Governance and Participation
Thursday, 25th March 2010
Room: W4-1
09:00 – 18:30 “A participative city is one that sees, hears and includes its citizens in decision-making. It acknowledges the needs of it citizens - and has (or generates) the resources to accommodate them. At the best, a participative city breathes tolerance, diversity and growth - on both an individual scale and a societal scale ….a city in which participation is so mainstreamed that we do not need projects and donors to make this happen. Where participation is process not an event. Where participation could lead to empowerment not just an input. Finally, where all levels of societies, especially rich, powerful and educated are very keen on sharing powers with the poor, powerless and less formally educated.”
Ingjerd and Mansoor, E-debate on Governance and Participation ,November 2009. Briefing The debate promoted by this dialogue will enable participants to identify and unfold the basic elements of the participative city and governance and its implication in forging inclusive and equitable urban development. The range of experiences from across the globe will be analysed highlighting challenges and emerging patterns in the governance of the city as it evolves today. The discussion will also focus on various mechanisms that enable civil society participation in local democratic decision making and explore the manner in which this participation fosters equal opportunities, more transparency and efficiency in urban management and planning. Click here to download the background document and know more about this dialogue theme
Click here to know more about the speakers and panellists
About the programme
The discussions under this theme of the 5th World Urban Forum will take place in room W4-1, and will be organised as follows: | SESSION | TIME | Title | | 1. Dialogue 5 | 09:00 – 11:30 | Governance and Participation |
| 2. Thematic Open Debate | 13:30 – 15:00 | Promoting Effective Citizen Participation |
| 3. Thematic Open Debate | 15:30 – 17:00 | Revisiting Urban Planning |
| 4. Thematic Concluding Session | 17:30 – 18:30 | Way Forward in Enhancing Urban Governance and Participation for Promoting Inclusiveness |
About the Sessions
The first session of Dialogue 5 covers the broad theme of Governance and Participation. It opens with a brief presentation drawn from the internet-based discussions that highlights the salient observations made in a three week e-debate that explored the different dimensions of urban governance and participation drawing out from experiences of different parts of the world. Thereafter, panellists are asked to make their brief introductory remarks which will be followed by a moderated interactive exchange with members from the floor. The main objective of this session is to bring to the fore the essential parameters and experiences relating to the theme and how it can contribute towards enhancing the right to the city and bridging the urban divide.
Subsequently, the dialogue continues in two thematic afternoon sessions focused on particular dimensions of the theme: promoting effective citizen participation; and revisiting urban planning. During these sessions, specialists and experts share their view in a more inclusive environment. At the end of the day, panellists of all previous sessions join a concluding thematic session of the day which is opened by a wrap-up of results of the discussions by the rapporteur. All attending this session are given the chance to react and comment on the results, share views and suggest proposals for the way forward. | Dialogue 5 | | Title: | Governance and Participation | | Day, Time & Venue: | Thursday 25 March 2009 | | Objective: | The main objective of Dialogue 5 and the related Thematic Open Debates is to identify and unfold the basic elements of the participative city and governance and its implication in forging inclusive and equitable urban development. The range of experiences from across the globe will be analysed highlighting challenges and emerging patterns in the governance of the city as it evolves today. The discussion will also focus on various mechanisms that enable civil society participation in local democratic decision making and explore the manner in which this participation fosters equal opportunities, more transparency and efficiency in urban management and planning. The dialogue will explore the dynamics of using governance and participation as key elements for promoting “inclusive cities” and as a way of closing the urban divide. It will examine the different modalities and different formats that enable civil society participation at scale in the governance, planning, decision making, resource allocation, management of public space and urban policy making in cities. It acknowledges that each country and city has its own specific channels of participation, some with a strong legal framework while others as part of advocacy frameworks and active civic groups. However, not all local governments are empowered to engage in participatory urban governance and urban planning. It will analyse levels of decentralisation and local autonomy as fundamental for enabling effective participation in decision making about the future of cities. At a normative level it will explore the notion of cities for all in terms of promoting open, welcome and supported participation of all people in making decisions that affect their lives. The operational underpinnings of achieving this will be discussed.
