage a revolutionary war, which intensified throughout the country. After causing unprecedented animosity among Thai people and claiming thousands of lives, the armed conflict ceased by the late 1980s together with the Cold War.2 Thailand during the 1970s and 1980s was once again riddled with coups, successful or otherwise. It was not until the end of the 1980s that the country’s socio-political situations could be somewhat stabilized. In spite of the atrocity committed, the massacre of students at Thammasat had largely been ignored by the post-1976 administrations. King Bhumibol susceptibly distanced himself from the incident as well. Realizing the stain of the silence, the bureaucratic government initiated campaigns to salvage the image of the ruling authority, while negating the legacy of the youth revolution as exemplified by the following proposal for the Democracy Monument and Rajadamnoen Klang.

In 1982, the Fine Arts Department classified the monument as ‘not worthy of conservation’ and planned to replace the central portion, including the image of the constitution, with a statue King Prajadhipok (1925-1935) who abdicated the throne to the parliamentary system (Rojpojchanarat, 1987). This image would signify the concept of a divine constitutional monarch and simultaneously portray the 1973 student movement and the People’s Party 1932 revolution as the national villains. The renovation project did not materialize, due to oppositions led by those in the academia.

As the progress of Thai Democracy appeared quite promising at the beginning of the 1990s, General Suchinda Kraprayoon deposed an elected civilian administration in 1991. Fearing for a return of another junta, the urban middle class organized largescale protests against Kraprayoon and his cronies in Bangkok in early May 1992, marking a rise of the urban bourgeoisie in Thai politics. During the so-called ‘Black May’ uprising, Rajadamnoen Avenue and the Democracy Monument served the people in a similar capacity as they did in 1973.

The event set out peacefully when a group of opposition leaders went on hunger strike at the Royal Plaza, drawing a crowd of 100,000 people onto Rajadamnoen Avenue for protest rallies that moved between this Anglicized public square and the Royal Field. Symbolically, the act of fasting discursively referred to the Buddha’s spiritual and intellectual journey in searching for enlightenment through self-control and self-denial. It allowed the protestors to claim a higher moral ground where their strength came from inner determination for the democracy, while that of the military was based on the use of brute force, lust for control, and power.

Unlike the rigid top-down hierarchy of the student movement, the horizontal organization of the 1990s-demonstrators was made possibly by modern telecommunication technology: mobile phones. Originally, the rallies had a playful sense of festivity where theater and dance mingled with free speech, music, food vendors, and spectators. Traffic within and around the Rajadamnoen was totally disrupted, with ribbons attached to the trees along the avenue to mark it a sacred space with surreal atmosphere.

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The military top brass ordered a crackdown on May 17 in the night. The flashpoint was nearby the Democracy Monument (Fig. 10). To prevent people from joining the demonstrators at the Rajadamnoen, a media black out was issued. Yet, the censorship and distortion of public information backfired the government. Because people wanted to see for themselves for what was happening, a rapidly growing number of urban residents came to the Rajadamnoen and ended up participating in savage fighting against heavily armed troops. The conjunction of modernist open spaces with permeable streets around the Democracy Monument enabled this urban insurgency to persist for some days. The killing and brutality stopped when the general, at King Bhumibol’s request, left the Prime Minister post. The total death tolls were still unknown, ranging anywhere from 50 to over 200 (Human Rights Watch, 1992). The king’s intervention, narrowly averting a prospect of civil war from Thailand, reestablished the royal authority as the country’s supreme socio-political arbitrative force.

The aftermath of the bloody uprising of 1992 brought a fifteen-year hiatus to the involvement of the military in Thai politics. The armed forces suffered a serious blow, bearing a stigma of oppressors who murdered unarmed advocators of democracy. In contrast, by receiving moral support from the king, the protestors were viewed by Thai society as national heroes for scarifying themselves for democracy. After the Black May incident, not only has the fate of democracy seem secured in Thailand, but also that of Rajadamnoen Avenue in the collective Thai psyche. Being an integral part of the Thai modern identity, this major thoroughfare and its surroundings have been recognized as: ‘The battlegrounds where key historical battles for democracy were waged, these natural or man-made physical things are popularly regarded as the concrete and hence stable and solid embodiment of the memory and spirit of the democratic movement…For people to whom democracy remains an abstract, amorphous and oft-thwarted aspiration, they give a sense of concreteness, of shape and form, or time and place, to their dreams of democracy’ (Tejapira, 1996, 7).

With comprehensive political and legislative reforms in the following years, the People’s Constitution was promulgated in 1997 with emphases on human rights, public participation, and decentralization of power. Despite devastating effects of the 1997 economic crisis, the nation enjoyed robust socio-political developments. Since 1992, elections had been held regularly in every four years. Nevertheless, on September 19, 2006, Thailand experienced a rude awakening from its false sense of political stability. Thai people found themselves under a military rule again when the popularly elected but very controversial and corrupted Thaksin Shinwatra administration was removed from office by a coup. The current political situation is still unsettled and could become socially explosive. This uncertainty makes the future of Rajadamnoen Avenue as well as that of the Thai democracy hanging in balance one more time.

Conclusion: continuing struggles for interpretations Embellished by a multitude of regal paraphernalia, for example royal images and emblems on arches and gateways bearing mythical statues, the present environmental contexts of Rajadamnoen Avenue symbolizes the omnipresent power of King - 112 -

Bhumibol Adulyadej. The ruling sovereign commands the authoritative status and respects from Thai people both by legal stipulations and by his virtues. During the six-decades of reigning, the king has assiduously dedicated himself to numerous royal initiative projects on social and economic developments to enhance the wellbeing of his subjects.

Notwithstanding His Majesty’s contributions, the paradoxical symbolic signification of the avenue reflects not only incompatibilities between the concepts of divine rule and democracy, but also political competitions between the constitutional monarchy and democratic egalitarianism. The subjugation of democratic foundations-liberty, equality, and fraternity to the omnipotent royal authority--discloses underlying problematic relationships among the monarchy, constitution, and modern society. As keenly observed by many scholars, ‘a truly democratic constitution must displace the monarch as the ground of political power’ (Dovey, 2001: 276). Although the importance of the royal grounding in modern Thai nationhood is undeniable, the royal authority serves as a discourse of power mediation. Through the lese majeste law, the royal authority has been utilized as a discursive means to suppress views that one side or another does not like under the pretext of protecting the prestige of the monarchy.

As demonstrated by the earlier analytical and critical examinations on the political forms of a built environment versus the urban form of politics from Rajadamnoen Avenue, the meanings of this major thoroughfare has been de-inscribed and reinscribed through a discursive discourse from being a manifestation of royal authority, to expression of the military regime’s ambition, and a physical representation of people’s struggle for civil empowerment, liberty, equality, and national unity. The fluctuations of its signification happened despite the fact that the physicality of the avenue remained almost virtually unchanged. The discussions further reveal complexity and paradox in interpreting meanings in urban space, which coexist, converge, contradict, and contest along the Rajadamnoen. The avenue could convey messages both for the constitutional and despotic regimes, military and civilian administrations, resistance and violence, liberation and repression, as well as inherited power and meritocracy.

Sarcastically, however, such conflict, confusion, and duplicity of meanings of Rajadamnoen Avenue are precisely an apposite representation of the country and its identity. The production of Thai cultural artifacts, especially architecture and urban forms, often involves a privileging of the ebb and flow of life rather than the stabilization of identities (Aasen, 1998: 2). To signify their meanings, oblique means of communication, e.g., allegory, parody, and irony, are preferred to the direct ones.

On that basis, Rajadamnoen Avenue seems to reaffirm the paradoxical peculiarity of the post-1932 Thailand.3

References Aasen, Clarence. (1998). Architecture of Siam: A Cultural History Interpretation. Kuala Lumpur; New York: Oxford University Press.

Anderson, Benedict. (1998). Imagine Communities: Reflections on the Origin and Spread of Nationalism. London: Verso.

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Dovey, Kim. (2001). Memory, Democracy and Urban Space: Bangkok's Path to Democracy.

Journal of Urban Design 6, no. 3. 265-282.

Eoseewong, Nidhi. (1995). War Memorial and Thai State in Nit Hityachiranand ed. Chatthai, Muang Thai, Baebream lae Anusawari [The Thai Nation, School Textbooks and National Monuments]. Bangkok: Matichon (in Thai).

Hattakijkoson, Pibul. (1983). Thai Monuments: a Political Study. Graduate Thesis. Bangkok: Chulalongkorn University.

Human Rights Watch. (1992). Human Rights Development in Thailand. Available at: http://www.hrw.org/reports/1993/WR93/Asw-11.htm#P397_166328.

Nuan la-or, Manit. (1997). Prime Minister Plaek Pibulsonggram’s Speech for the Inauguration of the Democracy Monument in Karn Muang Thai nai Yuek Sanyalak Thai [Thai Politics in the Pibul Era]. Bangkok: Ruangreaungrat Printing (in Thai).

Peleggi, Maurizio. (2002). Lords of Things: The Fashioning of the Siamese Monarchy's Modern Image. Honolulu: University of Hawaii Press.

Prakitnondhakarn, Chatri. (2004). Karnmuage Lae Sungkhom nai Slipasattapattayakum: Sayam Samai, Thai Prayuk, Chatniyom [Political and Social Factors in Thai Art and Architecture]. Bangkok: Matichon (in Thai).

Rojpojchanarat, Vira. (1987). The Conservation of Monuments in Thailand in Final Report Workshop on Community-based Conservation and Maintenance on Historic Buildings/Living Monuments August 23-30. Bangkok: SEAMEO Regional Center for Archaeology and Fine Arts.

Smithies, Michael. (1986). Old Bangkok. Singapore: Oxford University Press.

Suksri, Naengnoi. (1996). Palace Architecture in Bangkok. London: Thames and Hudson.

Tejapira, Kasian. (1996). Signification of Democracy. Thammasat Review 1 no. 1, 5-13.

Thailand, Department of Fine Arts. (1939). Name List 4: Roads in Bangkok. Bangkok: GPO. Thailand. National Archives. 0701.22.1/7 Prime Minister Plaek Pibulsonggram’s Speech on the National Day Anniversary, June 24, 1942 (in Thai).

Thailand. Ministry of Propaganda. (1936). Khumuea Phonlamuang [Handbooks for Citizens].

Bangkok: Aksonnit (in Thai).

Thailand. Ministry of Propaganda (1942). Prime Minister Plaek Pibulsonggram’s Speech on the National Day Anniversary, June 24, 1942 in Khao Kosanakarn 5 vol. 7 (in Thai).

Winichakul, Thongchai. (1994). Siam Mapped: A History of the Geo-Body of a Nation.

Honolulu: University of Hawaii Press.

Wong, Ka F. (2006). Visions of a Nation: Public Monuments in Twentieth-Century Thailand.

Bangkok: White Lotus.

1 See: Naengnoi Suksri. Palace Architecture in Bangkok. (London: Thames and Hudson, 1996) for more details on these buildings.

2 See: Thongchai Winichakul. Siam Mapped: A History of the Geo-Body of a Nation.

(Honolulu: University of Hawaii Press, 1994), and Benedict Anderson.

Imagine Communities: Reflections on the Origin and spread of Nationalism. (London: Verso, 1998) for historical and analytical recounts on October 6, 1976 incident.

3 For further and/or comparative readings, see: Pibul Hattakijkoson. Thai Monuments: a Political Study. Graduate Thesis. (Bangkok: Chulalongkorn University, Graduate School, 1983). Nidhi Eoseewong. ‘War Memorial and Thai State’ in Chatthai, MuangThai, Baebream lae Anusawari [The Thai Nation, School Textbooks and National Monuments]. Nit Hityachiranand ed.

(Bangkok: Matichon, 1995). Kasian Tejapira. ‘Signification of

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Democracy.â&#x20AC;&#x2122; Thammasat Review 1, no. 1, 5-13. Chatri Prakitnondhakarn. Karnmuage Lae Sungkhom nai Slipasattapattayakum: Sayam Samai, Thai Prayuk, Chatniyom [Political and Social Factors in Thai Art and Architecture]. (Bangkok: Matichon, 2004). Ka F. Wong.

Visions of a Nation: Public Monuments in Twentieth-Century Thailand. (Bangkok: White Lotus, 2006).

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New Directions in Urbanism and Planning in Asia Nihal PERERA Ball State University, Muncie IN, USA

The global affairs are being increasingly shaped by events in Asia and its cities are undergoing profound social (economic, political, and social) changes. Yet the spatial transformations in Asian cities do not seem to display much innovation. The larger formal developments follow Western examples, and planning of Asia’s cities is conservative, reactive, and piecemeal. The discourses on Asian urbanization highlight their Westernization, and deny much space for developments that might take these urban environments in non-Western trajectories. Most crucially, the scholars and professionals do not simply read the city, but also writes its spaces and landscapes. As they speak, these authors create the image of the Asian city as one that is dominated

by West-centered global forces and processes, marginalizing the transformations caused by local inhabitants as part of their daily practices.

“Non-West” is employed here to indicate the difference and not placed in opposition to the West. “Innovation” refers to transformative practices that do not directly follow or mimic dominant or hegemonic examples. It does not refer to something pure or authentic, but to hybrid perceptions, conceptions, creations, and transformations of space that creatively combine local, regional, Western, and global knowledge and experience in new ways, but grounded in global, local, and daily processes.

The local inhabitants largely produce their spaces through the simple negotiation of space for their daily practices. In his academic explorations, Arjun Appadurai finds that, “at least as rapidly as forces from various metropolises are brought into new societies they tend to become indigenized in one or another way.”1 What is missing in the discourses on Asian urbanization is the idea that, in Goh Beng-Lan’s words, the “people are never passive recipients of external initiatives, but rather always struggle within their own immediate contexts of constraints and opportunities to produce a meaningful life with their own particular values and goals.”2 The resulting hybridity of Asian cities is well described in Jeremy Richmond’ journal from his CapAsia V field study in spring 2005: Bangkok’s landscape is woven with religious and political imagery. Spirit Houses occupy various locations through out the city; the process of how these edifices are placed is not clearly evident to the casual observer, though ... there must be some criteria.

The King is portrayed in large enshrined posters that line the major intersections and the political center of the city. The major political campaigners are portrayed ... on large posters, seemingly enshrined, which indicates their otherness from the average Thai... [and] the King is portrayed in lavish dress as well as more common “European” dress indicating that they are other than the common man but simultaneously of the people.

This merely touches the surface of the intricate cultural and political landscape which weaves itself through the city. One such phenomenon is that there is a monk only standing area on the ferries.

According to this observation, Bangkok is neither Western-modern nor Thaitraditional, but a unique hybrid with a strong sense of place and identity. How often - 116 -

are the Asian cities characterized this way without descending into Western-Eastern, modern-traditional, and global-local oppositions? Richmond continues: Asian practices, as understood in these localities, use the structure of the West since the idea of a design profession is Western, though there may be mimicry or blind use of the Western minded practice, they are still working within the system to understand their own voice. Sri Lanka has produced indigenized architecture through the impetus of several architects. ... How are these emerging “professionals”, constituted and legitimized in this Euro-centric world system, able to find their own voice and presence, either becoming more unmarked practitioners (architect…planner) or more local or possibly marked (Indian architect…Thai planner)? Or will the “third” in-between “space” come into being somehow managing both extremes – the “middle way” of design with Buddha at a drafting table on a lotus chair?

Yet this type of description is not common. Such understanding of the Asian city is hampered by the lack of analytical tools. Scholarly work on the transforming Asian city is heavily focused on the globalization of Asian cities, used largely as a code-word for the Westernization of core economic and political zones of the city.

Their authors have paid little attention to the production of space, place, and identity by regular citizens. As they speak, these scholars and professionals create the image of the Asian city as one that is dominated by West-centered global forces and processes.

Yet the social power of the dominant discourses is not absolute. While the system of domination is not complete, resistance operates in the center, within the cracks, and the margins of the system. “Bottom-up” processes and innovations take place and new ideas emerge in Asia’s cities, but at a small scale, slow rate, by small people who negotiate space for their daily practices; professionals who adapt to the society, culture, environment also “learn by doing.” Making these ordinary spatial stories visible and available could lead to the creation of new cascades of thought, practice, and scholarship. More immediately, their documentation would create an alternative “tool box” for urban managers, leaders, and planners in Asia, not simply to borrow, but to learn from the other and to generate inspiration for creativity and more diverse practices.

A small cohort of scholars in urban studies employs locally-friendly perspectives that could acknowledge local agency and be empathic to these inhabitants. From the 1970s, scholars of urban political economy have developed a new understanding of the relationship between society and space and have highlighted the class nature of urbanism, planning, and the state involvement. The work is largely oppositional to capitalism. Scholars of colonial urbanism have exposed both the political and social power involved in the historical construction of architecture and urban spaces and the connections between colonial policies and spatial subjectivity.3 The deconstruction and the decentering of colonial, Western, and nationalist discourses have been effectively carried out by scholars of subaltern and postcolonial studies.4 Despite the expansion of these studies beyond their original foci of history and English literature, they have little to say about social space and urbanism. From the 1990s, critically feeding off these streams of studies, a small group of scholars of urbanism and planning have begun to address this gap; they not only expose the Euro-centrism and male-centrism in mainstream work, but also attempt to acknowledge agency and the transformative capacity of the subordinate subjects in the production and

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transformation of space. Shifting the vantage-point in different ways and questioning ‘post-colonial’ and ‘nationalist’ constructions of social space at different scales, the work of, for example, Holston (1989); Yeoh and Kong (1994); Yeoh (1996); Nalbantoglu and Wong (1997); Perera (1998; 2002a; 2002b); Holston (1989); Sandercock (1998); Kusno (2000); Goh (2002); Zhang (2001); and Nasr and Volait (2003) has laid a foundation for the study of urbanism from “subaltern/postcolonial” perspectives.5 This paper contributes to this burgeoning field of study.

The Mismatch What we know is what we see, an African adage reminds us. Although the process of seeing and observing might be more complex, the parameters of what a researcher finds is already mapped out in the research design, the analytical framework, and the methodology. In this type of Western research, there is hardly any space for the observation of realities that lay beyond Western world-views.

According to the former Director of Singapore’s Urban Redevelopment Authority (URA), Liu Thai Ker, a Western architect who was commissioned by the URA for a project in Singapore took two years to understand a fundamental element of its environment, the rain.6 To be fair to the Western scholar, it is structurally impossible for him to identify indigenous-friendly planning practices outside of the West employing Euro-centric analytical frameworks. These frameworks conflict with the objective of such research, and silences, erases, and marginalizes indigenous practices.

Anthropologists attempt to cross this boundary, but, according to Johannes Fabian, they create their Other by denying them the same time, or coevalness.7 While there are exceptions, most researchers on Asian cities deny their subjects the same time and space that the researcher occupy.

Besides, the city is a perception and there is no one city in which to carry out empirical studies. The “physical” city is accessed through representations. As Seymour Mandelbaum argues, the city is not a system, but is principally made up of particular sets of processes that are classified as urban.8 The administrators’, planners’, and scholars’ cities are perceptions constructed through the definition and identification of particular sets of social processes and structures as well as the territory on which these are believed to be concentrated as “urban.”9 Each observer makes sense of the city by using intellectual frameworks of understanding which comes with their own “baggage” including premises, assumptions, biases, beliefs, interpretations, and narratives. Moreover, as she perceives and describes the city, she creates it.

The city thus differs from one observer to the next, depending on the time and place from which it is observed (the vantage point), the knowledge and the worldview (the framework) applied, and the language employed to build it. Despite its partiality and the social power involved in it, representation is a necessity for the analysis, planning, and management of the city. Representations are not false, but quite the opposite; they give tangibility and materiality to the city by providing intellectual access to the city that is “out there.” This mediation enables the scholar and the practitioner to understand, examine, and modify it. What is false is the “objectivity” attached to certain representations, thus privileging them over the others.

Hence, in this paper, I focus on the “discourse” on Asian cities which Foucault defines as the system of statements within which the world can be known.

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The workings of such perceptions and their mediation through frameworks of understanding are evident in an important observation made by the authorities of Colombo in the 1910s. Modern Colombo is principally a colonial product. From the early sixteenth century, it had been the capital of colonial Ceylon under the Portuguese, Dutch, and British for four centuries.10 It was built and restructured according to contemporary European urban norms and standards, and was seemingly well adjusted to the needs of the colonial community in Colombo. Adapting to its environment, the colonial community also evolved with this colonial port city. Yet in the late 1910s, quite abruptly, the British municipal authorities of Colombo and the newspapers published by the colonial community and the Ceylonese elite reported that the city is infested by urban problems such as “bad housing” and “overcrowding.”

The main questions are: How did certain environments in Colombo in which low-income Ceylonese lived come to be seen as problems? How did a view developed in Britain become more superior to former views of the municipal authorities in Colombo? In “Importing Problems: The Impact of a Housing Ordinance on Colombo,” I argue that it was the introduction of the Housing Ordinance of 1915, particularly its specification of overcrowding, that provided the extra vision for the municipality to see low-income high-density Ceylonese livingenvironments as overcrowding.11 With the influence of the prevalent British idea that overcrowding breeds disease, the Colombo municipality opted to intervene into these living environments. Although negotiated between many agencies, this amounts to the development of an external view of the people who lived in those environments and the transformation of ground realities within a particular view. This perception involves Orientalism, the construction of a British colonial knowledge of the Ceylonese environments, for the understanding of the colonial authorities. As much as the inhabitants’ perception that it is their home, the municipality’s idea that their environment is overcrowding and unhealthy is constructed.

The strongest impact of colonialism and the European expansion is the establishment of a European cultural hegemony, i.e., the socialization of the locals the think the way the colonizers did. Although some societies in Asia were not directly subjugated by Western imperial powers, many scholars have argued that they have not been significantly different in regard to their cultural and economic dependence on the West. It is in this broad sense that I use “postcolonial” in this paper. In their colonies, the Europeans not only built cities but also taught the “natives” their ways of understanding the city, although never completely, establishing hegemony for their cultural perceptions and practices. In my studies on how Sri Lankans responded to colonial social space, I have demonstrated elsewhere of four principle stages of European colonialism Ceylon: the military conquest, the establishment of a colonial administration, economic incorporation, and the establishment of a European cultural hegemony.12 The identification of certain environments in Colombo as a problem, the scientific definition and classification of these environments, the bringing of so developed perceptions into circulation, and making the Ceylonese accept these have all constructed a superior position for these new perceptions. The level of hegemony that this planning discourse has achieved is evident in the fact that fifty years after independence of 1948, the cultural “unpacking” of this discourse has not yet been undertaken.

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When I began my career as an architect and planner in Sri Lanka, the understanding of the physical world was not an issue as everything was given and transparent. Soon, other realities began to emerge and I was exposed to the mismatch or the incongruence between my understanding as a professional and other ground realities. In my own professional and academic journey since then, I was trying to find out why do we build the way we build in Sri Lanka? I will use three real examples to illustrate this mismatch.

One day I was baffled by a woman living in Colombo who asked me to design a Georgian house for her. As I thought a Georgian house would be both culturally and climatically unsuitable, I was surprised by this request. It also reminded me of my boring history classes in which I learned the design and construction of mediaeval European churches and the work of Western architects, wondering why I had to study these to become an architect in Colombo. The answer to this question was beginning to emerge.

Then, I was a planner, later the Chief Architect-Planner of the largest development project in Sri Lanka, the Mahaweli Project. Many young professionals worked hard in the development project which promised to increase the production of rice and electricity and make Sri Lanka self-sufficient. Despite the increase in production, however, the rice and electricity prices were constantly rising and these goods were becoming less affordable. My whole understanding of supply and demand curves was not working. At the same time, as a young supporter of economic development for the common good, I was puzzled by the reluctance of the farmers whose lands were submerged in reservoir beds to go to newly irrigated land in the dry areas. Later it became evident that for them the journey was from fertile land in the valley and familiar villages to an unknown barren land in the Dry Zone where they were supposed to rebuild their lives from scratch. It amounted to uprooting them and forcing them to begin a new life in the Dry Zone which was almost impossible for those who were not young.

In the Transmigarasi Project in Indonesia, the team of which I was the planner developed a plan for an area in East Kalimantan. The maps I received were marked forest reserves, but had logging tracts, used by large US companies. Every time I read a journal, it blamed the slash and burn farmers for deforestation. We followed scientific knowledge and methods, studied soils, projected the future economy of the settlement, and developed a plan. The government was delighted with our plan and accepted it, but changed the crop. We recommended coconut which was one of the most suitable crops for the soil and it could be a subsistence crop for the settlers. But the government changed it to rubber which is a cash crop that requires substantial infrastructure. The company learned that the government was interested in making Indonesia a rubber producer that can compete with Malaysia.

These three brief examples highlight that the ground realities are complex and plural and, at social level, there is no one reality that could be scientifically known.

Secondly, these issues have more to do with the mismatch between the ground realities and the dominant discourse within which the students are socialized. There are several ways in which the professionals and academics use Western knowledge.

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The main approach to knowledge is direct use, for example, we study Western urbanization processes and apply them to local situations. During my doctoral research, I was surprised to learn that evolution of cities from rural areas, very fundamental to the understanding of urbanization, is redundant in modern Sri Lanka.

I have argued that it is not Sri Lanka that made Colombo, but it is Colombo that made Sri Lanka.13 While professionals in the non-West at-large are content with the direct use of Western knowledge, many have highlighted their frustrations when it does not work for them. From within the Western world-view, these mismatches are not seen as structural, but as shortcomings. In regard to the inadequacy of Western analytical frameworks, Sulakshana Mahajan has the following observation, Arguments, projections and models based on the urbanization trends observed in the early industrialization period will prove grossly inadequate, redundant and futile like the forecasts based on future population growth in India made 5, 10, or 15 years ago. How these projections made by the United Nations Population Division for Calcutta and Mumbai have proved totally wrong. It is essential to analyse the failures of these projections and reasons behind them.14

This type of criticism was made in India by Otto Koenigsberger, a foreign architect-planner who settled there. He was one of the first in independent India to realize that British style Master Planning does not work in Asia as its urbanization process is very different. He even came up with a new planning method, i.e., action planning, which responded to local conditions. Despite Koenigsberger being the Chief Planner, action planning has not rooted in India or southeast Asia.

The second way in which Western knowledge is used is by locating the city or the country within a larger structure which provides it a place in relation to dominant countries. Here I refer to structures such as developed-underdeveloped, metropolecolony, core-periphery of the capitalist world-economy, or a system of world cities.

Instead of reducing the difference between the West and a particular country to population or size, these frameworks provide a structural relationship. This way, Sri Lanka becomes the colony, the Third World, and periphery positions which are subordinate to the West. These frameworks are West-centered and Eurocentric, but enables limited agency for the locals within the structure of subordination.

This way, if I want to know Colombo, in relation to a world hierarchy of cities, it is important to know the Global Cities –i.e., New York, London, and Tokyo– but do not need to know anything about Kuala Lumpur. In fact neither Kuala Lumpur nor Colombo exists in this framework; if they do, they do so only as a peripheral place which is shared by a large number of cities. This framework too classifies, categorizes, and organizes the cities of the world from the USA –the vantage point– thus developing knowledge of the world for the USA. As we socialize into this way of thinking, the need to know the differences between Asian cities in the periphery such as Colombo, Jakarta, and Mumbai and to learn about them disappears.

Moreover, these structures cannot be viewed from the vantage point of those cities.

What is significant here is that neither of these main approaches promotes the movement of ideas across Asian countries. There is no way to know how these structures operate, from Manila. If the scholars in Manila learn about Colombo, they - 121 -

largely do so from the West, along with its category, for example, the Third World, and its location in the world city hierarchy. Questioning this structure of knowledge, in “Exploring Colombo: The Validity of a Knowledge of New York,”15 I ask whether an knowledge of Colombo be help to understand New York?16 Finding one’s identity is a priority for these nameless places. Sang-Cheul Choe argues that East Asian cities are very much in transition, and are struggling to find their own identity. He claims that this is the beginning of a long and thorny journey exploring the Asian way of urban transformation which ensures itself from the risk of blind imitation of the alien urban paradigms.17 Vikramaditya Prakash reflects on his thoughts: “I came back from [the second conference on Tradition and Modernity, held in Indonesia in 1996] feeling ... that to understand the full impact of the development that is going on today, one needed something of a paradigm shift of a kind that is still unclear to me.”18 Hence the question, how could we understand Asian urbanization from local perspectives? As there are no frameworks available for this, in my own work, I have attempted to view the processes from local vantage points. Subaltern scholars have complexified such viewing by arguing that the subalterns cannot speak and the scholars cannot re-present them fully. I do not propose either, but to acknowledge the agency of the local people.

In my own attempts to find out local spatial perceptions, in the absence of analytical frameworks, I examined how the Sri Lankans responded to colonial social space. In my book Decolonizing Ceylon, I map out the territories, urban systems, and architecture created by the Portuguese, the Dutch, and the British in Ceylon, from Western perspectives, and ask how did local groups such as the elite, the nationalists, the socialists, the youth movements, the separatists, the planners, and the architects respond to these spaces. As many good studies of colonialism and urbanism carried out from a Western vantage point exists, my interest was to find out what I would see from the Sri Lankan side. In the context of Singapore, Brenda Yeoh does this excellently in her Contesting Spaces which examines conflict between British and Singaporean-Chinese views of space and how they contested these spaces.

Hence, I wish to continue to investigate urban and planning practices from local perspectives. The principal issue is about the vantage point of inquiry and the analytical frameworks employed for such purpose.19 In order to see postcolonial practices in Asian cities, it is important to both look for them and conceptualize them simultaneously. A shifting of the vantage point of inquiry from Europe and the USA to particular Asian locales is bound to highlight some of the planning related practices in these societies that are not direct products of importing planning from the West.

The Absence of Innovation Despite the large scale transformation of Asian cities and the innovative practices at the day-to-day level, planning is yet to catch up with these developments.

As I discussed above, the planning responses in Asian cities lack innovativeness. I do not refer to the absence of the tallest building or the largest fountain in the world, which are claimed to be in Asia. Moreover, these are being Asianized though new roof designs and lighting at night. I focus on the weak connection between planning

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and the culture, nature, and the history of the place. This lack is very much an issue of perception. Most crucially, the planners have to open themselves up to learning from the people and people’s practices. In this section, I will address this issue.

Despite the fact that new ideas have seeped into Asian cities, and the higher-end planning is operating at more or less the “cutting edge,” the perceptions are largely imported from the West. As mentioned earlier, Anthony King argues that colonialism was the vehicle by which contemporary urban planning, developed in the West, within a Western culture, was exported to many non-Western societies.20 This was initially carried out by the conscious laying out of various settlements, camps, towns, and cities according to various military, political and cultural principles developed in the metropoles. Beginning of the early twentieth century saw the export of formally stated town planning ordinances and theories. The process of exporting planning has continued beyond European imperial times, well into the era of so-called sovereign states. As I have highlighted above, the European cultural hegemony has caused the main impact on post-colonial planning. Whether as part of foreign aid packages, a concern for the poor or the environment, an interest in taking part in the process of globalization, or training professionals in the West and within Western discourses, the export of values, ideologies, and planning models from the West still continues.

What planners in Colombo are most exited about is the environment. This is certainly not an indigenous idea: The new concern for the environment is also an imported notion which does not provide much room for any indigenous notion. The concern of the Urban Development Authority (UDA) of Sri Lanka for the environment is not based upon the idea of “sustainable environment” with which the Sri Lankans have been familiar; the one that was widely practiced for millennia before the British introduction of a monoculture-based vegetation system and economically shaped environment in the mid-nineteenth century. It is about protecting the wild life, the rain forests, and marshes which are very relevant to the well being of the USA. Nonetheless, they have a different idea about reclaiming land today. The planners do not think that the marshes are waiting to be filled and developed, but these are seen as a component of the environment which is in a state of balance, and perhaps significant for the continuation of this balance. Therefore, strategies have been introduced to preserve and retain natural areas in their existing state, while permitting activities in harmony with the environment.21 Other exported ideas –that will not be discussed in this paper– include historic preservation and globalization.

The planners who undertake to create a future strongly acknowledge existing – largely colonial– boundaries, data, and information. This is an issue that transcends beyond Asia, and the simple definition of the city is a problem also in the USA. In Colombo, while the planners hesitate to confine the city within its municipal boundaries, for the lack of a larger metropolitan boundary, they are working with the boundary of the Western Province as the larger urban region.

Most dangerous is the fact that planning is considered to be politically and culturally neutral. Although planning was considered an objective exercise practiced for the public good at the early days of the profession, the fact that planning, development, and foreign aid are political was exposed in late 1960s. The issues of

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environment and globalization, and the new pro-growth approach taken by the planners, have made planning to, once again, appear apolitical. In this context, the American interest in selling computers to communities that need food and housing gets camouflaged within the desire to have modern Western technology and the idea of integrating them into the so-called information society.

Despite the new ideas, concerns, and considerations that have entered into planning practice during this period, urban planning responses to the current transformation at large have been rather weak. Planning has principally been reactive, and has responded to what planners have recognized as immediate problems.

Planning, in most cases, has been a piecemeal effort which has not taken into account the larger, and longer term, processes that are underway. For the most part planning has taken the form of strategic intervention, but the silences have been significant.

According to Liu, the economic upgrading of Asian countries has not been matched by environmental improvement. Hence the current urbanization process is bound to require a second round of planning, later on, especially once the problems that are overlooked become critical. As more land is developed, and further developed, any changes to the city’s infrastructure and the built environment is going to be more costly, and would result in the relocation of citizens, activities, and functions, and the demolition of buildings and infrastructure.22 The progress that Asian states are making is defined within the capitalist worldeconomy, and the continuity of this trend requires the continuity of this structure, which is in some sort of transition. Paradoxically, the states which are leading the development effort, and required to maintain some equity, are eroding at the same time. Challenges to it are posed more from inside the state than from outside; Sri Lanka is a good example of this. At the very moment in which the state has begun to preside over the process of development, its sovereignty and the legitimacy has been challenged by Tamil Separatists. Hence planning has to adjust to these changes and challenges.

Whether the contemporary transformation is structural or conjunctural, what we are witnessing is the beginning of a new planning history (or histories) which is very much different to the one that we saw in the twentieth century. This is both the cause and the effect of the urban transformation particularly in Colombo that moved it out of the colonial era, rejuvenated some elements of indigenous history, and connected it to a new future. Hence what we see is a new era of planning.

The two crucial issues at this time, therefore, concern the perceptions of the city on which these planning exercises are based and the new directions in planning.

Firstly, the unique aspects Asian urbanization has not been fully appreciated. The planners have been focusing on the commonalities between Asian and Western urbanization. For example, many Asian countries have large semi-urban areas.

Terence McGee and Norton Ginsburg, who have argued about what they call “desakota” and “extended metropolitan regions,” have begun to identify some aspects of this uniqueness.23 Although they begin to problematize the shortcoming of the conventional view, which is the US-centric view of urbanism, they use Jean Gottman’s work on megalopolis as a point of departure,24 and focus on the economy which is most pertinent for the analysis of Western cities. Nevertheless, within the

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urban political-economy paradigm, McGee argues that the Western paradigm of the urban transition is not directly transferable. He highlights the difference: “The uneven incorporation of these Asian countries into a world economic system from the fifteenth century onward created divergent patterns of urbanization.”25 Although this is an outside view, it provides some insights into Asian urbanization. Yet the Colombo Metropolitan Regional Plan (CMR Plan) does not mention any uniqueness nor does it engage with the semi-urban areas. While the CMR Plan correctly identify that “Incompatible land use and ribbon development along the principal trunk roads in the region has led to traffic congestion and delays in passenger travel,”26 it is unable to characterize this non-conventional development. Instead, the Plan identifies a urban hierarchy, and implies a clean division between the urban and the rural.27 Despite the renewal of the discourse, however, the people’s day-to-day language has not entered plans and planning reports. In other words, planning in Asia still remains foreign with very little indigenous perceptions of space making their way into the planning discourse. In Sri Lanka, people define space in terms of handi (junctions) and malu, in India they use chowks, in Kathmandu, space is organized around durbars and hitis, and longtangs are very important in China. These and other significant signifiers of space have hardly entered the planning discourse the explicit objective of which is “public good.” If these concepts enter the planning discourse, however, there is a danger of them being assimilated into the dominant discourse, in which process their meanings will be transformed. This has very much happened in regard to kampongs of Indonesia and Malaysia.

From a physical viewpoint, there is not much concern for the older fabric of the built environment. In regard to the historic areas in Beijing, Wu Liangyong asserts that Throughout much of the post-Second World War era ... urban renewal and the wholesale replacement of old dilapidated city precincts with entirely new and different types of structures was quite acceptable. Today, by contrast, in most parts of the world, it is clear that traditional urban patterns of settlement are to be valued not only for their strict historical significance, but also for their aura.28

Roger Chen argues that Whilst it is imperative that Shanghai develops into a finance and service economy in the informational era, it is equally important that the city maintains its traditional sector ....

Cities that can preserve their own cultural characters, keep and make full use of their unique natural advantages when they develop according to an international standard, will be better places for living, visiting, and investing.29

The remaining historic areas of a city have more significance than their sheer history and aura; they are part of continuity of the identity and culture of the people.

Yet as Perry and others highlight, in regard to Singapore, “much of the conservation initiative is state driven and state-panned and serves the various ideological intents of the government.”30 Hence, there is a substantial gap between the planners and the “citizens.” As John Friedmann argues in regard to three plans for Singapore and Hong Kong, “As top-down efforts with very limited involvement of others than government and certain

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business sectors, they [these plans] fall short of the criterion of active citizen participation.”31 Going beyond this requires the shifting of the vantage point. Yet the use of civil society to identify the same as a category homogenizes the community and provides an external view useful for external usage. In regard to Seoul, Joochul Kim and Sang-Chuel Choe highlights the significance of acknowledging the on-going urbanization processes: When strolling along the streets of Seoul, particularly in the island of Youido, one is left with the impression that it is like any other modern western city. Buildings, street designs, business activities and other city functions closely resemble cities such as New York, Tokyo, and London. A uniquely Korean tradition in architectural and cultural presentation is lacking. The absence of traditional Korean influences, along with a substantial increase in urban density and crowding, reduces the overall legibility of the city environment: the city looks disjointed, chaotic, and unattractive. The development of special functional districts within the city might enhance its image and ambiance. At present, a number of special districts such as theaters, antiques, general consumer goods, and electronic products have been created in various sections of the city, but others, such as foreign embassies, historic sites, and the arts, are not available. The creation of such special districts cannot be brought about by zoning or other enforcement mechanism alone, but rather through a historical process of urban growth and development.”32

The addressing of Western concerns such as modernization, Westernization, environmental pollution, and globalization could only transform non-Western cities into more familiar Western environments, for the West, and more profitable environments for local businessmen –growth coalitions. Although the contemporary planning tools provide some advancement for the non-Western societies within the dominant structures, within an international setting, they do not empower these very much; nor do these strategies empower the local people very much. Although all plans mention equity, the way in which privatization is promoted,33 the plans disempower the people. Planning has become an expert activity which does not provide room for other voices. So far, experts with alternative views, NGOs and the general public have played highly subdued roles.34 In short, planning is currently very active in Asia and is largely viewed as a politically and culturally neutral practice for the “public good.”35 Although the social and cultural environments in Asia are radically changing, what is strikingly apparent is the lack of innovation and identity in cities. I deliberately excluded the economy from this list because it is precisely the element makes Asian politicians and planners on Western methods of planning. Whatever explanations are offered, the effect of this process on the built environment is not different to that during the European expansion; urban landscapes across the world are rapidly homogenizing, this time largely in regard to the identity of business districts, the representation of middle-class housing, and the condition of low-income housing areas. What is inscribed on the built environments indicates that the current transformation is another round of Westernization and homogenization of the built environment, now called globalization.

