Progress Towards Just Cities - Theme Cities: Solutions for Urban Problems - page 62

Chapter 3
Progress Towards Just Cities

Wayne K﻽D﻽ Davies

If the discourse surrounding policy-making focuses on the
justice of the decision, rather than simply its contribution to
competitiveness, much will have been accomplished.
Fainstein 2010 , p. 184

3﻽1 Introduction

Most people in the contemporary world see towns and cities as centres of oppor-
tunity, wealth, socialization, tolerance and culture. However, far too many others
experience the same urban centres as places of low income, exploitation, insecurity
and exclusion with both limited opportunities and influence on decision-making.
These features create an impoverished life-style that is a depressing and often multi-
generational fact of life for increasing numbers. Yet this dualism in urban places is
not new; it has been a feature of urban life since cities were first created. Since the
time of the Golden Age of Greek city-states, many theorists, governments and com-
passionate people have sought ways of resolving the problems of the urban disad-
vantaged, but with only limited success. Today these problems are increasingly de-
scribed as injustices in cities. This is a redistributive justice, not to be confused with
the more usual conception, which is a retributive justice,which addresses the way
that those who transgress against the laws or customs of a society are judged and
punished. By contrast, redistributive justice relates to the problems of an unequal
possession of goods, in which the term 'goods' applies not simply to material goods,
but also to such issues as influence, power and status. The questions associated with
justice in a redistributive sense—whether it is needed, what goods, and in what
quantities should be provided—are issues that have not been easy to solve, despite
many attempts throughout history. Perhaps the most substantial progress made in
dealing with this type of injustice in the history of western cities was initiated by the
ideas of the European Enlightenment and the material growth that started with the