The Future of Cities
Today we think of cities as state or provincial capitals,
although the modern state did not come into existence until the 19th
Century. Kingdoms and Empires had fluid boundaries centred around walled
cities. Baghdad, Cordoba, Jerusalem, Constantinople, Venice, London. Political scientists speculate that once again
cities will take precedence over states.
The World Congress of United Cities and Local Governments where
mayors meet every three years, was established in Barcelona in 2004. It has over
240,000 members in over 140 States and advocates democratic self-government of
cities of the world. More than half the world’s population lives in cities and
is expected to rise to eighty percent by 2080.
As Benjamin R. Barber writes in his book, If Mayors Ruled
the World, city management has to focus on the necessities of everyday life-
“Collecting garbage and collecting art rather than collecting votes or
collecting allies. Putting up buildings and running buses rather than putting up
flags and running political parties.”
Cities often have more in common with other cities of the
world than with the rest of their own country. The management of all cities is
focused on water, transport, waste management, crime management, trade and business,
public spaces, housing, education, leisure and cultural activities. Cities are
closely connected to the needs of citizens unlike the more abstract concerns of
the state.
Cities, especially megacities of 5million or more, bring
together people of diverse backgrounds into an interesting combination of
camaraderie and anonymity. Cities are powerhouses of enterprise, creativity and
progressive ideas. Cities offer freedom
from tradition, family and gender. Anyone can reinvent themselves in a city.
On the dark side, the city can be a place of loss. Crime can
slip through its dense population. Cities often pay the price for protests and
violence aimed at the state, and generate inequality and environmental pollution.
A strong Mayor is key to the smooth
functioning of a city. Leoluca Orlando, mayor of Palermo in Sicily for four
terms, successfully freed his city from the clutches of the Sicilian mafia, the
Cosa Nostra. A city that sounds
ominously like Karachi, racked with hundreds of mafia killings and kidnappings,
corruption and fear, with a crumbling heritage, Palermo became a vibrant
cultural city once again.
The cornerstone of Orlando’s policy was to yoke together law
enforcement and culture. He engaged a committed team and involved private
citizens. He re-opened the opera house after23 years, planted trees, improved
schools, street lighting, regulated markets, restored heritage buildings,
created pedestrian spaces, art museums, cafes , “taking back the city after
dark”. This revitalized entrepreneurs, and businesses.
If like me, you live
in Karachi, the third largest city of the world, you will be bewildered by how
it functions without a mayor, torn between 13 different authorities working
independently and often in conflict. Yet
it somehow generates 69 per cent of revenue for the country and collects around
Rs3,000 billion in taxes, of which a mere
1.7% returns to the city. The city self-governs from the street. It is
indebted to NAPA and the All Pakistan Music Conference for the only remaining
public cultural events.
Karachi like Johnathan Swift’s character, Gulliver, is tied
down by the small people , the Lilliputians, who “are able to take advantage of
Gulliver's exhaustion and overpower him while he sleeps on the beach after his
long, troubled journey. They tie him down with strong ropes to make sure that
when he eventually wakes up, he can't move.”
Treated like a horse rearing to bolt, Karachi’s need for self-governance
goes unheeded.
A megacity is an independent entity regulated by its own
dynamics. Ideally, as Ibn Khaldun says “The more numerous and the more abundant
the population in a city, the more luxurious the life of its inhabitants”
Durriya Kazi
Karachi
October 24, 2021
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