Geography Reference
In-Depth Information
not
by middle class western or outside researchers (Sen
1999
, p. 31). Yet Clark's
(
2005
) work in impoverished areas of South Africa showed that the majority of
people interviewed shared a common view of what was good and required to achieve
a better life. Moreover placing reliance for the choice of capability indicators only
on the impoverished does run the danger of corrupt leaders distorting choices, while
adherence to older customs, and especially paternalist dominance, may disguise or
even prevent the extent to which the capabilities can be identified, let alone realised.
In an urban context the major problem of the Capabilities approach is the fact that
it is the state that enacts laws and policies that allow them to develop. Most urban
municipalities have restricted powers, so at first sight their fields of action to deliver
policies that increase capability are circumscribed. But this is not absolute. In the
fourth section of this review, the discussion on guides to the just city, as well as in
many other chapters in this topic, there are examples where action at an urban level
can lead to the realization of many of these capabilities. For example, effective and
honest policing provides one way that safety from crime can be secured and this is
often locally administered, while the provision of leisure facilities or festive events
are other capabilities that are very much areas of municipal responsibility. The pro-
vision of decent housing for the less well-off is also usually municipally controlled,
even though most funding usually comes from national sources these days, showing
that co-partnership schemes may be needed to improve such capabilities. Also, the
idea of the public good, not necessarily maximization of site value or profits, has
often influenced particular planning decisions, although the growth of neo-liberal
ideas has often led to maximizing utility being the dominant principle.
These examples show that there are areas where the quality of life of people can
be improved by actions at an urban level, although accepting that the main motors
of change—especially for those linked to personal freedoms and controls—lie at
the nation state level, although recent inputs from international actions and pressure
groups, such as the Human Development and Capabilities Association (HDCA), are
helping the growth of these capabilities in poor countries. Two of the most success-
ful approaches to improving capabilities in employment and health contexts have
been the work of micro-credit lending schemes and cash transfers. The former was
pioneered by the economist Muhammad Younis who showed that providing credit
to the poor without collateral, by creating a system based on trust, yet with supervi-
sion and group participation, has helped many escape from the clutches of rapacious
lenders and enabled those who received small amounts of credit to create or ex-
pand their own employment, The approach which was developed in the late 1970s
in Bangladesh, rapidly expanded with the creation of the Grameen Bank (Unesco
2013
) in 1983 and been copied around the world. A second approach to helping the
poorest has been to provide conditional cash transfers (CCTS), on condition that the
recipients send their children to school and accept vaccinations, the basis of poli-
cies such as the Bolsa Familia in Brazil or Mexico's Oportunidades. These help to
improve the education and health of future generations and create pressure to raise
the standards of both. However unconditional cash transfer schemes (UCTS) to
the poorest have also been successful, if less popular with donors in rich countries
who feel that making conditions provides assurance that the money is not given for