Rapidly Changing Planning Urban and regional planning is also being transformed. It is not simply the economic and physical landscape that is changing in Asia, but also how urban and

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regional planners engage the city. The planners have moved away from a centurylong tradition of growth control to become promoters of economic development. This approach has a strong element of pro-growth urban politics and an interest in showcase projects which have been common in the USA.36 At the same time, however, the type of development that is taking place in Asia is also considerably different. Most significantly, planning is becoming popular and being practiced in most cities. During the latter part of the last decade, when the demand for architecture was sliding downwards, the demand for admission to the planning program at the School of Planning and Architecture (SPA) in New Delhi increased,37 and the leading private school of architecture in Mumbai, Kamla Raheja Vidyanidhi, have been focusing on large-scale community development projects.

There are fundamental differences in the way in which many Asian cities take part in the discourses of environmentalism and globalization. An extraordinary feature of the CMR Plan is the acknowledgment of the existing system of paddy fields, wetlands, and the canal system in Colombo, and undertaking to protect and promote that pattern: Colombo Metropolitan area has a unique natural landscape with wetlands, water bodies, and paddy fields combined with rivers and natural and man made canals. ... The strategy of the CMR Plan is to utilize this natural layout by making further improvements for sustainable development through application of appropriate environmental and physical planning strategies.”38

What is identified is a complex system vernacular land use made up of natural land forms, natural and man-made water features, urban land uses and farming which cannot be characterized by terms employed in analysis, the separation of uses. Here, planning begins by identifying the areas that should not be developed and by promoting high density development in other areas.39 For Colombo, globalization is both getting more connected to the global economy and also reasserting Sri Lanka’s national identity. While the UDA opened up the CBD for private capital in the late 1980s, inviting international banks and financial agencies invest in it and to rebuild it in an international style, it also developed a new capital, a political center in the outskirts of Colombo. In separating global-economic and national-political functions, the UDA moved the national parliament house and the Secretariat the new seat of government in Sri Jayawardhanapura-Kotte. While the new CBD in Fort was built by private companies –after the government lead– in an International Style, the Parliament was built by the government in a Sri Lankan style.40 Conservation also provides an effective way to perceive the city or parts of it within indigenous histories –not necessarily as static environments following the way Western philosophers such has Hegel have characterized Asian societies. This would enable planners to reconnect the future of the city to its past. The Ju’er Hutong project in Beijing provides a good example of this kind. Here the historic courtyard houses organized around hutongs are revitalized, but within a contemporary setting.

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Centering the community is crucial for the planning process to achieve above goals. However, the usual town meetings which operate within the dominant discourse are grossly inadequate. At times of transformation, it is important to maintain the relationship between the society and space. If not, it is quite easy for them to get disconnected, defamiliarizing the environment for the inhabitants.

Although the new aggressiveness among planners should be valued, as the suggestions made by the team headed by Wu in Beijing, reducing the speed and scale of urban renewal41 is a prerequisite to build communities instead of physical environments.

All of the above are taking place in Asian cities, but halfheartedly. Empowering communities is the most certain way to empower planning. This will give new life to communities and planning in rapidly transforming Asia.

Critics and planners are highlighting that planning is political. In Slumming India, Gita Dewan Verma has argued that the planning authorities have to accept responsibility for their action.42 Particularly the slum formation in India cannot be viewed as the making of the slum dwellers or the colonial regime, especially after five decades of independence. Moreover, the plan is a document of entitlement, especially for the under-privileged. Hence, it is important to implement them.

It is significant that the National Physical Planning Department (NPPD) in Sri Lanka has recognized that planning is political. The planning boards at national and regional levels include leading administrators and politicians. This way these leaders would buy into the plan that they got involved in â&#x20AC;&#x153;makingâ&#x20AC;? and have some interest vested in the implementation of it.

Along with the surge of planning, new planning agencies and institutions to support these efforts are also emerging. Most of these cities not only have new plans, but also new agencies, for example, Mumbai Metropolitan Regional Development Authority (MMRDA), Delhi Development Authority (DDA), Urban Development Authority (UDA) of Sri Lanka, and the NPPD in Sri Lanka established in 2001. This way the institutional structure of planning in Asia has been changing.

With a different mission at hand, the agencies themselves view the cities they focus on differently. Colombo is increasingly redefined within its metropolitan region.

MMRDA considers Mumbai region to be a multi-centric city. This is a different type of a city compared to the traditional one that is found in literature which has a core and suburbs around it. Sri Lanka also developed a national spatial plan.

In short, planning is highly active in Asia. Both the approach and the institutional infrastructure of planning are changing. Most significantly, some the larger master plans include highly innovative aspects in them.

Asianizing the Asian City Despite the profoundness and intensity of the impact that it has, European colonialism is simply a layer in the multi-layered complex history of Asia, and the people and planners will eventually transcend this phase of history. Reconnecting with the cultural landscape of the place and spatial practices is essential for

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postcolonial planning. Cultural landscapes consist of both the landscapes developed within social and cultural perceptions and various meanings attached to the existing physical landscapes. Researchers could help the planners make this transition more efficiently, effectively, and smoothly by identifying and highlighting small but innovative ideas developed by planners and planning scholars. In this last section, I will begin to map out a framework that might help the planners circumvent the perceptual/conceptual road block.

What the Euro-centric discourses have failed to do is to reconnect planning with the place, the people, the culture, the past, and the future. Yet this is a colossal undertaking. Chung-Tong Wu points to the fact that “planning practice in Asia is more than ever both difficult and challenging. Most planners who work in Asia will have to spend their time navigating the unknown.”43 Ideas that might give rise to place and culture specific ways of thinking and the development of new approaches to planning in Asia have been hampered by the marginalization and silencing of ideas and practices that fall outside of the Euro-centric discourses. In this context, highlighting such ideas and practices would help planners develop more place and culture specific discourses.

A major cause for the continuation of exporting Western planning and planning ideas is the training of planners within Western discourses. At early stages, the planners were interested in arresting the growth of the cities using devices such as green belts and creating garden cities and growth poles to attract the excess growth and, in the late-mid twentieth century, in development and modernization discourses which separated the West’s future from the colonial past. According to Cliff Hague, The globalization of markets and the international nature of the environmental problems that we face are pushing town planning towards a common global agenda. Public authorities are short of money and there is a strong presumption that the private sector will play a key role in future development. Yet it is so clear that free markets are not a satisfactory basis for managing urban change. In the future, planners everywhere will have to operate in that blurred area where state and market and voluntary agencies overlap.44

Beyond the import and export of ideas, the dependency on the West is reproduced by training planners in the West and Western institutions, and maintaining the centers of knowledge production and the journals that validate knowledge in the West. Hence the production of locally relevant knowledge has to take different paths.

It is important to acknowledge that successful planners and designers of social space in Asia are largely trained in the field (on the job). As I have argued elsewhere,45 certain architects have developed place and culture-specific practices which I call critical vernacularism. Although it is not so pronounced, this is not uncommon in planning. Institutions like the Urban Redevelopment Authority of Singapore, the Mahaweli Architectural and Planning Unit of Sri Lanka, and the Design Cell of KRVIA have developed their own models of research and development.

In short, Asia is transforming in its own way. Using “modernizing” and “globalizing” to characterize this transformation can only provide a partial view of this change. This transformation cannot be understood simply as Westernization or Asianization, or by using simple dualities. The understanding of the Asian city requires new analytical tools. The documentation of diverse and innovative urban and - 129 -

planning practices in Asian cities could provide an alternative tool box of ideas that could be used along with other tool boxes to observe, understand, and create diverse environments and to inspire innovations of their own. Most crucially, the practitioners cannot substantially engage the city without understanding the local production of space and developing empathy towards the local inhabitants; this is impossible without the shifting of the vantage point of inquiry from the West to the locale, or the city itself.

As I have demonstrated, the social transformations of Asia are paralleled by spatial transformations. The local people are not passive recipients of global and dominant forces, but create and negotiate spaces for their social and cultural practices.

The transformation of the Asian city is far more complex than the hegemonic discourses of modernization and globalization suggest. In addition to the multitude of small transformations carried out by local inhabitants, planners have also infused innovative elements into their plans. Although almost every city plan in Asia has Western roots, some planners have also been learning by doing. The acknowledgment of the vernacular land forms/ uses in Sri Lanka demonstrates the transformative capacity of the planner. While planning is trying to catch up with the people, planning education is trying to catch up with the progressive planners. The recent transformation in the approach to planning education in Sri Lanka provides a huge sense of inspiration.

1. Arjun Appadurai, Modernity at Large: Cultural Dimensions of Globalization (Minneapolis, MN: University of Minnesota Press, 1998 [1996]), 32 2. Goh Beng-Lan, Modern Dreams: An Inquiry into Power, Cultural Production, and the Cityscape in Contemporary Urban Penang, Malaysia (Ithaca, NY: Southeast Asia Program, Cornell University, 2002), 202. See also Appadurai, Modernity at Large; Nihal Perera, “Indigenising the Colonial City: Late 19th-Century Colombo and Its Landscape” Urban Studies: Contested Landscapes, Asian Cities, 39, 9 (2002): 1703–21.

3. See Anthony D. King, Colonial Urban Development: Culture, Social Power and Environment (London: Routledge, 1976); Robert Ross and Gerard J. Telkamp, eds. , Colonial Cities: Essays on Urbanism in a Colonial Context. Comparative Studies in Overseas History.

Vol 5 (Dordrecht: Martinus Nijhoff Publishers, 1985); Yda Saueressig-Schreuder, Yda, “The Impact of British Colonial Rule on the Urban Hierarchy of Burma” Review X (Fall 1986): 245-277; Thomas Metcalf, An Imperial Vision: Indian Architecture and Britain’s Raj (Berkeley: University of California Press, 1989); Paul Rabinow, Paul, French Modern: Norms and Forms of the Social Environment (Cambridge: MIT Press, 1989); T. Mitchell, Colonizing Egypt (Berkeley, CA: University of California Press, 1991); Gwendolyn Wright, The Politics of Design in French Colonial Urbanism (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1991); Nezar Al-Sayyad, ed., Forms of Dominance: On the Architecture and Urbanism of the Colonial Enterprise (Aldershot: Avebury, 1992); M. Crinson, Empire Building: Orientalism and Victorian Architecture (London: Routledge, 1996); Robert Home. Of Planting and Planning: The Making of British Colonial Cities (London: Belhaven Press, 1997); Matthew Edney, Mapping an Empire: The Geographical Construction of British India 1765-1843 (Oxford University Press, 1999) 4.Edward Said, Orientalism (New York: Pantheon, 1978); Bill Ashcroft, Gareth Griffiths, and Helen Tiffin. The Empire Writes Back: Theory and Practice in Post-Colonial Literatures (London ; New York : Routledge, 1989); Partha Chatterjee, The Nation and Its Fragments:

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Colonial and Postcolonial Histories (1993); Homi Bhabha, The Location of Culture (London and New York: Routledge, 1994); Gayatri Chakravorty Spivak, “Can the Subaltern Speak?” in Colonial Discourse and Postcolonial Theory, Patrick Williams and Laura Chrisman, eds., (New York: Columbia University Press, 1994); A Critique of Postcolonial Reason (1999); Dipesh Chakrabarty, Provincializing Europe: Postcolonial Thought and Historical Difference (Princeton and Oxford: Princeton University Press, 2000); “Subaltern Studies and Postcolonial Historiography” Position Papers, Nepantla: Views from South 1, 1 (2002): 9-32; Gyan Prakash “Subaltern Studies as Postcolonial Criticism” The American Historical Review 99 (5) (December 1994): 1475-1490; Bill Ashcroft, Gareth Griffiths, and Helen Tiffin, The Post-Colonial Studies Reader (London ; New York : Routledge, 1995); Bill Ashcroft, Gareth Griffiths, and Helen Tiffin, Postcolonial Studies: The Key Concepts (Routledge, 2000); Bill Ashcroft, Post-Colonial Transformations (Routledge, 2001); Partha Chatterjee, The Politics of the Governed: Reflections on Popular Politics in Most of the World (Columbia University Press, 2006).

5. James Holston, The Modernist City: An Anthropological Critique of Brasilia (Chicago: Chicago University Press, 1989); Brenda Yeoh, Contesting Space: Power Relations and the Urban Built Environment in Colonial Singapore (Kuala Lumpur: Oxford University Press, 1996); Nalbantoglu and Wong (1997); Nihal Perera, Society and Space: Colonialism, Nationalism, and the Postcolonial Identity in Sri Lanka (Boulder, CO: Westview Press, 1998); “Indigenising the Colonial City: Late 19th-Century Colombo and Its Landscape” Urban Studies: Contested Landscapes, Asian Cities, eds., Lily Kong and Lisa Law, 39, 9 (2002): 1703-21; Leonioe Sandercock, eds., Making the Invisible Visible: A Multicultural Planning History (Los Angeles: University of California Press, 1998); Abidin Kusno, Behind the Postcolonial: Architecture, Urban Space and Political Culture in Indonesia (London: Routledge, 2000); Goh, Modern Dreams; Li Zhang, Strangers in the City: Reconfigurations of Space, Power, and Social Networks Within China's Floating Population (Stanford University Press, 2001); Joe Nasr and Mecedes Volait, Urbanism: Imported or Exported?

(Academy Editions, 2003). For a review, see: Brenda Yeoh, “Postcolonial Cities” Progress in Human Geography 25, 3 (2001): 456-468; Anthony D. King, “Actually Existing Postcolonialisms: Colonial Urbanism and Architecture after the Postcolonial Turn,” in Postcolonial Urbanism: Southeast Asian Cities and Global Processes, ed., Ryan Bishop, John Phillips, and Wei Wei Yeo: 1167-186 (New York, London: Routledge, 2003) 6. Liu Thai Ker, Personal communications March, 2001.

7. Johannes Fabian, Time and the Other: How Anthropology Makes Its Object (Columbia University Press, 1983) 8. Seymour Mandelbaum, “Thinking about Cities as Systems: Re¬flections on the History of an Idea” Journal of Urban History 2 (1985): 139-150.

9. See Nihal Perera, “Exploring Colombo: The Relevance of a Knowledge of New York.” In Representing the City: Ethnicity, Capital, and Culture in the 21st Century Metropolis, ed.

Anthony D. King: 137-157 (London: Macmillan, 1996) 10. For the broader context of this argument, see Perera, Society and Space.

11.Nihal Perera, “Importing Problems: The Impact of a Housing Ordinance on Colombo” Arab World Geographer, 8, 1-2 (Summer 2005): 61-76.

12. See Perera, Society and Space.

13. See Perera, Society and Space.

14. Sulakshana Mahajan, “Ramayan to Globalayan: Transformation of Nasik,” in City Space and Globalization: An International Perspective. Proceedings of an International Symposium, ed. Hemalata C. Dandekar: 282-95 (Ann Arbor, MI: College of Architecture and Planning, University of Michigan, 1998), 292.

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15. Nihal Perera, “Exploring Colombo: The Relevance of a Knowledge of New York,” in The Global Cities Reader, Neil Brenner and Roger Keil eds.: 339-45 (Routledge Global Cities Reader, 2006) 16. Perera, “Exploring Colombo.”

17. Sang-Cheul Choe, “A Search for Cultural Paradigm of Urbanization in East Asia,” in City Space and Globalization: An International Perspective. Proceedings of an International Symposium, ed. Hemalata C. Dandekar: 72-75 (Ann Arbor, MI: College of Architecture and Planning, University of Michigan, 1998), 75. My emphasis.

18. Vikramaditya Prakash, “Listening to the Subaltern: The Ethics of Professional Work Or, Notes Towards the Pedagogy of the India Studio,” in City Space and Globalization: An International Perspective. Proceedings of an International Symposium, ed. Hemalata C. Dandekar: 245-8 (Ann Arbor, MI: College of Architecture and Planning, University of Michigan, 1998), 246.

19. See Perera, “Exploring Colombo;” Society and Space, “Introduction.”

20. Urban Development Authority, Colombo Metropolitan Regional Plan (Colombo, UDA, 2001) 21. Urban Development Authority, Colombo Metropolitan Regional Plan ,62.

22. Liu Thai Ker, “Remaking Asian Cities: The Second Cycle,” in The Twentieth Century Urban Planning Experience: Proceedings of the 8 International Planning History Conference, ed. Robert Freestone: 465-469 (Sydney: University of New South Wales: International Planning History Society, 1998) 23. T.G. McGee, “The Emergence of Desakota Regions in Asia: Expanding a Hypothesis,” in The Extended Metropolis: Settlement Transition in Asia, eds. Norton Ginsburg, Bruce Koppel, and T.G. McGee:3-26 (Honolulu, HI: University of Hawai’i Press, 1991); Norton Ginsburg, “Extended Metropolitan Regions in Asia: A New Spatial Paradigm,” in The Urban Transition: Reflections on the American and Asian Experience (Hong Kong: The Chinese University Press, 1990).

24. Jean Gottman, Megalopolis: The Urbanized Nortwestern Seaboard of the United States (New York: The Twentieth Century Fund, Kraus International Publications, 1961), 257.

25. McGee, “The Emergence of Desakota,” 5.

26. Urban Development Authority, Colombo Metropolitan Regional Plan, 10 27. Urban Development Authority, Colombo Metropolitan Regional Plan, 6.

28. Wu Liangyong, Rehabilitating the Old City of Beijing: A Project in the Ju’er Hutong Neighborhood (Vancouver: University of British Columbia Press, 1999), ix.

29. Roger C.K. Chen, “ Shanghai - Development Strategie and Planning Implications,” in International Conference: Re-Inventing Global Cities. CUPEM 20th Anniversary International Conference: 168-183 (Hong Kong: The Centre of Urban Planning and Environmental Management, 2000), 181.

30. Martin Perry, Lily Kong, and Brenda Yeoh, Singapore: A Developmental City State (Chichester, Wiley, 1997), 284.

31. John Friedmann, “ Strategic Planning for World Cities: A critical Comparison of Singapore and Hong Kong,” in International Conference: Re-Inventing Global Cities.

CUPEM 20th Anniversary International Conference: 152-167 (Hong Kong: The Centre of Urban Planning and Environmental Management, 2000), 166. The plans are Singapore: The Next Lap (1991), Singapore 21: Together We Make the Difference (2000), and Bringing the Vision to Life: Hong Kong’s Long Term Development Needs and Goals (2000).

32. Joochul Kim and Sang-Chuel Choe, Seoul: The Making of a Metropolis (Chichester, Wiley, 1997), 233-4.

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33. “The main task of government ... is to provide an environment that promotes competition and efficiency and remove constraints that affect private sector participation.” (Urban Development Authority, 73-4).

34. Perry et al., Singapore, 226.

35. Nasr and Volait, Urbanism: Imported or Exported?

36. Logan, John R., and Harvey L. Molotch. 1987. Urban Fortunes: The Political Economy of Place. Berkeley: University of California Press.

37. Jamal Ansari, Personal communications, 2003.

38. Urban Development Authority, Colombo Metropolitan Regional Plan 39. Urban Development Authority, Colombo Metropolitan Regional Plan,6.

40. Perera, Society and Space, Chapter 6.

41. Wu, Rehabilitating, 211.

42. Gita Verma, Slumming India: A Chronicle of Slums and Their Saviours (London 2003).

43. Ching-Tong Wu, “Whither Asian Planning Education?” in Planning for a Better Urban Living Environment in Asia eds. Anthony Gar-On Yeh and Mee Kam Ng: 364-84 (Aldershot: Ashgate, 2000), 380.

44. Cliff Hague, “Town Planning into the 21st Century: Diverse Worlds and Common Themes,” in Town Planning Into the 21st Century, eds. Andrew Blowers and Bob Evans:137152 (London: Routledge, 1997) 150-1.

45. Perera, Society and Space, Chapter 5.

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Small and Medium Cities Negotiate Globalization: Indonesian Experipence PRADONO, Tommy Firman Institute of Technology, Bandung, Indonesia

Introduction Globalization offers both opportunities and threats, both positive and negative effects, both advantages and disadvantages for the cities. Cities equipped with proper infrastructures will likely being benefited by globalization. Small and medium cities are typically lacking of the capacities in terms of political and economic infrastructure, as consequence they are less able to compete the gains from globalization or even more vulnerable. While the globalization offers opportunities for these small and medium cities, it also poses threat to them. Opportunities that provided by globalization can lead small and medium cities to develop faster, however it can also forced them to become the spectators or only the “slaves” of global hubs.

Discussions on the impact of globalization have mostly focused on the national level and there is limited research about the globalization’s impacts on city level, and most researchers focus on big cities not on small and medium cities—especially on the small & medium cities of developing countries. In general some noted that adaptation of cities to the globalisation may drive to the excessive development and growth of metropolitan and largest cities, and at the same time the decline of rural area (secondary and small cities) globally (Hibbard and Römer, 1999; also see Afshar, 1999 and Firman, 2006).

In Indonesian context, the numbers of small and medium cities are far larger than the number of big cities. The small and medium cities are also more dispersed across the country than big cities that concentrated in Java Island only. Furthermore, in Indonesia, generally most of these cities have suffered backwash effect of big cities— even long before the escalation of globalization’s threat because of large urban-biased policies by the government. It is interesting to know how these cities negotiate to the globalization. The focus of this paper is to discuss the impacts of globalization on small and medium cities in Indonesia. The discussion will be divided into five parts.

After introduction, the next part will be devoted to the discussion on the concept of globalization and its impact on cities. Experiences of cities in some developing countries facing globalization will also be reviewed in this part. The third part will focus on the characteristics of Indonesian cities and their position in global network of cities. Then focus will be given the dynamics of small and medium cities in Indonesia in the era of globalization in the forth part. Finally, conclusion will be drawn to sum up the discussions.

Globalization and Its Impact On Cities

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Globalization refers to any increasing global connectivity, integration and interdependence whether in the economic, social, technological, cultural, political, or ecological spheres. Cho (1997 in Firman, 2006), defines globalization as process of expansion and deepening of global market for commodities and goods, finance and services, which was greatly facilitated by the fast development of transportation and communication technology and latter by trade liberalization. The process in globalization actually does not a systematically process, which are looked at the beginning and the end. Globalization is the process involving a lot of factors which are related each others. Because of that, Pizarro et al (2003), argue that globalization is a transitional and transcendental process.

Globalization is also of multidimensional characters because there are increasing global connectivity, integration and interdependence among aspects in economic, social, technological, cultural, political, or ecological sphere. As noted by Scholte (1997, 2000) and Smith (2002) they divided the globalization into several sub processes that happened along namely: internalization process or intensifying interaction among countries, liberation process in terms of the increasing flexibility of goods, services, people, capital, and information flow; universalization process, in term of values & cultures convergences into one global culture; Modernization & Industrialization process, in term of technological advancement and its application in daily life & manufacturing process; de-territorialization process, in which territorial properties becoming less important.

Though the globalization has become current dominant trend, it is not a new process. The advance development in information & transportation technology has accelerating the volume and extent of globalisation. However the main driver remains the same that is economic reason. As Wolf (2004) points out: “It is not an ideology - although opponents seek to present it as such. It is "a name for the process of integration, across frontiers of liberalizing market economies at a time of rapidly falling costs of transportation and communications“.

It is no wonder that globalization is characterized by economic expansion globally, such as capital movement, followed by population mobilization and migration, development of information and communication technology, development of idea and ideology, and cultural changing (Pizzaro et. al, 2003, Jones, 2003; Afshar, 1994). The term of flow, network, capacity, distribution, diffusion, and movement are typical terms to describe globalization (Pizarro et al, 2003).

The debates about the effects brought by globalization have become a hot issue among researchers. Perhaps, the best word to describe the impact of globalization is “integration”—the world has become so interlinked, so the economic, political, and social changes in one part of the world will have an increasing impact elsewhere. Yet, this integration has no same effects to all cities. For some, it can be good. For those who favour on it, argue that Globalization is necessary for economic growth and social progress (www.asiasource.org, 2007), also globalization provides the poor in developing countries with new opportunities for upward mobility (www.brookings.edu, 2007). On the other side, there are many who argue that globalization will only weaken the weak ones and strengthen the strong ones. Among

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the reasons are globalization is widening inequality and growing exploitation of the weak ones (see for example Sen 2002, Smith and Smith 2002).

Globalization is always happened together with urbanization phenomenon. This urbanization is usually understood as an impact of globalization. Globalization process is happened especially in urban area as indicated by cities integration. This globalization has led to what is called urban changes or global cities (Cho, 1997 in Firman, 2006). Globalization has significantly changed the economic and spatial structure. Douglass (2005, in Firman 2006) says that globalization produced city spatial reconstruction which is characterized by urban centre polarizations. This makes larger cities with low urbanization in urban centres and high urbanizations in their hinterland.

The impacts of cities development or movement may be better explained by the wave of urbanization. It is understandable that urbanization is not the migration of rural people to cities, but also way of life transferred from agriculture to industrial era.

Urbanization shows about cities are becoming urbanized. Urbanization in developing country is shown by primacy system in their cities. This system is signed by primate city attendance and large distribution imbalance between primate city with secondary city and secondary city with small city (Ministry of Public Work, 2000). The wave of urbanization have brought toward development city concentrated in large cities (Tacoli and Satterthwaite, 2003). This phenomenon is showing socio-economic imbalance. Urbanization will show the condition which is dominated by large cities.

Small cities become dependent on large city and secondary city and moves towards deficiency. Globalization and urbanization may results to loss of comparative advantage of secondary cities, small cities, and rural area.

In this globalization and urbanization phenomena, larger cities plays a significant role especially to absorb development anticipate in the future. There is reality that in future, that more urban people still live in settlements in secondary and small cities (Cohen, 2003 also see Afshar, 1994; Hibbard and Rรถmer, 1999). In the other side, full speed of urban development, like in large cities, are very different in secondary and small cities. It is happened because of the secondary and small cities growth is based on small population and become smaller because of urbanization (Cohen, 2003). Not a simple thing to discover the multiple growths in secondary and small cities.

Beside that, in the other world, the impacts of globalization, cities grow and develop without suitable economic activity development. No doubt that globalization and urbanization have reduced average human spatial need radically, changed the system of organization structure, and changed production and management industry.

Globalization is happened because international political changed, communism fall, and financial decline which are permitting capital movement become more mobile than the past (Yeung, 2000 in Cohen, 2003). This changing has led to economic integration, which is characterized by labor division, trading and investment improvement, telecommunication growth, and business and industry expansion (Sassen, 2000, 2001b, 2002, in Cohen, 2003).

Aside of the pros & cons, it is clear that the domestic social and political institutions will determine the extent of the benefits derived from liberal transformation of domestic and international trade (globalization). According to Wolf - 136 -

(2004), the inequality, weak political institutions, and low economic empowerment of society, unequal access to the factors of opportunity determine not only the distribution of the benefits of globalization, but also the extent of a nation's benefits from globalization. In other word, if there are lots of people being disadvantaged by the globalization, the overall advantages of globalization for both the weak and strong ones are diminishing. Sen (2002) argued: ‘.... central issue of contention is not globalization itself, nor is it the use of the market as an institution, but the inequity in the overall balance of institutional arrangements--which produces very unequal sharing of the benefits of globalization. The question is not just whether the poor, too, gain something from globalization, but whether they get a fair share and a fair opportunity’.

In the end, it is the local context of the cities that will determine whether the communities in cities gain advantages or not from the globalization. According to Wolf (2004), the primary obstacles to gain benefit from the globalization are political.

He argued: ‘It is the deep-seated differences in the institutional quality of states that determine the persistence of inequality among individuals across the globe. The big challenge - - - is to reconcile a world divided into states of hugely unequal capacities with exploitation of the opportunities for convergence offered by international economic integration. In short, if we want a better world, we need not a different economics, but better politics.’

As shown in India, the policy reform in 1991 has led the Indian cities to experience the fuller process of globalization. Mathur (2003: 5-6) noted the impacts of this globalization on the cities as follows:

Trade and foreign direct investment have become an important source of economic growth: GDP rose steadily in 6%.

States and cities compete for opportunities created by the expanding trade and foreign direct investment (FDI).

Globalization is favoring big states: 58 per cent has been garnered by six states, namely Maharashtra (17.45%), Delhi (12.04%), Tamil Nadu (8.34%), Karnataka (7.71%), Gujarat (6.60%), and Andhra Pradesh (4.69%). Several other states notwithstanding their size and larger markets, have not been able to take advantage of the globalization process.

Within states, cities are also competing. The shares of seven largest metropolitans cities in FDI, are substantial, being around 36 per cent

One characteristic concerning the impacts of globalization on Latin American cities is the increases in foreign investment and external trade in the 1990s have been associated with the increase in producer services as a proportion of employment (Robert, 2005). However he argued that only the “services-producer-cities” have gained rapid growth. Other cities which not produce services for external demand will have to rely on slower domestic growth. This has created inequality among the cities of Latin America. Within the cities, he identifies the trend in services production have created “class” and inequality that in turn created stronger dependency and diversification between high income class and low income class. Thus, according to him globalization has increased poverty and vulnerability in Latin American cities.

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Just like in Indian cites, actually the determinants of these negative impacts of globalization can be traced to the inequalities of cities. Inequality is not a new thing for Latin American cities. It has emerged since the period of industrialization in 1940s-980s. The inequality among Latin American cities depicted on their primacy of Buenos Aires, Mexico City, Montevideo, and Santiago. These four cities are similar in that they are the capitals of their respective countries and also head urban systems of high primacy. All four cities concentrate approximately 40% of their countries’ national product Thus, globalization is only magnifying the existing inequality. The reason why globalization worsening the inequality in Latin American cities is associated with liberalization—that means no more labor protection, thus creating worsening labor market. In ten years (from 1990-2000) the economic security increased 10 %, the unemployment rate were doubled (Roberts, 2005: 7). This make the impact of globalization on Latin American cities is ambiguous and contradictory, as Roberts (2005: 12) noted: ‘The impact of economic globalization on labor markets and on the configuration of urban space accentuates economic insecurity and urban inequalities. Indirectly, it isolates lowincome populations, reducing the public spaces in which they interact with the better-off population as private facilities for health, education and recreation spring up around the city. At the same time, globalization has promoted a greater awareness on the part of governments, international organizations and citizens of the need for innovation in social policy. It has also promoted the spread of information of their rights among low-income populations’.

Indonesian cities in globalization contexts Indonesia is one the largest archipelagic country in the world, consists more than 17.000 islands with five major Islands namely Sumatra, Java, Kalimantan, Sulawesi, and Papua. The population reached 203.5 million in 2000 and is estimated to close to 225 million by 2006 (Population Reference Bureau, 2006), which makes the country the fourth most populous country in the world. According to the Indonesian Ministry of Public Work (2007), up to 2004, the number of cities in Indonesia is 91 cities: 18 Big cities (population > 700,000); located in Java & Sumatra except Makassar; 29 Medium cities (200,000 <= population <= 700,000) in Central Indonesia Area; and 44 Small Cities (population < 200,000) in Central & Eastern Indonesia.

There have been no specific parameters to measure the urbanization level.

Demographer generally uses percentage of people who live in the city as a tool to detect the urbanization. To look at urbanization from demography perspective, BPS (1998 in Firman, 2006) employs 3 criteria namely (1) having a population density of 5000 people or more per square kilometre, (2) having 25 per cent or less of the households working in the agricultural sector, and (3) having eight or more type of urban infrastructure and facilities.

The system of cities concept can be tracked to the past two decades ago— through the project of National Urban Development Strategy (NUDS). NUDS categorized Indonesian cities based on their primacy: National Development City (NDC), Inter-regional Development City (IRDC), Regional Development City (RDC), and Local Development City (LDC). This hierarchical management of cities was logic at that time since it suited the Indonesian authoritarian, centralism, and structural government. But, the concept has become less effective now due to regional - 138 -

autonomy and decentralization. The central government, with its limited capacity, can no longer promote the hierarchy anymore. Why should a small city wait for the trickling effect of big cities?

The Indonesian cities are having important roles in National Economic Development since the economic productivity of cities is higher than other regions.

Ministry of Public Works, 2006 (2006) found that 40-50% of National Gross Domestic Products (GDP) is contributed by the 90 cities which represent only 20% of all regions (in other word, economic productivity of one city is twice of non city regionâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s productivity). Furthermore, actually 30% of the National GDP is contributed by 14 biggest cities which represent only 3% of all regions (in other word, economic productivity of one big city is ten times of other regionâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s productivity). Focusing in public sector, the big cities are also play important roles: 70% of National Development Budget is contributed by the taxes of 90 cities; and 50% of National Development Budget is contributed by the taxes of 14 big cities (in other word, one big city is equal with eighteen other regions.

Wave of urbanization which is happened in Indonesia causes urbanization in some area, which is raising urban population in the end. Based on Firman (2006) it is recorded that urban population in Indonesia have increased about 3,05% in 19802000, and based on Population Reference Bureau (2006 in Firman 2006) it will reach 85 million in 2006 (see Table 1).

In Indonesia, the highest urbanization is happened in Java and a part of Sumatra as shown by the share of population who live in cities as compared to those who live in rural areas. The Ministry of Public Works (2000) based on a study reveal that the sharing is increasing on average 1% per year. This condition is expected to exist until 2015 with the same development pattern (see Figure 1). Urban population sharing in Indonesia is hand in hand with economic development in those cities. Cities with high urban population sharing are showing high economy sharing in national as well (Figure 2). The high urbanization in some parts of Indonesia explains the inequality of development.

Table 1. Urban Population Growth in Indonesia, 1980 - 2006 Java 1980 Total Population (000) Urban Population (000) Proportion of Urban Population Share of Urban Population (%) 1990 Total Population (000) Annual Rate of Population Growth 19801990 (%) Urban Population (000) Proportion of Urban Population Share of Urban Population (%) Annual Rate of urban Population Growth 1980-1990 (%) 2000 Total Population (000) Annual Rate of Population Growth, 1990-

Outer Islands

Indonesia

91 269.5 22 929.4 0.251 69.8

55 665.4 9 916.4 0.177 30.2

146 934.9 32 845.8 0.224 100.0

107 581.3

71 049.9

178 631.2

1.65 38 341.5 0.357 69.2

2.47 17 092.3 0.238 30.8

1.97 55 433.8 0.310 100.0

5.28

5.95

5.37

120 429.3

83 026.7

203 456.0

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Java Outer Islands Indonesia 2000(%) 1.11 1.56 1.35 Urban Population (000) 8 874.4 26 369.8 85 244.2 Proportion of Urban Population 0.487 0.328 0.419 Share of Urban Population (%) 69.1 30.9 100.0 Annual rate of Urban Population Growth, 1990-2000 (%) 4.38 4.43 4.40 2006 (Estimate) Total Population (000) 225.500.0 Annual Rate of Population (%) 1.40 Urban Population 94.710.0 Proportion of Urban Population 0.42 Source : BPS, 1990 and 2001 and Population Reference Bureau (2006) in Firman, 2006

In Indonesia, the highest urbanization is happened in Java and a part of Sumatra as shown by the share of population who live in cities as compared to those who live in rural areas. The Ministry of Public Works (2000) based on a study reveal that the sharing is increasing on average 1% per year. This condition is expected to exist until 2015 with the same development pattern (see Figure 1). Urban population sharing in Indonesia is hand in hand with economic development in those cities. Cities with high urban population sharing are showing high economy sharing in national as well (Figure 2). The high urbanization in some parts of Indonesia explains the inequality of development.

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Figure 1 Population Distribution in Indonesia, 2000 Source : Ministry of Public Works (2000)

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Figure 2 Economic Development in Indonesia Source : Ministry of Public Works (2000)

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Indonesia enters formally in globalisation among other in its active roles in the ratification in international trading agreement, especially in WTO (World Trade Organization) (Arifin, 2004). With this involvement, Indonesia declares its participation in free trading which is happened in all around the world. Free trading makes possible resources changing which are had every country freely, and will develop toward comparative advantages. In Indonesia, knowledge about globalization reflects that points (Ministry of Public Work, 2006): globalization is dominant cultural distribution toward general paradigm especially about politic and economic issues every country face the problems of world trading community dependence in the world create a strong system poor countries in face on this phenomenon, is isolated step by step from international world there are dependence from developed country as a social distribution form to general paradigm development crate social cultural impacts This globalization is felt Indonesia by development in every sectors, especially in economic, technology, and telecommunication. Globalization creates quick development in some cities to join another big city towards mega urban (see for example Pradono, 1997). Metropolitan area becomes megapolitan. There are very complex developments in metropolitan area. These developments become economy dynamo for their surrounding, so the concept of urban rural linkage which is created by cities system can be happened. But in the fact, this development is far from the expectation. Development in metropolitan area shows the primacy phenomenon, secondary and small cities have dependence toward larger and metropolitan area.

Metropolitan and large cities are integrated with global system, grow and develop quickly, while secondary cities, small cities, and rural area develop very slowly (Ministry of Public Work, 2000).

The waves of globalization also hit Indonesian cities as well. In the term of regional unevenness, the cities in Indonesia share similar characteristic with Indian and Latin American cities. However, unlike in Indian or Latin American countries, the Indonesian cities have just experienced sudden decentralization. Perhaps, we can say that the decentralization policy which started suddenly in 2002 is the Indonesian most significant policy related to the cities development in front of the globalization era. World Bank (2007) noted: ‘Indonesia's decentralization has been a "Big Bang" indeed. Regional spending rose, central civil servants were re-assigned; over 16,000 public service facilities were handed over to the regions; and a brand new intergovernmental fiscal system was put in place all of this without major disruption in government services. Over time, Indonesia becomes one of the most decentralized countries in the world’

This new decentralization provides hopes and opportunities for the cities to spur their regions’ development. Indonesian cities, today, are facing rapid globalization due to the policies taken by the national government. Recently, many policies are designed to help the country entering the full globalization era by strengthening its linkages with international networks. Recent policies on financial sector, foreign

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direct investment, and international trade have obviously showed the path Indonesian government choice.

