WHEN CITIZENS ORGANIZE THEIR OWN PARTICIPATORY PROCESSES: Reflections from Ciudad Viva, Bellavista and Ciclistas Unidos de Chile Lake Sagaris, Living City, Santiago, Chile MSc., PhD (c) Urban planning and community development University of Toronto Community Development Seminar, 29 Nov 2012
THREE PARTS + bonus track 1. The Coordinadora/Living City: From urban movement to citizen institution. 2. Methods: Complexity, collaborative planning and PAR. 3. Lessons: Re-thinking citizen participation in the urban Discussion: Any relevance to Toronto?
WHERE???? 1973-1990
1. From the Coordinadora to Living City
The Coordinadora: learning a new kind of citizenship
The anti-highway revolt
25 community organizations fighting against a major urban highway concession, Chile’s first, the Costanera Norte (1996-2000). We saved our neighbourhoods from destruction and voted to continue with new proposals.
WHY IT MATTERED MORE THAN YOU MIGHT THINK
EXCLUSION AS A WAY OF LIFE Permeability of Chilean and German Elites compared, by father’s socio-economic level Low-income Medium-inc. High-income German elite 35% 30% 35% Chilean elite 4% 31% 65% Chile: % of general population
55%
Source: UNDP Elite Survey, 2004 and Potsdamer Elitestudie, 1995
30%
7.2%
DISCRIMINATION Table 3.3 Discrimination in Chile Compared to Other Countries (ranked from high to low) Country
Characteristics analyzed
Wage gap due to characteristic examined (%)
Study
Chile
Socio-economic origin
35
Núñez and Gutiérrez (2004)
US
Hispanic/White, non-Hispanic
28
Reimers (1983)
US
Mexican/White, non-Hispanic
17.4
Reimers (1983)
US
White men/AfroAmerican men
17
UK
White immigrants/non-white immigrants
Canada
White men/Afro-american men
UK
Gender
7
Elias and Purcell (2004)
Canada
White women/AfroAmerican women
6
Howland and Sakeliariou (1993)
US
Physical appearance
5 to 10
Hammermesh and Biddle (1994)
US
White women/AfroAmerican women
Source: Table 29, p. 182, UNDP 2004.
10 to 17 15.5
6
Borjas (1996) Steward (1983) Howland and Sakeliariou (1993)
Borjas (1996)
THE COSTANERA NORTE HIGHWAY & SOCIAL JUSTICE
THE COMMUNITIES
INDEPENDENCIA
LA PÉRGOLA SANTA MARÍA
VEGA CHICA Y TIRSO DE MOLINA
BELLAVISTA & PEDRO DE VALDIVIA NORTE
MULTI-FACETED CAMPAIGN Legal action Communications “Hugs� Participation in the Environmental Impact Assessment process: opened major debate Letters directly to companies interested in bidding on the concession
To participate is to grow, together...
INGREDIENTS: VOCERĂ?A, CITIZEN LEADERSHIP Dialogue across diversity; Interdependence; authentic dialogue (Innes and Booher) Deliberation (Forester, Gastil), strategic conviction (Healey)
RESULTS: LEARNING TO WIN BY LOSING Action
Losing?
Winning?
Court action
Lost the case, but
forced the public works ministry into EIA, opened debate
Protocols for markets
If the highway went ahead...
Guaranteed their right to stay where they were and improve conditions
Compensation Independencia
Residents had to give up their homes; “domicide�
Renters, allegados, homeowners all received compensation
Freeway under the river
Freeway went ahead
3 of 4 neighbourhoods survived untouched (to fight again?)
SHIFT FROM “CLIENTSHIP� TO ACTIVE CITIZENSHIP Clientship
Citizenship
Competes against rivals
Autonomous political agency
Expects favours
Demands political rights
Negotiates without challenging the authoritarian framework
Exercises civil rights
Interactions framed as personal ties
Interactions framed by social rights
Assumes inequality and does not attempt to change it
Requires equality and struggles to establish it where it does not exist
Source: Own elaboration using definitions by Lucy Taylor (2004).
