CLIMATE CHANGE & SUSTAINABILITY
GIVING THE CITY BACK TO ITS INHABITANTS
MICHEL SUDARSKIS Secretary General International Urban Development Association
Sometimes cities are badly run , dirty and dilapidated . Many people however believe that it is still worth living in such city . Why ? The City is a place that can take people to higher and more complex human levels , even in the most adverse conditions . A city is a place where people can learn to live with strangers , to share experiences and explore unfamiliar interests . Uniformity stupefies , while diversity stimulates mind and bodies . The city offers the inhabitants the opportunity to develop a richer awareness of themselves . This is the power of diversity : freedom from arbitrary identity which if exacerbated can become “ a murderous identity ” Understanding the movements that affect the evolution of our cities refers primarily to those who make them : the inhabitants . How people understand and relate to their city ? Mainly through the elements that constitute their daily lives : housing , public space , schools , jobs and workplace . To give the city back to its inhabitants implies to act on these different elements . But what appears is that the people do not feel necessarily engaged in the production of their living environment . Social solidarity is crumbling , living together deteriorates , and trust relationships are weak . It is as if each person was seeing his city not as it is but as it says it is . What we might call the “ media narrative ” is creating a distorted reality giving way to a wary loneliness that undermines the traditional approaches . The democratic ideal on which was built our conception of the public debate is cracking . Many attempts were made to recover the initial inspiration through digital tools that are thought to be able to replace dialogue , head to head or face to face relations . We must question this new approach for the technical objects ( the smart hype ) are not political . They can be tools at the service of a political project provided that the project is previously and explicitly discussed . The political process must take into account changes affecting the lives of the people .
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