While the Indonesian cities are facing the same globalization, they have different characteristic. Small and medium cities usually are semi urban and semi rural. Its people are still farming in front of their houses. The social characteristic is still similar with rural areas. What differ from the rural villages are the permanent buildings & infrastructures and their numbers of inhabitant. However, Indonesian big cities and metropolitans are completely modern and cosmopolitan like other metropolitans in the world. The suburbs of these metropolitans share same characteristics with other medium cities of the world. Thus, the gap between Indonesia cities is quite wide.

In Indonesia, urban economic growth rate is highly correlated with size of cities.

This fact suggests that the economic impacts of globalization are not equally distributed.. The bigger the city, the higher is its economic growth. It also noted that even the big cities suffered negative growth in 1997-1998 Asian economic crises, their performance now have returned. While the small cities’ economies are not significantly affected by the crises, their pre- and post-crisis performances are not very high. This implies that the economies of Indonesian small cities are not fully integrated to the national and global economic system (Ministry of Public Works, 2006).

The dynamics of small and medium cities in Indonesia As previously described, cities in Indonesia are developed based on the concept of system of cities. Even though it is called as system of city, it is nothing more than mere determination of cities’ hierarchy based on their primacy. Thus, small and medium cities are viewed as the lower part of a hierarchical system, which is just slightly better than the inferior rural areas. Within this hierarchy, small and medium cities serve as connectors/distributors of transformation between big cities and their hinterland (Pradono and Argo, 2007).

According to Sugiana (2005 in Pradono and Argo 2007), Indonesian small and medium cities have several roles, i.e.: as the services and markets center for the neighboring rural communities. as the regional service center in order to counter migration effect from rural to metropolitans/big cities. as supporting and marketing center of neighboring rural agricultural activities. as regional activities center, regional gate, regional center of trade or industry, and as a development node of strategic region within the linkages of cities. as center of local activities, or as center of local industry or trading or service.

Previous policy on urban development tend be improve the capacity of big cities and metropolitan and the small and medium cities tend to be ignored—even they also suffer enormous impacts of globalization. Firman (2006) argued that the developments in big cities and metropolitans have failed to create regional linkages.

Thus, the developments are not spreading out. At worse, the national-regional imbalance has risen (Arifin, 2004). All of these have forced the Indonesian small and medium cities to defend themselves alone.

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The development of small and medium cities within the system of cities concept serve as the distributor of big cities’ development to rural areas and as the hindering buffer to stop rural people migrate for better living. However, the economic power does not follow this geographical logic. While the economic power does shape the geographical pattern and the geographical pattern do influence the economic trend; the economic motives indeed consider many other more important factors than this regional hierarchy. For example, people always look for the best: when a Javanese rural people already determined to move from their home, they will certainly prefer the big cities rather than to small cities because big cities offer more amenities than that of small cities. Investor also act the same, they will invest only in the city that offer highest and fastest return. Thus, if this system of cities concept does ignore the basic human characteristics and rational behavior, it is just a less effective concept.

Before the dramatic waves of globalization hit Indonesian cities, from 1980s to 1990s period, the urban pattern in Indonesia is greatly influenced by national development policies. Firman (2006) argued that although the promotion of non-oil product exports policies are not intended to intervene with city and regional development, but in turn had promoted development of large cities, especially those in Java, as the cities are equipped with supporting facilities and infrastructure. Syamwil et. al. (2005) also noted that the national industrial policy have created unequal development across Indonesia. The negative impact of the policies is, since they are not concern to urban developments, they do not generate urban linkages to channel the development to smaller urban centers. This has led to the regional inequalities.

Along with the globalization process, the decentralization is implemented in Indonesia. Even though, the decentralization policy have been issued, their influence on the urbanization pattern is yet still to be seen, simply because of the policy has just being implemented. But, the opportunities given by this decentralization policy has generated hopes for many regions. Just like Firman (2006:24) noted: ‘Nevertheless, one can expect that under the new regional autonomy and fiscal decentralization, the Indonesia’s pattern of urbanization might be greatly changed in the near future, which could be characterized by declining level of urban primacy, high urban population growth and faster urban development in resource-rich region in the outer islands’

Recently, the development of cities in Indonesia is characterized by rapid urbanization—massive expansion of big cities. Some parts are caused by the migration from rural areas to big cities; other parts are caused by the growing boundaries of big cities. Firman (2006) found out that Urban and rural areas in Java are increasingly blurred, which the intensive links between the two. The fringes of large cities are experiencing a rapid population growth, whereas the core cities undergoing a much slower population growth. This reflects the spatial transformation in and around urban centers in Java; meanwhile the spatial development of cities in Java is shaping an urban belt connecting the large cities, which is called “MegaUrbanization” phenomenon. This phenomenon is similar like Indian cities’ experiences. However, a comprehensive study to examine whether this phenomenon is caused by the globalization or not is still unavailable. But Firman (2006) has identified this phenomenon to the globalization. This suggests that Indonesian rural

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and urban areas are not only integrated locally but also globally.

Nevertheless, it is the rapid urbanization process that characterized the impact of globalization to Indonesian cities. As Firman (2006) argued, the pattern of urbanization in Indonesia is not only a local demographic phenomenon, but as a reflection of the broader socioeconomic and political change. The Indonesian rapid urbanization is so dramatic that almost half of Indonesia’s population had lived in urban areas by 2006.

Yet, as in most developing countries, urbanization in Indonesia is still characterized by heavy concentration of urban population in few large cities. The fact is more than one-fifths the Indonesian urban population lived in Jakarta Metropolitans Area (Jabodetabek); this may reflect an integration of Indonesia’s large cities, notably Jakarta Metropolitans Area (Jabodetabek) into the Asian global economy (Firman, 2006). At the same time, it also suggests an inter-urban disparity between this metropolitans area and the other cities, and between large and smaller cities.

Globalization and urbanization that happened in Indonesia have brought significant changes to the dynamic of small and medium cities. The dynamic happened can be explained through two point of views i.e. economic and demographic development. From demographic point of view, there are various patterns. Small and medium cities in Java experience relatively low population growth rate, except for several cities like Bogor, Sukabumi, and Salatiga. For cities in outer islands, the reverse is happening. Small and medium cities are growing with high growth rate (see Table 2).

The above phenomenon of population growth cannot be separated from the factor of economic development. That phenomenon is happening due to changes in economic structure triggered by globalization. Economic structure of small and medium cities in Java island tend to gain no significant impacts and tend to be exploited by big cities and metropolitans (in term of natural, human, and other resources), such as Jabodetabek, Bandung, Semarang, and Surabaya. The flow of capital, which is supposedly through the small and medium cities, is being bypassed to big cities and metropolitans (Titus, 1993 in Firman, 2006). For the outer islands’ cities, they are experiencing rapid development. The economic structure is shifting.

The small and medium cities are becoming the activities ad economic centers for surrounding regions. Regarding this, Firman (2006) described the development of Batam City, one of Indonesian small and medium cities that being advantaged by its location adjacent to the triangle of Sijori (Singapura – Johor Malaysia - Riau), Batam has developed as the center of industry, service, and tourism.

Mimicking the success of Batam City in Riau province, some local governments from Indonesia, Malaysia and Thailand are co-operating to develop the border region into IMT GT. Economic ties among northern part of Sumatra Island in Indonesia, western part of Malaysia and southern part of Thailand is expected to increase that benefiting all parties involved. So internationalisation of cities or region may happen without much intervention from the capital city of Jakarta. This is happened as well in the case of cities located in the international border. Some small and medium cities in Kalimantan are intensively having interaction with cities in West Malaysia as compared to those in Kalimantan or those in Java (Seskoad 2005).

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Table 2. Development of Small and Medium Cities in Indonesia, 1990 and 2000 City

Province

Population (000) 1990 2000

Rate of Growth (%)

JAVA Malang East Java 695.6 749.8 0.78 Bogor West Java 271.7 743.5 10.97(*) Surakarta Central Java 504.1 488.8 -0.32 Yogyakarta Yogyakarta 412.4 395.6 -0.43 Cirebon West Java 254.9 269.2 0.57 Pekalongan Central Java 242.8 261.5 0.77 Sukabumi West Java 119.9 252.3 7.99(*) Kediri East Java 249.8 242.2 -0.32 Tegal Central Java 229.7 236.3 0.29 Probolinggo East Java 177.1 192.6 0.87 Pasuruan East Java 152.4 168.2 1.02 Madiun East Java 170.2 163.9 -0.39 Salatiga Central Java 98.0 150.6 4.53(*) Blitar East Java 119.0 119.3 0.03 Magelang Central Java 123.2 116.0 -0.62 Mojokerto East Java 99.9 109.1 0.92 THE OUTER ISLANDS Ujung Pandang South Sulawesi 944.7 1 091.6 1.51 Padang West Sumatra 631.5 711.3 1.24 Bandar Lampung Lampung 636.7 743.1 1.61 Pekanbaru Riau 398.7 582.2 3.99 Denpasar Bali n.a.

522.8 n.a.

Samarinda East Kalimantan 407.3 521.5 2.59 Banjarmasin South Kalimantan 381.3 481.4 1.05 Pontianak West Kalimantan 387.4 473.0 1.82 Batam Riau 106.6 434.3 15.63 Jambi Jambi 339.9 416.8 2.13 Balikpapan East Kalimantan 344.4 406.8 1.74 Manado North Sulawesi 321.0 371.2 1.51 Palu Central Sulawesi n.a.

268.3 n.a.

P. Siantar North Sumatra 219.3 240.8 0.97 Bengkulu Bengkulu 170.3 231.7 3.23 Banda Aceh Aceh 184.7 219.0 1.78 Binjai North Sumatra 181.9 213.2 1.66 Ambon Maluku 276.9 206.2 -3.00 Dumai Riau n.a.

173.0 n.a.

Jayapura Papua n.a.

172.7 n.a.

Ternate North Maluku n.a.

163.5 n.a.

Palangka Raya Central Kalimantan 112.6 160.0 3.70 Gorontalo Gorontalo 119.8 135.1 1.25 Tanjung Balai North Sumatra 108.2 132.0 2.08 Kupang East Nusa Tenggara 141.7 n.a. n.a.

Jayapura Irian Jaya 130.1 n.a. n.a.

Pangkal Pinang South Sumatra 113.1 125.4 1.07 Tebing Tinggi North Sumatra 116.8 125.1 0.71 Kendari Southeast Sulawesi 103.0 n.a. n.a.

Pare-Pare South Sulawesi 101.5 107.9 0.63 Source : Population of Indonesia, 2000. Series LBL1.1, Central Board of Statistics, Jakarta in Firman (2006).

Note : (*) due to expansion of administrative boundary.

A foremost impact that hit the Indonesian small and medium cities is the rising urbanization rate. With this globalization-driven urbanization, the small and medium cities that located near big cities will face two possibilities: (1) united as part of the closest big cities; or (2) growing into larger cities. The two possibilities arose since small and medium cities may be developing within a certain national framework and having close relationship with big cities (Brokerhoff, 2000).

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Some cities that previously rural centers may soon become part of the closest big cities, in which structures of the economies are becoming similar. These have happened in cities surrounding Bandung and Surabaya in Java Island, Medan in Sumatra Island, and Makassar in Sulawesi Island. The spatial manifestations of economic restructuring in cities are usually characterized by land use changes that may be found in most of small and medium cities. The developments of business center or agglomeration exist mainly driven by external factor of investment from outside. The penetrations of international trade mark through franchising are mushrooming in those cities following the formation of new business nodes. At the same time there are land conversions at accelerated rates to accommodate the development of industry or residential areas. Urban Corridors are also phenomenal mainly in Java where it links several urban centers and potentially create investment cluster (See Firman 2003, Pradono 1997a, Pradono 1997b).

The other side of economic restructuring in Indonesia, together with decentralization policy is the increasing demand for citizen and private sector participation in development. It is common now for citizen to speak up their concern on development issues. In urban planning this has been shown by the accommodation of citizen right to review not only in urban planning product itself but also in the process of plan making that is new experience for most of urban citizen. However an effective participation by local citizen is still on search due to the fact that participation may still only be the right of those who have access and the less disadvantages citizens are not well equipped to do so (Salim, 2005). Participation of private sector in city infrastructure development and management are also trend in the era of globalisation. Urban water supply, transportation facilities are among infrastructures that are being offered to private in various form of scheme under the umbrella of public private partnership, in which local government are starting to be involved in the share and responsibilities (Pradono, 2004).

Decentralization to many small and medium cities in Indonesia may still become problematic one because of fiscal austerity faced by lower tier of government including citiesâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; government. As a result all efforts are being taken to fulfil the fiscal gap. Many small and medium cities in particular regions may be able to grow faster because of the availability of resources in the public sector mainly those which rich of natural-resources such as provinces East Kalimantan, Riau, Papua, Aceh (Mera, 2002). Other cities with less reliable revenue source from natural resource may struggle to fill the fiscal gap in their own way. Locally-owned income generatingoriented developments are common phenomena in the local governance. Many cities are compromising their planning act or plan to increase local owned income. Land use conversion, loose building permit, and many deviations from planning act and regulation may easily found elsewhere.

Nevertheless globalisation may also allow small and medium cities to grow.

Some activities that donâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t require significant economies of scale, and the existence market network maybe potentially developed in medium and small cities. Many products in small scale industries or household industries, agriculture products, fisheries in small cities are potentially marketed overseas because of the advancement in communication mainly internet and transportation technology. These have been working in some cities where some products are successfully sold because of the 148

internet introduction. Another example from several small and medium cities show how local government are boosting economic activities in small cities by introducing program and at the same time providing marketing security in terms of network, information, and facilities. Gorontalo in Sulawesi, Purbalingga and Banjarnegara in Central Java, are among good practices in how small and medium urban development are kept self- reinforcing.

Conclusions Globalization and urbanization in Indonesia do not only affect rapid development in metropolitans and big cities, but also to some extent on the development of small and medium cities. Along with the advancement of transportation and information technology, the small and medium cities gain investment opportunities and other advantages of globalization. The responses of Indonesian small and medium cities to these globalization and urbanization are different, thus creating different pattern of economic re-structurisation and population dynamic.

The following Table 3 summarize the various impacts of globalisation mainly in the spatial context of the cities in Indonesia in which medium and small cities try to negotiate.

Table 3. Globalisation impacts on Cities in Indonesia Dimension Demographic & Socioculture Economic & Finance

Institution & politics

Spatial impact or adjustment Influx of migrant to cities from rural areas.

More commercial oriented development and in social relationship The growth of part of cities based on ethnicity or place of origin.

Shifting toward secondary or tertiary activities.

Modern cities outlook as reflected in the growing of international-franchised shop, shopping mall and building.

At the same time informal sector activities are also accommodated.

Competition among cities and regions for investment and market.

More participation of citizen and private sector in urban development.

Striking balance between public space and private space are issues need to settle.

Co-operation among cities/regions and national-local relationship

In order to take the gains from globalization, small and medium cities need to equip themselves with requirements such as infrastructure availability. Any programs that improve the capacity of those cities to cope with globalization may help the inequalities problem in Indonesia. It is important to function those cities more effectively in its role as centers of development that could cope with the international dynamics without sacrificing the local uniqueness.

Reference: Afshar, Farokh, 1994. Globalization: The Persisting Rural-Urban Question and the Response of Planning Education, Journal of Planning Education and Research, 13, pp. 271-283

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Arifin, Bustanul. 2004. Analisis Ekonomi Pertanian Indonesia. Jakarta : Penerbit Buku Kompas Brockerhoff, Martin P. 2000. An Urbanizing World. Population Bulletin Vo. 55 No. 3 September 2000. Washington: Population Reference Bureau Campos, Jose Edgardo and Joel Hellmann. 2005. “Governance Gone Local: Does Cohen, Barney, 2004. Urban Growth in Developing Countries: A Review of Current Trends and a Caution Regarding Existing Forecasts, World Development Vol. 32, No. 1, pp. 23– 51.

Firman, Tommy, 2006. The Dynamics of Indonesia’s Urbanization, 1980-2006, paper presented in 31st Annual Conference of the FAEA 'The Future of Asian Cities',

hosted by the Economic Society of Singapore, 23-25 Nov. 2006.

Firman, Tommy, 2003. The Spatial Pattern of Population Growth in Java, 1990-2000: Continuity and Change in Extended Metropolitan Region Formation, International Development Planning Review Vol. 25 No.1, pp 53-66.

Hibbard Michael and Claudia Römer. 1999. Planning the Global Countryside : Comparing Approaches to Teaching Rural Planning. Journal of Planning Education and Research 1999; 19; 87, pp. 87-91.

Jones, Gavin, 2003. Population and Poverty in Asia and the Pacific, Asian Population Studies Series No. 158 : Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific. New York Mathur, Om Prakash. 2003. Impact of Globalization on Cities and City-Related Policies in India, The Urban Partnership Foundation, Occasional Paper No 4. August.

Mera, Koichi, 2002. Decentralization in the Mids of Globalisation: Indonesian Experience and its Future within the Global Trends, CIPPAD working paper series, Working Paper No 3.

Ministry of Public Works. Republic of Indonesia, 2000. National Urban Development Strategy: Policy Review and Improvement of the IUIDP Concept..

Ministry of Public Works. Republic of Indonesia, 2006. Indonesian Metropolitan, Realities and Challenges in Spatial Planning.

Pizarro Liang Wei and Tridib Banerjee Agencies of Globalization and Third World Urban Form: A Review. Journal of Planning Literature.2003; 18: 111-130 Pradono and Teti A. Argo, 2006. Prospect of the role of small towns and second tier cities in supporting the development of disadvantaged areas. A case study of Southern West Java, ITB Research Paper, 2006.

Pradono, 2004. Private Sector Participation in Toll Road Development in Indonesia.

Unpublished Dissertation, University of Tokyo.

Pradono, 1997a. Economic Restructuring in Bandung Metropolitans Area, Ekistics, Vol 64 No. 385-387, pp. 315-320.

Pradono, 1997. Economic Restructuring in Gerbangkertasusila, paper presented in Asian School Planning Association Congress, Bandung September 1997.

Roberts, Bryan 2005. Globalization and Latin American Cities, International Journal of Urban and Regional Research, Vol. 29. No.1, pp. 110–23 Satterthwaite, David. 2002. The Scale of Urban Chine Worldwide 1950-2000 and its underpinnings. RICS International Paper Series, Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors, London, pp. 25-29 Salim, Wilmar, 2005. Urban Development and Rural Poverty in Java: A challenge for decentralized local government, Journal of Regional & City Planning ITB, Vol 16. No 2, pp25-40.

Scholte, JA. 1997. The Globalization of World Politics: An Introduction to International Relations. Oxford: Oxford University Press 150

Scholte, Jan Aart. 2000. Globalization: a critical introduction. St. Martin’s Press.

Sen, Amartya. 2002. How to judge globalization. The American Prospect Online. http://www.prospect.org/print/V13/1/sen-a.html, accessed March 1 2007.

Seskoad, 2005. Report on Social Survey in West Kalimantan, Bandung.

Smith JG, H Johnston. 2002. Globalization and resistance: transnational dimensions of social movements. Rowman & Littlefield.

Smith, M. K. and Smith, M. 2002. Globalization. The encyclopaedia of informal education. http://www.infed.org/biblio/globalization.htm., accessed March 1, 2007 Syamwil, Pradono, Andi Oetomo, 2005. Regional Development in the International Border Area., ITB Research Paper.

Tacoli, Cecilia and David Satterthwaite. 2003. The urban part of rural development: the role of small and intermediate urban centers in rural and regional development and poverty reduction. International Institute for Environment and Development. pp. 16-65 Wolf, Martin. 2004. Why Globalization Works. Yale University Press. http://www.answer.com/globalization - accessed March 1 2007. http://www.asiasource.org – accessed March 1 2007 http://www.brookings.edu – accessed March 1 2007. http://www.pu.go.id/index.asp?link=Issu&noid=0 – accessed March 19 2007. http://www.tcf.or.jp/data/20000512_Hamonagan_Hutabarat.pdf - accessed March 19 2007. http://web.worldbank.org/wbsite/external/countries/eastasiapacificext/indonesiaextn/ accessed March 19 2007.

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The Rhetoric and Practice of Participatory Planning: The Mix Use Provisions in Delhi Poonam PRAKASH School of Planning and Architecture, New Delhi

Introduction Public participation is the focus of the currently hegemonic planning discourse in Delhi. Every planning document makes a statement about involving stakeholders and communities. This paper investigates a case of demolition of commercial establishments in residential areas in Delhi, last year. I will discuss the outcomes and consequences of this case on the planning in Delhi. I will approach the story from the standpoint of a professional who engaged in this discourse over past couple of years.

The interventions ranged from disengagement with the discourse to engagement with academic and planning institutions and the judicial processes. The first part of the paper will spell out the current participatory planning discourse in Delhi and the modification of statutes to support this position. This will be followed by a discussion of the examination of the discourse as an academic through classroom exercises and the engagement as a professional with the Delhi Development Authority. Finally, I will reflect on some shifts in the discourse due to these interventions and the lessons learned in the process.

In the last decade, United Nations has been vigorously promoting participatory decision making in urban development through preparation of vision documents and city development strategies as part of the Urban Management Programme (UMP) of the UN Habitat1. It has prepared a ‘Toolkit of Participatory Urban Decision Making’ as one of the ‘flagship products’ of Global Campaign on Urban Governance. As an extension of the City Consultation methodology, UMP implemented City Development Strategies (CDS) in several cities to further improve the capacity of municipal authorities to implement participatory management mechanisms and upscale City Consultation Mechanism. According to their website the UMP CDS approach is based on three important principles of enablement, participation and capacity building’. The goals of a CDS process as stated on their website include a collective city vision and strategy, improved urban governance and management, increased investment and systematic and sustained reductions in urban poverty. The most important product of a CDS is considered to be a citywide strategy that is supposed to turn the city into an engine of equitable economic development and has a direct impact on poverty reduction, local economic growth and improved governance.

Stakeholder Analysis and stakeholder workshops are essential elements of this methodology.

This enthusiasm for participatory mechanisms at the international levels is equally matched at the National level. Ministry of Urban Development and Poverty Alleviation (now known as Ministry of Urban Development) organized India Launch of Good Urban Governance in 20022. By middle of 2004 vision plans were being prepared for various cities by private firms of all kinds3 and in December 2005 the Prime Minister of India announced Jawahar Lal Nehru Urban Renewal Mission(JNNURM) for 63 cities which included as part of the urban reform package - 152 -

preparation of City Development Plans (CDP) with Stakeholder Workshops4. CDPs for 51 cities have been prepared in the last one year by various organisations and all these plans claim to have conducted stakeholder workshops. CDP for Delhi has published a list of stakeholders, which include some Resident Welfare Associations(RWAs), select professionals and few Non Governmental Organisations(NGOs) along with government officials5. The document provides no information on the basis of selection of stakeholders, methodology for filtering, considering, prioritizing the views of stakeholders and the manner in which consensus was arrived at for identifying the concerns for the city. This is not isolated for Delhi but is typical of most of the city development plans prepared. Stakeholder workshops thus have been institutionalized through the JNNURM in India as part of the larger reform agenda. It attempts to supplant existing planning methodology of surveyanalysis â&#x20AC;&#x201C;plan with participatory planning at city level. The case of mix use notification in subsequent sections highlights the process and consequences of such a change.

Participatory Planning in Delhi As part of the reforms agenda there has been previous efforts at various legal reforms including that of urban local bodies Act. An exercise started in 2003, sponsored by USAID, to simplify building byelaws 6 resulted in Delhi Municipal Corporation (Amendment) Bill 2005.7 One of the main proposals of the bill were to prepare local area plan for area specific building byelaws through participatory planning. Four pilot projects were allotted out of a proposal not yet made a law. The experience of such participatory planning was shared by office bearer of the Resident Welfare Association as that the residents would prefer more competence and expect the consultants to come back with proposals rather than have one meeting without the stakeholders being aware of what has been finalized. 8 These workshops had no provision for participations from individual residents (who do not wish to be represented by the RWA) or for hawker groups and resident groups of areas which were not part of planned housing. In some of the informal discussions with professional who were part of the exercise as well as government officials there was an agreement that there was a problem. Professional Planners and architect not trained in participatory planning lamented that the issues that emerge are not necessarily planning issues like stray dogs and broken manholes. Decision to prepare Local Area Plans as of now is being reconsidered by the Municipal Corporation of Delhi , it has however, featured in the Master Plan for Delhi-2021(MPD). Commmissioner (Planning), DDA in one of the papers has stated that the MPD 2021 will offer quality built environment through participatory planning.9 Planning in Delhi and most of the other cities is currently governed by some form of Town Planning or Development Authority Act. Delhi Development Act 1957 has served as a model for development authorities in many other cities. As part of the Act, it provides for participation by anyone through inviting public objections and suggestions under section 10 and 11A of the Act.10 These objections/suggestions are required to be considered and may be heard by the Board of Enquiry set up as per the rules.

Under the DDA Act, the Delhi Development Authority(DDA) is required to prepare master and zonal plans to â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;secure planned development of Delhiâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;. The first

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Plan prepared for twenty-year perspective up till 1981 was subsequently revised for 2001. In 2001, provisions for mixed use were incorporated for the first time in the plan keeping in mind the environmental impact and socio economic needs of the society. From 1998 preparation for revision of Master Plan was initiated for perspective 2021. In April 2005, a public notice was issued under section 11A(2) Of the DDA Act inviting public objections and suggestions. Draft MPD 2021 had similar mix use provisions as that of MPD 2001.

In December 2005, on a Public Interest Litigation filed in 1985 Supreme Court ordered demolitions for those commercial premises in residential premises that are in violation of master plan. Simultaneously in an order of another case in High Court of Delhi demolitions of unauthorized construction started. In response to this Members of Legislative Assembly demanded a stop to demolition and the issue was also raised in the Assembly few days later.11 While the protests to stop demolitions increased across political parties, Board of Enquiry hearings for public objections/suggestions, for the MPD 2021 started in October 2005 continued. On 16 January in one such hearing the Board decided on our request, for a separate meeting for commercial aspect be organized inviting all the concerned organisations. This decision was in response to the public objections filed by hawker groups from the Connaught Place, Central Business District. MPD 2021 was finally notified in February 2007 pending our meeting on the commercial use chapter.

Participatory Planning and Mixed Use Policy Amidst the process of finalisation of the MPD 2021, the Ministry of Urban Development announced formation of Tejinder Khanna Committee on 14 February 2006. In a background note the Ministry stated: â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;In the context of on-going demolition action by Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD) pursuant to court orders, there were representations from the Chief Minister of Delhi as well as Members of Parliament from Delhi and other people representatives on more than one occasion. It was highlighted during various discussions that while action can be taken against unauthorized construction as per court directions, the magnitude of the problem is so large that it may not be possible to address all the violations in the foreseeable future. It was suggested that the entire gamut of issues need comprehensive examination based on empirical data to devise an appropriate strategy which could enable the Govt. of Delhi and local bodies to take action within the provisions of law, letter and spirit of the directions of the Court and keeping in view the logistic and administrative requirements necessary to deal with the matterâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;.12

The DDA Act clearly defines the procedure of preparation of Master Plans that require the Authority to undertake civic surveys. The Master Plan was prepared with the help of expert advise from various sub groups including that for Mixed Use. Need for empirical data for the purpose of estimation of the problem and representations of various politicians after the draft plan was published for objections/suggestions puts in question the process of preparation of Master Plan. Comments from other government organisations are normally invited before issuing of public notice for the Master Plan. Formation of this committee thus undermined the process underway of finalisation of draft master plan where every individual had the opportunity for objection/suggestions within the period of three months from the issue of notification

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this process. A parallel process thus was initiated for participation outside the ambit of legal provisions of the DDA Act. Chairman of the committee was former Lieutenant Governor (LG) of Delhi and has in April 2007 been again appointed as the LG of Delhi. Other four members were former Chief, TCPO and Director Association of Urban Management and Development Authorities (AuMDA) and two MLAs. Both expert members on the committee were also consultants to the MPD 2021.

The terms of reference of the committee were to make an assessment of the magnitude and types of violations and suggest a feasible strategy for the same including changes in the structure and accountability of existing enforcement machinery.13 Public notice was issued inviting members of the public with particular reference to representative bodies/interest groups/NGOs in Delhi to share their views on the issues contained in the terms of reference. The committee was to submit its report within three months.

In the meanwhile, demolitions continued. Traders and residents were both protesting; traders because of the closure of shops and residents through resident welfare associations for protecting their residential amenity which was being lost to the commercialistaion of residential areas. The Ministry of Urban Development decided to notify on 28 March 2007 the Chapter on Mixed Use in the MPD 2021 separately as a modification of the 2001 plan. 14 This created a peculiar situation whereby the Board that was required to harmonise various policies in a coherent manner was still to complete its report, and the Ministry decided to advance notify a part of 2021 plan. Many of us who had made specific objections/suggestions to the Plan were still awaiting proper hearing by the Board of Enquiry. This notification claimed that careful consideration has been made of all the objections and suggestions.

Stakeholder participation has become fashionable and TKC also took recourse to such participation. On 13 May 2006, Tejinder Khanna Committee in its report mentioned receiving representations of approximately 490 NGOs/interest groups/VIPs/Government agencies. Amongst this the committee invited 86 persons due to lack of availability of time15. Criteria of selction of these representatives is not stated and individual representations were not considered. The report is silent on methodology adopted for analyzing these suggestions or the manner of consideration.

The report stated that large scale percentage of residential area is under misuse without actually providing data. For extent of misuse it depends on the data provided by the DDA about the total number of shops in Delhi and those provided by the the DDA and provides extent of misuse by inference. Details of survey for such conclusions are missing. Without evaluation of the implementation of mix use policy provisions of 2001 plan the report recommends upscaling of mix use provisions on various roads in the city. There are serious issues about the methodology adopted, problem identification and conclusions arrived at through this participatory mode of planning.16 Events continued to unfold at a fast pace. Pending master plan finalisation and consideration of committee report, on 19 May 2006, Delhi Laws(Special Provisions)

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Act, 2006 was enacted to provide temporary relief to the people for one year from any demolitions while the Master Plan finalisation process is completed 17 . The Act required enforcement to be kept in abeyance for a period of one year and status quo to be maintained as of 1 January 2006. In its directions it said all properties that were to be sealed in pursuance of court orders may be restored and all commercial activities that were to cease as of 30 June 2006 may continue for a period of one year.

Subsequently on the directions of the court these directions were omitted by another notification. In an open letter to the President Verma wrote that this temporary relief in effect empowers Central Govt to abandon / downsize mandatory Master Plan solutions / entitlements in respect of mixed use, slums/JJ, hawkers, etc, by violating safeguards provided by statutory provisions for Plan review and modificationâ&#x20AC;?.18 The fervor with which one notification after another was brought out within a period of five months was unmatched in Delhiâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s planning history. In the meanwhile court appointed a monitoring committee. This committee also invited various groups especially resident welfare associations to make representations. In this completely participatory mode, there was Tejinder Khanna committee hearing groups (mainly trader groups) and VIPs and there was court appointed committee hearing mainly RWAs. We were still awaiting our hearing, decided by the Board of Enquiry under statutory process.

On 22 and 24 July the DDA issued two more public notices inviting objection/suggestions for modification of 2001 Plan for development control norms and mix use policy. The notification said that while master plan was modified on 28 March 2006 for mix use provisions, it has since then received several representations and to implement the Tejinder Khanna Committee report it was decided to issue this public notice for inviting objections/suggestions rendering the status of 28th March notification ambiguous 19 . The earlier notification also mentioned that it had considered all objections/suggestions. The 24th July notification was based on the report of TKC. This report provided no empirical results to the extent of problem and relied on data provided by the Municipal Corporation of Delhi of buildings booked for violations. It also relied on representations made by various groups. This set in motion a process where so called representative participation through NGOs and trader groups to an extra constitutional committee resulted in issue of another public notice while finalisation of 2021 process was underway. Information about the representations received between 28 March notification and July notification was not available in public domain.

This policy acknowledges the need for permitting use of land for purposes other than for which it is planned. Process of this notification challenged some of the very fundamentals of what we were teaching and practicing. In the DDA Act section 57, there are provisions for consideration on case by case basis for premises where there are activities not permitted by the Plan. Instead of resorting to that section and considering misuse as aberration, it sought to regularize majority of violations through this notification. It implied that planning would now be post facto. Further in the guise of mix use provisions the notification promoted commercialization of areas. More importantly it sought to make as part of the notification consultation with RWAs mandatory with a condition of fifty percent representation. Public hearing for this notice was carried out at frantic pace and within two weeks after the time for filing objections final notification was issued on 6 September 2006. As a fall out of TKC

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recommendation two more committee were formed one for urban villages and other for unauthorized construction in farm houses and affluent areas. Work on draft bill to create another regulatory authority and restructure the DDA has also started as recommended by the Tejinder Khanna Committee.

Above sequence of fast paced events should be seen not as a simple policy modification but as a part of larger urban reforms agenda that demands ‘flexible’ land use laws. Participatory planning through ‘stakeholder participation’ becomes an instrumentality to push reform agendas. From the local area plans demanding area specific byelaws to mix use policy promoting large scale commercialization of residential areas ‘participatory planning’ has been used to legitimize these proposals at the cost of participation by common citizen and at the cost of professional competence at times.

What was different though this time about the discourse was that previously when similar court order in 2000 had resulted in closure of industries, master plan was burnt on the roads as a useless document where as this time the demand was not to do away with it rather to change it to suit particular interests. This change can largely be attributed to the writings in public domain and engagement of one planner matching the pace of events.20 Professional Engagement I had been engaging with the public notice process for four years. There were problems in the way the process was carried out. But it provided me with a right to participate by law whereas in many of the participation through stakeholder mode my representation was dependent either on some group/NGO or to the fancy of the decision makers organizing such modes of participation. Public notice process was undermined by this alternate mode of participation through representations to extra constutuional committees where identification of stakeholders was unclear and consideration of representations nontransparent.

The stakeholder participation and seminar mode are prone to misuse and can accentuate the existing power structures. The ‘experts’ responsible for finding solutions have at present taken professional space from both sides i.e space to formulate policy as well as space of citizen participant responding to the policy; space to prepare the master plan and space to criticize the plan.

However, in August 2006, after the issue of 24 July notification Institute of Town Planners India organized a seminar on Implications of Tejinder Khanna Committee on Development of Delhi with a purpose to send a response to the public notice. Expert member of the committee was Guest of Honour during the discussion.

In this seminar, in one of those few occasions planners as a group shared their discomfort and reservations about the report. Speakers were critical of position of the committee to ‘condone planning violations’, ‘to propogate short term approach’ and ‘quick fix solutions it provided’. 21 The proceedings of the seminar noted that the proposed modifications in 2001 were not advisable pending 2021 revision process. It also noted technical issues of upgradation of services and stated that ‘…in the proposed modifications all such principles [of hygiene, safety and health conditions] have been compromised’…. and that ‘modifications suggested are not based on sound

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planning principlesâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;.22 In its agenda for action it noted that any revisions should be made in 2021 Plan and by organizations which have experience in preparations of plans rather than by organizations having insufficient experience in the field and also suggested strengthening of existing organizations rather than creating new set of agencies or institutions as proposed by the Committee. Issue of legality of the committee, its methodology for recommending of the DDA and ethical positions of planners in the committee were also questioned23.

While the planners at the ITPI seminar expressed their concern about the report in the classroom we decided to undertake studio exercise on mixed use provisions and its implications. The purpose was for the students to get an experience of real time situation. Students conducted their surveys while demolitions were going on and on the day of Bandh. They experienced the fear and uncertainty of many traders as well as absorbed the tension. In the classroom they analysed the report and its implications and found contradictory and startling findings. They also understood the falsehood that was being reported in the media. It helped them isolate problems through their own surveys and what was reported in the media as peoples, perception and views24.

The jury suggested that these findings should be placed in the media. However, we felt that it is more appropriate that since the work was presented to the representatives of two organisations Municipal Corporation and the Delhi Development Authority, the change if any should be reflected within the organisation.

On 21 August, in response to notification of 24 July on mixed use policy myself along with two other persons one from Rangpuri Pahari 25 and one an engineer together filed a court case seeking more information and basis for the public notice as well as proof of careful consideration of our objections to the MPD 2021. We also sought more time to file objections to the public notice. We were not dismissed but over a period of time most of what we were asking in this fast pace was taken over by the events. In this case a final notification was issued on 6 September without hearing of public objections/suggestions and final notification of the MPD 2021 was published in 7 February 2007 again without giving us hearing as decided by the Board.

In a situation where statutory provisions for participation have been ineffectively used, use of participatory planning through untrained professionals and missing regulatory framework is much more prone to misuse.

Reflections Despite the criticism of the planning fraternity of the report, the expert members of the committee continue to enjoy similar positions of experts in various committees.

There has been disassociation of the outcomes from the producers of the outcomes.

Even though at informal level there is agreement about the lack of expertise but it still remains an untilised opportunity as of now in some senses to shift the discourse completely.

The Classroom exercise started with uncertainty but at the end of the day was considered radical by students and provided them with experiential learning about the complexity of issue and role of experts and media. Again the jury members disassociated academic work from their real life situations. The media discourse and

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expert reports would not be so uncritically believed by the students now but for the representatives of organisations it was not seen as enabling them to take stronger positions within their organisations.

Engagement with mixed-use provisions continues at various levels and it is difficult to capture all that has happened and currently happening in this paper. To conclude, participatory planning in the manner it is being practiced has subverted statutory participation process. It has led to downsizing entitlements, perpetuating problems and uncertainties, rather than lawful solutions. Outcomes of this mode of participatory planning has been to pave the way for ‘reforms’ and replace statutory planning process. It also indicates a trend towards more ad-hoc planning. There has been some shifts in the discourse due to our engagement. It has questioned the nature of expertise of professionals who have occupied positions of responsibility and reactions to that have varied from being labeled as problem makers to grudging acceptance to support.

I would like to thank Ms gita Dewan Verma for this opportunity to experience and engage, for sharing with me her intensity and commitment as a professional planner which provides a base for all that I explore in this paper.

1

UMP(2001),Tools to Support Participatory Urban Decision Making, http://www.unhabitat.org/ 2 Government of India (2002), Good Governance campaign-India Launch, Ministry of Urban Development and Poverty Alleviation, Govt. of India.

3 In many of the seminars organized by the Association of urban Management and Development Authority, New Delhi its Director who later on became one of the expert members for the Committee set up for examining misuse in Delhi promoted vision plans.

These vision plans as of now have no statutory framework unlike other plans which are prepared as part of some Planning Act. 4 PMO(2005),Jawahar Lal Nehru Urban Renewal Mission Launched, http://pib.nic.in/release/release, 3/12/05 5 http://www.ccsdelhi. The CDP has not yet not been placed on the official website of the Ministry. It is unclear how the CDP which is an official document has been published on a website of an NGO. Agenda of the workshop given in the document provides only the programme schedule for the day with about one and a half hour time slotted on the second day for sub groups to discuss and with rest of the time organized in more of presentation mode rather than workshop mode.

