Geography Reference
In-Depth Information
generations, to sustain and improve our society. Taylor's arguments for considering
us all as common citizens can be extended to specifically address the case of the un-
derprivileged. In a democratic society it is difficult to argue against Galton's (1986)
view that the full development of an individual should be morally equal to any
other. Also, in a practical, progressive sense the poor, unemployed and weak repre-
sent a waste of potential resources, for if they were able to leave these conditions
the society would benefit from greater production, spending power etc. This would
replace the current drain on revenues devoted to maintaining, not improving them.
Perhaps many of the current needy may not achieve much, because of the limited
opportunities they have received in the past. But this is not true of their children,
whose potential could be released through education and opportunity, resulting in
advances for the benefit of society as a whole. All one has to do is to envisage a de-
veloped world today that still had the same number of educational institutions and
attitudes to women that existed in the 1930s. The expansion of both educational in-
stitutions, and the removal of many, if not all, of the discriminations against women
since that time, gave many women, as well as working class people, better educa-
tions and eventually jobs. The move to gender equality in particular, although still
not complete, has been to significantly increase productivity, and in many cases life
satisfaction. On economic grounds alone these changes have made a huge contribu-
tion to gross national product.
Recognition of the societal contribution to what seem to be our own personal
achievements, may also be extended to the argument that it is necessary to stress our
common citizenship
as a basis for action. In many ways we do this at the national
level. However, we should accept the fact that most of us live in cities and their ef-
fective functioning does depend upon a common sense of identity and purpose to
improve existing conditions. Our society is too complex to return to the city-state
principles of the classical Greeks polis where membership and participation in the
polis was an important part of collective social life, at least for the very small minor-
ity of male property owners who dominated society. However, the sense of com-
mon purpose, and the idea that we are all assisted and enhanced in our life by our
common residence in a city or urban place, are issues that need greater emphasis if
we are to create more Just Cities.
37
Conclusions
The search for social justice in urban places has a long history but with very differ-
ent aims because of the varying meaning and contexts of what justice means. The
focus of this review on the essentially
incremental approaches
to Just Cities will not
satisfy those who believe that far more transformative approaches are need to break
the injustices that stem from the dominance of the capitalist system in a neo-liberal
era, given their belief that it intrinsically creates inequality. But political support for
such a far reaching approach is still very limited. In a topic entitled
Rebel Cities
,
Harvey (
2013
) suggested, or rather hoped to see, meaningful change altering the
