Progress Towards Just Cities - Theme Cities: Solutions for Urban Problems - page 85

needy. In any case the vast majority of cities are subject to the laws of the national
state in which they are located, meaning that their powers are limited. Despite this
constraint, Fainstein suggested three policies that would increase the level of justice
within the public planning approach.

3﻽5﻽1﻽1 Advocates

The first of these is the use of advocates. These should be provided by municipali-
ties for groups who do not have the skills or ability to participate in the decision-
making processes in urban areas, perhaps by seconding planners or other specialists
to help communities with problems.

3﻽5﻽1﻽2 Broad Consultation

Fainstein suggests this is especially needed when new or sparsely occupied land is
to be redeveloped, although it should apply to any area being redeveloped that affect
people. This should include representatives of people from the affected area, and
those who may be impacted who live outside the affected area.

3﻽5﻽1﻽3 Consultation with Affected People

This is needed when occupied land is to be developed, although city-wide consid-
erations mean that the inhabitants should not be the only arbiter. The ideas of com-
municative action discussed above may improve negotiations to create more just
outcomes. All too often, the typical approaches used by city officials to consult with
communities are really top-down information sessions rather than true engagement
and problem-resolving sessions, in which various tactics are used to deflect atten-
tion from the main issues or decisions already made.
Although Fainstein's three guides provide a very useful beginning to creating
greater justice, they need to be extended to include some more specific links to
ideas that have been discussed in preceding sections. The additions are designed to
improve the process of communication between affected parties and also remove
the bias from existing approaches in the public planning process.

3﻽5﻽1﻽4 Transparent Decision-Making

All levels of decision-making should be reviewed to make them as transparent as
possible. This will enable all affected groups to review and comment on various
decisions. It also means that the decision processes of the representatives involved
should be fairly run and monitored by a city ombudsman, or outside reviewers, to
prevent local corruption occurring.