6 AuMDA Director was one of the Special Invitee in the Committee for Building byelaw Reform and also the project consultant through his firm for pilot project for preparation of Local Area Plan 7 http://plan.architexturez.org/site/mpisg/p/051116 accessed on8 April 2007 8 In the panel discussion on Public Participation as part of the exhibition ,Reimagining Delhi’ organized by Delhi Urban Arts Commission in 2005 9 Jain,A.K.(2005) Planning Delhi in the context of NCR Region, ITPI Jornal, Vol 2, Issue 1,pp1-14.

10 Government of India(1957) Delhi Development Act 1957, Jain Publishers, New Delhi.

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11

Stop Demolitions: demand Worried MLAs, The Hindu, http://www.hindu.com/2005/12/21/stories/2005122117480400.htm 12 Ministry of urban Development (2006), Report of Tejinder Khanna committee to look into various aspects of unauthorized construction and misuse of premises, http://www.urbanindia.nic.in/moud accessed on 12 April 2007.

13 Ministry of Urban Development (2006), Public Notice for Committee on Unauthorised Constructions , Hindustan Times, 19/02/06.

14 Ministry of Urban Development (Delhi Divison) (2006), Notification, Gazette of India Extraordinary Part II sec 3(ii), SO 425 E, Government of India.

15 Ministry of urban Development (2006), Report of Tejinder Khanna committee to look into various aspects of unauthorized construction and misuse of premises,annexure II and III, http://www.urbanindia.nic.in/moud accessed on 12 April 2007.

16 Department of Physical Planning (2006), Report on Mix Use Provisions in Zone F, unpublished studio report, School of Planning and Architecture, New Delhi.

17 Ministry of Law and Justice(2006), Delhi Laws(Special Provisions) Act and Directions 2006, Gazette of India Extraordinary, Part II Sec 2, No.22 of 2006 18 Verma, Gita Dewan(2006) Open Letter to President, http://mail.architexturez.net/+/MPISG-Media/archive/msg01069.shtml, 21/05/06 19 Delhi Development Authority, Public Notice, Hindustan times, 24/07/06 20 For more details see Gita Dewan Verma at http://plan.architexturez.org/site/mpisg 21 ITPI(2006), Implications of Tejinder Khanna Committee on Development of Delhi, Planners Newsletter, No.XII, October-December 2006 22 ibid 23 Kumar, Ashok(2006)Condoning Unplanned Development: Reviewing the Tejinder Khanna Committee Report, Economic and Political Weekly, September 30, 2006.

24 Department of Physical Planning 25 An old settlement prior to the first plan, in South West Delhi, Rangpuri Pahari residents had been engaging with Master Plan revision process since 2000 and seeking solutions as per their entitlements in the Plan.

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Aranya Township, Indore, India: An innovative experiment for Human Habitat Utpal SHARMA and Bhavesh MEHTA CEPT University, Gujarat, INDIA

Introduction

In most of the cities in developing countries like India, the poor live in appalling conditions. There is a mismatch between the way our cities have been planned and the way people are compelled to use them. The Planner & Urban designerâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s role must necessarily encompass the needs of the poor in evolving an urban form sympathetic to the lifestyle and affordability.

Fig.1 Present state of housing of urban poor Source: Mehta B., Feb. 2007

As a result of past experience of the failure of the approach to ready built housing with heavy subsidies to the urban poor, a new outlook to housing has emerged and, with that the corresponding changes in policies have also occurred. In the programmes related to slums, the emphasis has shifted towards environmental improvement from just clearance and relocation. There is a growing realization that slum dwellings also constitute a part of the housing stock. While the public sector can provide road networks, water supply, sewerage, storm water drainage, electricity and other public amenities, the upgrading of house can be done more conveniently and economically by the people themselves. (Mehta, M., 1987: 72.76) In terms of planned efforts, slum improvement and sites and services have emerged as alternate solutions to housing problems of the urban poor. This approach

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accepts a model of incremental housing construction focusing on provision of secure tenure and a range of basic services.

The Aranya (meaning forest) Township located at Indore in central India is an innovative experiment of settlement planning and design. The project was supported by the Indore Development Authority (IDA)1. What makes it special is – the idea of ‘Planning and Design Framework of the Settlement - where people build themselves’.

INDORE

Fig.2 Geographical Location of Indore city Source: Maps of India

Various studies2 were undertaken to understand traditional settlement pattern in Indian context and evolve a planning and design framework to suit to the prevailing social, economic and technological conditions.

Fig.3 Nature of house extension Source: VSF, March 1990

Fig.4 Small shops and workplaces Source: VSF, March 1990

A study of ‘how the other half builds’ was done to understand the lifestyle, living environments and aspirations of the urban poor. The study of neighborhood streets showed that the streets are not merely corridors for movement but provides a behavior setting for various social, economic and domestic activities. House extensions were identified as spaces in front of the house, and though located in the public realm, they acquired a private character through their use and physical modifications. These were seen not only as means to expand the small house, but in doing so; they enhanced the

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quality of the living environment. The study of various economic activities performed identified the nature of space requirements and showed how the design of streets and public spaces can accommodate these activities. These studies helped in evolving appropriate planning & design principles at various scales of planning & design process.

Aranya represents in many ways a ‘classic’ approach to housing the urban poor.

What is different, however, is that a “site and services” approach has been refined (while remaining flexible, attentive to individual resources and spontaneity) to include model house-types, suggested materials & steps for implementation. This proposal searches a middle ground, between a house ‘with no rooms’ and a totally non participatory monotonous public housing schemes. In a site and services project, land and infrastructure are the principal cost components. Thus efficient site planning was given due importance while keeping human aspects of urban form in strong focus.

The Aranya Township project was meant mostly for the urban poor with a planned population of 65,000 and located in the city of Indore, which is the commercial centre of the state of Madhya Pradesh. According to the 1981 census, this city had a population of 8.27 lakhs and was growing rapidly at a compound annual growth rate of over 4%. Like most other cities in India, Indore was experiencing acute shortage of housing particularly for the economical weaker section of the society.

City centre

Fig.5 Location of Aranya in Indore Source: TCPO Madhya Pradesh 1982

Fig.6 Site and Surroundings Source: TCPO Madhya Pradesh 1982

The site, largely rectangular in plan, located along the Mumbai – Agra highway, 6 km north of Indore city centre. Out of the net area of 88 ha, over 2.5 ha have been set aside to absorb the pockets of existing light industries. Around 6500 plots for individual houses are provided ranging in minimum size of 35 square meters for the EWS housing to 400 square meters for higher income groups. Of the total residential units, 65% was allocated to the EWS category. The housing mix of lower & upper income groups created a balanced settlement pattern and also helped in generating cross subsidy to make the housing affordable for the poor.

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At the dwelling unit level a fully serviced plot is allocated to each EWS household together with the basic building core (i.e. W.C., wash and one room) which can be extended by the occupants at a pace commensurate with their need and ability to generate resources.

Fig.7 Master Plan with plot divisions Source: Steele James, 1998

Fig.9 Built form scenario Source: Personal collection Sharma U., 1995

Fig.8 Demonstration houses Source: Steele James, 1998

Fig.10 Serviced plots Source: Steele James, 1998

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Various issues addressed in Planning and Design of Aranya Township were:

Indigenous character of built form suitable to the lifestyles of the poor In traditional Indian towns and cities the level of public-ness and degree of privacy is maintained through spatial order. The clarity of spatial hierarchy enhances the Imageability of these traditional towns. The dense, low rise built form, comprising narrow streets and courtyards responds well to the hot- dry climate of Indore city.

Site and services- an innovative approach Being a site and services project, Aranya differs substantially from conventional housing. As only the basic building cores are provided on serviced plots, the built form can be extended by the occupants at a pace in tune with their capacity to mobilize resources.

Optimization of land use This was achieved by increasing the portion of marketable land. Hence, the relevant optimization process focused on road network as well as public and community spaces. This was done by considering multiple uses of public spaces. The conventional planning norms provided excessive areas for facilities and open spaces which was not affordable to the urban poor.

Marketing of land and the concept of cross- subsidy Depending on zoning regulations and existing developments. The site provided opportunities for some non- residential development, which enhanced the marketability of the project. The design elements of the township created potentials for various types of developments. Non- residential land uses, particularly commercial uses were organized around the major road network in order to generate more revenue. Similarly, larger plots for upper income groups were located on wider roads to get better prices and in turn subsidized smaller plots for low income groups located in the interior areas.

Economy of infrastructure and road network Infrastructure, particularly roads, water supply and sanitation constituted the largest cost component of land development and therefore became the prime target for efficient design. Hence, right from the layout planning to the detailed design of the service core, the emphasis was on judiciously reducing the cost of services without compromising on quality.

Activity Structure The prime objective of the project was to create an integrated human habitat suited to the lifestyle and cultural background of the people. Aranya was envisioned as a self contained town (living, working and recreational facilities within township).

A well defined communities and spatial organization were incorporated in making the plan. At the township level, one perceives an entity with a distinct character and identity. Within that, functional groupings of populations of 8000 to 15000 support other needs such as commerce, public institutions, educational institutions, open spaces, and local commercial activities. Small communities of 500

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to 1500 were spatially organized to give distinct identity to each community. The street or cluster level, with a population range of 30 to 100 people, strong social interaction was envisaged. The lowest in the hierarchy was the dwelling unit.

Various hierarchies of spatial organization adopted were: Table 1: Size of communities within settlement

Levels Township Sector Community Cluster or Street Dwelling unit

Population range 30000 to 65000 5000 to 15000 500 to 1500 30 to 200 1 to 20

All basic community and institutional facilities were provided in the township, including social services like education, health, recreational areas, essential infrastructure and amenities like water supply, sewage, storm water drainage, roads, electricity and activities like commercial and other service establishments. Each activity system was analyzed in terms of its population threshold and area requirements. To determine the total area requirements for various facilities and amenities has ultimate population of 65000 formed the basis. Thus, growth and change in facilities over a period of time were given due consideration.

Table.2 Comparative land utilization Source: VSF, March 1990

Particulars

Net Planning area Residential Use Roads Open Spaces Social Facilities Commercial Industrial Use Total Marketable Total Non -Marketable

Comparative Land-utilization % VSFâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;S Proposal Initial IDAâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;S (Area in Proposal Hectares) (Area in Hectares) 88.75 100.00 86.24 51.59 58.13 50.17 22.98 25.90 20.29 7.42 8.36 7.03 5.07 5.72 5.81 1.68 1.89 2.80 0.14 58.34 65.74 58.92 30.40 34.26 27.32

%

100.00 58.17 23.52 8.15 6.73 3.26 0.16 68.16 31.84

Within Aranya, the road area of about 21% together with pedestrian walkways and public squares amounting to a further 1.5% of the net planning area compares very favorably with the norms set by the World Bank. It was recognized that the EWS plot size was too small for living (though the World Bank and HUDCO had accepted EWS plot of 25 sq.mts) and it was increased to 35.32 sq.mts; it was further increased to 44.65 sq.mts and categorized for Lower Income Group (LIG). The idea behind gradual increase in the plot sizes was to enable people (particularly of lower income strata) to choose from a wider range of options matching their affordability.

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Settlement Structure Between the entire urban area and the individual dwelling, a variety of concepts have been used at differential scales. The design concepts determining hierarchy vary from intangible ones such as a sense of community, social interaction etc., to more tangible ones like the critical size of population or area that can support certain local facilities, or the formation of an environmental area free from through-traffic. Many of the physical and social bases of these hierarchies have overlapping boundaries and the success of the design depended largely on how they are integrated while retaining flexibility. A clear preference was shown for small open spaces adjoining the homes, which incorporated different functions like access, play area, income-generating activities, etc. Besides accommodating these activities, however, these spaces served an important perceptual function of giving identity to different areas by defining territories. The area requirements for educational facilities proposed were much lower than those suggested by conventional planning norms. The reduction in area was achieved not by sacrificing the quality, but by envisaging multiple use of spaces.

Parks and playgrounds were provided for the community and also envisaged be used for outdoor activities of the schools.

Planning at Township level The township had to blend within the urban fabric of Indore, but at the same time retain a unique and distinct identity of its own within which various social and economic activities could flourish. The planning and design principles adopted would in themselves generate a distinct character of the settlement. It was, however, decided to reinforce this identity in its built form. It was essential to provide a focus to the township. Various non-residential activities at the township level were grouped together to create this focus. The built form of this town-centre was raised above that of the other structures to accentuate its visual impact as a node.

Fig.11 Open space network and Community facilities Source: VSF, March 1990

Fig.12 Level of Accessibility Source: VSF, March 1990

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Two potential locations for this town centre were considered, one at the southwest corner of the site which capitalized on the highway linkage and the other, at the physical centre of the site. Although the south-west corner of the site is more accessible to various parts of the city, the corner location would have distorted the focus and the identity of the township. Therefore, a central location was decided as more appropriate. The centre thus created was within a 10 minute walking distance from the remotest part of the site. The linear form of the town-centre provided better accessibility. Thus, a linear town-centre in the tradition of an Indian bazaar was proposed.

The next important aspect was the linkages to the proposed town-centre. It was decided that the activity spine of the township should link the north and south boundaries of the site. This was to be done in such a way that the envisaged road network gave proper access to the town-centre and at the same time discouraged through traffic. Hence, this road was staggered at two places to break the continuity and thereby discourage fast and through traffic. The road network and the system of open spaces were organized so as to converge at the town-centre and highlight the concept of spatial organization.

The open spaces at the township level consisted of a formal playground and paved public spaces along the bazaar. Open spaces were conceptually organized in the middle of each neighborhood as a continuous space, providing easy pedestrian access from each sector to the town centre. Various commercial activities, social amenities and utilities were to be located all along these continuous green, resulting in an even distribution of these facilities throughout the settlement. Thus, a coherent hierarchy of open spaces and other activities was achieved in the design.

The basic concept was to give due importance to pedestrians and bicyclists. This required the integration of the environmental area by discouraging traffic through the township. The location and form of various activities, the system of road network, open spaces and the nature of the built form reflect this concept. Since accessibility in terms of walking distances from home to various activities was the prime measure of consideration at all levels, community and central facilities were placed within easy reach.

Planning at sector level The township was divided into six identifiable sectors or communities. Each of Aranyaâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s six sectors contained a population range of 7000-12000. Although the basic reason behind the formation of this particular hierarchy was mainly functional in terms of providing easy access to various local facilities and amenities, it also helped to foster a sense of community and promote social interaction amongst the residents.

It was not enough to have only a town centre with facilities and amenities to act as a focus. The distribution of lower order facilities and amenities became another important aspect of the design concept. It was decided to have a fine grain distribution of lower order facilities, but organized in such a manner so as to maintain strong link with the town-centre.

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Fig.13 Schematic development of a Sector Source: VSF, March 1990

Fig. 14 Sector built form scenario Source: VSF, March 1990

Between the sector and the individual dwelling, a series of spatial hierarchies varying in scales was used to organize the layout. The concept behind the formation of these levels was to encourage social interaction. The hierarchy at the sector level was aimed at providing facilities and amenities for a threshold population. The sector was divided into several communities of 700-1500 people, which in tern, was again broken into smaller spatial order of streets and clusters of 50-250 people. Groups of households were arranged around small, semi-private spaces, which also acted as service slots, giving access to various infrastructures to each plot. These semi-private spaces and public squares were small enough to relate to human scale. The cluster as a whole was free from through vehicular traffic and encouraged pedestrian movement.

These small spaces acted as safe play-areas for children and provided settings for social and domestic activities. The clusters formed around a series of public squares were linked by a pedestrian pathway to the sector greens and other facilities.

At the sector level, the pattern and distribution of open spaces was closely interlinked with the location of various facilities, amenities and the road network, so as to evolve a structure for the township and by locating social facilities in the open spaces, there was better chance of these spaces being used, maintained and selfpoliced against illegal encroachment. Community activities were combined with open spaces, thus promoting multiple uses.

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Planning at cluster/ street level

Fig.15 Envisioned character of the neighborhood street Source: VSF, March 1990

Climate was one of the important consideration in the evolving a conducive living environment. Most of the plots were small and permitted only row house development. The longer side of a block of row houses was given an orientation of north-south to reduce the solar radiation on the building facades. The plot sizes were worked out to suitably accommodate courtyards in the built form. The decision of orienting housing blocks in the north-south direction necessitated the lower level access roads (which constitute the major proportion of the total road network) to have an east-west orientation. The neighborhood access roads were to be perpendicular to the lower access roads and thus the road network responded to the climatic factors.

The semi-public spaces were oriented north-south so that they could be adequately shaded by the adjoining buildings.

Fig.16 Evolution of street organization Source: VSF, March 1990

Fig.17

Activities along alcove Source: VSF, March 1990

street

In low-income communities, it is essential to have a housing layout flexible enough to accommodate areas for income-generating activities. In Aranya,

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organization of public spaces helped people to perform these activities to augment their income. For income generating activities, spaces provided in the form of small shops or work places at home or on spaces adjacent to the houses. In addition, provisions were made to establish cottage industries in various semi private spaces, by providing small work platforms which could be sold or rented out. People could develop these platforms according to their needs. Families living in the same street or in the immediate vicinity would be given preference in occupying these work places.

Planning at the dwelling unit level Most of the housing was envisaged to be plotted development. For the EWS, a range of options varying from site with a service core, kitchen and plinths were considered. For the other income groups, only plots were to be sold. The dwellings were planned to suit the lifestyle of the people. Obviously the plot sizes were small for the EWS, there was a need for the sharing of spaces for different activities at the dwelling unit level hence provision of outdoor spaces were promoted. The house form incorporated with elements like platforms, porches, courtyards and terraces

Fig.18 House form evolution Source: Steele James, 1998

Fig.19

Incremental House within same plot and built form variation Source: VSF, March 1990

Various studies were made while evolving the house form. A verandah or house extension was the public face, which could be used for various work activities whilst the courtyard at the back could become the more private domain of the house. A living area followed by a kitchen and a toilet was sandwiched between the front extension and the courtyard at the back. Most of the houses were provided with an

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additional access at the back, which allowed them to keep animals and vehicles, and even rent a part of the house to augment income. It could also act as an access to the upper floor extension. Provision of an additional access to each plot was considered important, as was revealed through a study of plots in informal settlements.

While deciding on plot proportion and organization of spaces within the house, various possibilities of expanding the house were taken into consideration.

Possibilities of incorporating a staircase at the front or at the back were examined.

The internal subdivision of each dwelling was kept simple so as to provide maximum efficiency with minimum circulation space. A minimal dwelling was designed so that it could be progressively upgraded and enlarged. At the initial stage, the dwelling consisted of a basic service core and a room. The basic core could be merged into the future ground floor extension. Space was provided for a staircase in the front porch or the rear courtyard to reach the roof terrace. This would eventually serve the first floor, built to cater to the growing needs of the family. The balcony and the roof terrace provided additional open spaces, useful for sleeping outside during summer nights.

In India, house extensions not only help to expand a small house, but in the process, they also enhance the quality of public spaces. Such an important, but often neglected, aspect of habitat planning was given due recognition in the Aranya project.

Changes in the conventional building and zoning regulations envisaged the creation of a transition zone of 0.5 mts width between the street and the house, where people would be allowed to build house extensions. The permissible house extensions were stoops, platforms, porches, balconies and open stairs, which created an interesting street character.

Fig.20 Variations in elements enhancing street elevation Source: VSF, March 1990

The degree of publicness of various spaces of the house corresponded to a sequence which began with the entrance and the most public part, and led to the more private areas or domains. Ottas, platforms and porches were the transitional spaces between the street and the house. The degree of publicness of these spaces was highest within the spatial arrangements of the house; these spaces could also be used as shops or work places. On the other hand, the courtyard at the rear was the most private space of the houses. The toilet core was justifiably located adjacent to the courtyard. Between the otta and the courtyard was the living area of the house, followed by the kitchen. The spaces were so arranged that the house became progressively private.

Variety of staircases, openings, projections, railings & parapets made each house unique and gave it an identity within the same plot area configuration. The

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demonstration housing cluster built demonstrated these variety and possible pattern of house extension.

Infrastructure Planning As the most of the infrastructure follows the road network, therefore the layout of the road network with respect to the topography was given due consideration so that the roads are always on positive slopes which helped in achieving an efficient and cost effective infrastructure.

In Aranya, underground storm water drainage & electricity network was provided as against the conventional practice of open drains and overhead electricity cables, which generally results in the open drains getting blocked due to solid waste disposal and in case of overhead cables resulting in a poor quality of environment. It is found to be economical to provide underground services as there is less maintenance though the initial cost is higher but when a lifecycle costing was done, turned out to be much more economical and efficient in comparison with conventional practices. The network design was kept flexible enough to accommodate changes in the nature of treatment and inflow of services.

The Service Core It was decided to provide a basic service core consisting of toilet and a bathroom to every house. The planning of the service core had greater impact on the overall development cost. In addition, the location of the service core within the house was carefully considered in terms of user’s socio-cultural preferences. The option of community toilets, though economical, was not considered, on grounds of health, hygiene and the quality of environment.

While planning and designing the service core following criteria were taken into consideration:

Link maximum service core to a single manhole to reduce cost.

Remove minimum number if EWS plots to accommodate service access alleys.

Combine four service cores on a single rectangular platform as often as possible to reduce cost of foundations especially in black cotton soil.

Size of service areas should be such that it can be put to alternate use. e.g. space for informal economic activities, play areas etc.

Plan service alley so as to give maximum rear access to most of the plots.

Space for service areas should fit the house plan module so that they can be altered or omitted at a later date without distributing the overall sartorial plans.

Flexibility for alternative sewage treatment.

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Fig.22 Envisioned use of service core alcove Source: VSF, March 1990

Fig.21 Study of service core network Source: VSF, March 1990

Fig.23 Present use of service core alcove Source: Mehta B., April 2007

All four possibilities were found lacking in the location, cost or maintenance.

Therefore a system was developed of clustering which avoided toilets at the front and at the same time saved on cost and performance. The service core was designed to extend into a full house at a later date with minimal change in the original core.

Summary Aranya has demonstrated an innovative approach to the integrated development creating a holistic environment, rooted in socio cultural and economic milieu of the place and being sympathetic to the way of life of the Urban Poor. Aranya, since its inception & realization, has created unprecedented awareness in the professional & the academic world. It has been a case study & inspiration to many similar projects.

Generally, the housing for the urban poor is planned in isolation from the city. But, in Aranya the realization was that towns have to be a mosaic of culture where the rich & poor co-existed side by side. As the communities of Aranya grow socially, economically and culturally, the incremental composition and housing transformation process continued. Also the concept of cross subsidy became a good reference for any integrated settlement planning.

It has been observed that the core houses build about 20 years ago have developed in their own way. The original idea of variation in house form (freedom to build by choice) by element like staircases, projections, openings, etc. was a success and it was observed that people built with more variety to create an image and identity of their own home.

Starting with only service cores and the basic infrastructure, people have built their houses in stages, according to their economic resources and the available

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materials. Houses are built gradually but successfully as homeowners continue to undertake incremental housing construction that matches their own needs and ability to generate resources. In initial stages of development, people used inexpensive materials, but in later stages, people mainly use bricks and reinforced concrete as construction materials, resulting in more solid and permanent structures. Aranya has also contested the argument that in such schemes the beneficiaries i.e. slum dwellers normally go back to their original site after selling the allocated plot. On the contrary, the post occupancy survey shows that almost 90% of original beneficiary households lived and incrementally upgraded their houses over a period of time.

Fig.24 Residential environment of Aranya Source: Mehta B., April 2007

Though the houses were small but availability of open spaces with amenities created a sense of equity and sense of belonging. As Aranya was located outside the Municipal limits, initially the maintenance of the streets and open spaces was an issue, but later on the communities evolved their own system of maintenance & upkeeping.

Underground Infrastructure with integrating topology became ideal example to other large scale development in Indore and Madhya Pradesh. In Aranya, landscaping was considered integral part of infrastructure, which is not the case with conventional housing projects. It was realized that additional urban design guidelines for the larger plot were required to create a coherent built form along the main streets. This township model experiment by the Indore Development Authority has set a standard of balanced and harmonious environment which are now emulated and by other organizations engaged in the field of human habitat.

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The project has looked at the implementation process as a vital aspect in such a project for the urban poor. It defines construction of the minimum, so as to allow people to add and develop the house as per their requirements and affordability.

Fig.25 Residential environment of Aranya Source: Mehta B., April 2007

The efficient site planning, a fresh approach to infrastructure and using the strong traditional urban design principles of the country with a hope to provide an appropriate living environment for the poor. It has not only been accepted by the people but been a case study for further research and development in the field of affordable housing and integrated planning for the urban poor.

Fig.26 Cluster Open space Source: Mehta B., April 2007

References Alexander C., et.al, (1977), A Pattern Language, Oxford University Press, UK CBRI, India (1982), Building Digest, Paper 13, Asia Press, Delhi.

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Centre for Minimum Cost Housing, McGill University, (1984), “How the Other Half Builds, Volume 1: Space”, Mimeo, Montreal.

Centre for Minimum Cost Housing, McGill University, (1984), “How the Other Half Builds, Volume 2: Plots”, Mimeo, Montreal.

Housing and Environment Department, Madhya Pradesh, (1982) “Madhya Pradesh Urban Development Project – Aid Memoire of the World Bank Appraisal Mission”, Mimeo, Bhopal.

Indore Vikas Pradhikari, (1981), “Indore Development Plan”, Mimeo, Indore, India.

Lynch K., (1981), Good City Form, MIT Press, Cambridge, UK. Mehta, M. (1987), “Housing Policies: Retrospect and Prospect”, Space and Society, pp.72.76 Steele James, (1998), The Complete Architecture of Balkrishna Doshi: Rethinking Modernism for the Developing World, Thames & Hudson Ltd. Town and Country Planning Department, Madhya Pradesh, (1982), “Urban Development Report for Indore”, Mimeo, Bhopal, India.

Vastu-Shilpa Foundation (March 1990), “Aranya: An approach to settlement design; planning and design of low cost housing project at Indore”, Mimeo, Ahmedabad, India.

Vastu-Shilpa Foundation (1985), “Urban Open Spaces: A Behavioral Analysis”, Mimeo, Ahmedabad, India.

Vastu-Shilpa Foundation (1979), “Integrated Rural Development Plan for Village Chharodi”, Mimeo, Ahmedabad, India.

Vastu-Shilpa Foundation (1979), “Tribal Training Centre for Surat Panjarapole Project”, Mimeo, Ahmedabad, India.

1

Conceived in 1981 and implementation started in 1986.

‘How the other half builds’ - A study of the existing slum settlements in Indore provided an interesting insight into how the people build houses for themselves. - ‘Integrated Rural Development Plan for village Charodi’ – The study investigated the nature of economic development, both formal and informal. As conventional housing project do not consider this vital need, such an investigation was considered significant.

2

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Living Space, Identity, Citizens: The Realization of Participation in a “Middle-Class” Gated-Community in Inner City Shanghai SUN Zhe East China Normal University, Shanghai, China

The background of the field study The “middle class”, as an ideal type from the western society, is expected to be the power of “civil society” by many scholars. (Chen, 2006)Nowadays there are more and more scholars who pay much attention to the complaints of the homeowners, especially the “middle class” homeowners, in the urban area in mainland China.

However, before we focus on these “actions” or “struggles” concerning with living place, we should initially have the following 2 problematic: Why do the members of the “middles class” concentrate their action on their living space rather then other aspects? In “peaceful” “middle class communities”, do “middle class” residents shape their identity and daily life?

Starting from the first macro problematic, I would track back to two systematic events started from early 1990s in urban area in mainland China: Housing reform as an economic reform and popular vote in the Residents’ committee1 as a Political experiment.

The housing reform has totally changed the production and distribution of the living space compared to the facts in socialism period. As for the mechanism of production, the housing reform makes the urban reconstruct& renewal become the development of real estate leaded by the commercial capital; while it is totally different from the fact that in the socialism period the production of living space was all carried by the State. Turn to the mechanism of distribution; the housing reform means the establishment of the housing property ownership, thus individuals are able to get their ownership of the house property when they buy their houses in the market.

Consequently, the housing reform not only makes the “middle class” community produced, but also makes the private ownership of housing property realized. Houses are not any more the state-owned public resource, but the most important private property, which the “middle class” have gained through the economic reform. That could be the reason why the middle class are so sensitive of the living space.

Also since the 1990’s, Mainland China has started the program of “popular vote in the residents’ committee” in urban areas. Shanghai is the model city in the frontier of this program In recent years, Shanghai government has done a lot of work to make this vote have more participation as well as effect. Here, I noticed that the “popular vote in the residents’ committee” is started from the living space, which is produced and achieved in the market environment after the economic reform.

Hence, the “living place”, in a micro perspective could be viewed as the meeting point of the economic reform (housing reform) and the political field (the popular vote), which are in the macro perspective. So there is a necessity rather then a - 178 -

coincidence that the actions come out in the living space.

Then here we are in front of the second the problematic: In the micro world, what is the precondition and process of the realization of the citizen participation?

What is the link between the establishment of property ownership and the supply of the political rights? Concerning with this questions, I didn’t focus on the apparent struggle or collective actions. On the opposite, I pay much attention for the “peaceful” community. Through an anthropological way, I want to find out is there any fundamental changes laying on the “middle class” ‘s day-to-day life even though it looks nothing happened. On the other hand, I didn’t start my field work with a concept like “middle class”; Instead, I focus on the specific form of living space in the reality, the “gated-community”, where I want to find more concrete features of a social group. Unfortunately, most time this kind of gated community is invisible black boxes (Chen, 2003), which are hard to enter, while this is exciting part of my study.

The findings of the research Descriptions of the studying field The gated-community2 I chose to study is located in the inner city, two kilo meter away from the downtown area. I enter this gated-community in the role of “college student volunteer” in the residents’ committee, which is composed with two communities, the community-H and community-Y. Community H is my main object, and I would take community Y for a comparison.

The community H is in the form of new apartment, which was built in 2001.Its location used to be a state-owned factory Y. In the urban renewal, the factory Y was moved to the suburb and this place was developed by the real estate company.

Community H is well gated by the bounding wall. Meanwhile, its property management company provides the best gate-guard and instruments to guarantee there is no stranger. It even organizes the activities to shape a lifestyle of the community.

The housing price of community H is about $2200/square meter. The residents there come from different parts of the society. There are professors, doctors, white color in the international companies, retired government officer. A lot of them are “new migrant” who have successfully achieved their IDs(Hukou) of Shanghai City though they were brought up in other place. There are also a number of Taiwanese, Honk Hong people, and a few foreign residents.

The community Y is in the form of old houses, which was built in 1950s as the employee-houses of factory Y, which was a state-hold factory and a typical “unit”(Danwei) in the formal “unit system” in the “Socialism period ”. Most residents are retired engineers from the factory and their offspring. Many old people have lived there for over 40 years and they know each other well because they used to work in one factory. Their houses used to be offered by the state. After the housing reform, they all had bought the house property and the houses now belong to themselves.

Now the housing price of community B is about $1300/square meter.

The communication network based on the visible community Identity3.

The Open space inside between neighborhoods - 179 -

Community-H, as a “gated” living space, would first present a strong visual impression: behind the bounding wall towards outside, there is no burglar mesh on every window, and on the first ground, there are yards with very low bars. These visual images are quite different from those of many communities in Shanghai, in which every house is “armed to teeth”, but just like the imagined “western style”.

These arrangements of space are sure due to the security guaranteed by the property management company. However, it is also a direct visual expression of the identity between neighborhoods.

The informal groups and communications among neighborhoods In the small square and other public place in the community, it is easily seen that there are always the seniors chatting or playing card game. In this gated-community, it is not a society of strangers, on the contrary, it’s really like a “small village” full of communications among neighborhoods, though they are from different area with different jobs.

There are several informal groups sponsored by the residents, and the most important two is the “English Study Group” and the Tea Saloon, on which I have done a lot of observations.

The sponsor of English Study Group told me that many seniors would live abroad (especially in north America) several moth with their children there, thus speaking English is necessary for them. Moreover, I find that they have a strong favor and identity of the “English” and relevant “foreign culture.” They enjoy sharing their experience of living abroad in English. When making a self-introduction in English, they would like to use following sentences to describe themselves: “My daughter is the government officer in California.” “I plan to emigrate to U.S.A in the next year”.

The foreign English teacher Kathy, who is an Australia resident in the community, is also a factor that attracts these seniors. They are proud of their foreign residents just like they are proud of their living experience abroad.

Another influential informal group is the “Tea Salon” .The sponsor said:” the aim to organize this salon is to make the seniors could communicate with each other.

And the important thing is that we have many “stars” in our community, such as judges, doctors, artists. We just want every member could share their knowledge with each other. …We name this salon with “tea” because we would like to emphasis that it is a group of special taste rather then just free chat.” According to my observation the main content of Tea Saloon is to share the each member’s life hobbies, such as photographing, traveling.

The English Study Group and the Tea Saloon could be viewed as a direct expression of community identity. These groups are based on the common hobbies of the residents. However, these common life styles, like living abroad, photographing, traveling, are based on the similar amount of property, which is represented by the same living space.

Starting with these informal groups, a communication network is build up. Many residents initially do not know each other, however, through their family members - 180 -

who are in the informal groups, they get to know other residents and get involved in the network.

Bounding wall: the exclusion towards outsiders and the public activities inside Though community H and community Y belong to one Residents’ Committee, they could not achieve a unified identity. The residents of community H are very offensive to the fact that Y-people get used to have a walk in community H as it is very beautiful. H-People believe that the gated-community is their private property, not the public place. Y-people is an invasion of their private space and their property would be not guaranteed. Moreover, most H-people tend to look down upon Y-people according to the form of living place. They believe “the brand of real estate stands for the status.” Thus the H-people believe that they have a higher lever than Y-people.

Another comparison illustrates more details about the boundary of the identity. In the summer of 2006, the residents’ committee hold a “summer evening” as a routine4.

The residents committee finally decided to carry on the evening in Community-Y. Though this was the activity of the whole resident’s committee, there were few H-people finally going to Community-Y to attend the evening. The evening was run by a commercial company, and the residents were just audience. Meanwhile, H-people were busy with preparing their own celebration: “the Five Year celebration of the Establish of Community-H”. Many H-people were very active and they motivate the homeowner committee and the Property Management Company to find more fund. The English Study Group and Tea Saloon even stopped their regularly activities to prepare their programs which would be shown in the celebration. Finally, the celebration was carried on successfully. The homeowners’ committee and the Property Management Company supplied adequate money fund, and all the programs were played by the H-People in the unit of the informal groups or the neighborhood of 3-5 families. The communication network was clearly shown in the celebration.

Though these events, we could see that the identity of Community H is clearly defined not by the Residents’ committee, nor the location of the district, but just by the wall of the living space.

The planning of living space: the community participation in the spatial practice There is a public ground for exercise just out of the back wall of community H. As there was no entrance on that wall, many residents needed to walk much more detour to go there for exercise, which was very inconvenient. Thus many homeowners suggested the homeowners committee to set up an entrance on the wall, and then there would be a shortcut. According to the relevant regulations ， the homeowners’ committee then collected the opinions by sending the questionnaires. They sent out 700 questionnaires and there were 500 back, among which 90 percent agreed with this planning design. In titled with this result, the homeowners’ committee then demand the property management company set up the entrance on the wall. After the setup of the entrance, some homeowners, most of whom lived near the entrance and thought the entrance might make them risk a danger, started to complain about this plan.

However, the homeowners’ committee member told me that:” we just ignore them because the majority has agreed with this plan”.

From this event, we could see the community participation is greatly linked to - 181 -

the practice of living space, which is directly related to the property. And in this case the residents’ committee was not involved, the CCP(China Communist Party) secretary of the residents’ committee told me that: “This is no business with we residents’ committee, when concerning with the house property, they should find the homeowners’ committee”. This means the homeowners’ committee has the right of self-governance to deal with the case. However, though finally the homeowners’ committee was an actor, but initially they were not active, they were pushed by “they”.

Though my observation, I find that “they” are the opinion leaders generated from the communication network.

The popular vote: the struggle for the leadership of living space and the realization of citizen participation.

As two communities compose one Resident Committee, in the recent popular vote for the Resident Committee the H-people were very active in the participation (especially the people over 60years-old, who do not have the qualification to be candidates for their age), however, when come to the reality, there are few H-people stand out to be the candidates (especially for the people below 60years-old) because they are all very busy. On the other side, there are several Y-people to be candidates, while H-people regard the candidate from community Y have a lower quality and are very offensive to them. This situation made H-people very upset, some claimed that:” They (residents’ committee) occupy our space, use our brand, but there is no power for us”. In this case, the opinion leader pressed the homeowners’ committee to be the actor. One homeowners’ committee member told me that:” actually we do not have the right to do this in the name of homeowners’ committee, but we have another role, we are all the residents here.” Thus the homeowners’ committee firstly persuaded one homeowner to be the candidate, and then they also motivate the community elite to press the cadres of CCP in the Street office to guarantee and accept the success of their candidate. Meanwhile, the opinion leaders started to motivate all the H-people to participate the vote and vote for their candidate. Finally their candidate won the vote, though actually she had no experience of residents’ committee and never got close to it before.

Analysis of the process The identity and identification of living place The most important finding of this field work is that in the gated community, there exists an apparent community identity, which is most related to the specific gated living space with clear borderline. Community H and Community Y have the same location (inner city) and belong to one residents’ committee, but they could not achieve the unified identity, which illustrate that the community identity isn’t from neither the “location” nor “administrative management”. Community H is composed by many new migrants from different regions, and in their communication they speak mandarin even English, rather then Shanghai dialect or other dialect. This fact shows that the community identity is not from the region. At last, H-people are from different occupations, so the community identity neither comes from the “unit” (Danwei). In a word, the “location” “region” “administrative management” “unit system” are proved to have a weak relation to the community identity of community H, while the gated living space is the most related factor.

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On the other hand, we could see the living space, as a factor, is independent from “location”, “region”, “administrate management”, “unit system”, but only a representation of property and relevant life style. For one thing, the living space is directly the private property of Community H, that’s the reason why the H-people are so sensitive and offensive to the fact Y-people come into Community H. H-people believe this is the invasion of their property. For another thing, the shared living space makes the shared life style available. A concrete example is the informal groups, English Study Group and Tea Saloon; they carry their activities in the home owners’ club, or the residents’ committee room, which are all the public space of H’s homeowners. Thus the Y-people would not join in these groups, because they do not have the right to share the space as they are not the homeowner’s of community H. Another example is that H people are enjoying the Space arrangement and service of the property management company in the purpose to make the community “gated”.

The “bounding wall with high-tech detective instruments”, the strict examination of the Gate guard” become the symbols of their life style, which they believe illustrate their status and make they “feel great”. Consequently, identity of property and relevant lifestyle are turned out to be the identity of living space.