Ciudad Viva -- Living City Bellavista neighbourhood (2001-2012)
BELLAVISTA: URBAN MEASURES TO STOP CRIME, BUILD SOCIAL TIES & RESILIENCE Deterioro urbano grave Ruido, mal uso de las calles = huyen los residentes Aumento de alcohol, “block-busting”, tráfico de drogas, (balacera)
Barrio Bellavista: Collective diagnosis 2001
Charrettes – A powerful tool for design, planning and conflict resolutions
Barrio Bellavista: Paseo Pío Nono
Catalyst: Spiral of decline, insecurity (due to crime) Strategy: Proposal for a Citizens’ Mega Project Organization: Four instances involving key actors within the neighbourhood Scope: Integral Next step?
Participation through Proposals: Live the change we’re proposing
BELLAVISTA NEIGHBOURHOOD: PASEO PĂ?O NONO Visualize, propose, innovate, include people in their full dimension (integral) Inauguration 2008
Recycling to live better, Transport for equality...
Equality requires everyone...
Ciudad Viva -- Living City I-CE, Metro Santiago Regional Government (GORE) & Ciclistas Unidos de Chile (2007-2010)
Active transport for equity...
Catalyst: The desire to live better Strategy: Alliances to bring together expertise, build good will, manage scarce resources better Organization: Ciudad Viva, Ciclistas Unidos de Chile Thematic focus Next step?
Active Transport for Equality
Centro de Transporte Activo
“ECOLOGIES OF ACTORS” (EVANS) Stop disputing (monopoly) “ownership” Getting the most out of cycling Everyone has a “niche”
of our diversity – building not moats butWe need bridges • many organizations and players
• allies among technicians and
politicians • other groups, especially walkers and the differently abled
Ciclistas Unidos de Chile… a new way of organizing for urban cycling
Festival de Bicicultura – 2007, 2008
CicloRecreovía – La Reina y…
Ciclistas Universidad Central
Club Burunú (Gran Avenida)
YMCA – Grupo de los PIVEs
Mujeres Arriba de la Cleta
Ciudad Viva
Partnership with Dutch experts, Interface for Cycling Partnership with Dutch experts, Interface for Cycling Expertise, and global network Expertise, and global network
Citizen-government roundtable for cycle-inclusive Santiago 1. Working Group: Manual for integrating active transport into urban transportation 2. Newsletter Ciudad Sustentable 3. First Green Map Santiago, with cycle routes (not just infrastructure facilities) 4. Technical Commission (GORE) with citizens’ representation 5. Design of the first Citizen-Government roundtable for the integration of Cycling (SubsecretarĂa Transporte/GORE/ CUCH)
Citizens and government celebrating procycling roundtable, Santiago 2007-2010.
(LASTING) RESULTS US$45 mn fund for cycling facilities Km of cycling facilities cuadrupled (2007-2012) Cyclists on main routes up 20% per year, 2005-2012. Presidential priority, beyond elections
A lot of questions, a lot of disbelief: how did we do this? What did it mean?
2. Methods: Complexity and Participatory Action Research
boiled down to... What, if anything, can this Chilean experience tell us about how citizen participation and democratization in urban planning can foster the innovation necessary to achieve good, just and livable cities? What processes might be involved to build the consensuses necessary to generate new forms of urban living, more suited to the energy, environmental, social justice and other challenges of the 21st century?
To answer, needed to know about... INDIVIDUAL: CITIZEN LEARNING (psychology, social psychology, adult education) Where do active citizens and effective civil society organizations come from, in post-authoritarian contexts where they have been deliberately destroyed? What role can participation in urban planning play in building the active citizenship skills necessary for more democratically capable citizens? Does this involve single- or double-loop learning (Argyris and Schön 1974; Healey 2006; Innes and Booher 2010), or can it actually include “learning from the future as it emerges” (Scharmer 2009)?
ORGANIZATION: COLLECTIVE CAPABILITY (anthropology, organizational theory, network theories) What kinds of organization enhance or limit this development? Are new kinds of organization, participation and leadership emerging? Can we speak of a need for “civic infrastructure” to facilitate (or limit) civil society development in the urban sphere?
CONTEXTUAL ENVIRONMENT: POWER & POLICY (political science, social movement theory, democratization) How does citizen participation in urban planning interact with public and private policy fields, to achieve goals? Does this have relevant “side effects” in terms of how these goals are achieved and impacts on democratization and sustainability? Is there a significant relationship between these three factors? Is there anything special about streets or transport planning with regard to these processes?
