Geography Reference
In-Depth Information
Table 3.3
Summary of guiding principles for just cities. (Source: Summary of Fainstein's guiding
principles (
2010
), with suggested additions in italics.)
Guiding principles
Examples of policies
Democracy (3)
Advocates. Broad consultation. Consult with
affected people
Decision-making. Encouraging greater
partnership. Fairness to others. Greater com-
munity powers. Hypocrisies of franchise and
protection
Additions
(+ 5)
Equity (5)
Housing. Economic development. Active
survey of megaprojects. Relocations. Transit
Environmental issues. Needs
Additions
(+ 2)
Diversity (6)
Mixed land uses. Group needs. Inclusion.
Community boundaries.Segregation-diversity
Adding community contacts and spaces. Limi-
tations of behaviour
Additions
(+ 2)
Problems (+ 5)
Restricted urban powers. Inter-generational
equity. Territorial issues. Equalities and
freedoms. Societal contexts
leaves issues, such as environmental problems, for other researchers to deal with.
Despite these limitations Fainstein's work is one of the most useful and practical
set of policy guides to create greater justice in the decision-making process within
cities. These are summarized in Table
3.3
along with extensions to these ideas, al-
though there can be little doubt that there is a need for additions to the list to provide
a more comprehensive guide to just city policies.
3.5.1
Democracy and Just Cities
Although Fainstein made this criterion her second category, it may be the easiest
principle to justify as a basis for redistributive policies, at least in western societies
where democracy is an accepted fundamental value in society and each adult citizen
is equal in voting power. Indeed the very idea of western democracy is traced back
to the Greek city states of the sixth century BCE, although we often forget the citi-
zens involved in their self-governance were only a small group of property owning
males. Moreover in medieval society the aphorism that 'city air makes one free' was
a consequence of the rule that being able to live in a city, at least one with a char-
ter giving privileges, made one free from the restrictive obligations of rural feudal
society, meaning the places could be seen as emancipatory cities in some respects.
Today, except in a few cases, our urban governments are not direct democracies,
but representative democracies, in which voters elect politicians, who use the bu-
reaucracies that have been created to manage the system. As has already been noted,
although they are supposed to serve the public interest this is not always the case,
and certainly does not guarantee fairness, especially to minority interests or the