At the end, based on this gated identity, H-people gains their identification in the name of H, which is a real estate brand. This identification is very specific, but very concrete. H-people like to call themselves “H-nese” and they believe “different brands (of real estate) stand for different status”. They always say that:” We H-nese have a higher quality then Y-nese”. So we could see the H-people are proud of their brand of real estate, which they believe is a logo of their status and lifestyle.

The Communication Network and the community participation The identity and identification of living space are the foundation of the informal groups, which are the “nodes” of the communication network and make it come into reality. And this communication network is the precondition of the participation.

In the event of community space planning, one important point is that it is carried on by the homeowners’ committee and the residents’ committee didn’t get involved as according to the regulation it is not its duty. It mean the system has offered a chance for the self-governance of homeowners’ committee. But in front of the institutional supply, dose the homeowners’ committee has the motivation to be the actor? The fact didn’t come that way.

One homeowners’ committee member told me that: “Initially we didn’t notice the issue. Then “they” ask residents’ committee to solve it. The residents’ committee told them this is the duty of homeowners’ committee, but they didn’t know clearly about us. Then they complain us to the residents’ committee and the residents’ committee gave us the pressure to solve it. At last we pay much attention for this issue and fixed the detailed plan to solve it.”

From this we could see that at the beginning homeowners’ committee did not know very clear about their duty and did not have the strong motivation. They could be an actor after stimulated by the homeowners. In this case the community space plan is a public issue rather then an individual issue. To raise a public issue needs the opinion leaders to collect the public opinion. It is the communication network where - 183 -

there generates these opinion leaders and makes the collection of public opinion available.

From the community participation to citizen participation In this context, the community participation refers to the participation in the specific living space and the citizen participation mainly refers to the participation in the political field. As a result of this study, the two types of participation are strongly linked to each other.

In the event of community communication, the way of homeowners’ committee is quite different from that of residents’ committee. The homeowners’ committee does not have the administrative power to carry on any plans; they must find a way to achieve the authority of all the homeowners. In this case, as we see, according to the regulation the homeowners’ committee gives every homeowner a questionnaire to know whether they agree with the plan or not. The homeowners’ committee carried on the plan after they confirm the agreement of the majority. When they met the minority who were against the plan, they could justify the decision through the result of their survey and the relevant regulations.

In this sense, the community participation could be viewed as a “special training” of participation for all the residents in community H. After this training, they are more sensitive about their property right and aware of the right of participation.

They know that the procedure is guaranteed by law. And the most important thing is that the communication network is enhanced and they have more ability of action. All these factors are finally the foundation of the following participation.

From the case, we could see when in front of the popular vote of residents’ committee, the H-people became very active. The initially motivation was that they believed their property was invaded but in the residents’ committee there was no power for them. The popular vote soon became very close to them. And through the observation, the realization of this citizen participation is composed by following steps: the first step is that through the communication network, the H-people soon achieved their consensus to protect their living space and then generate the opinion leader. The second step is the opinion leaders motivated the H-people to participate the vote for their candidate via the communication network, The third step is that the opinion leaders persuaded the homeowners’ committee to motivate the community elite, who directly press the CCP cadre in the high level government office to accept and guarantee the success of their candidate.

Through this process, we could see the citizen participation is started with the property right, and finally made by the communication network, which motivate every citizen in the community to practice the participation right.

The fourth power: the Communication Network between the formal organizations In the previous researches concerning with the communities in mainland China, the researchers tend to focus on the 3 major powers in the community: the residents’ committee speaking for the government, the property management company speaking - 184 -

for the capital, and the homeowners’ committee speaking for the homeowners.

However, in my research, one important discovery is that there is a communication network between the formal organizations. This communication network is build up by the informal groups based on the identity of living space, which is the direct representation of property and relevant life style. It is the communication network, rather then other formal organization that generates the fundamental power for the action.

From this case, we could see the communication network has its independence and strategies: When they believe the homeowners’ committee is not active enough in the space plan, they would complain to residents’ committee to give homeowners’ committee pressure; When they believe residents’ committee could not stand for their rights, they would motive homeowners’ committee to generate their own candidate; When they want to go out for a travel, they would motivate the property management company to offer the vehicle. The facts illustrate that the Communication Network knows how to unitize different resource according to different situation and it could remain its independence in the process.

Then, what is the root of the independence of the Communication Network?

From the formal analysis, we could see that Communication Network is built up on the identity of living space, which is independent from “location”, “region”, “administrate management”, “Unit system”. And if we go deeper, we could see it is the property that has the impendence, and it’s most related to the living space. So the independence of the property makes the independence of living space identity, and finally leads to the independent Communication Network.

A concrete comparison would throw more light on this point. The residents’ committee finds a resident from each building and builds up another network, which I name “Management network” .Through Management Network the residents’ committee could know more about the residents and better manage them. In return, the residents’ committee would give Management Network some honor and the Management Network helps residents’ committee remains its form. The Management Network is sponsored by the residents’ committee and relied on it. On the contrary, the Communication Network is totally different from Management Network. The Communication Network does not have the “benefit chain” from the Communication Network. Even Communication Network sometimes utilize the residents’ committee’s room to carry their activities, they would not regard this the offer of residents’ committee , but know that its their right to use residents’ committee ’s room , which is the public property shared by all the homeowners in this community. In most cases, we see that the residents’ committee influences the homeowners’ committee through its Management Network. In this case, on the contrary, we see the Communication Network finally motivated the homeowners’ committee and changed the residents’ committee .This is the best proof of the independence of Communication Network.

Conclusion Let’s turn back to the initial problematic in the first part: at the micro level, how the establishment of housing property is connected with the citizen participation? And as a result of this field work, the explorative answer could be: Based on the property - 185 -

and relevant life style represented by the living space, the community members have shaped a spatial identity with clear borderline. Then there comes the Communication Network, which makes the community participation available. After the training of community participation, the community members finally achieve their citizen participation.

Here, the citizen participation relied on the property right is fundamentally different from the mobilized participation in the socialism period. Using the Citizenship theory advanced by T.H Marshall, and the model of “participation of attachment” and “participation of right” (Yang, 2006), we would illustrate the differences in details.

T.H Marshall believes that the citizenship is composed with three rights: the civil rights, the political rights and the social rights. He also advances a western model as an ideal type: the civil rights are the foundation, based on which citizen could achieve their political rights and finally there is the social right. (Marshal, 1995) While other scholar point that, in the socialism period of mainland China, the property right was not established. But the social rights were given as a priority through the “Unit system”. In condition of this, the political participation becomes a ritual of political mobilization. (Shen, 2007) As a counterpart, there are relevant forms concerning with the participation in the community. In the socialism period, the residents’ committee is the only formal organization in the community, which was greatly combined with the relevant unit.

The residents’ committee could use the social rights they have to build up the Management Network, through which they could mobilize the residents to join in the political participation. This type participation is the “participation of attachment” relied on the given “social rights”.

While in the present so called “post socialism period”, the fundamental precondition is changed: the ownership of property is established by the state. Starting with the property right, the citizens form the independent Communication Network, and finally they achieve the citizen participation in order to protect their property rights. In this sense, there seems to come out the similar mechanism of citizenship as T.H Marshall imagined.

In the very end, I want to emphasize the last 3 points: First, the research shows that the Communication Network, rather then the homeowners’ committee, is the fundamental variable that realizes the citizen participation. In this case, the homeowners’ committee, which is expected by many scholars, initially did not have the motivation to be the actor. When the state has justified its status by law, the state also set up many restrictions of its actions.

Compared to the homeowners’ committee, the Communication Network is more active and flexible. In different forms, motivating different resource, they could always be available to achieve their goal: to protect their property.

Second, the Communication Network, as the fourth power in the community, is widespread in different appearance. In this case, the Communication Network is - 186 -

connected by the informal groups of hobbies. However, in other conditions their might be other forms that realizes the Communication Network. A very typical example, there are more and more online forum built up for the homeowner living in the same “gated-community”, this online form is another type of “nodes” for the Communication Network. Consequently, I believe there would always be a Communication Network behind the formal organization in the community and it deserves more attention and field work.

Third, in my field work, the community always remains peaceful and “harmony”, without any apparent conflicts. However, this does not mean there is no awareness of citizenship and relevant actions. On the contrary, all kinds of actions are going on. So we may not only focus on the “struggles”, but also need to pay more attention for the “peaceful” place.

In the end, I would like to say that the mainland China is under the tremendous changes in every minute. We should not just dwell on its appearance, the macro transformation. Only when we go deeper and deeper, into the day-to-day life, then we would see the fundamental causes for the macro changes.

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Chen,Yingfang, 2006, “Xingdongli yu zhidu xianzhi: Dushi yundong zhongde zhongchan jieceng”[Ability of action and system restrict: Middle class in the urban movements ]Shehuixue yanjiu,[the sociological studies],vol.4.

Chen,Yingfang, 2006，“Nongmingong: Zhidu anpai yu Shenfenrentong”,[Migrant workers: The arrangement of system and the identification ] Shehuixue yanjiu, [the sociological studies], vol.4.

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Shen, Yuan, 2007, Shehui de shengchan [The production of society], Shehui,[Society] Shi, Yunqing, 2007, “Jihui kongjian de yingzao”[The Creation of Opportunity Space ] Shehuixue yanjiu,[the sociological studies],vol.2 Yang, Min, 2006, Gongmin canyu, qunzhong canyu yu shequ canyu,[Citizen participation, mass participation, and the community participation],Shehui,[Society], vol.5.

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Zukin, Sharon, 1991,Landscapes of Power: From Detroit to Disney World, University of California Press - 187 -

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1

Residents’ Committee is a quasi government apartment. Its member must be the local residents and it is under control of the street office, where the members get their payment.

There are 4 levels of Shanghai Government, The fist one is the City government, the second one is the district government, the third one is Street office, and the fourth one is the Residents’ Committee

2

In this research, the community means the specific living space with clear boarding wall

3

This research would not dwell on the mental structure of the community identity, but would focus on the its expression and then explore its preconditions

4

The “street office” demands that every residents’ committee must carry at least one summer evening

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Justice and Innovation: Peasant’s Negotiation of Land in the City LI Lixun, Sun Yat Sen University, Guangzhou, China Wing-Shing TANG, Hong Kong Baptist University, Hong Kong Anne HAILA, University of Helsinki, Finland

This paper explores the negotiation of right to the city by peasants on the urban fringe of Guangzhou, China. In support of the spirit of the post-colonialist critique launched by scholars like Jennifer Robinson in her widely acclaimed book Ordinary Cities, we believe that the subalterns are equally innovative as their counterparts in the developed world, and it is important as well as equally enlightening to report their innovative practices. However, we should overcome the voluntarism implicit in this type of argument with the possible consequence of supporting the status quo, and kind of situate any innovative practices within the hierarchical, unequal relations. This requires us to situate practices within the prevailing power relations, which draw up boundary separating people, shape imaginations of the possibilities of social life, order economic life and define the ethics of human relations. Besides, space makes a difference in the operation of these relations. In other words, innovative practices must be situated in power/space. This imperative to situate innovations is more acute in countries like China, where unequal social relations have exerted a powerful hegemony over all realms of life.

In China, the property relations are the essence of the unequal social relations.

We argue that there exists an ‘étatised ownership model’ in which there is, until the enactment of the Property Law in March 2007, one class of property ownership: state ownership. The model stipulates that the state is the only viable owner of land and property in the country, with its subordinate agents being the managers. It builds on, as well as is manifested in, a geography with finite boundary and absolute space: urban places. In contrast, the rural places consist of land and property in transition to state ownership. Their transitional status means that their users, the peasants, are temporary in status too. They cannot, therefore, enjoy the rights entitled to their urban counterparts. This is unfair to the peasants, but an injustice that is built into the system.

It is important to remind, however, that the functioning of the model is predicated on the coercive power of the state. The claims to land and property must be maintained by incessant persuasive and/or coercive practices, while alternative claims, mostly by the peasants, must be suppressed and denied. Peasants’ rural land will be dispossessed once the state and its subordinate agents have claimed their ownership. Once the land has been requisited by the state, it is converted into state ownership. Simultaneously, instead of taking things at face value, the peasants constantly challenge the socialist state practice and formulate alternative ones. In other words, these rights are, at best, incomplete and insecure, and, certainly, dynamic due constant contestation and negotiation. This is even more so since the late 1970s, when China implemented a bundle of reform measures. One integral part of these reforms is the reactions and counter-reactions to the claiming of rights by the peasants, who struggle to live in the era of rapid urban urbanisation.

Villages-in-the-cities (Chengzhongcun) on the urban fringe are the best exemplar of this kind of struggles. They were villages that have been encroached by the recent

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urban expansion. Until the early 1980s, peasants in these villages, who were banned from the city, were allowed to plough their field in cultivated land and live in residential land in the countryside. The communes and their production brigades in the countryside could allocate land plots, change usage to, and benefit from, them, but not to dispose of them. Nevertheless, since the 1980s, rapid economic development has encroached on these land plots, which, due to their spatially contagious location, command a high rent gap between the existing and the potential uses and are, therefore, more vulnerable to encroachment. As a result, the peasants are induced to give up their cultivated land. In this process of agricultural land conversion, yet, they are not entitled to the urban household registration status and its associated fringe benefits. In other words, they contribute to the costs of economic development, but cannot reap its benefits. For peasants in the coastal city regions of the country, and Guangdong province in particular since 1990, they have, however, successfully negotiated keep-on-land (KOP) (liuyongdi), less than 10% of the total land area requisited, for economic activities other than agriculture to accommodate the surplus labour power. In a sense, this land area is a ‘kick-back’ in kind to the peasants in lieu of cash compensation and job allocation. Unlike the practice in the past, this KOP is still not land under state ownership. This remark aside, KOP is an innovative practice.

The interesting question is: How did the peasants manage to force the local governments to remake the property relations in such a way?

It is the objective of this paper to employ a village-in-the-city in the fringe of Guangzhou, Shipai Village, to illustrate the details of peasants’ negotiation of the land rights regarding KOP. The paper is divided into three parts. First, it documents how the policy of KOP was contested, formulated and implemented in the village – what was the size of the land? Where was it located? How was it decided? etc. To comprehend it, it is important to trace the historical geography of Shipai as the context in which the peasants have enhanced their bargaining power, shaped the discourse, mobilised village members, formulated concrete demands and, possibly, overruled the local government’s hegemony. Second, it elaborates how, once the policy was agreed upon, the villagers have continued to negotiate with the local government to protect their other land right items during implementation. This is to be achieved by investigating the way in which the land was actually employed to further their course, if it came head on with the permission granted by the local government.

Third, recently, the villagers even negotiate to transfer their use-rights to others as in state land. How is it contested? By investigating the Shipai case, the paper helps shed light on how innovative practices of peasants in the Chinese city can be more fruitfully understood within the contexts of power and of space.

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Changing Paradigms – Initiating change in Asian Cities A Peoples Struggle in Lahore Imrana TIWANA Architect-Planner, Lahore, Pakistan

The presentation is divided into 2 parts, the first being a quick run through the context, issues, and a history of the Lahore Bachao Movement [Save Lahore Movement] and the Darakht Bachao Campaign [Save the Trees Campaign]. A civil society movement born out of a coming together of like-minded ordinary citizens, students and institutions, as well as highly respected professionals, renowned in their own fields of law, architecture, urban planning, traffic management, environmental management, political economy, psychology, sociology and so many other ways of life. I will present the strategies, plans, actions and deliberations of the Lahore Bachao Tehreek [Save Lahore Movement], as a joint action network of citizens, to resist and stop the making of a fast moving motorway along a canal that runs through the heart of the city of Lahore, and is its most important environmental asset. The client being the City District Government and the Government of the Punjab, Pakistan.

The second part will be a discourse on the state of urbanism in Asian cities…issues, dynamics, needs, on-ground realities, and thoughts on what we have learnt in Lahore and what we need to do as future strategies. A strategic integrated solution- oriented approach that is people centered is the only answer.

Lahore – Context Pakistan has a population of over two hundred million people…….growing at a rate of about 6% per annum. Lahore is the second largest city and has a population of over nine million people, it is the capital of the province of Punjab, the land of the five rivers. Lahore is a magical city, and the historical and cultural center of the country. The origins of Lahore are shrouded in the mists of antiquity. Legend has it that it was founded about four thousand years ago by Loh, son of Rama, the hero of the Hindu epic, the Ramayana. Hieun-tasng, the famous Chinese pilgrim gives us a vivid description of Lahore, which he visited in the early parts of the 7th century AD. Lying on the main trade and invasion routes to South Asia, the city has been ruled and plundered by many dynasties, Pakistan has also been part of the Silk Route. The traditional capital of the Punjab for a thousand years, it was the cultural center of Northern India extending from Peshawar to New Delhi. There is an old saying about the city ‘Lahore Lahore Aye’ meaning there is none other like it. From 1524 AD, Lahore was the center of the great Mughul empire for two hundred years.

The Mughals were famous builders, and gave Lahore some of its finest architectural monuments and gardens, many of which have been lost to the ravages of time…Lahore has truly over the centuries, been an example of what we today call the ‘Dissapearing City Syndrome’. The Mughal emperor Akbar built the Lahore Fort and enclosed the city within a red brick wall boasting twelve gates. Jahangir, Shah Jehan, and Noor Jehan built palaces and gardens in the city. The famous Shalimar Gardens and The Lahore Fort are on the World Heritage List. The Mughals brought the - 191 -

tradition of creating formal gardens with canals of running water, tanks and fountain to south Asia from Central Asia in the beginning of the 16th century. The Sikhs ruled Lahore, till the British took over in 1849, and so the Mughal-Gothic style was born.

Pakistan became an independent country in 1947. Traditionally Lahore is know for its tree lined streets, its medley of architectural styles, from Art Noveau to Gothic, from Mogul to the Raj, history unfolds at every step. The gardens were traditionally divided into four, eight, sixteen or thirty two equal parts, called Char-Bagh. There were more than fifty gardens of the Mughal period in Lahore, with twenty more added by the Sikhs.

There is a vibrance, a joie de vivre, a certain sense of place and space in the bustling and exotic bazaars of Lahore, an association of belonging and hospitality, an ambience that can only be felt through the senses and the soul. Lahore truly is one of the most unique city’s in the world, the city of gardens, many a poet has written about Lahore, when the wind whistles through the tall trees, when the twilight floods the beautiful face of the Fort and about the Canal that runs through its heart on moonlit nights, a sight unparalleled.

The picture of Lahore as the ‘Garden City’ of Asia lasted until the beginning of the 20th century, it has now changed and been destroyed by rapid urbanization, thoughtless planning, and unlawful and unrelenting growth of encroachments. What has survived are only a handful of gardens, which were declared by the government as ‘protected’ monuments under the Antiquities Act, 1972. With every green space in the city being usurped and used for illegal structures, the city will soon be a desolate and desperate place. Master Plans are made, only to be shelved due to pressures to take Ad-hoc decisions. Over the years thousands of trees have fallen victim to axes and chain saws. The traditional ‘thundee suruks’ [cool streets] began to disappear and the horror of concrete and asphalt began to take over like an unleashed monster.

The pattern and pace of Lahore’s growth and piecemeal development is contributing towards incompatible land uses, usurping parks and open areas for development, creating infrastructural deficiencies, lack of social services, long travel distances, travel time delays, congestion on roads and environmental pollution, increasing traffic congestion, lagging and insufficient road and traffic management systems and inadequate provision of public transport. Factors making the city unsustainable are untreated sewage disposal, unsafe water supply, poor drainage system, unhealthy sanitation and unsatisfactory disposal of municipal, hospital and industrial waste.

These problems are likely to worsen, the inner areas of the city are affected due to high densities and the outer due to thoughtless urban sprawl. Critical factors contributing to all this are weak enforcement, lack of funds, absence of scientific and technical research on the local urban environment, lack of vision, legislation and enforcement. All this is contributing to a deteriorating environment and threatening any form of sustainability.

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I would briefly like to go through critical details of the Legal, Technical and Environmental concerns of the LBT, as presented to the Director General of the Environmental Protection Department on March 14th, 2007 in Lahore: CANAL WIDENING BEFORE THE PUBLIC HEARING UNDER REGULATION 10 OF THE PAKISTAN ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION GENCY (REVIEW OF IEE AND EIA) REGULATIONS, 2000

OBJECTIONS TO EIA OF REMODELLING OF CANAL BANK ROAD LAHORE PROJECT ON BEHALF OF PAKISTAN ENVIRONMENT LAWYERS ASSOCIATION (PELA)

Respectfully Submitted: That the EIA filed by the proponent i.e, B, Government of the Punjab is not environment friendly. Infact it is a document that encourages pollution, destroys trees and green park land, damages biodiversity, adds to global warming and materially contributes to climate change.

EIA is therefore, unlawful, deficient in material particulars and in blatant violation of Pakistan Environmental Protection Act, 1997, inter alia for the following easons:

1. JURISDICTION The proponent being the Provincial Government, the EIA cannot be submitted before the Environmental Protection Department of the Provincial Government for approval.

No one can be a judge in its own cause is an established legal principle which stands blatantly violated in this case. The EIA in the present case should be submitted to the Federal EPA for Approval.

Further the delegation under section 26 of the PEPA is to the Provincial Government but has not been further delegated to any department of the Provincial Government under section 26(2) of the said Act. The powers under the PAKISTAN ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY (REVIEW OF IEE AND EIA) REGULATIONS, 2000 have not been delegated to Provincial EPD and therefore the Federal EPA has jurisdiction over the matter.

Transparency and good governance also demands that the EIA be sent to the Federal EPA as the provincial environment protection department cannot independently exercise its mind to the present case and is subject to dictation by the provincial government.

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2. NO GUIDELINES FOR PUBLIC CONSULTATION UNDER REGULATION 10 (6) ?

No guideless have been prepared for public consultation and hearing. In the absence of which the present public hearing is ineffective and meaningless.

3. SCOPE OF THE PROJECT? The scope of the project is not clear. Remodeling of the canal bank road is meaningless and does not qualify to be a project under PEPA. In essence it is a project to improve the flow of traffic in Lahore.

There cannot be a project to improve the flow of traffic on a stretch of 14 km in isolation without considering its effects on the overall traffic flow in Lahore city as this canal bank road feeds traffic into the city. The EIA is seriously flawed in its scope and therefore the entire study is deficient and does not address the real issue and does not merit approval.

The EIA fails to discuss the viability of the project in the future.

4. COMMITTEE OF EXPERTS. The review process of EIA cannot be set in motion unless the Committee of Experts has been constituted under Regulation 11. Further Advisory Committee and Environmental Assessment Advisory Committee under section 5(6) of the Act and Regulation 23of the Regulations, 2000 have not been constituted or announced. The EIA process cannot begin unless the entire review procedures are put in place.

5. QUALIFICATIONS AND EXPERIENCE OF THE TEAM OF NESPAK HAVING PREPARED THE EIA There is no reference to the qualifications and experience of the professionals who have prepared the EIA. There experience in traffic planning and management and experience is essential to the study.

6. EIA IN VIOLATION OF THE PEPA ACT, 1997 Section 2 (xi) of PEPA inter alia, states that an EIA must have the following: a. Collection Of Data ( Base line data) Collection of existing baseline data is essential in order to assess the environmental impact of the Project. In the present case NESPAK has not collected any scientific data to asses the present situation e.g. Independent Tree Count, the size of the green park surrounding the 14 km road, quality of trees and their environmental benefits and advantages. The tree count has been surprisingly provided by Government of the Punjab (TEPA), the proponent is not a result of an independent tree count done by NESPAK. - 194 -

Air quality and noise levels are based on measurements done for only one day.

Seasonal data is required for the purpose. b. Prediction of Qualitative and Quantitative Environmental Impacts There are no scientific predications of the environmental impact on the city of Lahore.

There is not a word on the effects on the environment biodiversity after 30,000 trees are cut down and 60 acres of green park land is converted into concrete. It also fails to discuss the impact of vehicular air pollution after the traffic ids doubled on the canal bank road. It also fails to deal with the traffic flow as it gets of the canal bank road into the city of Lahore. c. Comparison of Alternatives: No innovative and scientific alternatives with a future vision of keeping Lahore a green city have been provided. Only two alternative routes have been mentioned in passing without any scientific evidence or data.

Not a single international study of any mega city has been discussed regarding traffic planning. While the world is reducing the use of vehicles and encouraging public transport and pedestranization, the EIA proposes the other way round. The qualification and expertise of the team at NESPAK attending to the said EIA is seriously suspect. d. Evaluation of Preventive, Mitigatory and Compensatory Measures.

Not a word on the cutting down of 30,000 trees and converting 60 acres of green park land into concrete. What mitigatory and compensatory measures have bee proposed.

What will happened when the same canal bank will have double or triple flow of traffic. While the world talks about climate change and global warming we are encouraging more traffic and more consumption and more pollution.

In view of the above submissions it is most respectfully prayed that the EIA filed by TEPA, Government of the Punjab should not be allowed approval under PEPA, 1997 and be rejected.

14-3-2007 Syed Mansoor Ali Shah Advocate Supreme Court of Pakistan Vice President [Punjab] PELA â&#x20AC;&#x201C; Pakistan Environmental Lawyers Association 15/2 FCC Syed Maratab Ali Road Gulberg-4, Lahore Tel: 5870300-3 Saima Amin Khawaja & Nusrat Jehna Nabeela Advocates High Court - Members PELA

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PROJECT 1.

The Canal, with its water body and diversity of flora and fauna accessible to the public, is a unique and valuable environmental asset of the city.

• • •

This park has been severely damaged in recent years by so-called ‘development’.

Any intervention related to this park should be designed to restore and enhance its character as a public park.

Any intervention that threatens to degrade its environment is not acceptable.

2.

The EIA Report as it stands is unacceptable as it is not technically sound or adequate.

• •

Even so, it recognizes that the present status of the environment is bad, and the project will have a very detrimental impact on the environment.

The causes of environmental degradation are: motor traffic; road widening; and depletion of trees and other plants.

3.

The Project justification is stated to be the need to improve traffic conditions in the city. We submit that the proposed project will: SEVERELY AND IRREVERSIBLY DAMAGE THE ENVIRONMENT 4. This Premise that increase of private motor vehicles with improvement of traffic conditions IS NOT CORRECT. 5. Improving Traffic Conditions in the city requires an examination of a number of variables that have not been addressed by the present project.

• • • • •

Payload: quantity, origin and destination; Mode: carrier capacity, speed and efficiency Infrastructure: terminals, medium (road, rail, air, water); interface and junctions Management: physical, administrative and financial control measures Costs: energy; environment, social, monetary.

6. Interim Measures should include the following: • • •

Reduce private motor traffic on the canal through physical, administrative and financial control measures; Improve public transport based on existing road network; Improve alternative routes including secondary and tertiary road network;

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COMMENTS ON ENVIRONMENTAL IMPACT REMODELLING OF CANAL BANK ROAD, LAHORE (Dharampura Underpass to Canal View Bridge)

ASSESSMENT

OF

In order to evaluate the EIA, it is imperative that we look at the legal framework within which the assessment has been conducted. According to the PEPA Act #34 (1997), the following constitute or lead to “adverse environmental effect”, or means “impairment of, or damage to, the environment”: • Impairment of or damage to human health and safety or to biodiversity and property • Pollution; • Any adverse environmental effect as may be specified in the regulations INITIAL ENVIRONMENTAL EXAMINATION A preliminary environmental review of the reasonable foreseeable qualitative and quantitative impacts on the environment of a proposed project in order to determine whether it is likely to cause an adverse environmental effect for requiring preparation of an Environmental Impact Assessment ENVIRONMENTAL IMPACT ASSESSMENT An environmental study comprising collection of data, prediction of qualitative and quantitative impacts, comparisons of alternatives, environmental management and training plans and monitoring arrangements, and framing of recommendations and such other components as may be prescribed.

Environmental impacts due to change in land use on the canal road PROPONENT The person who proposes or intends to undertake a project SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT Development that meets the needs of the present generation without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their needs.

NOTE: PEPA requires the constitution of a Committee of Experts for consultation. The DG is empowered to constitute such a committee and to inspect the site of the project QUESTIONS: • • •

Who conducted this EIA – what are their qualifications?

Where are the projections for qualitative and quantitative impacts once the project is operational?

What is the methodology for conducting quantitative and qualitative research?

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• • • • •

Where is the questionnaire which was used to elicit views of “respondents” (516) Why have the “alternatives” as stated in the Executive Summary not been explored? Where is the scientific evidence which leads to the exclusion of options 1, 2, and 3? (page viii) What are the projections for the so-called “new opportunities for skilled and unskilled labour”. Is this during the construction phase only? If not, what is the evidence of future economic development What are the guidelines for public consultation?

What mechanisms exist for the monitoring of vehicles which emit unacceptable levels of toxins

SPACE FOR FURTHER QUESTIONS A comparison of the benefits and costs of the proposed project is as follows: ADVERSE IMPACTS Cutting of 1850 trees and loss of Generation of economic activity through ecological Opportunities of skilled and unskilled habitat leading to unhealthy emissions labor of toxins with no absorptive mitigating capacity Fast movement of traffic Loss of green spaces for public use Permanent loss of eco-system Hazardous handling and disposal of construction waste Contamination of surface and ground water Disruption of traffic Deterioration of air quality Increase in noise level to unacceptable levels Impact on pedestrian bridges Safety of workers and public Safety of pedestrians and cyclists and slow moving animal driven vehicles Destruction of flora and fauna Permanent change of land use BENEFITS

Notes: • The Mitigation Costs table in section 7 (p. 7-11) is inadequate and does not address mitigation measures other than plantation of trees and grass.

• There is no survey of the existing animal/bird/plant life, and no projection at all regarding the consequences of the destruction of this habitat • There is no projection for noise levels in the post-operation phase • Noise levels given in tables 6.3 and 6.4 do not address the acceptable Dba’s for residential areas during and after construction of the project - 198 -

• • • •

• • • • • •

There is no projection of Air Quality during the post-construction phase. This is necessary for a projection into the future to a minimum of ten years What will be the projected noise levels once the buffer and absorption provided by the trees is lost to felling?

Where shall the asphalt plants (a banned substance elsewhere) be set up? Will scrubbers be provided to mitigate dust levels?

How far shall the dust travel?

How shall public safety be ensured and monitored? What shall be the impact of dust on the health of users and residents? What is the cost to the public health sector in terms of disease and illnesses resulting from increased levels of dust and other toxic emissions?

What is the level of carbon currently being emitted by traffic on the canal bank road and what is the volume of that emission which is being absorbed by the existing trees?

What is the projected level of carbon emissions and what percentage of this shall be absorbed by the remaining trees after 1850 trees are cut?

What scientific grounds are there for branding the eucalyptus tree an “enemy” The EIA contradicts its own conclusions regarding tree felling as stated in Section 6: (p.6-7) There will be a significant and permanent change in the eco-system of the canal area with the destruction of the habitat of many living creatures. (p.6-8) There will be significant and permanent change in land use which is not in the interest of the public (p.6-9)

ENVIRONMENT Air Sampling procedure is insufficient and lacks reliability only carried out for 24 hrs. seasonal variations and other meteorological factors not taken into consideration.02 secondary pol1utant no observations given on that~ N02 chemical reaction with heat and sunlight converts to 02.no levels of 02 taken.

• • • • •

Increased air pollution due to two impacts. Cutting of trees and increase in volume of traffic.

Increased Volume of traffic will increase pollution...no significant decrease due to smooth flow, as problem of emissions is related to bad maintenance of vehicles and not there speed.

It will infact be increased almost double, as currently the mature trees are absorbing 140lbs of pollutants daily. With the tree cutting required for widening it will increase the pollution in the air.

If the number of trees is 1850 as claimed the pollution increase will amount t0259000 lbs daily. This is without calculating the increase due to volume of traffic.

The other fact being the number of trees and vegetation being removed is not accurate, as area being used for widening comprises a much larger tree and vegetation cover than is being claimed.

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• • • • •

Resulting increased smog like conditions in winter would result in extremely hazardous conditions. Leading to accidents and loss of life that would be irreparable.

In the summer months with sizzling temperatures the heat island affect would take place. This in turn would lead to temperature increase of 2 to 3 degrees in the immediate vicinity.

Summer haze would result in change in meteorology of the city.

Health of millions will be affected due to increased pollution level in air and water.

Life of people gravely endangered by volume and high intensity traffic.

Water • •

Recharge zones in the project area will be covered with concrete therefore less groundwater replenishment.

Pollution to the surface water bodies and infiltration of surface; pollution to ground water will increase as roots of trees and vegetation which act as filters of water pollution are removed.

Soil • • •

Soil pollution inevitable. Runoff from car tires and other vehicular oils etc.

Seepage again into groundwater after rains.

Soil erosion and increase siltation in canal.

Biodiversity This very unique ecology in the centre of the city is a treasure that is invaluable and irreplaceable Loss of habitat - ecological damage irreversible.

Trees and vegetation whatever the size important as each has beneficial impact and as stated in EIA this will be a significant change and adversely impact ecological system of the area the impact will be a major negative effect and permanent.

•

• • •

Loss of indigenous fauna in the area a major loss to Lahore and its ecology each loss of fauna has a chain reaction and impacts the sustainability of the area as a living environment. Fauna found include squirrels,mi ce, snakes,rabbits.

Owls, sparrows, pigeons, parrots, crows, and many other species such as woodpecker hoopoe maina bird etc.

Some migratory species such as Indian night jar brown throated swift named in the E.I.A. would disappear from the area.

This is macro affects; on a micro level the other species such as worms, insects and other microorganism which are part of the natural environment and an integral part of an interdependent ecosystem will be irreversibly destroyed.

The killing of the biodiversity of the area will have long-term impacts and costs.

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• •

The need and viability of this project is completely vitiated by the loss and destruction caused to the natural environment and should not be allowed at any cost.

Alternatives even if initial cost is higher should be undertaken to resolve the issue.

Noise NEQS are only for industrial standards. There are no standards for community noise in Pakistan. The standards vary internationally from 35 to 50 decibels for community noise exposure. the duration of this level also has different and subtle impacts. 45 decibels sleep disturbances; result lack of restful sleep. Eventual sleep deprivation leading to neurological problems. Over 70 decibels hearing damage begins.

Impact of This is usually not considered as having any major. consequences however this is one of the most insidiously chronic issues that if ignored leads to changes in the human psychology and personality.

• • •

Increase in noise due to traffic on the road will cause sleep disturbance to the residents of the area.

Noise pollution is a major cause of neurological disorders, irritibality, headaches, and hearing.

Further more studies carried out on communities affected by noise or sOlmd pollution show elevated levels of blood pressure, heart disease ane psychological traumas are direct consequences of persistent or sudden noise/sound exposure. Two studies reveal the silent but disabling impact

a) a study (Cohen et.al1973) determined that elementary school children living near or going to school near a heavy traffic areas showed greater reading impairment than children not exposed to such persistent sound pollution. b) In another study it was found that background noise can increase irritability and annoyance to levels that can result in violent behavior on self (suicide) and those around.

Other considerations: • •

•

Impact of high intensity traffic on the university and hospitals on the route.

Endangering human life not assessed clearly.

No importance is given to ecology and human life infact ignored despite the severe impacts being mentioned as 'severe' and 'irreversible'. Only favorable aspect is that no land acquisition is required otherwise all other impacts are negative.

Only temporary Benefit to traffic, as increased traffic is inevitable if vehicles encouraged using this alternative. This will eventually result in same traffic problems, which will require more costs long-term and other routes will be required at later stage. There is no sustainability in this.

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â&#x20AC;˘

How long the singular benefit of traffic flow by this widening of the canal will last, not been estimated therefore the viability and need for project not established.

DETAILED COMMENTS ON TREE REPLANTATION 1. The object of removing trees, as has been explained by the authorities is to widen the canal bank roads. There will be larger paved areas reflecting solar light, absorbing and radiating solar heat. Temperatures of the city are bound to rise.

2. Removing of large established trees would put even greater stress on the environment. One tree of average size provides 600,000 BTU'S worth of cooling. Multiply this with the number of trees to be destroyed and any lay person can understand the serious impact it would have on the environment.

3. On the other hand, if tree saplings are planted instead, as has been done every year, they would need fifteen to twenty years to attain a size necessary for attaining productivity.

4. Saplings are technically young trees, which have sprouted sufficient roots to sustain a fair amount of leaves. The trees, which are being planted with a lot of fanfare every quarter, are actually small cuttings without any roots or leaves to sustain them. To take root, these cuttings need tender loving care like feeding, watering, protection from pests and vandals, and suitable location conducive to growth.

5. In addition the PHA [Parks and Horticulture Authority] are removing fullgrown trees from Jinnah Hospital for widening of roads. These trees are being transplanted in another location. They claim that these trees were not damaged and that they are going to remove selected canal bank trees in a similar manner. In our opinion, this thinking is noble but naive. The effort, which has gone into this action, is commendable. We cannot but admire the heroic effort and salute the officers and men for their tenaciousness, dedication, determination and hard work, especially when they did not have the advantage of training or the equipment necessary for the job.

6. Allow us to say that this is not a sound practice for the following reasons: a) time required to transplant several thousand trees b) cost in man and machine hours c) physical danger to workers and the public d) chances of interfering with underground services and overhead wires e) high chances of losing healthy, full-grown trees if and when the root ball is damaged f) the tree goes into a shock due to loss of roots and water content to transpiration g) Besides, there will be loss of limbs of the tree and damage to its bark, exposing it to slow death by fungi, insects and disease.

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h) Above all, if the denuded area are not replanted with trees of the same size and mass there will be serious degradation of environment.

The object should not be to accomplish the feat of transplanting full grown trees. It should be to save them.

REMODELING OF CANAL BANK ROAD, LAHORE (Dharampura Underpass to Canal View Bridge) Comments on Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) Report By WWF – Pakistan - [An LBT Partner] Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) report prepared by National Engineering Services Pakistan (NESPAK), Lahore has been thoroughly reviewed by WWFPakistan.

The report is quite general and only briefly touched the important environmental issues such as discussing the practically possible alternative options, change in micro environmental conditions due to cutting of huge number of trees etc. The report failed to address many important issues and aspects, which are extremely critical and need to be addressed in the EIA report.

Our comments on the EIA report are as follows; 1. The process of IEE/EIA should ensure that the appropriate techniques and experts in the relevant bio-physical and socioeconomic disciplines are employed, including use of traditional knowledge as relevant. According to the Pakistan Environmental Protection Agency’s “Guidelines for the Preparation and Review of Environmental Reports, 1997” the listing of all consultants, their expertise and responsibilities in the environmental report is strongly recommended. No such list of professionals involved in this multidisciplinary decision making process is provided in the document.

2. Terms of Reference (TOR) is a contractual document between the proponent and the Consultants describing the detailed scope of work and tasks to be carried out by the Consultants. Publishing the TORs in the environmental report is also recommended in the Pak-EPA’s guidelines for the preparation and review of environmental reports. No TOR is published in this Report.