Planning with complexity (Innes and Booher, 2010) Agents interact dynamically, exchanging information and energy based upon heuristics that organize the interactions locally. Even if specific agents only interact with a few others, the effects propagate through the system. As a result the system has a memory that is not located at a specific place, but is distributed throughout the system.
WHY COMPLEXITY?
Holling
f future options possible.aThis prop- of Essentially theory thought of, loosely, as the “wealth” change, from moderate . to paradigmatic l controllability of a system; that is, of connectedness between internal variables and processes, a(moves measure Multiscalar the degree of flexibility or rigidity of disciplinary ls, such as beyond their sensitivity or not to n. silos) ve capacity; that is, the resilience of a measure of its vulnerability to Priorizes rules, validated or unpredictable shocks. This propby the local, rather than thought of as the opposite of the “universal” laws. y of the system. Source: Gunderson and Holling (2001,of 2002) Figure 4. A stylized representation the four ecosystem functions (r, K, !, ") and the flow of events among them. properties—wealth, controllability, The arrows show the speed of the flow in the cycle. Short, apacity—are general ones, whether closely spaced arrows indicate a slowly changing situahe cell or the biosphere, the individ-
“BOIDS”: SIMPLE RULES THAT DRIVE COMPLEX BEHAVIOUR Reynolds BOID computer simulation of flocking birds Three simple rules guide behaviour: avoid collisions, match speeds, stay together. Source: Computer simulation similar to Reynolds’ BOIDs: by following three relatively simple rules, the programmer is able to simulate the complex behaviour of an entire flock. Source: http://www.cs.toronto.edu/~dt/siggraph97-course/cwr87/cwr87p1.gif
CITY AS LIVING LABORATORY Table 2.3 Framing as Machine versus Complex Living Systems Machine/industrial perspective
City system example
Planning system example
Industry seeks “single point” and “closed loop” (pp. 33-35, Merry 1995) repetitive processes that constantly produce the same result, but in living systems, repetition occurs but never produces exactly the same result.
To (re)produce a rational city, planners apply zoning In its attempts to act as a predictable and closed by-laws, transport modelling, etc. modelled on system, the planning system excludes many of those closed loop approaches, sometimes placing human affected. and non-human living systems at risk.
When machines break down they cease to function; living systems, however, tend to reorganize and generate new ways to function
Politicians, media and others threaten “collapse” if highways are not built, but in fact, when they are closed or eliminated, the city adapts and moves on.
Rather than “wrench-in-theworks” citizen participation opens up debate and new possibilities
Focus on rules, repetition and conformity, rather than recognizing the presence and value of selfgenerating and self-managing systems.
Police repression of young people who use parks for juggling, street theatre and barter on weekends -they don’t recognize the value of a self-managing system applied in public space.
Self-generating, autonomous citizens’ movements and institutions may be seen as problematic rather than ideal partners in managing the complex city system.
Source: Own elaboration, based on Merry (1995), De Roo and Silva (2010), Portugali (2011) and Innes and Booher (2010). Source: http://inhabitat.com/seoul-recovers-a-lost-stream-transforms-it-into-an-urban-park/seouls-cheonggyecheon-river-3/?extend=1
CATEGORIES FOR ANALYSIS Source Thomson
Category
participatory core community outreach relations with government
Grunau and Schรถnwald
emergence and self-generation
Booher and Innes
agents interactions system behaviour robustness and adaptation
Source: Own elaboration, using categories from Booher and Innes (2010), Thomson (2001) and Grunau and Schรถnwandt (2010).
