Urban communities and participation in the XXI century: the informal urban century

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ABSTRACT

Urban space in the cities of the South has often developed like a space without citizens. The speed of growth, first of all in metropolis, combined to a profoundly unequal distribution of wealth, generated several processes of social and spatial segregation. A new and informal urban reality has hence developed alongside the official city. A large part of the population has built informal paths to satisfy basic housing needs, to have access to urban services, to build economic relations within the city itself.
The processes linked to globalisation seem to deepen the existing social inequalities, by involving the socio-economic and territorial aspects of urban life. As a consequence, if the access to innovation and wealth is increasingly restricted, the mechanisms of service provision based on governmental initiative are challenged too. Social organisation and interaction among citizens are demanded to the private sector. Given the basic inequality we pointed out, this process generates the growth of the informal sector where citizens are organised out of official channels. XXI century is hence likely to be the century of urban informality. In the fields of housing, transports, economic relations, services and social assistance, individual actions is increasingly characterising urban relations. There will be an enlarging rift between formal local authorities' policies and the "shadow decision-making" of a large part of the population. Informal processes will be hence more and more accepted and cities will be characterised by an "official informality".
The paper tries to analyse urban community future and popular participation in informal urban realities. Community-based processes can be an fundamental element to copy with informality and illegality. Two aspects must be solved: what does participation mean in urban reality of the cities of the South? How can participation be structured in a reality based on self-help?
A few case studies will be presented. They are referred to Brazil, mostly to housing-related problems. Housing is a peculiar element of urban poverty and citizenship, affecting not only the quality of life, but also identity and participation.

ESF/N-AERUS: International workshop - Leuven and Brussels, Belgium, 23-26 May 2001

N-AERUS: Network-Association of European Researchers on Urbanisation in the South
http://www.naerus.net