3. Section 1, page 1-2, it was stated that “the guidelines of Asian Development Bank (ADB) and Punjab Municipal Development Fund Corporation (PMDFC) have been followed to prepare a checklist (Rapid Assessment Checklist), which is attached on the next page”. It was observed that no such checklist was attached with the report. Further, Rapid Assessment Checklists are mostly used for Rapid Environmental Impact Assessment (REIA), these checklists may not be appropriate for a detailed Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA)

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4. Description of the project is not in detail. Publishing only satellite images and some general cross section of the road does not mean that you are giving details of the proposed project. The project description should be in sufficient detail to give a clear picture of the project. It is difficult to understand the project master plan as the drawings included in EIA report are of poor quality and does not show all the project components such as status of the existing underpasses, were these underpasses also be remodelled? What about bottle necks at those underpasses as few of them are only two lanes? What about left and right side exits? It is clear that until and unless these existing underpasses were not remodelled the problems of traffic congestion will not be solved, rather, it will be a traffic mess near these underpasses and the probability of accidents will significantly increase. In addition, the location of temporary worker’s camps, access roads for transporting raw material, excavation activities, etc. are not described in the report.

5. Section 2, page 2-3 “The Land Acquisition Act, 1894” was mentioned under relevant laws to this project. It is understood from project description that there is no property acquisition involved in this project, therefore, no land acquisition & compensation plan is required. Hence, there is no need to mention this act as relevant to the project. This shows the quality of the report and the level of awareness of the Consultants regarding legal requirements.

6. Discussing different alternatives is very important for environmental assessment point of view. The project alternatives discussed in the EIA report are poorly described. The reasons given for their rejection are poorly justified.

In addition to this some very important recommendations were also given in the alternative section, which were mentioned as “temporary improvements”.

These so called temporary improvements are actually important alternatives to this project and should be considered and evaluated in terms of suitability and sustainability. Further, no alternatives related to technologies, project execution timeframe etc. are considered and discussed in the report.

7. The main purpose of establishing the baseline conditions of the Project area is to provide benchmark for the monitoring of the physical and biological aspects of environment. The baseline conditions established in this report are too general and of extremely poor quality, for example; a. Only 7 basic parameters of surface water quality were selected to establish the baseline for the quality of the canal water. Some important parameters such as oil & grease etc. which are likely to be changed during the construction phase are not analyzed. The amounts of Total Suspended Solids (TSS) in the canal water are 800 times more than the National Environmental Quality Standards (NEQS) for industrial effluents. This shows that canal water is highly contaminated not only due to silt but also due to decaying plant and animal matter, industrial wastes and sewage, higher concentrations of bacteria, nutrients, pesticides, and metals b. Basic parameters for ambient air quality were selected for establishing the baseline conditions for ambient air quality in the area, an important - 204 -

element of lead is however missing in the data, which is perhaps the most important factor to establish the ambient air quality on such roadside projects.

8. The future traffic forecast was given in “Section 5.2.8 – Traffic Volume, page 5-11”. The projection was based on the existing situation and only done without keeping any other future developments in mind. If other major recommendations/projects as mentioned on page 4-2 were considered and implemented, then the situation of traffic projection will certainly be different as forecasted in the report.

9. The ecological resources of the area were also very poorly documented in the report, for example; a. Traffic Engineering & Transport Planning Agency (TEPA) is the proponent of this project. It is shocking to see that environmental consultants used the inventory of trees, which was prepared by the proponents (TEPA). This information is likely to be biased. Cutting of huge number of trees is a sensitive issue and a very important aspect of this project, and consultants don’t even bothered to establish the inventory of their own. This puts a question mark on the credibility of this report. b. Only trees with more than 1 foot of diameter were included in the inventory by TEPA. What about trees which are smaller than I foot diameter? c. The terms like “common, fancy, others etc.” were given in the inventory of trees. What does that means? May be trees that were not identified (endangered or unique) were termed as fancy or others? d. Quite a few mistakes were observed in the report regarding tree names, few of them are; Alustonia as mentioned in the EIA report is actually Alstonia, Monusri is actually Molsuri, Shareen is actually Siris and Papular is actually Poplar. This clearly reflects the accuracy of the report regarding ecological resources. e. The tree species counting in the EIA report Remodelling of Canal Bank Road from Dharampura to Canal View Bridge, Thokar Niaz Baig in Table 5.7 does not mention the names and counting of the following tree species in the inventory of trees: 1.

2.

3.

4.

5.

6.

7.

8.

Dhreek Melia azedarach Kachnar Bauhinia variegata Paper Mulberry Broussonetia papyrifera Beri Patta Heterophrgma adenophyllum Amaltas Cassia fistula Small Anjeer Ficus carica Bottle Palm Callistemon viminalis Tun Cedrela toona - 205 -

9.

10.

11.

12.

Silver oak Grevilia robusta Kikar Acacia nilotica Gul-e-Nashtar Erythrina suberosa Siris Albizzia lebbek

These trees make up a total of 412 trees on the Left Bank of Lahore Canal Bank.

(Methodology of tree species counting on the green belts of Lahore Canal Bank is attached as Annexure 1 and List of tree species of left and right bank green belt of Lahore Canal Bank from Mustafabad Bridge to Thoker Niaz Beg is attached as Annexure 2 and Annexure 3 respectively) f.

Khajoor (Date) tree was not observed at the left and right bank of Lahore Canal Bank.

g.

The tree mentioned as Bhor which was counted 30 in total on the left and right green belts is actually counted as only 2 Banyan Ficus bengalensis in total only at the right green belts on the Lahore Canal Bank. Similarly, Pipal which was counted 41 in total on the left and right green belts is actually counted as only 16 Pipal Ficus religiosa in total only at the right green belt on the Lahore Canal Bank. (Difference of tree species counting of EIA report and WWF-P project enclosed as Annexure 3)

10. A general list of animals and plants is given in “Section 5.3.2 – Fauna”.

Names of some specific bird species were also mentioned in this section such as Little Brown Dove, Wood Pigeon, Indian Jungle Night Jar, Brown Throated Spine Tail Swift etc. It is interesting to note that according to T.J. Roberts “The birds of Pakistan 1991” a.

The Wood Pigeon is confined to lower altitudes and hill tracts, in parts of Salt Range and Waziristan. It also occurs sparsely in Baluchistan on the lower slopes of major mountain ranges. The wood pigeon has never been recorded from Lahore by any reliable bird watcher. The pigeon in the Canal Bank habitat is not the Wood Pigeon but it is Yellow-footed Green Pigeon Treron phoenicoptera.

b.

Little or Indian Nightjar Caprimulgus asiatiais is absent from the Punjab, it occurs only in Southern Sindh from Tharparker District through Thatta District. Similarly, Jungle Nightjar or Grey or Japenese Nightjar Caprimulgus indicus is a summer visitor to the Murree Hills with a few straggling westwards into the forested slopes of Neelum valley. They are common at higher altitudes between 6,000-8,000 feet elevation in the Murree hills. It does not occur anywhere in the plains of Punjab. Therefore, according to Roberts 1991, both of these are not found in the Canal Bank habitat.

c.

Similarly, White-throated Spine Tail Swift Hirundapus caudacutus is only found in Murree hills and Neelum Valley above Machiara. It does not occur in Lahore. Brownthroated Spinetail - 206 -

Swift (Chaetura gigantean indica Hume) is also not recorded in Lahore. It is a resident; described also as local migrant in some parts, but movements as yet not understood. Distribution: Assam, Naga land, Manipur and Mizo; E. Pakistan hill tracts; the Western Ghats strip from Goa and N. Kanara (c. 15 째N lat) south ward through W. Mysore, W. Tamil Nadu (including Nilgiri, Palni and associated hills) and Karala; Ceylon; Andaman Islands, (Nicobars?) from the seacoast to the mountain tops. (Ali & Ripley 1983) d.

The bird species Grey Hornbill Tockus nasutus, Yellow-footed Green Pigeon Treron phonicoptera, Alexandrine Parakeets Psittacula eupatria and Rose-ringed Parakeet Psittacula krameri which are observed here prefer to feed on the ripe wild figs of Banyan and Pipal trees. Out of these three bird species Grey Hornbill, Yellow-footed Green Pigeon and Alexandrine Parakeets have become threatened due to less number of Pipal and Banyan trees in the whole Lahore. There only habitat is where Banyan and Pipal trees are in abundance and that is an old remnant patchy fragmented habitat such as Mayo Gardens, Lahore Zoo, Aitchison College, Kinnaird College, Jinnah Gardens, Lahore Cantonment, GOR, Governor House.

e.

The bird species Grey Hornbill Tockus nasutus prefer to make nesting cavities in Arjun, Simal and Poplar trees with nesting height 20-35 feet. Yellow-footed Green Pigeon Treron phonicoptera prefer to breed on Gul-e-Nashtar, Mango and Jaman at a preferable height of between 10-20 feet. Alexandrine Parakeets Psittacula eupatria prefer to make nesting cavities on Simal and Arjun at a preferable height of 20-35 feet. If Arjun, Simal, Poplar, Mango, Jaman are cut than this will destroy the breeding habitat of these threatened birds.

(List of identified Bird Species of Lahore Canal from Mustafaabad to Thokar Niaz Baig is enclosed as Annexure 5) f.

This shows the level of awareness of consultants with regards to ecological significance of the area. It clearly reflects that no professional ecologist has been consulted by the environmental consultants and the information provided in the report is not up to the required mark.

11. In addition to the above, no ecological linkages between tress and other animals have been established in the report. Study of ecology is not just mentioning few names of trees, animals and birds etc. it is quite more than that.

12. No study methodology was presented in the EIA report for conducting environmental assessments. The report fails to document appropriate methodologies particularly used for ecological baseline data collection and compilation.

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13. The level of public consultation is extremely poor. The results given in the report does not reflect the true picture due to number of reasons, for example; a.

Respondents were only given the choice of four multiple answers to the questions regarding positive and negative impacts of the project.

Just answering those questions does not means that respondents are in favour or in opposition of this project. The respondents should be given the freedom to express their views, which should be documented in the report.

b.

No results of scoping session or formal interviews were given in the report.

c.

Answers to the Question 14 of the survey questionnaire â&#x20AC;&#x153;do you face traffic congestions and bottlenecks on Canal Bank Roadâ&#x20AC;? were not (may be deliberately) documented in the report.

d.

Public consultation has only been done just for the sake of meeting report requirements. Absolutely no importance has been given to the concerns raised by the respondents (page 5-25) in the impact identification process or while suggesting mitigation measures.

14. No methodology for impact identification and evaluation has been given in the EIA report. Section 6 enlists the potential environmental impacts of the proposed project during construction and operation stage. But the section lack rational classification of the impacts. The anticipated environmental impacts during the construction and operational stage should be classified as reversible or irreversible, long term or short term etc. and their significance should be determined based on their classification. An impact matrix is used for such purpose; no such impact matrix is prepared and presented in the report.

15. The impacts identified during construction stage are general in nature and many important and significant impacts were ignored in the report. Some major anticipated impacts during construction stage would be; a. b. c.

d. e.

Disturbance for the college and university students Micro climate change due to tree removal Extra pressure on water supply and sewage infrastructure. The report is silent on the disposal of sewage from construction camps, either it will be disposed of in canal without treatment or in the existing infrastructure.

Problem of municipal solid waste generated in the construction camps is not addressed in the report Movement of university students from hostels to educational block due to the overhead bridges been affected.

16. The impacts identified during operation stage are also general in nature and major negative impacts were deliberately ignored in the report. Such as problems to university students due to noise etc. so much so, the increase in - 208 -

road accident intensity due to increased number of vehicles and increased speed is considered as moderate adverse impact. Please note that increase threat to life and intensity of accident is not a moderate impact it is for sure a significant and severe impact. On the other hand, less wear and tear of the vehicles due to the smooth road is considered as major positive impact. How far you can go for being biased in evaluating the impacts.

17. Also the mitigation measures given for the negative impacts are unrealistic and non practical. For example, it is stated in Section 6.2.8 – Noise, on page 615 that “the noise level can be controlled by allowing only properly serviced and tuned vehicles on the road”. Is it practically possible? What mechanism or policy will be needed to implement this mitigation measure?

18. In Section 6.1.9 – Flora, page 6-7, the report admits that “trees are vital ecosystem, which performs variety of functions for the improvement of environment such as reduction in air pollution, noise abatement, cooling effect on earth, supply of oxygen etc.” Large amount of mature trees with more than one foot diameter (1850 as per EIA report) and countless number of small trees with diameter less than one foot (number intentionally not given in the report) will be cut down due to this project. The impact on micro climate and on air quality due to these tree losses was no where mentioned in the report. In addition, the air quality data depicted in the report shows that apart from all that traffic congestion, the quality of the air except particulate matter is well within the USEPA standards for ambient air quality. This is perhaps due to the large amount of tree presence in the area. The quality of air will be significantly affected if those trees will be gone for good.

19. No impacts on the aesthetic values of the area have been identified in the report and no mitigation measures were proposed accordingly.

20. No management system is given for solid waste disposal, which is likely to be generated during the construction stage.

21. On many places in the report mitigation measures are generally explained, but no list of equipments or processes needed for their implementation are actually given in the report.

22. Monitoring and Evaluation (M&E) is an important tool for the managers to determine the status of the Project. Only through a well planned and organized system of M&E, the progress against the given targets for the various subcomponents of a development project can be achieved. Generally two types of monitoring and evaluation processes are involved in a development project i.e. internal and external monitoring. Internal monitoring includes performance monitoring, whereas external monitoring includes impact monitoring and completion audit. Section 8 – Environmental Monitoring and Management Plan (EMMP) provides the necessary framework for M&E for the implementation of mitigation measures identified in the EIA report. Major M&E responsibilities are given to the proponents. As a best practice, it is highly recommended that M&E should be done by any independent - 209 -

organization. The provision of external monitoring by any independent monitoring organization is lacking in the report. Therefore, it is highly recommended that the provision of external monitoring should be included in the EMMP. RECOMMENDATIONS The subject EIA totally ignores activity, location, process input and scheduling alternatives. Furthermore, important questions about the potential effects associated with huge number of tree cutting have not been answered.

The EIA report failed to address the important issues to be dealt with and also does not fulfil the basic standards and requirements of an effective EIA report. We, therefore, request EPD – Punjab to reject the subject EIA and ask the Consultants to re-submit it addressing all important environmental issues and also incorporating all comments from relevant stakeholders.

As far as I am concerned, conclusively, the above story is a national crisis. We the people of Lahore simply cannot allow this ruthless destruction of our urban fabric … the price we will have to pay is too high !

According to the World Health Organization, our country shall not meet the Millenium Development Goals by the year 2015, we shall not be able to reduce hunger by half or to save infants and mothers from dying in the birth process.

However we shall have the finest IT Park in south Asia, and we shall have everwidening roads on which to run our ever-expanding retinue of luxury cars.

Ladies and Gentlmen, what seems to be missing in this entire discourse is the paramount importance of human life, of human potential and achievement, of human happiness. We need to re-contextualize this debate within the larger framework of human rights and development. There can be no development without addressing the issues of rights, needs and priorities. The question to be asked today is: Development of what and for whom ?. We must boldly question agendas implemented through adhoc decisions…We must question the destruction of our cities for vested interests that have nothing to do with the interest of the people, and so:

WE DEMAND • • • • • • •

That this project be STOPPED IMMEDIATELY AD-HOC decisions be REVERSED IMMEDIATELY COMMERCIALIZATION OF THE Canal Road BE STOPPED & REVERSED TRAFFIC MANAGEMENT PUBLIC TRANSPORT be IMPROVED IMMEDIATELY PEDESTRIAN NETWORKS & TIME ZONING options be CREATED IMMEDIATELY A ‘SUSTAINABLE & GREEN VISION’ for Lahore Be DEVELOPED IMMEDIATELY with CITIZEN PARTICIPATION - 210 -

WHAT WE HAVE LEARNT….

•

What we have learnt here is that those in the arbitrary and ephemeral corridors of power will do, use and abuse the written laws of the country if unchecked…and if there is no clear law, will blatantly plunder and destroy all that comes in their way under the guise of ‘so called development’ or fancy pet phrases like ‘poverty reduction’.

•

What we have learnt is that selfless commitment with integrity and the attitude to make a difference …does work !

•

What we have learnt is that although initially daunting to take on the powers that be……Once a bold firm step is taken in the direction of confrontation and questioning, both through legal and institutional frameworks and through the media thousands will fearlessly follow with passion and belief and a deep rooted sense of ‘we matter’, if we do not look after our cities and our lives’ who will…there will be change…

•

What we know is that all the wolves in sheep’s clothing can be exposed and one can actually see millions of cats running out of bags to save their lives…

•

That once an awareness is created..it spreads faster than light, illuminating and lighting up the hearts and souls of everyone along the way…that it becomes an unstoppable beginning to a much needed process to start.

•

That perceptions change..people and attitudes change..that the tone, delivery, mannerism and stance of those who think they are answerable to none change

•

That this empowerment becomes a tidal wave that cannot be stopped…

•

That the factor of fear must be rooted out and replaced by the factor of human compassion and understanding, that arrogance be replaced with humility and strength of character and purpose, that exclusion must be replaced with inclusion, that megalomanias must be curbed and that instead of the stomachs of a few intellectually rotten elements , the stomachs of all should be full with contentment, harmony.

•

That sharing, input, consensus, commitment and follow through are essential to expanding and supporting networks both nationally and internationally...this becomes one of the layers of increasing the probability of success against tyranny and ad-hocism.

•

I would like to suggest that we form a coalition of such organizations to stand united and support the cause of better and humane environments for all. That this be anchored and centered primarily in the Asian region. I truly believe that Asia must recognize and value its inherent potential as the new world leader…as a region that takes and makes the best policies and decisions. That the time is now! Unless we stand united and support each other on an Asian - 211 -

network grid, there is danger of being led astray by forces that may prove to bigger than its parts...No weak links in this chain, the fire and fury of a right to dignity is ours for the taking.

OUR COLLECTIVE VISION AND GOALS ARE: • • • • • • • • • • • • • •

To recognize the unique features both built and natural of local communities and the city To affirm that protection of cultural heritage & the environment, as an expression of local culture and humane habitats is critical to our survival To make alliances and partnerships with as many institutions and individuals…..linking diversity with the purpose of 'inclusion' and social cohesion.

To understand the intrinsic value of bio-diversity and the environment as unique and irreplaceable assets To empower citizens, stakeholders and organisations and 'let the voice of the people be heard' That there be full inclusion of all stakeholders in the 'decision making process' to plan interventions in the city To realize that Lahore is a ' special historic city' and to adopt a 'do no harm' policy to maintain its identity To create partnerships both international and local that will link us to a network of committed people with a mutually supportive agendas To forge and reinforce this network To create an awareness that the 'development paradigm' needs to be changed and shifted to a humane understanding of ground realities and to understand that development has a cultural context To seek equity and empowerment of all people for a 'vision of sustainable development' that is 'people centered' To create a 'pro-active agenda' for mobilisation and action at parallel levels, and to 'act' on it To have a vision that is analytical and conceptual grounding us with concrete knowledge To create a coalition of caring...for our city to have a memory and identity and for the people to take charge of their own destinies

With local and international networks supporting the Lahore Bachao Tehreek and the Darakht Bachao Campaign..we plan to continue our struggle to strive and persevere, with our heads held high, a glow in our eyes and a dream in our hearts.

This tyranny must stop, this is a start…to social empowerment... because of our movement, we are already getting phone calls from all over the country on how to do what we have done, asking us about procedures, how they can learn …this is so encouraging, and I am proud to say that in the last few months three to four people’s groups have emerged trying to save their cities on various issues, but all with the prefix ‘Bachao’…which means ‘save’ which came from the Lahore Bachao Tehreek.

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GROUND REALITIES There is no dearth of precedents, more than a decade of infrastructure projects aimed at relieving traffic lies before us in the city of Lahore, none of them have worked.

Lahore’s experience in attempting to regulate traffic by widening roads is an example for any other developing metropolis. Building larger roads only leads to more cars on them. To begin with any solution to traffic congestion based on widening existing roads is stuck in the same post World War II paradigm. It was the Americans and the Europeans who first realized, after about a decade of large scale infrastructure projects meant to keep people employed and to redevelop war-ravaged countryside, that widening roads was ‘not’ the solution. The ‘reasons’ for traffic had to be understood. Blindly adhering to a capacity/usage ratio can only lead in one direction..more roads. Baseline data and population densities must be analyzed, in terms of roads used and the need to commute.

A fundamental link is understood through such traffic and density surveys revealing a fundamental link between traffic and land use. Most of Lahore’s commercial and business areas, hospitals, institutions, markets and government offices, are all located within the same two mile radius. Widening the road would not have reduced the need for people to travel on the canal. The Lahore Traffic Engineering and Planning Agency, quotes the increased number of cars as the sole reason for widening the road, at no stage do their documents reveal an understanding of the dynamics linking traffic and land use. Everyday over 500 cars are being added to the vehicular traffic of Lahore, how far could they widen roads? The tragedy is that over 800 million rupees of taxpayers money, mis-allocated from the entire Punjab Budget is to be spent on this project. The fact is that over 80 main sewers discharge raw sewage and domestic wastewater directly into the canal. The water that is now becoming dangerously polluted needs to be cleaned up, this money should be spent on providing sewerage facilities to those who are forced to pipe it into the canal. The list of deserving projects never ends.

Other methods employed by far-sighted traffic planners are to re-design and expand cities in a manner that does away with the need for automobiles as much as possible.

By planning and taking facilities to the periphery of the city and bringing utilities and institutions nearer to residential areas, traffic use can be reduced. Further reduction in traffic loads can be achieved by providing effective public transport between neighbourhoods and between one’s residence and place of work. Employing such techniques, other cities more populated and automated than Lahore have better flowing traffic. We should learn from the example of the mayor of Seoul who tore down the elevated highway over the city’s Cheonggecheon stream and replaced it with a pedestrian green space and business cum residential district. The project cost just under US$ I billion, but netted the city over US$ 500 million in investment. We need to learn from the vision of the Mayor of Bogota, Enrique Penalosa, who presided over the transition of a city the world had given up on. Bogota had lost itself in slums, chaos, violence and traffic. During his three year term, Penalosa brought initiatives that would seem impossible in most cities.

He created a highly efficient ‘bus highway’ transit system, reconstructed hundreds of kilometers of sidewalks, more than 300 kilometres of bicycle tracks, pedestrian streets and more than 1200 parks.

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The tragedy and the facts of the Lahore Canal road widening are not that simple, I wish we could have said, lets show the city that this can be done effectively, lets lead them away from mis-guided development plans….but the fact of the matter is that the purpose of the project is not to facilitate anyone except those who have very deep pockets…the fact of the matter is that last year in 2006, very stealthily both sides of the Canal road were declared ‘commercial’. That is the motivating force….deals to be made and palms to be greased, for we are talking of one of the most prime real estate areas in the city of Lahore. Traditionally a neighbourhood, with plotting of four thousand square yards, having a one hundred and twenty foot green verge between the service and the main road on both sides, this unique environmental asset has over the years been narrowed and changed but despite it all managed to retain its identity and integrity. The green belts have invaluable fruit orchards and other indigenous trees, several over a hundred years old, shrubs, grass and bushes, which serve as an oasis in a city where temperatures go beyond 45 degrees in the summer. This 60 acres of public parkland has served as an invaluable place of refuge for millions. Building of this proposed motorway will raise the ambient temperature by 7 degrees Celsius.

With the proposed fourteen kilometer stretch becoming commercial and with new laws in place that almost declare a ‘no’ height restriction clause…the spectre of 5 star hotels, and unlimited vertical mixed-use construction looms large…eventually resulting in a fast moving motorway with a wall of high density skyscrapers stacked side by side, twenty eight kilometers long in the heart of the city!...

The tragedy is that this city is being sold, destroyed, annihilated, just because a few people without heart want a quick fix. How can we, the people of Lahore allow this.

Lahore is already choking with smog, noise, water and all other imaginable sources of pollution. The pollution levels along the on the canal road are already 30 per cent above the specified WHO standards.

The fact is that no matter how many professionals spend time and effort to create viable solutions, alternatives, successful ways of management and proposals, no matter how many groups meet with the Chief Minister, Minister for Environment, Chief Secretary, Mayor of the city and Chairman of the Environmental Protection Department, the agenda they carry seems to be different. Rubber stamped meetings, devious bureaucratic moves and statements, uncanny justifications to skirt the issue and divert the public, are the order of the day. Ways to suppress demobilize and demoralize the public at large will not cut ice any more, the people have now seen through their machinations. That is why it is so critical to understand the relevance of this movement, lame excuses, diversions and double talk will not be the order of the day anymore. We will speak, we have no fear, for it is our moral and professional responsibility, collectively as a concerned people to change our destinies. The Pakistan Medical Association, The Institute of Architects Pakistan, The Lahore Conservation Society, The Pakistan Council of Architects and Town Planners, WWF and thousands of ordinary citizens are among a long list of partners in the Lahore Bachao Tehreek and the Darakht Bachao Campaign.

GREEN GRIDS It is imperative that in Lahore a ‘Canal Restoration Project’ be started forthwith.

That the city of gardens be revitalized through a program of ‘Green Corridor - 214 -

Linkages’, making an accessible green pedestrian network. That the Canal be enhanced and time zoned for people’s activities and be made safe through traffic regulations and management at all times, most importantly it should be accessible as an important asset of the city for all to enjoy, without the ‘excluding’ intervention of putting in a motorway. The Canal should become a linear green open space facility creating a unique focus on sustainable and people related activities. ‘Green Belt Master Plan must be developed to create a network of green zones and open spaces throughout the city, foreseeing the conservation of whole tracts of land and space as ‘Ecologically Valuable Zones’ kept free of buildings. Special zoning ordinances, public land purchases, designation of protected zones under ‘nature conservation’ legislation should be put into place to ensure the continued existence of these zones.

These green spaces will serve as links and connectors, making the city porous and accessible. A sense of ownership, belonging and association will come back to the people, and give them pride and a sense of identity.

This strength of diversity in unity, and manifestation of social power is a first in many ways. Never in Pakistan, have so many people and institutions stood together so selflessly to voice their concern over their city.

CRITICAL ANALYSIS – THE WAY FORWARD Such processes of urban shifts inevitably cause contradictions chaos and violence.

They lay bare the fundamental paradox behind the conviction, promoted as official ideology of development in Asia’s so called modernization. The impulsive and so called fanatical pursuit of economic and monetary power becomes the ultimate goal for everything. This is a period of chaotic but exciting transition where cities are constantly being re-invented, renovated and reconstructed. At the beginning of the 20th century, only about 5 percent of the world population lived in urban areas, today, the figure is 40% and is projected to grow to 60% in the next 20 years. By 2030 nearly all the world’s population growth will be in urban areas, over the next 30 years the word’s population will increase from 2.9 billion to 4.9 billion. The largest population growth will occur in Asia1.As projected by the United Nations, this is the decade, and 2007 the year in which for the first time the number of urban dwellers will equal the number of rural dwellers.

In the developed world, urban environments are drastically reducing our resource base, accounting for 78% carbon emissions, 70% of water tapped for use, this level of consumption represents a truly massive scale of environmental alteration, that if replicated in Asia will simply not be ‘environmentally sustainable…cities in Asian countries are growing five times faster, over the next 20 years the fastest growth rate will occur in Asia and Africa. Asia’s urban population will then increase to a staggering one billion, most of the mega-cities will be in Asia, just one in America and one in Europe.

Just as staggering as it seems, a good example is China’s flash-urbanization where the objective is to build four hundred new cities by the year 2020, at a rate of 20 new cities per year. Market driven forces have created the disorganized arrangement of large blocks erected amidst traditional neighborhoods, juxtaposing commercial on top of residential, small intricate alleyways wrapped around bulky anonymous boxes - 215 -

seem to present a transient and momentary magic. The moment however is not likely to last. The difference is that China can beat the odds. China’s wave of modernization presents its citizens with choices to make for their future. China can realize its dreams, if it incorporates the new paradigm of sustainable, people centered, environmentally friendly cities.

UNESCO defines the word culture as the whole complex of distinctive spiritual, material, intellectual and emotional features that characterize a society or social group. It includes not only the arts and letters, but also modes of life, the fundamental rights of human beings, value systems, traditions, and beliefs. It becomes apparent from the above that every aspect of culture includes the tangible and intangible, that without care and sensitivity, it may be difficult create order out of an increasing state of chaos.

Where do we stand today? How do we relate the above to the specificity of each society and to the sweeping currents of globalization?

Our built environments are not fixed perceptions, but dynamic systems of visualization and sensory interactive spaces, critically important is the need to map new urban territories developing tools of representation, initiating a vocabulary addressing emerging ‘split’ paradigms. Good citi-making respects the inherent character of home, a sense of place, and local ways of living, historic and cultural heritage, both the tangible and intangible in essence absorbing the ‘urban grain’ to successfully initiate change.

Urban reconstruction development plans must work in congruence with the local governments and authorities, have effective legislation in place to monitor and implement change. Environmental protection and conservation are essential to ensuring ‘quality of life’. Urban morphology emphasizes the relationships between components of the city, looking at the internal logic of form. It is imperative to incorporate into the studio, a laboratory for urban research based on case studies, to fully comprehend the constantly changing mix of physical conditions, abstract regulations and unpredictable events that make a city. To ’anticipate’ and find resolution to programmatic, spatial and typological ‘dysfunction’ based on issues of obsolescence. Interdisciplinary design teams need to work with public and private organizations and the community.

If we are to make urbanization environmentally and socially sustainable, we must rethink the city ‘now’, what we do today will define our tomorrows. The city of tomorrow must be caring and emotionally satisfying: it needs to be ecologically intelligent, environment friendly and manageable nurturing a sense of belonging and a sense of pride in its inhabitants. If the city of the future is not to do irreparable ecological damage and is to be sustainable, it must contain and reduce its geographical and resource footprints.

ENVIRONMENTAL CHALLENGE Rapidly changing economies often overlook the environmental damage they are causing. Lack of commitment to sustainable design prolongs the damage and can lead - 216 -

to irreparable harm. The cost of environmental responsibility struggles in the midst of other priorities.

The problems of atmospheric pollution will get exacerbated in cities, making them virtually devoid of oxygen generating vegetation. The surface footprint of a typical city will consist predominantly of buildings, concrete and asphalt, making human life convoluted and dysfunctional. Cities being large consumers of resources, will harbor poverty, and become the most major source of pollution, and the mega-cities of Asia will start bursting at the seams with no renewable resources at their disposal, a sure case for self-destruction AWARENESS – NEW PARADIGMS There is a need to substitute our perception of the word intelligent with one not only of mainstream technically/electronically savvy cities but sensitive and humanized environments, which is what the intelligent city of the future needs to be. An intelligent city must not only efficiently use its resources, but must also have advanced traffic control systems and flexible scheduling of activities to reduce congestion. Fact and knowledge based education and awareness on how to behave in crowded situations and in traffic, how to reduce pollution through one’s behaviour, and how to participate effectively in community activities, as an indispensable component of decision making must be put into place. We must begin to incorporate the word ‘organic’ more seriously rather than alien branding of disconnected structures and spaces. One of the most important challenges to a manageable city is self-help where forging of public-private partnerships becomes critical.

Cultural heritage is the wellspring of creativity and the foundation of identity without which we do not know where to go to because we do not know who we are or where we come from. A distorted and fractured understanding of identity allows other forces with underlying motives of manipulation, achieving power and control through direct and indirect means to slide into position and take over what is nebulous, arbitrary and therefore weak….such is human nature. Urban conservation is an issue that needs utmost attention and care. It cannot be simply reduced to individual buildings or monuments or landmarks and icons, nor can it be interpreted simply as a totality of the built parts. Balancing the biological, social, and machine elements of modern cities will be the key to environmentally sustainable, emotionally satisfying urban centers in the future.

TRANSPORT – AIR QUALITY – POLLUTION The road transport sector causes more urban airborne pollution than any other single human activity. The rapid growth of infrastructure in cities along with the growth in road transport systems is becoming a major concern in Lahore and other cities. Air quality impacts include direct health problems to humans, animals, vegetation and forest growth, damage to the soil, climate change impacts and global warming.

Oxygen and other gas blankets affect global warming. Ozone layer depletion, acid rain effect, damage due to high levels of oxides in the air have resulted in the depletion of scarce natural resources needed for long-term sustainability of the ecosystem .Today pollution control and prevention are not desirable luxuries, but - 217 -

necessary parts of sustainability and survival of the ecosystem. Ambient air quality goals need to be defined, which means controlling pollutant emissions from fixed and mobile sources. AQM is defined as regulation of the amount, location, and time of pollutants, emissions to achieve some clearly defined set of ambient air quality standards or goals 2 . The situation warrants continuous monitoring of ambient air quality through fixed monitoring stations to establish baseline data, identify sources, understand the impacts and adopt remedial measures to minimize these impacts, all the above have not been studied in the prepared EIA. One tree absorbs one hundred and twenty pounds of emissions, how can any city even think of cutting over 30,000.

Warm weather and rising oceans are sending seawater surging up the rivers of Bangladesh. A three foot rise by the end of the century would submerge ¼ of the country rendering thirty million people homeless and devastated. Tomorrow’s poverty will be far worse than today. The ozone layer has now been depleted by 40 million tones. Manmade chemicals, especially chlorofluorocarbons [CFCs] my take 80 years to bio-degrade, if at all, despite the Montreal Protocol passed in 1987. The ten hottest years occurred in the last fourteen years. Within a decade there will be no snows on Mount Kilimanjaro, if the polar caps keep melting, sea levels will rise by twenty feet, affecting 40 million people in Shanghai and 60 million in Calcutta, millions of people will be displaced in the Nile delta.

The formulation for a ‘Common Strategic Planning Policy’ is required as a first step, based on the need to consolidate the city, promoting sustainable patterns of development, the second phase should focus on the preparation of an operational plan for peripheral and extending areas of the city. A ‘Preservation and Rehabilitation Policy’ must be made with stakeholder and citizens input. Planning objectives must consider a rational distribution of mixed land uses, density of development and a new traffic management system in harmony with the scale and character of the city.

‘Environmental Objectives’ must be legislated for the preservation and enhancement of the environmental wealth of the city and the protection of its natural resources.

Development of infrastructure, bus stands, terminals, etc. enforcement of laws relating to motor vehicles, road safety and accidents. Coordination with neighboring cities and provinces is essential for long distance intercity operations. It would be helpful if a ‘Transport Information Management System’ is created and regulated by an enforcement and monitoring agency.

Looking after our environment is not just a climatic issue any more..it is as much about poverty, conflict, disease, migration and degradation of habitats and quality of human life. Everyone stands to lose from Global Warming; this is not an issue any country can solve on its own. There is a global imperative for us to cooperate.. The truth is that this real and it is happening!, the good news is that we have the technology, the capital and the knowledge to meet this challenge. There is simply no choice to make, the time to act is now.

Urban design deals with the form of possible built environments; it is concerned with the interrelation of spatial artifacts and human activities. The degree of ‘life’ in a city is tied to the complexity of visual, geometrical and path ‘connections’. What needs to be done to fix inhuman urban form? A large complex system contains an enormous number of internal connections. It is put together from components of various sizes, - 218 -

interacting and connecting to make a coherent whole. Nodes and Landmarks become the determining icons in any city, ones memories and associations are made through recognition of and interacting with such city markers. Vehicular traffic becomes a destroyer of pedestrian space by forcing the widening of roads. It is necessary to absorb the fact that a living city is not composed of buildings just sitting next to each other, but that the life of city arises from its ensemble of links and connectors…paramount at all times is an understanding of the human scale, how we relate to a sequence of spaces in our everyday lives.

The question is does our environment comfort or alienate us? A feeling of alienation causes disturbance and unsettlement in our psyche and thereby our daily activities.

The heterogeneity of the city makes it a place of peril and potential, a place that tests the human capacity to coexist in harmony with those unlike ourselves. Civic life can be defined through urbanism, toleration and equality, essential ingredients to a life of quality. Most areas are ‘disconnected’ in our cities, when there are no connectors and paths, there will be few human connections, thereby increasing a sense of alienation.

The increasing volume of traffic displaces pedestrian paths; modernist planners went too far in dissolving urban space entirely and cutting expressways through city cores.

The importance of urban space got lost when the emphasis shifted from the space between the buildings to the geometry of buildings standing in isolation. The truth is that we have forgotten to create ‘comfortable connective interfaces’ to create a porous fabric in our cities. Lewis Mumford wrote in an essay in 1962 that the ‘Megalopolis’, ‘is the breakdown of the most fundamental of all organic limitations – when communities at different scales fuse in a seamless conurbation, like animal species that become extinct’. Do planners have the capacity to control this fierce growth?

To ensure the quality of urban development both in terms of design and function, definition of clear rules, ensuring transparent procedures and finding effective interdisciplinary private-public partnerships is essential. A new set of rules and regulations must be put into place. Increasing public spaces in densely built-up cities that are excessively getting burdened by motorized traffic is imperative. In many cases a restructuring of function and design is necessary to regain public spaces as ‘usable open space’ for people. A continued need for regulatory and legislative measures exists with respect to the basic definition of how city spaces must be used.

New projects on the periphery of the city should, wherever possible, be planned along the existing development axes, along major public transport lines, to ensure costefficiency and compatibility with urban life. Projects must incorporate a high degree of participation and self determination, which will help strengthen our systems and procedures. Zoning non-interactive units together lead to the choking of cities. To understand urban morphology, we need to examine how a city changes its connections over time. A city needs the same sort of resilience to changing conditions that a healthy ecosystem has. The solution must come from a set of urban laws, the conditions for urban life need to have protective legislation and a set of guidelines that help the urban fabric to be coherent.

One of my favorite quotes is from the book Alice in Wonderland, where Alice comes to a fork in the road and asks the Cheshire cat which way she should go, the Cheshire cat asks her ‘where’ she wants to go…I really don’t know Alice replies…well in that - 219 -

case you can take any one you want it really doesn’t matter, they will both take you ‘nowhere’!

Today more than ever before we ‘must know where we are going’. Sustainability, is a process that leads to a change of attitudes towards prioritizing ways of life that are in balance with the current renewable resources of the ecosystem and the biosphere. We must understand the nature of this balance and its relationship to the built and natural environments, helping to created informed decision making at all levels of existence.

ANNEXURE 1 Methodology for tree species counting on the green belts of Lahore Canal Bank The left side/West Bank green belt was studied first and then the right side/East Bank green belt was for counting the total populations of each tree species. They were identified also.

The green belts on both sides of Lahore Canal Bank were divided into a total of 56 transects of same sizes. The left and right side green belts were of 28 transects each.

Each transect was at a distance of 500 m from the next. The total length of right and the left side green belts was 14 km each.

The field man employed for this project demarcated each transect with the red paint writing WWF 1, WWF 2, WWF 3 and so on until the last transect WWF 28 on the side of the footpath along canal on both sides for identifying a complete transect.