PARTICIPATORY ACTION RESEARCH: focus on • Participation and democracy,
• Knowledge-in-action, • Grappling with practical issues,
• Seeking human flourishing, • Emergent developmental form
Metodología •
Investigación participativa para la acción (PAR), Lake/CV •
Talleres colectivos
•
Muestra: gente representativa, con nombre •
participantes directos
•
sociedad civil
•
gobierno
•
sector privado
•
38 entrevistas semi-estructuradas, 2a investigadora (Loreto Rojas)
•
33 personas adicionales (grupos)
•
Investigación de archivos
•
Literatura relevante
•
Carpetas de prensa
•
Archivos fotográficos y documentales CV
•
Memorias anuales
Talleres de PhD, 22-VII-2010, 29-VII-2010, 27-V-2011, 22-VI-2011, 18-I-2012
Actividades Taller “Conclusiones”, 4 agosto 2012 • Taller “Obser vaciones”, 18 enero 2012 • Taller Desarrollo interno Ciudad Viva • Taller 25 mayo 2011 • Seminario 26 julio 2011 • Informe directiva, 20 enero 2011 • Talleres de investigación original • Coordinadora, 29 julio 2010 • Ciudad Viva, 22 julio 2010 •
Talleres de PhD, 22-VII-2010, 29-VII-2010, 27-V-2011, 22-VI-2011, 18-I-2012
Nuestra teoría de cambio Ya que creemos...
Ciudad Viva...
Incorporando en toda actividad
1. Qué desde la diversidad y un compromiso activo con la igualdad y un * investiga y escucha, delibera y propone medio ambiente sano y bello
la alegría y la fuerza de compartir, en espacios privados y públicos
2. se pueden movilizar “ecologías” de actores, o sea todos los relevantes desde sus respectivos espacios -ciudadanía, gobierno, privados
la honestidad, el respeto, la consecuencia, la coherencia y el compromiso colectivo
3. a través de la deliberación -- una comunicación que transforma Convicciones
* realiza campañas de interés ciudadano
* comparte conocimientos, innova Acciones
experiencias transformadoras al nivel personal y colectivo Valores
…para lograr ciudades más democráticas, justas, verdes, inclusivas y amables. Talleres de desarrollo interno, 27-V-2011, 22-VI-2011
Interacciones vitales n In ve stig a c ió a iv t pa r tic ipa ión pa ra la a c c
Tra n s n u e s pa re n c ia t ro en ex i g a ct u a r y e n c ia s
Urbanismo ciudadano Transporte para la equidad
y M o n ito re o n ió F is c a liz a c C iudada n a
La vida verde es el eje de una economía más justa El patrimonio: nuestra memoria colectiva
Map e o o pa r tic ipativ
Democratizar: es un proceso constante io n e s C o m u n ic a c s c o m u n it a r ia
Talleres de desarrollo interno, 27-V-2011, 22-VI-2011
Evaluación y Sistematización para la Acción
Ciudadanía activa y creadora
Tr g r up a baj o e n os g r p e q u a n de s y eño s
De n p ro p u n c i a s y re sp u e st a s: c onsa o b i l id ad
3. Conclusions & reflections
Main question... What, if anything, can this Chilean experience tell us about how citizen participation and democratization in urban planning can foster the innovation necessary to achieve good, just and livable cities? What processes might be involved to build the consensuses necessary to generate new forms of urban living, more suited to the energy, environmental, social justice and other challenges of the 21st century?
...TRANSLATED INTO: Where do we get Democratization? chickens (good Sustainability? citizens), without CITIZEN LEARNING Innovation? eggs? Can we influence POLICY how INTERACTIONS power flows?
ENVIRONMENT & SELFORGANIZING CIVIL SOCIETY
Anything special about transport ?
Citizen learning: (Re)framing... Participation as a human right Otherwise, it is not democracy
Replacing “clientship� with active citizenship
Organization: collective capability
For citizen participation: individuals are good, organizations are better...
Transport and social justice: the difference a street makes
“LIVABLE” STREETS APPLEYARD, SAN FRANCISCO, 1970,1981
The fewer the cars using your street, the more people you will know, the more social relationships you will have, the more places to play, interact, be happy.
Transport and Unequal Distribution of our Roads Modal share in selected cities (%) City
Walk/Cycle/Pub. Transit
Car /MC
Beijing*
95
5
Havana*
84
6
Hong Kong
84
16
Santiago (Chile)
73
27
Buenos Aires*
69
24
Amsterdam
67
34
Sao Paulo
66
34
New York
62
32
Delhi
57
29
Copenhagen
51
49
London (UK)
50
50
Toronto
42
58
Chicago
12
88
Although walking, cycling and public transport are by far the majority modes in most cities, cars take up 90% or more of road space, producing noise, deadly air pollution, deaths and diseases associated with obesity.