.The dialogue takes note that participatory approaches to urban governance not only unfolds the identification of needs and demands for wide range of basic urban services, housing, land, etc. but also the mobilisation and equal distribution of resources in the city, and more significantly the achievement of results on the ground. Planning in this case becomes a critical tool and the dialogue will asses the experience to-date. This will entail addressing the issue of revisiting urban planning, specifically in terms of its nature, character and philosophy. The dialogue will investigate the extent and manner in which participatory urban planning and governance can be made to be strong vehicles to bridge the urban divide though not necessarily the only one. | | Topics to be Covered: | - Fundamental elements of the participative city and participatory governance – implications for forging inclusive and equitable urban development;
- Promoting effective civic participation;
- Revisiting Urban Planning
| | Brief Outline of the Session: | The Dialogue will be organized in four segments. The first segment will primarily address current experiences, highlighting challenges and successful practices.. The second and third segments (Thematic Open Debates) will mainly focus on modalities of fostering civic participation and examine the fundamentals of planning as a means of bridging the urban divide. The final segment will summarize the key points and identify possible ways forward. | | Key Questions to be addressed: | A panel consisting of Ministers, a Mayor, a Governor of an emerging megacity, a representative of UN agency, as well as a member of an international Non-Governmental Organisation will kick off Dialogue 5 by highlighting challenges and innovations from their respective perspectives on improving urban governance and participation. They will probe into the apparent anomaly of entrenched participatory norms and, in some regions, increased practice of participatory local governance on one side, and urban development indicators in many parts of the world remaining troubling and often seem to be getting worse. They will attempt to answer the questions: what makes a city participative? What makes citizens participate (or desire to participate) in public life? Is it possible to identify cities which rank high on a putative participative ‘ladder’ and what they did they do? What should such a ranking entail and whether it would be a useful governance tool? The main dialogue will brief explore the role of planning as a medium for promoting sustainable urban development and for fostering inclusiveness. In terms of translating participation into deliverables on the ground, and in view of the experience of the past two decades and indeed with the increasing realisation of the urgency of addressing urban sustainability, the dialogue will investigate if there is a need to ‘revisit urban planning’, directing to the realities of the emerging challenges and configuration of the modern city. | | Thematic Open Debate | | Title: | Promoting Effective Citizen Participation | | Objective and outline: | This session will dwell on the normative and operational bearings of civic participation. It will concretize the issues raised in the morning dialogue with a view to determining factors of success. The discussion will bring out the respective roles of key societal actors and the institutional arrangement that promotes effective citizen participation. Experiences from different countries and cities will be brought to bear in identifying the strategic areas in which citizen participation generates a higher impact in improving welfare and in bridging the urban divide. Also, the qualitative dimensions of participation will be reviewed as well as the handicaps which impair the full engagement of some social groups identified. Issues such as access to information and the capacity and knowledge to participate in public affairs play a role in the effectiveness of participatory decision making will be linked to aspects of rights and responsibilities. | | Topics to be Covered: | It will pose the following questions, among others: - Is the right to participation resulting into more equal opportunities for citizens, firms, social groups alike?
- Are individuals sufficiently empowered and capacitated to voice their needs and demands and assume the responsibilities that are emanated from the realisation and fulfilment of their needs?
- Are there experiences in which non-participatory practices have led to increased sustainability and improved well being of urban residents?
- Are the challenges of participation currently encountered revealing problems in the normative ideal of participatory democratic governance or is it the practice?
- If it is the normative ideal, how should we be adapting our conceptual models of urban governance and participation?
- If the problems are mainly in the domain of execution, what are the remedies that we need to identify and how do we ensure they get implemented?
| | Thematic Open Debate | | | Title: | Revisiting Urban Planning | | Objective: | This thematic open debate will advance the discussion of the previous thematic debate by focusing on the process of urban planning. As an interface between participatory inputs from stakeholders and the realization of concrete outcomes on the ground, planning plays a key role in urban development in general and specifically in promoting inclusiveness. The session will assess the current status, both in terms of its normative and operational underpinnings. Using the broad spectrum of global experiences in refining and adapting planning systems, the dialogue will assess the extent to which conditions and challenges obtaining in cities of today match with the premises of the current planning practices and philosophy. At the same time, the institutional arrangement within which planning is exercised, particularly the inter-governmental relations and powers and capacities accorded to local authorities will be analysed as a way of determining the effectiveness of participatory planning. | | Topics to be Covered: | - How can planning serve as an effective interface between the vision, choices, and inputs of the participatory processes and the realization of concrete outcomes on the ground;
- Which are the emerging innovative approaches in planning that show success in addressing the current realities of urban development;
- How can the frequently occurring governance fragmentation in public policy formulation and decision-making be overcome so as to ensure integrated incorporation of the spatial dimension and the protection of the public domain?
- What are the future directions in urban planning, and how can it be made a more effective tool for participatory governance and the fostering of inclusiveness;
| | Thematic Concluding Session | | Moderators and speakers in the dialogue and related thematic open debates: | The provisional lists of moderators and speakers include the following: Moderators: - Professor Michael, New School, New York
- Mr. Jean-Pierre Mbassi –Secretariat of UCLG-A. Chairman PDM
- Prof. Phill Harrison – former Head of Planning, Johannesburg City. Now at University of Witts – South Africa
Speakers: - Ms.MariaOtero-Under-Secretary of State -Democracy and Global Affairs (USA)
- Ms. Hellen Clark – UNDP Administrator
- Mr. Alain Joyandet, Secretary of State, Ministry of Foreign and European Affairs . (France)
- Mr. Babajide Raji Fashola - Governor of Lagos State, Nigeria
- Mr. Claudio Orrego, Mayor of Peñalolen, Santiago de Chile
- Women in Informal Employment: Globalising and Organising – WEIGO
- Senator Art Eggleton – Former Mayor of Toronto, Canada. Currently Senator
- Mr. Olivio Dutra - Brazil (Former Minister & Co-President of WUF2)
- Forum Nacional de Reform Urban- FNRU , Brazil
- Mr. Jesse Robredo – Mayor of Naga City Philippines
- Mr. Tarso Genro – Former Mayor of Porto Alegre. Now Minister of Justice Brazil
- Dr Mostafa Madbouly - GOPP chairman – Egypt
- Mr. Fabian Stang - Mayor of Oslo
- SDI/ HIC Representative
| | Contact Person at UN-HABITAT (plus contact details): | Mr. Mohamed Halfani
Head, Urban Development Branch, UN-HABITAT
Mohamed.halfani@unhabitat.org
+254-20-7624723 |
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