The left side green belt was named as L1, L2 and L3 up till L28 and the right side green belt as R1, R2 and R3 up till R28. Same tree species that were mentioned in the Table 5.7 of Remodelling of Canal Bank Road from Dharampura underpass to Canal view bridge, Thokar Niaz Baig were counted carefully.

The tree species in L1 was counted first starting from Mustafaabad until the last transect L28 Thokar Niaz Baig similarly the tree species of right side green belt were counted starting from Mustafaabad R1 till R28 Thokar Niaz Baig. Tree species at both green belts were counted and sumed up for the total population of each tree species.

The list of trees at left side/East Bank and right side/West Bank of Lahore Canal Bank was prepared.

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ANNEXURE 2 List of Tree species of Left Bank green belt of Lahore Canal Bank from Mustafaabad Bridge to Thokar Naiz Baig Scientific Names Total Population of Relative Sr. No Common tree species Abundance% Names/Local Names of trees 1.

Poplar

2.

3.

4.

Simal Arjun Eucalyptus

5.

6.

7.

8.

9.

10.

Shisham Alstonia Neem Mulberry Mango Bottle Brush

11.

Bamboo

12.

13.

14.

14.

15.

16.

17.

Jaman Rubber Plant Kikar Dhareek Kachnar Siris Paper Mulberry

18.

Beri Patta

19.

20.

21.

Amaltas Small Anjeer Bottle Palm

22.

23.

24.

25.

Tun Silver Oak Kikar Gul-e-Nashtar Total trees

Populus euramericana Bombax ceiba Terminalia arjuna Eucalyptus citriodora Dalbergia sissoo Alstonia scholaris Azadirachta indica Morus alba Mangifera indica Callistemon citninus Dendrocalamus strictus Syzigium cumini Ficus elastica Acacia nilotica Melia azedarach Bauhinia variegata Albizzia lebbek Broussonetia papyrifera Heterophrgma adenophyllum Cassia fistula Ficus carica Callistemon viminalis Cedrela toona Grevilia robusta Acacia nilotica Erethyrina suberosa

6

0.1%

106 15 989

3.3% 0.4% 31.0%

212 471 17 113 240 30

6.65% 14.7% 0.53% 3.5% 7.53% 0.94%

122

3.82%

438 16 24 24 119 2 39

13.7% 0.5% 0.75% 0.75% 3.73% 0.06% 1.22%

24

0.75%

69 4 21

2.16% 0.12% 0.65%

7 1 24 78

0.21% 0.03% 0.75% 2.44%

3211

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ANNEXURE 3 List of Tree species of Right Bank green belt of Lahore Canal Bank from Mustafaabad Bridge to Thokar Naiz Baig Sr No

Common Names/Local Scientific Names Names of trees

1.

2.

3.

4.

5.

6.

7.

8.

9.

10.

Poplar Simal Arjun Euclyptus Shisham Alstonia Neem Mulberry Mango Bamboo

11.

12.

13.

14.

15.

Banyan Pipal Jaman Rubber Plant Kikar Total trees

Populus euramericana Bombax ceiba Terminalia arjuna Eucalyptus citriodora Dalbergia sissoo Alstonia scholaris Azadirachta indica Morus alba Mangifera indica Dendrocalamus strictus Ficus bengalensis Ficus religiosa Syzigium cumini Ficus elastica Acacia nilotica

Total Population of tree species

Relative Abundance %

2 101 17 822 222 123 8 50 626 106

0.07% 3.66% 0.61% 29.8% 8.0% 4.4% 0.2% 1.8% 22.7% 3.8%

2 16 645 2 14 2756

0.07% 0.58% 23.4% 0.07% 0.5%

Total trees on left and right bank green belts 3211+2756=5967

ANNEXURE 4 Difference of tree species counting of EIA report and WWF-P project Sr No Tree species 1.

2.

3.

4.

5.

6.

7.

8.

9.

10 11.

12.

13.

14.

15.

Eucalyptus Mango Alstonia Jaman Shisham Simal Mulberry Neem Banyan Pipal Bamboo Poplar Arjun Bottle Brush Khajoor

EIA report inventory data 2368 1493 481 995 333 1015 167 190 30 41 30 10 80 40 23

tree WWF-P tree counting Difference data 1811 557 866 627 594 113 1083 88 434 101 207 808 163 4 25 165 2 28 16 25 228 198 8 2 32 48 30 10 Not observed 23

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ANNEXURE 5 List of identified Bird Species of Lahore Canal from Mustafaabad to Thokar Niaz Baig Sr No. 1.

2.

3.

4.

5.

6.

7.

8.

9.

10.

11.

12.

13.

14.

15.

16.

17.

18.

19.

20.

21.

22.

23.

24.

26.

27.

29.

30.

31.

32.

33.

34.

35.

36.

37.

38.

39.

40.

41.

42.

43.

44.

45.

46.

Birds English Names Scientific Names Pond Heron Ardeola grayii Cattle egret Bubulcus ibis Yellow-footed Green Pigeon Treron phonicoptera Golden-backed Woodpecker Dinopium benghalense Mahratta Woodpecker Dendrocopos mahrattensis Purple sunbird Nectarinia asiatica Black drongo Picrurus adsimillis Red-vented Bulbul Pycnonotus cafer Golden oriole Oriolus oriolus Copper smith barbet Megalima haemecephala White eye Zosterops palpebrosa Ashy prinia Prinia socialis Common Babbler Turdoides caudatus Jungle Babbler Turdoides striatus Common Myna Acridotheres tristis Bank Myna Acridotheres ginginianus Pied Myna Sturnus contra Bhirminy Myna Sturnus pagodarum Common Starling Sturnus vulgaris Rosy Starling Sturnus roseus Little-brown dove Streptopelia senegalensis Ring dove Streptopelia decaocto Spotted Owlet Athene brama Blue-rock Pigeon Columba livia Common Koel Eudynamys scolopacea Little-green bee eater Merops orientalis Pariah Kite Milvus migrans Crow Corvus splendense House Sparrow Passer domesticus Grey Hornbill Tockus nasutus Rose-ringed parakeet Psittacula krameri Alexandrine parakeet Treron phonicoptera Blossom headed parakeet Psittacula cyanocephala Magpie robin Copsychus saularis Sparrow hawk Accipiter badius Rofous back shrike Lanius schach Indian weaver bird Ploceus phillopinus White wagtail Motacilla alba Pied wagtail Motacilla maderaspatensis Yellow wagtail Motacilla flava White breasted moor hen Amaurorinis phoenicurus White-browed fantail flycatcher Rhipidura aureola Plain leaf warbler Phylloscopus neglectus White breasted kingfisher Halcyon smyrnensis

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De Nevers, N.H., Nelgan, R.E. and Slater, H. H. 1977:-Air quality Management, Pollution Control Strategies, Modeling, Evaluation, A 2 Bugliarello, G. Rethinking Urbanization, National Academy of Engineering Publications, Volume 31, Number 1-Spriing 2001

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The Formation of a Multi-Cultural Historical Plaza: An Unexpected Urban Renewal Practice in Taipei Huey-Jiun WANG National Taiwan University of Science & Technology, Taiwan

Introduction Urban renewal has become a key issue in most Asian cities in recent years. It is an important part of the urban development policy of Taipei City as well. Taipei City Government has been promoting urban renewal in the old district of the city through various public environment improvement pilot projects in the last few years. This paper looks at the recent practical example of the 406 Plaza as a case study and investigates how the plaza was transformed from the site of a Japanese Buddhist temple, the West Hongwanji Temple, to a public plaza under different regimes of power. As an old and expected foothold of Taipei’s western district, the Wanhua 406 Plaza is a noteworthy project.

The project site is situated in the western district of Taipei City and encompasses six historical sites and buildings. Several renewal plans have been drafted to transform the area around the project site into a new commercial and tourism hub for the western part of the city. Taipei City Government has been promoting redevelopment of this area by converting it from its original use as a commercial district to an historical themed public plaza.

The West Hongwanji Temple was built in the Japanese colonial period and was a tremendous temple until the early Republican period. After the Second World War and the end of Japanese Colonial rule, other Japanese Buddhist Temples were transformed into Chinese Buddhist Temples or torn down to build new commercial or public buildings, the fate of the West Hongwanji Temple was more dramatic.

The transformation of land use for urban planning shows a redirection of land use to become part of a continuous history which reconnects pre- and post-colonial national narratives with the colonial experience. Only portions of this history may be discovered from examination of the architectural archives, leaving government and individuals to speculate on the most practical way to address the task of urban development.

This paper focuses on one of the main aspects of the conference, how do the Asian cities transform as part of people’s interventions? It was illustrated that the presence of colonial buildings in a post-colonial period concerns the citizens, and how the public’s concerns influence the government’s attitudes and actions.

The establishment of the West Hongwanji Temple in the Japanese Colonial period The plaza area lies along the road linking the old West Gate of the Taipei City Wall and the Wanhua district. Wanhua is the oldest district in Taipei and long served as a major hub for transport between mainland China and Taiwan during 17th-19th - 226 -

centuries. (Wang, 1988) The old West Gate was built on the east side of the district at the end of the 19th century by the Chinese Qing Government.

When the Japanese colonial government began to govern Taiwan in 1895, they drafted the first urban plan for Taipei and in 1904 decided to tear down the city walls as part of a plan to reroute a railway along the course of the wall bearing the West Gate. By 1901, the line extended from Taipei to Taoyuan; in 1902 it continued onto Hsinchu, and by 1908 service was offered to Kaohsiung in the south. The development of the rail line strengthened Taipei's position as a major conduit for the shipment of goods.(Wang, 1988) The site and buildings of the West Hongwanji Temple were affected by the urban plan and rail lines. In 1895, Jodo Shinshu Buddhist priests came to Taiwan with the Army corps and started spreading their faith. These priests found an unused temple, built by the Chinese army, outside the north gate of the Taipei City Wall; they applied and got permission from the Taiwan Governor-General’s Office to use the temple as a propagation mission for their faith. Then, due to the planned opening of a branch monastery in Taipei, the priests bought the land outside the west gate in 1897. They received funding support from the Jodo Shinshu Hongwanjiha head temple in Japan and they asked for financial donations from devotees as well. With approval of the Taiwan Governor-General’s Office, the temporary main hall, assembly house and living quarters were completed by 1901. (Oohashi, 1935) However, when the urban plan was promulgated, they realized that the temporary main hall was located precisely in the path of the planned road. The priests then bought more land, extending to the south, and drafted a new and permanent layout plan of the temple’s buildings. The bell tower and lecture hall were completed in 1922, under the new plan, the main hall was constructed in 1931 and the two-storied living quarters (Kuli) and front gate were constructed in 1934. When all the temple buildings were finally completed, the branch monastery took over leadership of all the monasteries of the Jodo Shinshu Hongwanjiha faith in Taiwan. With a grand main hall, boasting a 23m high roof, located along the rail line across from the newly built Governor-General’s offices, it became a landmark of the city.(Oohashi, 1935) During this time there were eight Buddhist sects in Japan, with 14 sub-groups coming to Taiwan to evangelize, and among these sub-groups was Jodo shinshu Otaniha, Soto Zen and Rinzai Zen, who also built tremendous branch monasteries in Taipei.(Matsukane, 1998) The utilization of the ex-temple and urban redevelopment after the Second World War During unsettled times, immediately following World War II and the end of Japanese Colonialism, Chinese migrants from mainland China began to get into the temple. The main hall of the temple was used as a rehearsal hall for the philharmonic orchestra, founded by the Chinese military. (The United Daily News, July 11, 2005) The assembly hall was partitioned into migrant temporary housing.

Following the relocation of the orchestra in the 1960s, the main hall was used as the main hall of the Chinese religion Li, a new religion combining Confucianism, - 227 -

Daoism and Buddhism. (Wang, 1988) At the same time, more and more migrants were arriving and expanding their humble sheds into homes.

The main hall suffered extensive damage by fire in 1975 and no one was capable of attempting to rebuild it. (China Times, April 4, 1975) Migrants of mixed cultures gradually adopted the building and the area surrounding to fulfill their housing needs.

The temporary housing structures built around it by the migrants totally hid any remains of the Buddhist temple.

The passage of time proved that none of the offered solutions of urban planning would be realizable. Currently, the site adjacent to the area, designated as commercial in urban planning serves as a counter-culture, trendy shopping center and Taipei's main movie theater district, which makes it a popular destination for the public.

However, the area in question became a slum and was so troublesome that although the government offered sale by tender three times, no developer was interested.

(China Times, June 27, 1993) In 2000, the area remained zoned as commercial in an urban renewal district in order to accelerate improvements to the urban environment.

Under less strict and more beneficial conditions to developers, the government again offered sale by tender on two more occasions. However, since the peak of the economical development period had passed by, there were still no investors interested.

It was then the government began to review the zoning of this district. Its previous place in urban planning had it playing a leading role in the development of commercial functions, so in 2005, the site was re-zoned as a plaza zone for public facilities.

In the same year, a spontaneous investigation of scholars discovered that part of the templeâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s buildings had not completely burned and still existed under the illegal housing structures, including the bell tower, the lecture hall, and the chief priestâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s residence.

On July 20, 2005, Taipei City Government began to resettle the squatters off the site and clear away the illegal structures. Instead of eradicating all the structures by crane, the historic buildings and the site were carefully protected and eventually reappeared from the rubble. It was then that sites in the cleared plaza were deemed as historic and preserved in accordance with the Cultural Asset Preservation Law. It was announced that the Bell Tower and Lecture Hall of the West Hongwanji Temple would be designated as historical sites and that the head priestâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s residence and the remaining ruins, the front temple path, Main Hall, and Mausoleum, of the temple site would be registered as historical buildings. Taipei city government also drafted principles with regard to future design limitations for these historical sites and buildings. In the Open Design Competition of the 406 Plaza, it was stipulated that the participants should incorporate these principles into their design and encouraged the design architects to achieve a balance between urban renewal and historical preservation.

Since the actual planning afterwards still took a while, after tearing down the illegal buildings, Taipei City Government first greened and cleaned up the 406 Plaza and opened it to the citizens. It increased the green open space in the city and the citizens could visit the historic relics with guiding descriptions. During the preliminary opened to the public, the awarded works in the competition were - 228 -

exhibited, and the ones who once lived there were invited back. It was a cheerful party.

(Fig. 1 and Fig. 2) In fact, the constructions of the colonial period have been in the complicated state after the War. At the beginning, because of the lack of the materials, the Government intended to fully use them. However, with respect to the buildings with significantly symbolic styles of the colonial government, the Government torn them down or reconstructed them one after another (shrine buildings). City hall buildings and dormitories were continued using upon actual needs. The Buddhism buildings were special cases. Since Japanese Buddhism was originated from China and had the same root with Taiwanese Buddhism and because of the religious protection after the War, the Government authorized the temples built by the Japanese to the Buddhist Association of the Republic of China from China. However, since East Hongwanji Temple and West Hongwanji Temple were regarded as the buildings closely connected with the Japanese colonial government and there were suspicious high platforms constructed in the buildings which might be the institutions of Japanese secret agents. Thus, these buildings were particularly passed to the military.

(Matsukane, 2006) Because a Buddhist school constructed in the temple, Soto Zen Temple was authorized to the educational institutions and only part of the temples constructed for the people in Taiwan were passed to the Taiwanese monks. (Wang, 2006)

Fig. 1 Preliminary open party

Fig. 2 The exhibition of the awarded works

Thus, after the War, the Japanese temples in Taipei City faced different destinies; Rinzai Zen Temple became the Chinese temple; Soto Zen Temple was rebuilt as Taipei Youth Activity Center. Only the bell tower and Taiwanese temple (Don Ho Buddhist Temple nowadays) were preserved. East Hongwanji Temple became the Security Division of the Police Headquarters which was rebuilt as the movie theaters and shopping mall in the 1970s.

On the other hand, with regard to the value of colonial buildings as cultural assets, since the 1990s, they were gradually became the targets designated for preservation and at present, they are even over 70ďź&#x2026; of the historic spots in Taipei City. (Chiang, 2004) However, there have been the pro and against ideas. The designation of West Hongwanji Temple also faced the same situation. Some people even believed that the fire after the designation was caused by the resentment with the colonial buildings. On the other hand, for many people, the Japanese colonial period - 229 -

was their young days for their lives. For cherishing the memory of the past lives, a lot of people hoped to preserve these buildings. Besides, since the Japanese culture was involved in the lives of the young generation with pop music, computer games and clothing, there was the rise of “Japan fever” which positively influenced the preservation of the Japanese colonial buildings. The struggle between the scholars who supported the preservation of the historic proofs and conservatives who did not totally support because of the political consideration still existed. The above influenced the design of the 406 Plaza. Among others, the critical and noticeable factor was the happenings and the stories reported by mass media below.

Happenings and stories reported by mass media When the newspaper reported that part of the building of West Hongwanji Temple was still existed, there were two appealing legends spread which drew the interests of the mass media such as TV and broadcasting and were continued being reported. One was related to the 228 Incident in which the Chinese authority persecuted the people in Taiwan. West Hongwanji Temple was recorded as one of the places judging the political criminals. Thus, the gloomy large space inside the base of the hall and the “cellar” which remains described by the local residents became everyone’s focus. What were the remains inside? Could we thus further understand the situations at the time? These questions certainly would be traced by the media.

(The United Daily News, July 27, 2005) Another story was that the Japanese have hidden the treasures in this place at the end of the War. However, since there were full of illegal buildings, people could not dig it out in the past. Now the mining company legally applies for permission and hopes to dig out the treasure after tearing down the illegal buildings. Thus, the legend attracted more attention and concerns. (The Liberty Times, July 27, 2005) The secrets were still veiled and the tearing-down work was ready to start. Since the construction company promised to preserve part of the historic buildings, they could not completely proceed with the work by the crane. Besides, since the report of the mass media attracted more people to witness the site, the on-site control and the concern for the complete preservation of the historic proofs became the targets of the report. (China Times, July 31, 2005) In addition, it was difficult for most of the people to imagine that this place has been once the earliest practice base of National Taiwan Symphony Orchestra. Many of the musicians who have practiced here became the important figures in the music history of Taiwan. Some of the musicians have lived in the wooden dormitory of the original West Hongwanji Temple and some told about the memory in media how they seized all of the time and space practicing in the difficult environment at the time.

(The United Daily News, July 11, 2005)Subsequently, some people found that the place has been the well-known setting for film making and the film director also told about the setting selection and the situations of film making.

Before tearing down the buildings, among the people on site, the reporters found that some of them were the customers who cherished the memories in the snack shops here. In order to make a living, the immigrants at the time started to operate snack shops and the local food was valued. These shops run for decades could disappear - 230 -

with the construction of the plaza. Thus, the mass media also started to report these shops, their food with specialty and even the regular customers. (The United Daily News, July 4, 2005) These interesting reports also drew the old and new comers to attention; they came to buy the food and witness the West Hongwanji Temple with partial building exposed.

Unexpectedly, after West Hongwanji Temple was finally designated as the city historic building because of the space significance during and after the colonial period, when the illegal building was torn down, there was fire happened at dawn. The lecture hall which was cleaned up was burned down. (China Times, August 4, 2005 and Apple Daily, August 4, 2005) The investigation demonstrated that it was artificial arson. However, since the arsonist could not be found, the discussion with regard to the preservation of the burned building or the cancellation of the designation was proposed. Fortunately, since the lecture hall was built with bricks, the upper wooden frames were not burned down completely. With the original records, the restoration should be fulfilled successfully and the building could be thus saved.

Those happenings and stories related to the temple and the site have created a strong sense of place and identity. The stories of the people are so intriguing that they were published on various journals. Media becomes a platform so that more people have the opportunities to tell their stories and express their opinions. These public reports allow the government to clearly receive the messages from different fields so that they have careful attitude on the design of the plaza and finally it clearly indicated the pursue of the balance between preservation and renewal in the public campaign.

Peopleâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s concern about the plaza As the stories reported by the media above, because of the historic and social changes experienced, Taipei allowed the people with totally different fields and statuses to be connected with this place. It was not simply a temple in history.

For Mrs. Huang who has been living around this place since the Japanese colonial period, because of the discovery of West Hongwanji Temple, she particularly talked about her children in the radio and how she played near West Hongwanji Temple. Sometimes she had the sweet cakes of the offering from the monks. She worked in the clothing store owned by the Japanese since she was a young girl. Her boss was a pious Buddhist. Thus, she has attended the funeral in West Hongwanji Temple. When the Japanese were defeated in the war and waited for being returned, the old, weak, women and children gathered in the main hall of West Hongwanji Temple. When she visited her boss, she saw many Japanese urns which could not be taken back and placed in front of the altar in white cloth. Besides, the people who have attended the kindergarten in West Hongwanji Temple at the time still keep the pictures until now.

After the wooden bell tower which was not burned down was discovered, everyone started to remember the bell hanged on it. It has been placed in the motorcycle shop and after the shop was sold, the bell was disappeared. When tearing down the building, people still could not find the bell. There were many legends, such as the Japanese have bought it back. While everyone was giving up, the residents in the neighborhood found the preserver of the bell. Someone even decided to pay for - 231 -

the bell and donated it to City Government to hang it back on the bell tower after restoration.

For these people, West Hongwanji Temple was part of their memory. The reappearing of the building recalled them of the past. West Hongwanji Temple in Kyoto, Japan has registered as the world culture relic and some people even asked will West Hongwanji Temple in Taipei become part of it?

The members of National Taiwan Symphony Orchestra recalled this base.

Although the members at the time have retired, the present members were willing to return to this plaza for performing in the temporary opening ceremony. Because of this event, they intended to investigate and record more about the start of National Taiwan Symphony Orchestra and review the members at the time as soon as possible to understand more about the stories.

The Chinese religion Li used this main hall after National Taiwan Symphony Orchestra. After the fire, they could not reconstruct the original grand building; however, they still hope to rebuild their main Hall at the plaza now and try to propose their idea of self-restoration to City Government.

Among others, some of the immigrants from China have lived in this place for decades and even took their wives from China to live with them. Although it was a humble place, it has become their second home town. The buildings such as Bell Tower were reconstructed as the residences and the internal basement below main hall of religion Li was also divided into many rooms which turned into cave-like residences. With the feeling of standing together in times of need, the space of different attribute co-existed. The immigrants from central and southern Taiwan who gradually moved in also treated this place as their homes in Taipei. Although they would move into the public housing with better living conditions, they were reluctant to move since here is their familiar and convenient home and they did not know if they would get lost after moving.

Fig. 3 Bell Tower were used as residences Fig. 4 The illegal structures were cleared away

In the investigation before moving, it is realized that although the living conditions were bad (over 800 people lived in over 200 houses, the average square for each person was only 6 m2 and some of them even must use the public toilets; it was difficult to imagine such humble place did existed in the center of Taipei), the place with socially marginal people had the friendliness of the minority. Although they were - 232 -

small residences, before moving, most of them were still extremely neat.

As to the food shops along the street mentioned above, part of them was the two-story restaurant separated by the building of the lecture hall. Along the brick wall was the elevator for delivering the food. Because of the favorable geographical position and the food with the characteristics, the shops were thriving in the past.

Some of them were passed to the next generation. They expected to find the shops in the neighborhood to continue the operation and some of them were retired because of ages. The food in the past might never exist and the glutton would certainly be disappointed.

However, on the other hand, some people felt frustrated about the construction of the plaza. They originally expected that if the developers invest in the construction of business buildings, the land prices in the neighborhood will be stimulated and the business opportunity will reappear. The parking lot construction might also solve the parking problem in the city. They thought that only new constructions could lead to business development. The preservation of old buildings might cease the local development. Besides, the people from China and those who did not live in Taiwan during the Japanese colonial period and still held anti-Japanese complex also have been opposing against designating the colonial building into cultural asset.

Conclusion Although the Japanese temples were constructed by the Japanese during the colonial period, they were familiar for the immigrants from China or the people in Taiwan. The use of the Chinese religion Li, the citizensâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; donation of the bell and expectation with its return on the bell tower and the temples which were continued to be used demonstrated that although they were the colonial buildings, they were still identified as the religious buildings. In addition, for the people in the neighborhood, they also became part of their living space in the past and their memory.

However, in the condition of the lack of materials after the War, the religious buildings soon turned into the shelters of the immigrants. The buildings were fully used and the original functions or space characteristics were neglected and even Taiwan Symphony Orchestra came to use this place which was difficult to imagine.

Other buildings were reconstructed into over 200 residences and along the street were the shops. After the fire, the place gradually became the base of the immigrants.

Although the hardware was humble, it was still the sweet home for over 200 households for decades and there was full of warmness in the neighborhood.

With respect to such district, the renewal by urban modernization, the elimination of the poor and the introduction of brand-new construction and economic development was simply the general way. The preservation of the past buildings this time was not only based on the view of aesthetics of architecture, but also upon the perspectives of multi-culture co-existence and the preservation of the urban look which was a kind of precious experience.

During this process, since the time from the discovery of the cultural asset to the tearing-down was short, the Government must make the decisions. When the policy was still not confirmed, the media reported it in advance and allowed the citizens to - 233 -

express their opinions so that different voices could be heard and the Government could listen to different opinions that led to the decisions-making from the bottom to the top; the experts planned after listening to different opinions instead of making decisions in advance.

On the other hand, different from the past when group supporting the preservation must hold some special activities to attract the attention of the media and the Government, the media reported this event at the beginning. In order to avoid the conflict with some of the local residents against the preservation, the residential group supporting the preservation did not show their support significantly. Thus, different from the past when most of the people did not care about the preservation and only few active local groups and scholars demanded the government, in this time, because of the concerns from the people of totally different levels, the appealing stories and the reports which recalled people’s memory and feelings, the Government decided to provide the opportunity of the co-existence of historic building and the plaza so that everyone could collectively consider the concrete vision for the future.

There was still the voice which indicated that only new construction could lead to local economic development or it was necessary to eliminate the Japanese relics. In the past, these opinions were regarded as those of the majority and the people with different views thus dared not speak up. In this time, since people had the opportunity to express their opinions in advance, the diverse opinions were heard which was significantly different from the past. The result leading to the continuity of the diverse cultures allowed the plaza to present its historic depth and look. For the regions in other countries in Asia which actually preserve diverse cultures and face the pressure of so-called urban modernization, this special case in Taiwan can function as the reference for their renewal in the future.

References 『蘋果日報(Apple Daily)』 ，4 August, 2005 姜宜美(Chiang, Y.)(2004) A Research on the Executive System of Designated Procedure of Current Historical Sites in Taipei. Master’s Thesis, National Taiwan University of Science & Technology.(In Chinese) 『中國時報(China Times)』 ，6 April, 1975 『中國時報(China Times)』 ，31 July, 2005 『中國時報(China Times)』 ，August, 2005 Oohashi(大橋), S.(1935) Shinshu Honpa Honganji Taiwan Kaikyoshi[The Taiwan Proselyting History of the Shinshu Hongwanji ha Buddhism]. Shinshu Honpa Honganji Taiwan Betsuin, Taiwan(In Japanese) Matsukane(松金), K. (1998) The Establishment and Development of the Japanese Buddhist Monasteries and Preaching Spots in Taiwan during the Colonial Period, Studies of Taiwan History 16, 18-33(In Japanese) Matsukane(松金), K. (2006) The Situation of Shinshu Ootaniha Taipei Branch after the War, 〈Japan〉in post-war Taiwan, 251-287(In Japanese) 『自由時報(The Liberty Times)』 ，27 July, 2005 - 234 -

『聯合報(The United Daily News)』 ，27 June, 1993 『聯合報(The United Daily News)』 ，7 July, 2005 『聯合報(The United Daily News)』 ，11 July, 2005 『聯合報(The United Daily News)』 ，27 July, 2005 『聯合報(The United Daily News)』 ，31 July, 2005 王惠君(Wang, H.)(2006) 「西本願寺之創建與演變(The establishment and transformation of His Ben Yuan Temple」 『台北文獻(Taipei Historical Documents Quarterly)』 156, 22-38 Wang(王), H. and T. huang(2007) Architectural Transformation of Taiwan’s Buddhist Middle Schools Founded in the Japanese Colonial Period, Journal of Asian Architecture and Building Engineering 6.1, 1-8 王月鏡(Wang, Y.)(1988) 『台北市志』，台北市政府

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Beijing Underground Rufina WU University of Waterloo, Waterloo, Canada

Introduction ‘北京啊，我只要你的一扇窗.’

(O Beijing, I want only one pane of your windows.)

Voice of a Beijing migrant China's great rural-urban divide is a well-studied phenomenon 1 . With the implementation of the household registration (hukou) system in 1958, population mobility was kept at a minimal for more than two decades. However, Deng Xiaoping's reforms from 1978 onwards instigated the largest rural-urban migration force in China's history. Coastal cities like Beijing, Shanghai, Tianjin, and the province of Guangdong became popular destinations for rural migrants. In Beijing, there are currently an estimated four million floating migrants2. Also known as ‘north drifters’ (beipiao), migrants represent more than one-quarter of the city's total population. Yet, as the number of migrant laborers in Chinese cities continues to increase, many institutional and social constraints are still in place, operating as invisible barriers that prevent migrants from obtaining proper urban status. Rural migrants are largely excluded from social benefits and welfare in the cities, including access to education, health care, and housing (Solinger, 1999). The central question of my research is a simple one: as millions of surplus laborers from the countryside ride the economic tides to coastal areas in pursuit of the Chinese Dream, where do they live in the city?

Due to institutional and financial constraints, underground space is the site of a migrant housing tactic prevalent in Beijing. The core of the investigation consists of field research done between 2005 and 2006 on underground migrant hostels retrofitted from air defense basements in various central locations in the capital city.

As part of my fieldwork, I also rented a bed in an underground hostel in Chaoyang district, directly adjacent to the city's new Central Business District, for a period of two months to gain first-hand understanding of the living conditions of migrant bedholds3.

This paper begins with a brief historical account of the formation of the floating population. It is then also necessary to define what exactly the floating population is, because, contrary to popular portrayal, this population group is made up of a diverse range of people with different income levels, migration histories, and housing needs.

The third section looks at the (lack of) housing options available to migrants and the resultant range of housing tactics. Three examples of underground migrant hostels are presented in the fourth section, with more detailed research and analysis on one located in Chaoyang district.

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History of China’s floating population The Chinese character for family, jia, embodies the collective nature of traditional Chinese society. The same character is also used for ‘house’ and ‘home.’

The ideogram for jia, 家, depicts a pig underneath a roof structure (Figure 1). This character offers important clues into the traditional aspects of Chinese households.

Architecturally, the roof symbolizes an enclosure that defines and protects the domestic space within which everyday life unfolds. It is typically understood that the essential feature of a Chinese household consists of a group of related people who ‘eat out of one pot.’ This phrase can be literally interpreted as members of the household sharing a daily meal, or, figuratively, in terms of a family sharing income (earnings made by raising pigs). Thus, family members operate collectively as an economic unit for production (pig-making) and consumption (pig-eating) (Knapp, 2005: 223).

Figure 1: Chinese ideogram for home, jia.

Source: Knapp, 2005: 223.

The reform period (1978-now) transformed the traditional definition of jia that spoke of a lifestyle characterized by security, stability, and rooted-ness in one's homeland. 1984 marked the birth of the individual in Chinese society with the official adoption of the Citizen Identification Card (CIC) policy. Prior to 1984, members of a jia shared one hukou book. In a context of controlled internal migration, the collective nature of the hukou book made it extremely difficult for individuals to travel. While authorities still retain the ability to restrict freedom of movement, the issuance of CICs to every citizen has liberated the individual from the traditional confines of jia. The gradual eroding of the hukou system is akin to the dismantling of a great invisible dam, as waves of migrants move eastward in pursuit of the Chinese Dream4.

Estimated at 140 million 5 and growing, migrants flow through the landscape carried by economic waves. Geographically, China can be described as a three-step terrain, with the Tibetan Plateaus on the western edge stepping down towards the coastal region in the east. The economic landscape of the country corresponds to the same three-step terrain: coastal regions are generally more modernized and prosperous, in contrast to central and western provinces, where the majority of Chinese people live in a constant state of poverty. Deng's strategy for economic reforms hinges on the latent potential energy of uneven development. Deng announced his ‘Getting Rich First’ theory on October 23rd 1985. By allowing and encouraging some people and areas to get rich first, Deng controverted the egalitarianism so central to the previous era's Maoist ideology. The intention behind ‘Getting Rich First’ is to instigate the first wave of economic progress. The initial surge of tidal energy aims to bring about successive, and potentially bigger, waves in the remaining provinces. Destined to exist in a culture of relocation without destination, members of the floating population will continue to be a dynamic labor

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force flowing through different cities, concurrent with China’s economic tides.

Definition of the floating population In the most basic sense, the floating population refers to persons who have left their places of household registration without changing their official hukou status.

The floating population encompasses a wide range of people with diverse migration experiences and lifestyles, yet in both official and popular discourses, this population group is stereotyped as an undifferentiated flow of migrant laborers. Mainstream media often stigmatize the floating population as the scapegoats of urban problems like increased crime rates and the spreading of diseases (AIDS, and SARS in 2003).

As a result, the floating population is often misunderstood, further exacerbating the inequality and injustice exercised towards them. It is critical, then, to define who is actually floating. There are seven generally accepted categories of internal migrants: 1. Unemployed / ‘off-post’ workers (xiagang gongren) – Representing the lowest of the social ladder within the migrant population, the unemployed is the most vulnerable to mal-treatment by local officials, employers, and landlords.

2. Workers (dagongde) – This category refers to workers in the service sector.

3. Students (xuesheng) – With an abundance of post-secondary institutions, Beijing attracts an enormous number of students each year to live in the city temporarily to prepare for their entrance examinations.

4. Construction workers (mingong) – Most construction workers live in dormitories provided by the employers. These temporary structures can be found near any construction sites in the city.

5. Nannies (baomu) – Full-time nannies typically live with their employers.

They are often subjected to strict house rules and work schedules. Some caretakers live in hospital rooms to provide around-the-clock service for their recovering employers.

6. Petty entrepreneurs 7. Business owners – With higher income levels, the last two categories can generally afford to rent or purchase housing within the city.

The focus of this investigation primarily involves the first three groups, where migrants with limited financial capabilities are required to seek housing for themselves. Migrants do not necessarily represent the poorest and most disenfranchised social class, but due to institutional and financial restraints, some find themselves inhabiting the city’s lowest stratum.

Housing options for migrants Since the end of all welfare housing provision through both municipal government and work unit distribution in 1999, urban residents can obtain housing through four main methods in China: assigned public housing, commercial housing through market mechanisms, economic and comfortable housing, and the secondary housing market (Wu, 2002: 90-119). As many of the institutional barriers are still in place, migrants are largely excluded from the mainstream housing distribution system.

In recent years, the policy has relaxed in favor of wealthy migrants. It is now possible for migrants to obtain a blue-stamp hukou 6 in Shanghai with the full payment purchase of homes valued over ¥100,000, depending on geographic location (Wu,

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2002). In Beijing, however, no such criteria have been made public. It remains extremely difficult, even for wealthy migrants, to acquire housing without proper hukou status in the capital city. Due to income limitations and government restrictions, rental is the primary housing option for migrants. Other housing options include hotels (binguan), living temporarily with friends and relatives in the city, and forms of self-built informal housing (panghu).

Large-scale migrant enclaves became prevalent in Beijing starting in the early 1980s. Zhejiangcun 7 , Henancun, Anhuicun, and Xinjiangcun are well known examples of migrant villages within the city. Often these villages are considered to be threats to civic order and safety. Zhejiangcun was ordered demolished in 1995 (Li, 2001), and Xinjiangcun in 2003. As Beijing embarks on various beautification campaigns in preparation for the 2008 Olympics, more of these highly visible areas of migrant congregation face demolition or forced evictions. There are 332 urban villages within Beijing currently (Zhu, 2005: 156), 171 of which are listed for removal before 2008 due to their proximity to game venues 8.

While migrant villages are considered to be all-too-visible eyesores, others are ‘invisible’ and therefore neglected or forgotten. The next section moves below ground to explore an invisible migrant housing tactic: underground migrant hostels.

Beijing’s underground In 2004, the Beijing Academy of Social Sciences published the first volume of an ongoing research project entitled ‘Investigation of Urban Corners in Beijing.’

According to the report, Beijing's ‘urban corners’ are defined by ten characteristics: filthy environment, few available social resources, insufficient basic infrastructure, abundance of old and dangerous buildings, residents with low cultural levels, residents with low-incomes, an aging population, congregation of floating population, congregation of special social groups (out-of-province students, salon girls, etc.), and relatively low level of management. Based on these ten characteristics, researchers identified underground space as one of the seven types of urban corners9 in Beijing.

The report forewarns of the potential for underground space to be a ‘black hole’ that threatens public safety. While underground space is recognized as a worthy topic of study, it remains the least-documented category.

Following Mao Zedong's directions for the Chinese nation to “dig deep tunnels, store food, and prepare for war” (深挖洞，广积粮，不称霸), the construction of air defense basements continues to be an integral part of the national defense program (Figure 2). Official military data remains inaccessible, but it is estimated that within Xuanwu district there are more than 1,000 underground locations, with a total area of approximately 1.4 million square meters (Zhu, 2005: 11). To this day, every new development is required by code to devote a certain percentage of building area for the construction of defense shelter. Promoting functionality during times of both war and peace, and maximizing profit, underground defense basements serve a variety of functions: restaurants, parking lots, storage, retail shops, etc. In residential areas, underground spaces are often retrofitted to become migrant housing (Figure 3).

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Figure 2: Types of air defense shelters. (From left to right) 1. Tunnel (kengdao shi) – constructed in hilly areas, floor level remain consistent with entry level 2. Earth-tunnel (didao shi) – constructed in flat areas, floor level of shelter lower than entry level 3. Single excavation (danjian juekai shi) – independent shelters without permanent structures above 4.

Attached (fujian shi) – also known as air defense basement.

Source: Chen, 2004: 7.

Figure 3: Drawings of civil air defense basements typical of residential buildings.

Source: China Institute of Building Standard Design and Research, 2005: 8.

Thus, underground spaces form a dispersed network, blanketing the entire city.

Although they are invisible from the city proper, they can be found everywhere. In a city the size of Beijing, commuting distance and cost are important factors influencing one’s choice of housing. Offering proximity to any location in the city, the ubiquitous network of underground hostels is an appealing housing choice for many migrants.

Conversations with the people encountered in everyday life, waiters at restaurants, cashiers at the convenience stores, and cleaners, will most likely reveal that they once lived in, or are living in, an underground hostel. Its dormitory-like living arrangement caters to a large portion of the migrant population, since population studies have shown that the majority of the sojourners is comprised of young, unmarried workers (Liang & Ma, 2004: 480). With knowing eyes, any person meandering through the residential areas of Beijing will discover the preponderance of basement habitats as previously covert signs surface: discreet advertisements on windows and telephone poles, covered ventilation shafts lining the sides of buildings, small shed-like entrance structures, and hand-painted welcome signs marking the entries into the underground.