Toronto modal split Bicycle: 1.3% Walking: 6.4% Public transit: 33.8% Private motor and taxi: 57.9% Other: 0.6% Source: http://www.toronto.ca/cycling/reports/statistics/statisticstables.htm#mode
The street as public space Streets as % of urban territory
Green space Optimum: 40 m2/capita
“Developed” New York, 22% •
•
•
International minimum (WHO): 9m2/cap.
•
London, 23% Tokyo, 24% Paris, 25%.
“Developing” Shanghai, 7.5% •
Berlín: 60.0 m2/cap. Curitiba: 51.0 m2/cap. Córdoba: 9.6 m2/cap. Madrid:7.0 m2/cap. Santiago: 3.2 m2/cap. Sao Paulo: 2.7 m2/cap.
•
•
•
Bangkok, 11.4% Delhi, 21% Sao Paulo, 21%. (Vasconcellos, 2001)
Living Culture Festivales y ferias callejeras en Buenos Aires, Santiago y Sao Paulo
Social spaces (health, jobs, happiness)
Feria japon茅s y estaci贸n de Metro, Sao Paulo
Spaces for survival
Building a better life from the bottom up: Nury Gatica, 3rd generation flower vendor, founder of Living City; (right): Street fairs in Sao Paulo.
Livability (creativity, income, environmental services)
Where we learn to act as citizens
Santiago, The community proposes improving Barrio Bellavista’s main street, Santiago 2003. Inaugurated 2008.
A unique and vital space for practicing civil and human rights...
Four different demonstrations in Buenos Aires, on the SAME DAY!
Delhi, March 2012
The right to the city (and its streets) is a human right, is a collective right, is ours, to exercise in different, multiple ways...
Rights are never for vehicles,
they are always for living beings...
Key dynamics behind these changes
Transformation requires “deep” participation in small groups
Figure 6.7 Living City’s size as measured using face-to-face, electronic, print and other regular communications methods as an indicator.
Communications push information outward, but also draw people in...
Figure 6.6. Using a relational tree to map Living City’s influence and understand its impacts, in this case, primarily at the neighbourhood level (taking Bellavista as an example).
Organizations turn relational “trees” into “forests”...
1997 2012
...and mobilize network power for real systemic change
1997 2012
Power Top down (often oppresion), bottom up (often resistance)... but also from the middle out...
Living City: power dynamic (BOID) variegated collection of organizations that constitute the state (Evans 2002)
Political
Private interests
Technical
Elite Excluded
Active citizens
Active citizens
Living City: power dynamic (BOID) variegated collection of organizations that constitute the state (Evans 2002)
Private interests Political
Technical
Active citizens
Academic knowledge
Transparency Democratization Sustainability
Three planning sectors Public: repeat, resolve, make and apply rules
Private: invest, repeat profitable models, break rules
Citizen: diverse, critical, innovative
“Planning�: defined as planning, non- and anti-planning.
Living City 2010-2012: Active Citizenship initiative 2010: Developed hands-on learning process with neighbourhood and cycling organizations 2011: Used research papers, workshops, national plenary: to elaborate a Citizens’ Agenda for Just, Green, Inclusive Cities. 2011: Presented the Agenda as a political program to interested candidates (all parties) municipal elections, includes indicators for measuring progress on citizen proposals (based on Bogotå Como Vamos, Nossa Sao Paulo) 2012: Ran a citizen candidate for crucial mayoralty position.
Municipal elections 28-Oct-2012 Living City’s candidate, Josefa Errazuriz, WON. So did key mayoralty candidates for Santiago, Independencia, Recoleta and other municipalities where Living City has worked extensively. 500,000 of Santiago’s 5,000,000 people. Tipping point... Stage is set for a major paradigm shift, away from dictatorship of so-called rational-technical, toward collaborative planning or more.
We live the city of our dreams, from the first moment we dare to dream and build it, together.
Can this tell us anything about Toronto?
My impression is Toronto has invested a great deal in the political capacity of its leadership (part-time to full-time, etc.) and in its technical staff, but has failed to build strong, representative neighbourhood associations and civic capacity into city visioning, planning and management. Today, it is paying a high price in terms of failure to build new understandings and consensuses, in preparation for challenges of 21st century, especially climate change, peak oil/car use, etc.