The descent is the distinctive threshold into underground migrant hostels. A flight of dimly lit stairs leads to a blast-proof door; its heavy metal frame reveals the seemingly endless corridor beyond. The bodily experience of the descent is dramatic: your skin registers the change in temperature and humidity; the bustling city noise in - 240 -

your ears is replaced with the constant drone of fluorescent tube lighting; the air movement around you grinds to a halt. For newcomers, this threshold down into the underground paradoxically marks the beginning of their ascent to the realization of the Chinese Dream.

Three Examples of underground migrant hostels To capture a broad sampling of the basement living conditions of Beijing migrants, three examples of basement hostels are presented below. These examples demonstrate the prevalence of retrofitted underground spaces within city center (within 4th Ring Road). They are found beneath institutional buildings (Hostel 1), new high density residential complexes (Hostel 2), and older workersâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; housing from 1970s (Hostel 3).

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Hostel 1 â&#x20AC;&#x201C; Student dormitory

Figures 4.1-4.7: Photographs of hostel 1. (From left to right, top to bottom) View of building exterior, entrance stairway into basement, view of basement corridor through blastproof door, laundry lines in corridor, ventilation fan on room door, shared wash area, view of room interior.

Location: East 3rd Ring Road, near Guomao subway station Residents' backgrounds: Mostly students, with handful of workers Price: ÂĽ360/month Density: 8 people/room

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Hostel 2 â&#x20AC;&#x201C; Changan New Town

Figures 5.1-5.8: Photographs of hostel 2. (From left to right, top to bottom) Exterior view of above grade residential complexes, basement hostel entrance canopy, hostel entrance with painted welcome sign, laundry line in corridor, basement corridor view, room interior, room interior with view of blastproof door, cooking area with storage shelf.

Location: West 4th Ring Road Residents' backgrounds: Mostly workers from Henan province Price: ÂĽ160-400/month (price dependent on whether the room has a window) Density: 1-4 people/room

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Hostel 3 â&#x20AC;&#x201C; Hostel in Chaoyang district

Figures 6.1-6.8: Photographs of hostel 3. (From left to right, top to bottom) Exterior view of residential building above, covered ventilation shafts along building side, entrance stairway to basement complex, view of blast-proof door, basement corridor view, interior view of my room, dining table/bed, window opening into ventilation shaft that functions as storage area.

Location: Chaoyang district, near Central Business District Residents' backgrounds: Mixed Price: ÂĽ240/month Density: 2-4 people/room

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The underground experience There are obvious negative aspects inherent in underground living complexes: lack of natural daylight, poor air circulation, lack of privacy, limited personal space, and negligence of fire safety precautions (Figure 7). While it is important to acknowledge the areas in need of improvement, field research reveals that they only represent a fragment of the underground experience.

Figure 7: Anatomy of a basement hostel.

Cultural stigmas associated with underground spaces contribute to their negative impressions on peopleâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s minds. It is common belief that the humidity level below grade is unbearable and leads to physical health problems like arthritis. As a result, residents have developed various strategies to combat humidity: eating spicy foods, reducing the amount of time spent underground, and covering the walls with plastic sheathing (gift wrap). In reality, the humidity offers comfort during Beijingâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s dry, cold winter months, when winds from Siberia and Mongolia sweep through the capital city. Underground space, with earth as its insulation, maintains a stable temperature throughout the year, meaning that the space is warm during the winter, cool during the summer. The reality of the physical living conditions of underground spaces needs to be differentiated from assumptions founded upon popular cultural beliefs.

For those unfamiliar with the city, negotiating through Beijing can be an exhausting experience: traffic overload (people, cars, bicycles, rickshaws, and at times, horse buggies), unceasing noises of destruction and construction, pervasive - 245 -

advertisements, air pollution, etc. Submergence below the ground plane offers the possibility of disengagement from the city proper. Underground space is perhaps the most accessible and affordable urban refuge for the migrant population.

Analysis of the basic architectural plan of defense shelters reveals little of the actual spatial experience. Typical to most underground hostels, all the rooms are accessed via a double-loaded corridor. To improve air circulation, most residents leave their doors open. A walk down the corridor leaves you with an assemblage of fragments collected from each room: snippets of eavesdropped conversations, aromas of fresh-cooked meals, fleeting glimpses of domestic activities, broken lyrics of the latest Chinese pop song, etc. The long corridor thus becomes a kind of mixing chamber where dreams/nightmares of the urban experience are shared. This mandatory journey through the corridor to the rooms serves an unintended purpose: the building of a neighborly bond between the wide range of residents.

A migrant bedhold The monthly rent of ¥240 covers the use of a room, typically shared between two to four people. A bed is assigned, along with a small storage cabinet, to each person.

Bedding and a pillow can be obtained from the superintendent for an extra ¥50 deposit. Residents have access to free hot water in the common water room, located in the middle of the complex. There are men’s and women’s bathrooms with shower facilities, but you must pay ¥1 fee for each use of the shower (when unused, the shower faucet remains locked by the superintendent). Also included in the rent is a working landline in each room. This is crucial because cellular reception is generally limited in underground spaces. Since most of the amenities available are communal, the bed represents the most intimate personal space available for a basement resident.

In its simplest terms, bed is understood as a piece of household furniture, a resting or sleeping place for people and animals. More importantly, bed is the place for dreams. Chinese migrants' collective dream of stability and prosperity has led to the reality of instability and flux in underground hostels. The 4 square meters10 of space defined by the bed forms the place of habiting and habitat for a migrant: a bedhold.

Henri Lefebvre regarded everyday life as a source of human creativity. New meanings are constructed through the act of living. The place for rest and non-action is creatively appropriated by its user for a multitude of usages based on individual needs and desires. Thus the site of a migrant's bedhold is a shifting ground that continually opens to new potentials. In Lefebvre's view, appropriation resembles, but is not an imitation of, an oeuvre: a unique, collective work of art embodied in the quotidian (Lefebvre, 1996: 101-103). The acts of appropriation by its users resuscitate the bed from being a lifeless industrial product for mass consumption.

To differentiate the migrant bedhold from the bed-as-product, a new term is introduced: slash bed (/bed). A common literary notation, the slash (/) indicates alternatives (and/or, either/or) and the interchangeability between/bringing together of otherwise segregated elements. The slash celebrates the potential multiplicities of a simple, tube-frame bed that mutates depending on the user. The neutrality of the physical tube-frame structure enables it to become an armature open for creative

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(re)appropriation. The /bed is a bed/sofa/dining table/storage device/exercise bench/study/meeting place for close friends/bike rack/etc. Inclusive by nature, the slash marks a fluid boundary where creative adaptation and transgression are fostered.

The resultant synergy defies rational classification. Through the active engagement and necessary inventiveness of the user, the bed is no longer just a bed; it could be this/that/______. The modest base structure of the /bed becomes a canvas for the art of living.

Conclusion and beginnings The investigation into the housing conditions of Beijing's floating population reveals and documents the struggle and oppression of life at the margins. It also illuminates the human creativity and inventiveness present, yet hidden, in the banality of everyday life. More importantly, however, the range of appropriations from civil defense basements to tube frame beds created by migrants points to the potential for a new praxis for architecture and urban design: one that engages the users so they are no longer passive consumers, one that encourages heterogeneity, anticipates changes over time, and embraces uncertainty. The humble, prosaic details of Beijing's underground serve as a guide towards an architecture that is founded upon inclusion and accommodation of our individual identities and dreams.

References Chan, K. W. (1994). Cities with invisible walls: Reinterpreting urbanization in post-1949 china. Hong Kong; New York: Oxford University Press.

Chen, Z. L. (2004). Renmin Fangkong Gongcheng Jishu Yu Guanli [Civil air defense engineering technology and management]. Zhongguo Jianzhu Gongcheng Chubanshe [China Construction Industry Publishing House] (In Chinese).

China Institute of Building Standard Design and Research. (2005). Guojia Jianzhu Biaozhun Sheji Tuji 05SFJ10 – Renmin Fangkong Dixiashi Sheji Guifan Tuji – Jianzhu Zhuanye (In Chinese).

China Population & Development Research Center. 北京 5 年后人口将达 1555 万流动人口 3 年增百万 [Beijing’s population to reach 15.55 million in the next five years, floating population increases one million in three years]. Retrieved March 10, 2007, from http://www.cpirc.org.cn/news/rkxw_gn_detail.asp?id=5554 Knapp, R. G., Lo, K., & China Institute in America. (2005). House, home, family: living and being chinese. Honolulu; New York: University of Hawaii Press; China Institute in America.

Knight, J., & Song, L. (1999). The rural-urban divide: Economic disparities and interactions in china. Oxford: New York: Oxford University Press.

Lefebvre, H. (1991). The production of space. Oxford, OX, UK: Blackwell.

Lefebvre, H., Kofman, E., & Lebas, E. (1996). Writings on cities. Cambridge, Mass: Blackwell.

Liang, Z., & Ma, Z. (2004). “China's Floating Population: New Evidence from the 2000 Census.” Population and Development Review 30, no. 3:467-488.

National Bureau of Statistics of China. 2005 年全国 1%人口抽样调查主要数据公报 [1% National Sample Census 2005]. Retrieved March 10, 2007, from

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http://www.stats.gov.cn/tjgb/rkpcgb/qgrkpcgb/t20060316_402310923.htm (In Chinese).

Ramphele, M. (1993). A bed called home: Life in the migrant labour hostels of Cape Town.

Cape Town: D. Philip; Athens, Ohio; Edinburgh: Ohio University Press; Edinburgh University Press in association with the International African Institute.

Shen, J., & Huang, Y. (2003). The working and living space of the ‘floating population’ in china. Asia Pacific Viewpoint, 44(1), 51-62.

Solinger, D. J. (1999). Contesting citizenship in urban china: Peasant migrants, the state, and the logic of the market. Berkeley: University of California Press.

Wu, W. P. (2002). Migrant housing in urban china - choices and constraints. Urban Affairs Review, 38(1), 90-119.

Wu, W. P. (2004). Sources of migrant housing disadvantage in urban china. Environment and Planning A, 36(7), 1285-1304.

Xiang, B. (2005). Transcending boundaries: Zhejiangcun: The story of a migrant village in beijing. Leiden; Boston: Brill.

Zhang, L. (2001). Strangers in the city: Reconfigurations of space, power, and social networks within china's floating population. Stanford, Calif.: Stanford University Press.

Zhu, M., (ed.). (2005) Investigation of urban corners in Beijing. China: Social Sciences Academic Press (In Chinese).

北京"拆违"明年 6 月底完成重点整治城乡接合部 [Beijing to complete demolishing illegal buildings by the end of June next year].

Retrieved March 10, 2007, from http://news.xinhuanet.com/local/2006-12/05/content_5438127.htm. (In Chinese).

北京地下室旅馆将禁设上下床 每人不得少于四平方米 [Beijing basement hostels to forbid bunk beds, per capita space no less than 4 square meters]. Retrieved May 10, 2005, from http://www.bj.xinhuanet.com/bjpd_sdzx/2005-05/10/content_4203241.htm (In Chinese).

Acknowledgements The author would like to thank Professor Xu Maoyan and Professor Zhang Jie of Tsinghua University for their valuable insight throughout the course of the field research, thesis supervisor Philip Beesley for his continual guidance and support, and everyone who so generously opened the doors to their homes and shared their stories.

1

For detailed history and analysis of China’s rural-urban divide, see Chan 1994 and Solinger 1999.

2 Estimate of Beijing’s floating population taken from China Population & Development Research Center website. 北京 5 年后人口将达 1555 万流动人口 3 年增百万. Available from http://www.cpirc.org.cn/news/rkxw_gn_detail.asp?id=5554 3 The term “bedhold” is borrowed from Mamphela Ramphele’s 1993 publication on the politics of space in migrant labor hostels in Cape Town.

4 The term “Chinese Dream” describes the aspirations of Chinese citizens for a successful and satisfying life. This term typically denotes financial security and material comfort, but can also entail a dream of fame, exceeding social, ethnic, or class boundaries, or simply living a fulfilling life. The Chinese Dream is often associated with migration.

5

National Bureau of Statistics of China website. 2005 年全国 1%人口抽样调查主要数据公 报. Available from http://www.stats.gov.cn/tjgb/rkpcgb/qgrkpcgb/t20060316_402310923.htm

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6

The normal red hukou book contains a red official stamp that is typical of all official documents in China. The blue hukou is differentiated from the red by the color of the stamp.

While the holders of both hukou types have access to the same welfare benefits, the red is transferable from with approval from the government while the blue is non-transferable.

7 For more detailed study on Beijing’s Zhejiangcun, see Zhang 2001 and Xiang 2005.

8

Number of urban villages to be demolished taken from 北京"拆违"明年 6 月底完成重点整 治 城 乡 接 合 部 . Available from http://news.xinhuanet.com/local/200612/05/content_5438127.htm.

9 According to the report, the seven types of urban corners in Beijing are: 1. Cultural heritage (wenwu baohu xing) – refers to areas like Qianmen district where migrants and low-income groups live in poorly maintained heritage buildings 2. Inner city neglected areas (neicheng weiwang xing)– included in this category are temporary structures that became permanent as a result of negligence, derelict areas waiting for development, and abandoned development projects 3. Villages-in-the-city (chengzhongcun xing) – refer to large-scale, highly visible migrant enclaves on the city’s periphery 4. Factory villages (changzhongcun xing) – built and maintained by large factories to provide housing for employees 5. Interstitial spaces (chengshi feidi xing) – include areas around train stations, underneath highways, power corridors, and riverbanks 6. Underground spaces (dixia kongjian xing) 7. Special groups enclaves (teshu renqun juju xing) – enclaves dominated by distinct social groups like the elderly, garbage collectors, and working girls.

10 Xinhuanet, Beijing Dixiashi Lvguan Jiang Jinshe Shangxia Chuang Meiren Bude Xiaoyu Si Pingfangmi [Beijing basement hostels to forbid bunk beds, per capita space no less than 4 square meters], May 10, 2005. Available from http://www.bj.xinhuanet.com/bjpd_sdzx/200505/10/content_4203241.htm

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Transforming the Asian City: Lessons and Reflections Oren YIFTACHEL Ben Gurion University, Israel / Curtin University, Perth, Australia This overview lecture will attempt to ‘weave’ the seminar’s presentations into a conceptual discussion within which the transformation of Asian cities can be better described, theorized and planned.

The presentations highlight several conspicuous dimensions of Asian urbanization, including a massive growth and rapid socio-economic transformation; large scale informality, striking new wealth alongside pervasive poverty. The role of the Asian state continues to be central, by framing key economic, land and migration regulations which profoundly shape urban development and social relations. Many Asian cities therefore exhibit a process which can be conceptualized as ‘creeping urban apartheid’, whereby urban regimes and elites facilitate massive urbanization without enabling equal urban citizenship.

However, at the same time, urbanization, development and globalization are reshaped ‘from below’ as communities self-organize and resist urban oppression.

New networks of social organizations appear to empower the unplanned sections of city and economy.

How are these processes studied and represented? The lecture will address the relations between Asian scholarly discourses (as represented in this seminar) and mainstream Western discourses on cities and planning, highlighting key similarities and differences. Most conspicuous is the absence of concepts holding centre stage in the West, including deliberative governance, public participation, the fate of public space, environmental sustainability, social justice, radical transformation, postmodernism, feminism and post-fordism.

The reflective lecture will conclude by posing several conceptual questions, including: What makes the cities in question ‘Asian’? Can urban research and be ‘Asian’? Are the differences to Western urbanization significant enough to constitute a foundation for different theoretical approaches to urban scholarship and planning? If so, can Asian theorization be exported?

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Roundtable: China-India Comparative Urbanism and Planning

"Globalization" evokes the image of an integrated world in which goods, people, and ideas flow in all different directions and between all different locations. This provides the image of a very smooth global network-society. Yet the flow of ideas and knowledge is highly uneven: compared to the same between countries in Asia and the West, the flow of ideas and knowledge between various countries in Asia is very weak. It is difficult to learn from each other and the basic knowledge about the neighboring countries comes though the West. As the Asians learn about their neighbors from books published by Western experts and the television, their dependency on the West-centric system of knowledge production and distribution continues to strengthen; along with it, the channels of communication between Asian countries further shrink. The empowering of people, as well as the professionals in Asian cities and the scholars who focus on the same, requires the opening up of â&#x20AC;&#x153;clogged arteriesâ&#x20AC;&#x153; in the network of global traffic of ideas and knowledge. Some scholars are already attempting to develop dialogues between countries in Asia. Joining them and making our contribution, this conference has brought delegates from fifteen countries. This is supplemented by a more focused China-India comparative urbanism and planning roundtable.

Chair: Chair: Toshio Mizuuchi, Osaka City University, Japan Participants: Utpal Sharma - Pooonam Prakash - Madhu Bharati Li Siming - Li Lixun

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CapAsia V: Post-Tsunami Development in South Asia South Asia Field Study Semester - Spring 2008 ** Postponed to Spring 2008 - We apologize for any inconvenience caused by this ** ** CapAsia Received a Fulbright-Hays Award ** "The project provides creative focus that is built on integrating South Asian world views into participant's education; the focus on "learning from" rather than "learning about" as well as on learning from doing projects with host country peers rather than doing projects for them is refreshingly honest about where knowledge resides; it also models and reinforces a respectful intercultural attitude and global stance that is sorely needed.

" (Fulbright-Hays Reviewer, 2004) Ball State University is offering its fifth South Asia field study semester in Spring 2008. This is a unique field semester which provides an extraordinary opportunity for participants to experience the socially, culturally, and historically different South Asia through a strategy of cultural immersion and collaborative projects with the help of a network of scholars, professionals, and educators of design and planning in the region. By reflection, the participants develop a critical understanding of their own cultures and environments and an ability to locate themselves within an increasingly globalizing world. In short, the experience is life-changing, and it has received good national and international publicity. The field study is open to upper-level undergraduates and graduates from any university, and any major, with an interest in social and cultural aspects of urban and built environments. Students from MIT, Berkeley, Depaul, Wayne State, Ball State, and the University of Minnesota have participated in the program. Last time it was supported by a Fulbright-Hays Group Study Abroad award. (An application is pending this time.)

The main component, collaborative studio In Sri Lanka, the seven-week "Planning to Learn" component will be conducted in collaboration with a graduate town-planning studio at the University of Moratuwa, with the help of Moratuwa faculty and local and international experts. The project will begin with a quick field trip to the tsunamiaffected southwest of Sri Lanka. In the first two weeks, joint-teams of Sri Lankan and American students will learn what was built/developed in response to the tsunami, where did the aid/funding go, will meet officials and resource people in Colombo, collect secondary data, and prepare a plan for field work. They will then visit the tsunamiaffected areas and carry out field surveys for two weeks. This will include an in depth study of Kalametiya where CapAsia IV students worked. They will then prepare preliminary development proposals and present it to a panel of experts, administrators, and citizens.

As we will connect disaster responses across nations, the preparations will include a visit to the hurricane-affected Gulf Coast of the USA to learn and experience the kinds and levels of responses to the devastation. The purpose of this field trip led

by Olon Dotson, Assistant Professor of Architecture at BSU, is to connect the responses to the hurricanes (particularly Katrina and Rita) in the USA to the posttsunami situation in south Asia, providing a context â&#x20AC;&#x201C;a global cross-section-- for the understanding of planning and design responses to natural disasters. They will pay special attention to the landscapes of disaster --before, after the disaster, and after the responses-- and learn why people build the way they build in south Asia, focusing on the social, economic, and cultural construction of space and the built environment in south Asia. Once we leave Sri Lanka, the Moratuwa students will continue to prepare their final proposals; the CapAsia students will take part in the review of the projects via the internet at the end of the semester.

The shorter, three-week "Building to Learn" project will be carried out in 5/1/2007

P. 2 of 4 Thiruvananthapuram, Kerala. India is socially, economically, and culturally different from Sri Lanka; the participants will recognize this immediately. Here the students will engage in project with the Non-Governmental Organizatio (NGO) Centre for Science and Technologies for Rural Development (COSTFORD), particularly with its interns from leading architecture schools across India. The group will follow the work of the eminent architect Laurie Baker who has developed an architecture that is low cost and environmentally friendly. Baker is also the creator of COSTFORD. They will also learn about the challenging Kerala model of development.

The emphasis of these projects will be more on the process and the journey than the product. Students are encouraged to pay attention to the differences between the donors' and recipients' interests, the final outcomes, and find out how the post-tsunami landscape which they observe was created. Beyond economics and large-scale politics, the program encourages the students to understand the complexity and issues more from a cultural standpoint: Who decides what for whom? What was the impact of various actions on the lives (and the environment) of the tsunami survivors? The multidisciplinary teams are more helpful in this learning and documenting process, and the focus will enable them to conduct an interdisciplinary understanding. In all these places the students will visit a number of historically and culturally significant places such as the oldest living Asian garden of Sigiriya, the last kingdom in Sri Lanka in Kandy, the old city of Thiruvananthapuram, newly built cities such as Sri Jayawardhanapura-Kotte, and also the marvels of Western imagination built in South Asia, for example, the old city of Colombo. The students will also learn about the larger and historic built culture of Sri Lanka.

Kerala Province, the capital of which is Thiruvananthapuram, is well known for its high achievement in regard to "development." It has shown a high degree of social development without the traditionally-required economic growth. They will receive a hands-on experience and also learn about the unique Kerala development model. The participants will also visit government, planning, architecture, and landscape architecture offices, meet with government officials, local leaders, and eminent designers such as Geoffrey Bawa, Laurie Baker, Madhura Prematilleke, and Vijitha Basnayaka, and visit the work of local and Western architects.

The main goal of the field study is to profoundly enhance the critical and creative thinking capability of the participants through the learning of social, cultural, and spatial practices, as well as design and planning approaches, in a radically different world-region. This facilitates the understanding --by reflection-- of their own cultures, environments, and their larger global context. As much as about ourselves and our past, South Asia might give us some clues about our own future. Many goals that the American society is striving to achieve such as sustainability and many traits that most contemporary societies are losing, for example, self-sufficiency, community, and integrated land-uses and activities, may be operating well in South Asia, albeit within a continuously Westernizing and globalizing environment.

CapAsia takes a more "subaltern" approach compared to the dominant developmentalist view. The proponents of the developmentalist view position the United States as the world's economic, political, and cultural leader, and assert that the developed countries know best what the "Third World" needs, what they should do to become developed, and have the expertise and resources to help those who are perceived to be in need of such assistance. Instead, we shall ask why South Asians do the things the way they do? Why they build the way they build in South Asia? And what can we learn from them? "Planning to learn" and "building to learn" (the two main projects we undertake in India) refer to learning about one's self in relation to the "other," participating in others' processes, rethinking one's place in the world, and questioning, fundamentally, how one chooses to engage the world and its people first as a fellow human being, then as a professional or a scholar. This experience is guided to both reveal new knowledge about society, culture, planning, and design, and find new uses for existing knowledge.

South Asia is one of the best places to achieve above goals. It is so remarkably different from the United States that field study participants, when in the region, are very much outside their "comfort zones"; it challenges them from day one. They are thus compelled to think about the world outside of America. The setting facilitates the understanding of Asia and other parts of the world without being prejudiced or stereotyped and develops a strong consciousness of the 5/1/2007

P. 3 of 4 world. Moreover, by reflection, the participants develop a critical understanding of their own cultures and environments.

Field study takes a spirit of adventure, a willingness to adapt to a new environment and a genuine curiosity to learn a new culture. Your commitment and the ability to do this is a prerequisite. Usually, field study tours work out fine and the people of South Asia are very friendly. As any place on Earth, South Asia has its own dangers and we take risks in visiting there. Firstly, the environment, both physical and cultural, will challenge you from physical, health, and cultural standpoints. Secondly, there are risks involved in traveling in a new part of the world, and these add on to those we usually take in our daily lives. These risks emanate from various sources. We will make good judgments and take precautionary measures. The tour has been organized in good faith and the program directors will guide the participants to the best of their ability. However, the directors cannot guarantee much beyond this. Safety is your responsibility, and the program, or its directors, shall not be liable to any harm to you or damage to your belongings. Hence, please make sure that you learn about medical, safety related, and other risks involved in this trip before making a final commitment to the trip. While we discuss these issues in preparatory meetings, the first week in the field has also been designed to familiarize participants with environmental, cultural, and safety issues.

Within this framework, the curriculum is built around three courses and a studio. The participants are expected to sign up for 12 undergrad credits or 9 graduate credits. The estimated program fee is about $5,900 plus tuition and fees for the semester. (We Have received a Fulbringht-Hays award which may bring the program fee down to about $3,100 plus tuition and fees for the semesterand.) Non-Ball State students are required to obtain Ball State guest student status and pay Ball State University tuition and fees for the semester. All participants pay at the off-campus tuition rate which is almost equivalent to in-state tuition (about $200 an undergraduate credit hour). The program fee will pay for travel, lodging, program support, and museum admissions. (You are entitled to use financial aid as in regard to any other regular semester.) The fee will not cover daily expenses including food and daily travel which are very inexpensive in South Asia.

Applications & Interviews: The review of applications will begin on May 31, 2007. Interviews will be held from mid-Junel. If selected, the participants are expected to pay $ 500 non-refundable deposit within a month.

Application Material: * An application. Click here for an application * current resume * two letters of recommendation.

Send application material to: Dr. Nihal Perera College of Architecture and Planning Ball State University Muncie, IN 47306 or e-mail to CapAsia@gmail.com (case sensitive)

Director: Dr. Nihal Perera, Department of Urban Planning, Ball State University Co-Director: Dr. Wes Janz, Department of Architecture, Ball State University Associate faculty: Tim Gray, Assistant Professor of Architecture, Ball State University Dr. Arijit Sen, Assistant Professor of Architecture, Ball State University Olon Dotson, Assistant Professor of Architecture, Ball State University

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P. 4 of 4 For more information visit http://www.capasia.net/ Or write to Dr. Nihal Perera at nperera@bsu.edu Images: Construction work at Kalametiya, Sri Lanka (2005): 1 A class in CEPT Ahmedabad (2005): 2 CapAsia III students in an "informal" settlement in Delhi (2003): 3 Lu with children in Kalametiya (2005): 4 Kandalama Hotel by Geoffrey Bawa, Sri Lanka : 5 Wood pavilion constructed during CapAsia III, Moratuwa , Sri Lanka: 6 Students with architect Sumet Jumsai in Bangkok (2005): 7 Project Review at Nepal Engineering College (1999): 8

5/1/2007

Research Project - Binational Scientific Fund: A New Urban (Dis)order?

Globalization, Policy and Informalities in 'Ethnocratic' Societies Oren Yiftachel and Nihal Perera

Ball State University, Muncie, Indiana, USA This study investigates the rise of new urban informalities; that is, unauthorized, unplanned or illegal developments, also known as 'gray cities'. It focuses on ethnically/racially divided societies under conditions of neo-liberalism, and on the role of urban policies in these settings.

The study compares and contrasts the cities of Tallinn, Tel-Aviv, Colombo and Cape Town.

Significance: Theoretically, the study advances a new multidimensional framework to account for newly emerging forms of informalities in 'ethnocratic' states, as linked to the interaction between the logics of capital, governance and ethno-nationalism (or racism), in globalizing post-colonial cities. Empirically, this is one of the first comparative projects on informality in the post-colonial global â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;South-Eastâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;. Practically, it sets the foundations for equipping policy makers with better tools to handle informality.

Methodology: We have adopted a multi-disciplinary, critical, social science approach, and identified three types of variables: (a) independent (structural); (b); intermediate (professional, legal, policy) and (c) dependent â&#x20AC;&#x201C; informal developments. Material and data will be collected by synthesizing relevant literature and plans, examining in detail the evolving forms of informalities since 1990; and conducting surveys and interviews with key personalities and inhabitants of informal areas in the four cities.

The Projects File Toshio MIZUUCHI, Takuya MOTOOKA, Geerhardt KORNATOWSKI Osaka City University, Osaka, JAPAN http://www.ur-plaza.osaka-cu.ac.jp/en/index.html (J&E) # Research to Assist Policy on Aid to the Homeless and Socially Supported in Employment, Welfare, and Housing Starting from last fiscal year of 2005, the URP has created a research network with the cooperation of the Public Assistance Division of the Osaka Health and Welfare Bureau and the Nishinari Ward Health and Welfare Center, based on a three-year funding granted by Osaka City University. By using a network of researches who are actively involved in the issue of homelessness and social assistance in Osaka, Tokyo and nationwide and with the cooperation of private NGOs, welfare facility staffs, owners of flophouses in Nishinari and leaders of machizukuri (town regeneration) the university will set up a cross-sectional framework to intensively deal with the above mentioned issues in Osaka. This set up cooperative framework with Osaka City is of great significance. Especially the achievement of the first year with the publication of the leaflet “The Actual Condition of Livelihood Assistance Recipients in Osaka City Nishinari Ward” was the first time in Japan to clarify in a vivid way the actual condition livelihood assistance recipients who used to be former homeless or Airin experiencers (daily laborers). Also for this year and next year we have a project planned to approach the self-dependency of homeless issue. This research is positioned as a basis to support such successive surveys. # Osaka Employment, Welfare, and Housing Problems Research Association (Osaka SFK) In the cities of Japan and East Asia, the phenomena of housing insecurity, for example the problem of homelessness, are problems requiring urgent solutions. In the midst of insecure housing conditions that result in homelessness, this is an interdisciplinary project keeping up with the latest aid measures throughout the path from homelessness to temporary transit shelters to settled residency and employment, and carrying out survey research that leads to the swift development of aid measures and activities that aid in policy formation.

Project website: http://www.osaka-sfk.com/ (J) # Homelessness National Survey (Niji no Rengo, Rainbow Coalition)（Keynotes of April, 2006） In February 2007, a national survey of homeless has been conducted by the Ministry of Welfare and Labor. The format of this national survey is based on the survey of 2002 and has examined the number, living conditions and life histories of homeless people. The survey conducted by Niji no Rengo (Rainbow Coalition) has also examined the results of recent policies and support. To realize this, Niji no Rengo has visited and interviewed the same target group of national survey, combined with a target group of homeless people who live in temporal facilities, ex-homeless who have through the obtention of regular jobs and livelihood assistance moved in to apartments and in this way returned to society, and those who are included into community life. Niji no Rengo hereby hopes to build up a mutually complementary relation with the Ministry of Welfare and Labor by targeting also these homeless and by intruding the results and policy suggestions.

Specifically, the Niji no Rengo survey has asked the ex-homeless about which policy they used to progress to their current state of self-dependency. This involves examining which

kind of support was necessary to be able to continue a self-dependent life. By questioning the will, self-determination, self-judgment and anxiety towards the future, the survey tries to clarify what kind of support services, human resources and material sources are needed. http://www.osaka-sfk.com/homeless/index.html (J) http://www.nijiren.net/ (J) # East Asia Homeless Problem Research Group The problems of the homeless, whose numbers rapidly increased in Japanese cities in the 1990s, exposed to the light of day the dysfunctional nature of existing urban policies and the social welfare system. The purpose of this project is to conduct surveys and support towards construction of a thorough system of self-support aid for the homeless in the broadest sense, not strictly just those already homeless, but those whose family ties have been cut and can only live in inadequate housing. We carry out surveys, put aid measures into practice, and encourage cooperation and mutual exchanges in Japan, South Korea, Hong Kong, and Taiwan. We are dedicated to advocating the key concepts of social and spatial inclusion in the social policies and welfare-state style solutions that are directed at the housing-insecure groups in East Asia.

Project website: http://geosv.lit.osaka-cu.ac.jp/homeless/ (J)

# Kamagasaki Community Regeneration Forum (KCRF) "Developing the unique activity uniting homeless support and community development by citizens' power" Various citizens' organizations have worked on supporting rough sleepers, the old, the handicapped and the laborers from long ago. It is most efficient when these existing organizations get together to react to the worsening homeless problems. Kamagasaki Housing Community called for cooperation in September 1999 and "Kamagasaki Community Regeneration Forum" was born in October, same year.

Various people come to join as members of the executive committee of the Forum and participate as free individuals. There are members such as town council, managers of cheap lodging houses, staffs of local facilities, NPOs, various politically active organizations, local organizations, members of welfare recipient supporting groups, students and researchers in universities. This is the citizen's movement that promote individual initiative, severalty, cooperation, and openness (transparency) as its operational principle.

Our mission statement is as follows: "By holding forums and workshops in Kamagasaki area, we seek a vision for community development to revive residents' living and we facilitate the realization of that vision." http://www.kamagasaki-forum.com/en/ (J&E) # Nishinari Field Plaza The Nishinari Field Plaza is located in Kamagasaki (also known as the Airin District), in Osaka's Nishinari Ward, the largest casual labor market in Japan. With the economic downturn of recent years and the aging of day laborers, the Kamagasaki neighborhood saw a drastic increase in rough sleepers beginning in the late 1990s. Subsequently, there were substantial moves by aid groups to provide livelihood assistance to the homeless, and the district is turning into a neighborhood with several thousand single elderly people who are escaping homelessness. In the midst of this, a variety of activities are being tried in housing, medical care, welfare, tourism, etc. to attempt to revitalize not only Kamagasaki but neighborhoods throughout Nishinari Ward. At the Nishinari Field Plaza we are pursuing a close involvement with the local community based around these many activities. The office of KCRF locates here.

# Nagara Field Plaza Projects-- Nagara 'Machi-navi' Information Technologies for Encouraging Local Community: ‘Nagara Navigation'. Making strolling the streets enjoyable through a cell-phone navigation system, and bringing life back to the streets and local communities. This is a project creating a way for ‘on-site’ communication among visitors and inhabitants on the street using mobile information technologies.

-- Follow-up Project for caring ex-homeless people In cooperation with a homeless self-reliance support center, we are conducting research on their follow-up projects, including regular aid visits, for people who have left the centers.

-- Naniwa Rojo -- Street Paper This is a free newspaper with information about homelessness that we are publishing four times a year for the homeless, people escaping homelessness, and people involved with aid for the homeless. http://www.naniwa-rojo.com/ # Los Angeles–Osaka Project The Los Angeles–Osaka Comparative Urban Research Project was jointly set up by the University of Southern California and Osaka City University. The purpose of this project is to carry out research on Los Angeles County and the Kansai region, and provide the necessary information to compare the two regions. It also aims to study the mutual relationships between these two world cities located on the Pacific Rim. Project website: http://www.usc.edu/dept/LAS/history/historylab/LA_Osaka/ (J&E)

One Small Project: Seeking relevance in the lives of leftover people Wes Janz Ball State University, Muncie, Indiana, USA Spring 2007 Semester In the past five years, I traveled or stayed in working class neighborhoods in Bangkok, Buenos Aires, Chicago, Colombo, Delhi, Hong Kong, Istanbul, Los Angeles, Mumbai, New Orleans, St. Petersburg, and Singapore. More.

One billion leftover people—typically called squatters or self-builders or homeless or streetpeople (it’s a big category)--claim leftover spaces in cities and live in unauthorized dwellings made of scavenged, leftover materials. If you know even one of the one billion, you’ve been touched by her or his life, even if briefly and reluctantly.

For your consideration: Every day, 200,000 people move to cities worldwide.

1 in 5 in a U.S. soup kitchen line is a child.

In Indianapolis: 2,100 homeless people; 8,000 abandoned houses.

Now I work bottom-up, one person and one small project at a time, taking seriously the displaced family, the claimed space, and the scavenged brick. It’s the cascading energies of small responses and helping moments that interest me.

The framework that is used to consider these small potentials I refer to as leftover people, leftover spaces, and leftover materials.

This is how a dictionary defines “leftover”: something that remains unused or unconsumed; remaining as unused residue. A thesaurus lists these synonyms: remainder (refuse, rubbish, waste, debris, detritus, dregs, survivor, excess, surplus, overplus, leave behind, odd, spare, unused, surplus, outstanding, residual); and excess (surplus, plus, overstock, overage, overrun, oversupply, spare, bonus, dividend).

You might think a leftover is a negative thing.

But the leftover is a rich category that takes in rather conventional understandings of waste and rubbish as it adds new perspectives by recasting excess people, odd spaces, and rubbish as outstanding, bonuses, or dividends. Privileging a leftover person occupying leftover spaces and building with leftover materials--knowing him or her and understanding the local building culture--inverts conventional understandings. Dominant 1-2-3 sensibilities (1st world to 3rd world) morph into 3-2-1 exchanges. We stop giving people what we think they need in order to help them create what they think they need and what they can actually make and use. The discourse becomes more honest: intelligence resides with us and with them. Squatters are engaged, not as consumers, but as constructors of knowledge.

In the Spring 2007 semester, I worked with undergraduate students from architecture, philosophy, creative writing, and graphic design on a “One Small Project” seminar/studio. We considered leftovers in international contexts through readings, interviews, and a one-week field study to the

“borderland” between San Diego and Mexicali. Our regional efforts centered on the “shrinking cities” of Flint and Detroit, Michigan. Locally, we volunteered at several not-for-profit agencies.

Our semester culminated in the design and construction of an installation in the Dean Johnson Gallery in downtown Indianapolis. This was followed by three public discussions on topics— homelessness, volunteerism, and immigration--selected by the students. A website created by the students overviews some of our work: http://www.bsu.edu/vbc/sem_20062007_sprg_janz.html Wes Janz is an architectural educator at Ball State University, uniting professional education (MArch, UW-Milwaukee, 1978; PhD, University of Michigan, 1995) with building activities alongside architects, architecture students, and the world's working and urban poor.

He regularly teaches design studios in the post-professional Master of Architecture II program, and upper level theory seminars. In 2006, he received the university’s Outstanding Teaching Award. As Director of the MArch II program, he shapes a 'global citizen-architect' mission, recruiting students from Southeast and South Asia, Latin America, Europe, and the US. He is also Co-Director of CapAsia, an 11-week immersive program that provides a cross section of world architecture, urbanism, and planning for graduate and undergraduate students in selected South Asian regions and cities. With students, faculty colleagues, and his collaborators in 26262625 Architects, he has constructed no-cost installations built of scavenged materials in Argentina, Sri Lanka, and the U.S.; two were honored with design awards from the American Institute of Architects. He regularly presents peer-reviewed papers at regional, national, and international conferences. His work is cited in the recent books Design Like You Give a Damn (as edited by Architecture for Humanity) and World Changing: A User’s Guide for the 21st Century, and has been profiled by Architectural Record, Architecture, and Azure magazines, and the prominent blogs Archinect, Informed Design, subtopia, and Wall Street Journal on-line.

For more information, go to: http://archinect.com/features/article.php?id=35227_0_23_0_C http://www.bsu.edu/web/wjanz/WesSite/ A book titled “one small project” is in the process of being put together. See http://www.onesmallproject.com/. If you are interested in submitting work, please contact Wes during the conference or send him an email at wjanz@bsu.edu with questions.